So, I remember Mac talking about his little brother Marshall fairly often on the forums. I found Marshall's website (he is still playing sax professionally) and it had a "contact me" form.

So, I wrote the following:

Quote:
Greetings! My name is John Ford and you don't know me from Adam. I am a longtime participant in the PGMusic Band-in-a-Box online forum for which your brother Clark (who went by the moniker "Mac") many years ago, your brother Clark just kind of disappeared. There have been folks (including myself) worried about him for many years now. I've tried calling the number at which I previously spoke with him, but it just rings (###-###-####). I remember him posting about his brother Marshall and your accomplishments, so I am reaching out on your web site. While I never met him in person, I spoke with him on the phone several times and we had multiple interchanges about music on the forum and on the phone. Myself, and others, would just like to know he's alright, still playing keyboards and trumpet (hopefully), and doing what he loves. He was a treasure of knowledge on the forum, and we have long been concerned about him. I remember he went through a bout of some health issues. I look forward to hearing from you.


I received the following reply (lightly edited to respect privacy):

Quote:
Hi John,

Thanks for reaching out, I remember well his work at BIAB and I still use the program to practice although I have not updated in some time! Music is a challenging career. To say the least and has gotten even worse.

Yes Actually, he did go through some very serious health issues, maybe we will tell you about them but he is still with us and his brilliant mind, may be getting older, is still brilliant.

Since he sometimes remains private I will forward your email onto him and I hope he reaches out to you.

Let me know how it goes.

Thanks for your kind note.

______________
Marshall McDonald


I hope I hear from him.

John

Laptop-HP Omen I7 Win11Pro 32GB 2x2TB, 1x4TB SSD
Desktop-ASUS-I7 Win10Pro 32GB 2x1.5TB, 2x2TB, 1x4TB SATA

BB2025/UMC404HD/Casios/Cakewalk/Reaper/Studio One/MixBus/Notion/Finale/Dorico/Noteworthy/NI/Halion/IK

http://www.sus4chord.com