Here we go, more useless random facts about me. LOL
In this article, I’ll tell you about an aliment I live with day to day. It might not surprise you that I have this with my vocation, but it has nothing to do with what I do for a living. It stems back to my youth.
How many records do I have? That’s a great question. One day I’ll have to actually count them, but suffix it to say I have a few. I’ll tell you how this whole fixation started. I have one friend to blame it all on! LOL Let’s just say, I’ve spent a lot of time and money gathering my collection. By the way, I still own the very first album I ever bought….Ride The Lightning from Metallica.
I’ll tell you about how I became friends with Pantera drumming legend, Vinnie Paul. I think the first time I met the Cowboys from Hell was around 1993 or 1992. They did an in-store album signing and I somehow was invited to dinner afterwards. Man, I wish I had a picture of that. Anyways, years later Vin and I would bond over hockey. I thought about this recently with the passing of his 60th birthday on March 11th. I posted how I’d write about how our friendship started….here is that story.
How about my love for Harley-Davidsons? You’ll never guess which legendary rocker sat on an older bike of mine and signed it.
I’ll also tell you about my mother. Man, she was a talker. She worked at a local convenience store in the little town I grew up in. She would tell everyone that her son was on the radio. She was so proud. I lost her a very long time ago. That story is below as well.
Here we go, random facts from your afternoon drive host on the mighty WRIF!
i live with tinnitus
Yes, my left ear rings constantly. Because of this, I fall asleep with the TV on every night. This is the result of having the ear rebuilt twice. Once in my late teens, and once around 30. Long story short, I had a benign tumor that ate away my inner ear as a kid from a hole left by ear tubes.
In the second surgery, they actually cut my ear off and stitched it back on.
Broadcasting live.
my birthday is....
My birthday is March 10th. Yes, I’m a Pisces. It’s kind of a blah day to have a birthday, but it’s the one I got.
The lovely Deena Centofanti at GNR at Comerica Park.
vinnie Paul's birthday is march 11
The reason I bring this up is because I recently posted that I would write how V.P. and I became friends through our love of hockey. It goes back to the first interview I did with him after his brother was killed. I brought up the fact that Phil Anselmo wasn’t allowed at the funeral. He commented that he really didn’t want to speak to that. At that moment I felt that I crossed a line and I felt bad about it. When the interview aired, I cut that part out of the conversation. I knew he was a huge hockey fan and I wanted to make it up to him. I grabbed an 8×10 of Nick Lidstrom and had Nick sign it to Vinnie. I framed it and took it to the Filmore. I told one of his security guys that I had something for V.P. When he looked at it he said “Yeah. he’ll want to talk to you!” I gave it to Big Vin and apologized. He said it wasn’t necessary, and that he loved the picture. I heard it hung in his pool room at his place in Vegas.
Ironically, I ran into Vinnie on three different occasions on trips to Las Vegas. He always stopped to say Hello. The last time was in the fall of 2017. It was at a Steel Panther concert at the House of Blues. Vin was wrecked from the GNR show he was coming from. He bought me a drink at the bar and we hung out for about 15 minutes, even shooting a video, which was his idea.
Vinnie would die in his sleep in June of the following year a week after the Stanley Cup finals, which he texted with me for over an hour after his Golden Knights lost. He was a good guy!
Vinnie and I at the House Of Blues the last time I hung with him. This was the fall of 2017.
I've only owned six motorcycles in my life
For whatever reason, I tend to hold onto things for a long time. Hell, I’ve been at RIFF for 28 1/2 years! I bought my first motorcycle fresh out of high school. It was a Yamaha 650 street bike. My first Harley came shortly after and I’ve never looked back.
My first Harley was a 1971 Sportster, which my friends and I completely rebuilt.
My second was a 1977 Harley Super Glide
My third was a 2004 Harley Softail Standard
My fourth was a 2009 Harley Street Glide
My current Harley is a 2013 Street Glide, which is a badass machine!
This is my first Harley that friends and I rebuilt from the ground up. Jon Bon Jovi signed the tank “On a steel horse I ride….Wanted” It was really cool!
My latest Harley. I LOVE riding this bad boy!
I own a lot of vinyl albums
I think I own somewhere between 600-700 vinyl records. It all re-started in February of 2017. While interviewing Stone Sour bassist, Johnny Chow, he casually said that in his house they only listen to music on vinyl. That stuck with me all day. When I got home I asked my wife to order a turntable for me. I’ve been hooked since. Rarely does a day go by that I don’t listen to an album. I have everything from AC/DC to Frank Zappa. I probably have the most albums from Judas Priest, Metallica, Ozzy, RUSH, Yes, Alice Cooper, among others.
