Favorate band growing up

Wow... where do I start?

THE first band to open my eyes musically was Cream. Jack Bruce was my biggest influence when I first started playing Bass 30-something years ago, followed by Mountain with Felix Pappalardi being the second biggest influnce. I was also into Grand Funk Railroad, Slade, Cactus (Tim Bogart...what a bassist!) Yes, and the Who also. I didn't appreciate Pink Floyd until later in life. Believe it or not, I couldn't STAND the "usual" favorites such as The Stones, Beatles, and Zeppilin. I have a few songs from them all that I like, but they never did much for me. And that's with Paul McCartney, a VERY under-rated Bassist.

These days my favorites are Tool, Rage against the Machine, Blood Simple, Red Hot Chille Peppers (Flea = WOW! on Bass...) and too many more to list....

And speaking of Rush: I've seen them about 10 times (so far...) with tickets to see them this July at Jones Beach out here on Long Island. The first time I took my wife I explained to her that 3/4 of the audience was musicians and that watching Rush live is like attending one big music lesson. Before the show would start I'd strike up conversations with the people around us and eventually ask if they played an instrument; I never guessed wrong! And my wife agreed with me, Geddy Lee has super-human abilities: we've seen him hammering notes with his left hand on the neck of the Bass, using his right hand to play keyboards, and use his feet to play Bass pedals. And sing...all at once! Neil Peart is probably one of the single greatest drummers to ever take a breath on this planet, maybe others as well....

Rush is one of my all time favorites bands. Count on seeing YYZ live...I've never seen them NOT do it. :-D