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mojofilter wrote: ↑Mon Jul 12, 2021 5:31 am Can I post again? I saw The Beatles on Ed Sullivan (everybody's family watched Ed on Sunday nights), and I watched their cartoons, and I knew their songs up through Day Tripper and then Magical Mystery Tour (my cousin Jim gave me his CDN mono copy) and then in October 1969 I heard "Come Together" on the radio. It was life-changing for me. I had already thought that I'd vaguely like to be a pianist (had already been learning for five years) when i grew up, but this record cemented it for me. Blew my mind. I gave up any pretense of ever wanting to work in a factory or office, and wanted to play rock and roll with other guys.

But first I had to get good enough. I put all of my energy into it, learning to play with records. And not like I was some goof jamming with the record, I learned to play what the guy on the record was playing. I didn't know who Joe Osborn was for decades, but he was my other inspiration, being on all those hits with The Wrecking Crew. Hal Blaine, too. Word had got around all over somehow that I was a bass player, and one day I got that call. My reputation preceded me. Got my first professional gig at 14 playing bass in a group of adults, where I had to get special permission to play in bars underage. Next group, I played drums, next group I played guitar, next keyboards. Played one or the other through 1998 when I moved far away and got married. Played in basements and kitchens and bars and clubs and auditoriums all over southern Ontario, played with strangers who blew the main group off the stage, earned standing ovations, the whole nine yards. Was never famous, though some people knew who I was. That one record started it all. My life would have been very different without it.