Day 1 of Paul Loves Weezer - Rock and Roll Heaven

Today is March 5, 2014.  My brother, Michael was born on March 5, 1969.  He would be 45 today.  To say that he loved music would be the understatement of the century.  I have his record collection which features every KISS LP available, Metallica, Ted Nugent, Prince, Elvis, Michael Jackson, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Black Sabbath and Ozzy, among many, many more.

He sparked my love for music, as my room was always right next to his and I listened through the wall to all of those albums.  I subconsciously learned all the words to every KISS song over the years.  He also introduced me to live music.  He took me to my first club show in Charleston, SC to see Prong open for Flotsam and Jetsam in 1989.  Then in August 1989, he drove us to Columbia, SC to see The Cult open for Metallica at the Carolina Coliseum.  It was absolutely incredible.

Michael had perfect pitch and could play any song on piano, guitar or bass by ear.  Seriously, he could hear part of a song and then just play it.  He was left-handed, but could play guitar either right-handed or left-handed.  He was an encyclopedia of songs from the '50's through the '90's.  He should have been on Name That Tune, because he would have won it all.  He played guitar as his main instrument and he played in some bands around Charleston in the late '80's.  He recorded a song, This Just Ain't My Day on a 4-track cassette recorder, which I now have on CD.  He was also a visual artist and once painted the cover of Prince's Purple Rain face 6 feet tall on the wall of his room.

I have a specific memory of working in the summer with him in 1992 and hearing Radiohead's Creep on the radio.  We both stopped what we were doing and listened to the song.  We knew it was something special.

Tragically, I must use the past tense, because Michael passed away suddenly in 1999 due to viral pneumonia.  When he was 15, he was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Disease and a large cancerous tumor in his chest cavity.  He was in significant pain for years, but did not complain.  He coped via music.

I hope you will join me in honoring Michael with a donation to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.  Here is a link to my buddy Andrew's page.  He is running the Boston Marathon this year.

This picture was taken of him in his signature VW Bug, on which he meticulously cut out window tint film into the logo of Metallica and put it on the back window.  You could hear it coming a mile away blasting the #metal:

May you be rocking forever in Rock and Roll Heaven!