Michael "Smitty" SmithWe've just learned that Michael "Smitty" Smith of the Raiders died suddenly last week at his home in Hawaii. Smitty's powerhouse drumming--so evident on Mojo Workout, the recent Sundazed double CD featuring the Raiders, on the verge of national stardom in 1964, roaring through their club set before a handful of crazed friends at the Columbia studios--will always be a vital part of Raiders lore.
As Mark Lindsay puts it in a brief website tribute to Smitty: "You may have been physically the smallest Raider, but you surely had the biggest heart.....You were so many things: Tom Sawyer, Tom Swift, Robin Hood, Robinson Crusoe, the Lone Ranger and Tonto, Buck Rogers, Will Rogers, Jumpin' Jack Flash Gordon.......but fate made you a Raider....Bon Voyage, Old Friend."
