Haggard

Country music legend Merle Haggard knows a thing or two about cheatin' hearts. Cheating on heart surgeries, however, is a whole different matter. The 65-year-old recording artist, who is currently on tour, came home to Redding the other day to find the town in an uproar over allegations that a couple of doctors at the local medical center may have been pushing patients to undergo heart surgeries they haven't really needed.

It took a minute to get used to the dark. Men were rushing, trying to grab food. Their faces looked wild. Except for weed soup, they hadn't eaten in three days. Inside the vestibule of the Church of the Nativity, several candles burned on the floor around the sanctuary, and a large one flamed in the center. They gave the only light. The men--civilians, accused terrorists and Palestinian police officers--reached for candy bars, crackers, rice and lentils. All had been there for a month.

Roy Nichols, an influential guitar player who for 22 years was a mainstay of country star Merle Haggard's band, died Tuesday at Mercy Hospital in Bakersfield. He was 68. Nichols was admitted to the hospital on June 30 with a kidney inflammation and bacterial infection and was in intensive care until he died early Tuesday of a heart attack. Haggard credits Nichols with jump-starting his own career and playing a key role in developing the distinctive country sound of his band, the Strangers.

A little bit of good news went a long way in the technology sector Thursday. A number of companies announced that their first-quarter business was either better than expected or didn't get worse, and the result was a huge wave of buying of battered tech shares.

Well there's 1,352 guitar pickers in Nashville . . . And any one that unpacks his guitar could play twice as better as I will --"Nashville Cats," by John Sebastian * Anyone who listens to much country music can testify to the truth of those lyrics from the old Lovin' Spoonful hit.

Merle Haggard has averaged about 150 concerts a year since 1965, which means he's on a stage for the 5,000th or so time on this weekday evening at the Crazy Horse Steak House in Irvine. It's the fourth stop on a 28-city tour that will take him to 16 states over the next two months.

Merle Haggard's concert Monday at the Crazy Horse Steak House in Irvine has been rescheduled for Sept. 18. Tickets for Monday's concert will be honored for the new date, or they can be taken to the box office for a refund. Tickets are available for $15-$75. Information: (714) 585-9000.

After making a living playing country music for more than 40 years, Merle Haggard has been through the swinging doors of as many honky-tonks as probably anyone alive. So his thumbs-up to the Crazy Horse Steak House's new site in Irvine should cause of sigh of relief for Southland country music fans, as well as club owners Jay Nuccio and Brad "Paco" Miller Jr., who acknowledged the giant gamble they were taking in tinkering with one of the most honored institutions in modern country music.

Merle Haggard usually personifies the no-nonsense entertainer. He walks on stage with minimal fanfare and simply starts singing some of the greatest country songs ever written. So it was tempting to scour his familiar craggy face for any hints that a stunt double was taking his place Wednesday at the Crazy Horse Steak House.

Merle Haggard sang a song at the Coach House that helped explain why he hasn't gone postal on a Nashville establishment that showers all that glitters on the young and the feckless while he, one of the great singers and songwriters in country music history, plugs on at 61 without a recording contract.