Doug Pullen gets "Closer To Home"

That's Doug in the middle, Mark Farner on the left and Mark's longtime friend Mark Bowsher on the right.

I met Doug back in 1996 when GFR played their 10 city mini-tour. We've kept in touch over the years and I talked with him back in November when he told me he was leaving the Flint Journal to go back home. He always kept me up to date about Mark and the other two guys, and sent me an e-mail high 5 when he read my review of Don and Mel's show last November. I will miss reading his stuff, he and I felt very much the same way about the Flint 2 version of Grand Funk. Back in 2001, he was verbally abused by the fans of Don & Mel's new band because he gave a not so glorious review of their show in Detroit. One of the Cyberfunkers even wanted to "hunt him down". He pissed off our favorite drummer at least once or twice. Doug's voice sounds nothing like the way he looked. I pictured someone similar to Jackson Browne but was surprised to find out he looked more like Randy Bachman with a goatee. I never realized until November 2007 that we've experienced the same loss of family members. Both my parents are gone, my younger brother died in 2006 and Tito (our dog) passed in December of 2006 after 17 years. I got divorced in 2003. But, neither of us shared those stories with each other. We just traded little tidbits about Mark and GFR. Doug sent me a newspaper spread the Flint Journal did back in 1996 when the Funk were just starting to tour again. I called him when Mark wanted to use one of my photos, and he was one of the first people I called after I got the phone call from Mark in July of 2006. We could have been best friends I think, if we lived closer to each other, but I was content to just have someone to call when I wanted to chat about GFR. I'll miss him at the Journal but I'm sure we'll talk soon. Best of luck Doug, you deserve it.

G