Dick Sisto began reading Merton while still living in his hometown of Chicago where he attended Quigley Prep Seminary of the Chicago Archdiocese. Dick then attended Northwestern University where he played in the Jazz band. At that time he had begun practicing Zen meditation with a Japanese Roshi at the Zen Temple of Chicago as well as reading Merton.
He went to Louisville to play a gig at 118 Washington which was the jazz club Merton occasionally attended. He met Father Vernon Robertson who introduced him to Merton and Dick became one of a small group of counter culture men who Merton refers to as his friends in his journal, ‘ The Other Side of the Mountain.’ We met one on one and in small group picnics where Bob Lax took the above photo of Merton and me drinking beer and talking about Zen. The show will fill in details.