As for Merlancia being a total hoax, actually "they" included Dave Haynie after he parted company with Metabox, Harv Laser, and others at one point not too long ago. So it was, at least for a while, a group that had the potential to produce something. But now Dave has left and I'm not sure about the others. In the end you're probably right, but I wanted to clarify that there was some substance at Merlancia at least temporarily.
-- gary_c
