Monday, February 03, 2020

Blind Item #12 - Reader Blind Item - Kindness

Some stories that have come out since the recent death of this foreign born highly influential musician. He was not a household name but the debut record of the group he was in is on many best of all time lists and and many other musicians copied his style.  This musician on the same instrument from this A++ band recalls attending a concert of the deceased musician as a teen and he inviting fans backstage and giving them lot of tips on playing. He was very gracious about his time and he did this for a lot of aspiring musicians . This is the same story told by a member of an A+ band he later produced and  also by a member of band that had a similar political outlook.


39 comments:

  1. That Gang of Four guy and some other people.

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  2. Neil Peart of Rush. A class act.

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  3. Well thank goodness it's not another musician raping teens story.

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  4. I think cheesegrater may have it with Andy Gill. Neil Peart was known by every fan of hard rock music, so he doesn't really fit as not a household name. although it wouldn't surprise me if he did stuff like this

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  5. A+ band produced by Andy Gill: Red Hot Chili Peppers (their debut)

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  6. As great as he is, Neil Peart famously didn't like meeting fans so I don't think its him. Watch the Rush documentary on Netflix. Awesome band.

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  7. Mr. Gill once bashed a nasty skinhead with his guitar... good times.

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  8. O/T, Rush Limbaugh announced he has advanced lung cancer.

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    1. My dad has had cancer 3x. I'm almost 50. First time was Lymphoma, and he treated with chemo, radiation and surgery. I was in 2dish grade. Remission accomplished. Then, lung cancer when I was about 25ish (initially detected by our Rottweiler, not even kidding), had the left lower lobe of his lung removed and followed up with Chemo. This time he was just diagnosed right before Thanksgiving. He has pancreatic cancer. The tumor is wrapped around a major blood vessel supply to the lower half of his body as well. He is not a candidate for surgery, so id doing chemo and radiation until he decides not to anymore, but with Pancreatic cancer, you never really get "remission", you just keep fighting the windmill to keep the size in check and to hopefully keep it from spreading. All this being said, my dad also was a 3 pack a day smoker of Camels (filtered, you know, the healthy kind) when he was young.
      All of my memories of my younger childhood, for the most part, involve a cig hanging out of his mouth. The moral is: lung cancer has a great remission rate these days, esp. if you can cut the tumor out and keep it from spreading. Just depends on how early it's caught. My dad thought he had bronchitis because he couldn't shake a cough. The dog kept sticking her nose in his side and smelling for like weeks before the cough set in. So he goes to the doc and they find the cancer as they were looking for the bronchitis/inflammation. It's in the same exact place on his back where the dog would stick her nose and kind of head butt it when he sat on the slatted chairs at the kitchen table. Doctor said she smelled the cancer. After he had the lobe removed, she would smell the area until it healed up, then quit smelling it. Now you can read articles about how they are actually training dogs to do this. Anyhow, the only thing I can say about Rush to avoid any negative karma for my Dad on the cancer front right now is that I hope he gets better, goes into full remission and retires on an island very far away, never to be heard from again.

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  9. Do Tell: A couple of weeks ago Rush was MIA on his show which was very unusual for him. Also uncharacteristically, the fill-in hosts did not say why he was gone. Now, we know. He was a really heavy smoker at one time. He often bragged about having given up smoking. Sometimes it's already too late. How advanced is advanced? He can't have treatment? He started the talk show phenom and will certainly be greatly missed by his conservative fan base.

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    1. Just saw on The Hill that he's gonna be doing intense treatment, but it's always a crap shoot with the big C especially in the lungs.

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  10. +1 on peart. Great doc out there on rush’s final tour.

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  11. As a Rush fanatic for nearly 45 years, I'd like to think it was Neil Peart. He was pretty private, though this might be the type of thing he would have done.

    However he didn't do a lot of producing as the blind states. In fact the only producing he did that wasn't for Rush was on two Buddy Rich tribute albums that seemed to be pet projects of his and certainly nothing for anyone who might be (at least what Enty calls) an A+ band.
    And yes, I had to use Mr Google to find that out.
    Peart was a libertarian though if political beliefs are to be used to find out who this is.

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  12. I think y'all got it with Andy Gill. And I think Angela's right about the Chili Peppers being the A+ band he produced. (Although, if I understand the lore correctly, Gill and the Chili Peppers were a contentious mix in the studio, even if the band did ultimately appreciate the experience.)

