With apologies to Don McLean..

[T_Bone0806]

Posted this on Facebook, but thought I'd share with those of you who don't do FB. For ME, THIS is the day the music died...twice:



Today is a day that is connected to sadness for me...the date that marked the passing of the two individuals that I would say most shaped my profound love of music. The first was my grandfather, who passed away on this date in 1964. I was only 7 when it happened, but I can still see myself in our apartment, just about ready to head off to school, when the call came. The sun rose and set on my Poppy, and he spoiled the living daylights outta me, being his first grandchild and also being named after him. He was an Italian chef by trade, but also a musician with a playful sense of humor..played keyboards and liked just about anything with a good piano or organ player, even rock-n-rollers like Fats Domino. Once he saw how interested I was in playing an instrument, he couldn't get a guitar in my hands fast enough, signing me up for lessons at his friend Tony Brooks' music store. Oh, and the reason it was a guitar came earlier that year...February 9th, when 4 guys from Liverpool, England showed up on my TV and impacted my life in a way that is understood by so many of my contemporaries. It truly was a skyrocket exploding in my brain when I saw this event...I KNEW at that exact moment what I wanted to be when I grew up....unfortunately the Beatles broke up before I could join them, but I did manage to play and sing in numerous bands with varying degrees of success, getting about as far as my limited talents could take me..probably a bit more if I'm being honest with myself. Anyway, my first inclination was to be a drummer like Ringo, but that quickly changed, as I kept thinking about that one guy who looked SO cool in that confident stance, legs planted apart and leaning into the microphone. So, by the time the signup for lessons came, it was the guitar, not the drums. I love all 4 of those guys, but it was John that made me choose the guitar. It was 35 years ago today that he was taken from us...35 years..just doesn't seem possible. It has never been lost on me that I was up on a stage..Art Stock's Playpen North in Rochester NY..when I heard the terrible news. I was doing what he had inspired me to do when it happened. And so, my two biggest musical influences were both taken from me on this date, 16 years apart. Thank you, Poppy and John...maybe someday we'll get to jam together, huh?

[Vandal]

Great post.

In the pre-Twitter days we were thankful to have Howard Cosell as a news breaker.