Texas teen learns to fly like an eagle

Rock 'n' roll guitarist Steve Miller rose to fame as the space cowboy, a gangster of love, a joker, a smoker, a midnight toker.

As a character named Maurice, he spoke of the "pompatus" of love in his song "The Joker." To this day, no one knows what that means.

Now, Miller has become a mentor to a Dallas teen, Max Marshall.

"Playing music with Steve has validated my dream of being a musician for real instead of just a pipe dream," said Marshall, a guitarist, songwriter and high school student.

The relationship between Miller, a rock legend since the 1960s, and Marshall, 17, a junior at St. Mark's School of Texas, could easily have remained untold. Neither of them was seeking publicity.

But anyone wandering into the school's auditorium on a recent afternoon would have found Miller, Marshall and three band mates rehearsing "Fly Like an Eagle" for an alumni concert. The sounds that poured from Marshall's Fender guitar seem to channel Muddy Waters.

Miller, 67, attended St. Mark's in the late 1950s. The school expelled him during his junior year for having a bad attitude, but Miller and St. Mark's made up several years ago.

"They came and said they wanted to make it right, and I said, 'Apology accepted,'" Miller said.

Marshall was 12 when he and Miller first met. Miller was in town for a St. Mark's function, and the school scheduled a dinner in his honor at the Marshalls' house.

"Steve came to dinner one time when he was in town, and my brother, Charlie, and I came downstairs for autographs," Marshall recalled. "He asked me if we had any guitars, and we began talking about playing."

Miller showed Marshall some special licks.

"He was serious then, and that's why I took him seriously," Miller said. "He really is remarkable."

Since then, Miller has taken Marshall on the road with him to Houston and Austin, Texas, and New York City.

Marshall once played with Miller and guitar player and innovator Les Paul at the Iridium Jazz Club in New York. Paul, who died in 2009, was Miller's godfather and mentor.

"In some ways, I'm getting the same treatment from Steve that he got from Les," Marshall said. "It's a cool opportunity."

But the most important question: Has Miller revealed to Marshall what "the pompatus of love" means?

"I actually did ask him that," Marshall said. "And he told me that it's sometimes better to make up a word than use a real one."