Background: John Benzinger was a Sioux City resident and was a good friend of Johnnie Bolin’s for a period of time. He was working in the news department at the local Sioux City television station and he was the one who was able to access the super 8 footage of Tommy‘s funeral that I put into my Tommy Bolin: The Ultimate Documentary. John, like me was motivated to try to support the family in getting their act together in terms of exactly what this speaks about but it never really got off the ground much and no - no CDs were ever released.
So as the early 90s unfolded, and there was nothing happening - there was no ongoing merch company set up. There were no releases being forthcoming. Nothing was happening and that’s when I got the idea to do the Tommy Bolin Archives after Bob Ferbrache, who had helped organize all the tapes the family had gathered back in the late 70s and early 80s for Pudge. Bob had gotten copies of all of it for himself and that’s what served as the foundation for the Archives, which of course Johnnie was our full partner in. And that was the foundation of our relationship with lasted all the way up until I was a pallbearer at his funeral - one of the sadder days in my life. 
I had an ongoing relationship with John and he wound up being promoted into working at various news departments at local TV stations until he got all the way up to major East Coast markets.
He wound up being in possession of one of Tommy’s guitars and he always told Johnnie that he was just keeping it for safe keeping and in the last years of Johnnie’s life he shared with me more than once that he was frustrated with John because he had tried to takeJohn up on what he had told Johnnie previously and get the guitar back, and that didn’t happen. I always wondered if there was some kind of misunderstanding, but I have no idea.
Anyway, I haven’t spoken to John for years. I’m not sure what his current situation is. I always had a great connection with him and he was always very helpful. He’s the one who interviewed Rich and Barb and Pudge for my Ultimate documentary.
/ Michael Drumm