    For the guitarist from an A++ band who saw Gang of Four as a teen: I'm going with Johnny Marr of the The Smiths.

    For the member of a band w/similar political leanings: My automatic response is Joe Strummer, as The Clash and Gang of Four were contemporaries. But it could also be Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine. Tom always gushed with praise for Andy and considered him highly influential on his playing style.

    Gang of Four...what a band. Half the band I grew up on in my formative years may not have sounded like they did if they hadn't counted Gill and his compatriots as mentors.

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  13. No matter who the blind is happy to have discovered Gang of Four their songs are really good!

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  14. Andy Gill
    The Edge or Mike Mills
    Flea
    Tom Morello

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  15. Whomever it is he had a big heart

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  16. May he rot in hell...and I didn’t vote Democrat.

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    1. Rush that is

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    2. I hope he suffers. Limpballs was one of the worst people in American culture of the last 50 years.

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  17. @LB- why? Why would you WANT someone to burn in hell. Obviously, you don't agree with him but is a difference in opinion really worth want someone to burn???

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  18. @Georgia when you've got TDS all conservatives are the most hateful people on earth, so the party of "no hate" is fully justified doing just that

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  19. Anonymous3:21 PM

    Peart was not a Libertarian, he mentioned several times in interviews that he was most definitely liberal, not a fan or follower of Ayn Rand, and was rarely met by fans after shows, even in the early days, because he was incredibly shy. This is 100% Gill.

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  20. ha Brayson - your comment made me chuckle. :)

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  21. definitely andy gill. i've heard a few kind stories about him over the years. a real mensch

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  22. Peart wasn't even on Rush's debut album, which is on precious few if any "best of all time lists" although one track, "Working Man", is considered a classic.

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  23. People who don't like animals and people who wish suffering on others are two types who for sure cannot be trusted.

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  25. There is nothing in this blind referencing politics, so why even go there? You people are obsessed, grow up.

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  26. It was breaking news about a major figure in entertainment who had just announced he had cancer and it was posted as an O/T. *You* grow up and learn to tolerate things that aren't necessarily to your liking.

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  28. Obsessed is being kind. More like politically impotent....(amongst other ways i reckon) . It’s also
    Such a low brow,hostile, insanely ignorant commentary -but that’s all
    is all they got. Must make their latch key mamas proud. Or their multiple therapists who need to refund them their money.

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  29. Nice blind, and I, too, am happy to learn about Andy Gill and Gang of Four.

    Flashy-- My sister and one of her dearest friends from high school are also Rush diehards, and I thought of you when she told me the news. Randomly, one night, I asked her her favorite song. She instantly wrote back, asking, top 100? Then said she couldn't even pick by album. Then proceeded to list about 30, lol. Sirius XM did a nice job devoting Deep Tracks then a higher channel to doing a tribute to Rush and Neil.

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  30. Andy Gill dead. I am so sad. Saw Gang of Four twice, once in the 80's and in their reunion tour in 2005. The fact he was such a generous soul made sense, their music spoke of social justice and equality. Punk and post punk was anti racist and pro woman, unlike the macho posturing of so many previous bands. RIP Andy.

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  31. @IndigoBlue. God Bless your father. And prayers to him during his latest fight. My hubs had colo-rectal cancer surgeries almost 2 yrs ago & thus far it has stayed away. Thank God. But yes, our dogs detected a leg infection he had several years ago. Sniffed it constantly. Until it became obvious then he saw the Dr. The dogs did stop sniffing it after it was treated. Our Scotty used to jump on him at night whenever he'd stop breathing, till he found out he has sleep apnea!Probably saved his life a few times. Dogs are the best people I know <3
    #PrayForRush

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  32. All you mean girls wishing death and pain upon Rush are unwittingly making the argument for his very existence. Rush has always presented his worldview with humor and in an entertaining way. The reason that his show became the most successful show ever is twofold: 1) He is eloquent, fun, and upbeat. 2) His detractors are humorless and spiteful.

    As long as there are awful cretins like y'all out there wishing death upon people who voice different opinions, there will always be an audience for an upbeat, entertaining voice like Rush.

    Hope he beats this cancer so he can go on driving you all loony.

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  33. One thing is for sure, in America, there is no party of tolerance.

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  34. I love Neil but this is about Andy Gill. I can't believe Enty knows who Andy Gill was lol, Gang Of Four is such an incredible underrated band and this doesn't surprise me I always have heard only good things about him so this blind makes me happy. Rip Andy

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