Musicians I Saw Live In El Paso No One Will Ever See Again

I'm sure a lot of Halloween costumes will be themed around ghosts, spirits and famous dead people this year.

Dead rock stars tend to show up a lot at Halloween parties and I myself took that route this year.

I recently wrote about some rock stars I got to be friends with over the years who have passed away. While I'm glad my list of dead rock star amigos is a short one, the list of dead rock stars I got to see perform is, sadly, quite a bit longer.

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Heaven, as they say, has a helluva band ...

Singers:

Ronnie James Dio. I was lucky enough to have met him and hang out a while backstage. One of the nicest people I have EVER met

Bassists:

Lemmy Kilmister/Motorhead and Dusty Hill/ZZ Top. I never go to meet either of them but I wish I could have. Lemmy is actually the reason I switched from guitar to bass as he showed me bassists weren't limited to quietly holding the low end.
Another early bass hero was Cliff Burton/Metallica. Watching him do Anesthesia live was mind blowing. His and Lemmy's approach to the bass changed my life.

Guitarists:

Ronnie Montrose--Edward Van Halen--Randy Rhoads --- Dimebag Darrell. Man, talk about the Mt. Rushmore of axe slingers.
I hung out with Ronnie and Dime, the others I only saw perform ... and their shows were beyond incredible. I also saw Jeff Hanneman/Slayer & Glenn Frey/Eagles.

Photo, GG

Keyboardists/Pianists:

Violinists:

Robby Steinhardt/Kansas He and I did a couple of shows together, a KLAQ Balloonfest and a "Rock The Fort" on Biggs. Very talented guy with a love for insanely hot salsa.

Drummers: