Poet, pianist, smoky baritone. Could have been a Bob Dylan figure, but Merkins, suffering the compassion fatigue of the 70s, after the urban riots and passions maxed out over the Vietnam War, didn't rally around Gil's musical teach-ins. "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised", "Whitey on the Moon", the anti-apartheid "Johannesburg", "The Bottle", "Angel Dust". Was no fan of "Ray-Gun". Long before Chuck D called rap the CNN of the streets, Gil was The Evening News.