Hey there. So I had a fantastic day last Friday in Shawnee Oklahoma. We had a show at the Fire Lake Arena with rock legends Deep Purple and a great new four piece old school guitar and smoking lead vocalist band Joyus Wolf. We got to the venue in the early afternoon to get on the last thirty minutes of Eddie Trunk's show on XM 106 Volume. He was broadcasting live from the arena. Eddie Trunk is hard core! We talked a lot music and rock'n'roll gossip with David P and Tommy C chiming in too. Thanks for having us on your show Ed! Hope we can do it again soon. So, of course one of my biggest early influences was and still is Deep Purple. I was a huge Purple fan when I was 17-18. I got to see them live in Montreal when they were touring for the Machine Head album. Wow! That show in '72 (I think) was an education for me as to how a rock band could display incredible musical skill and generate enormous amounts of energy from their performance. I never forgot that show and have used it as the high bar I needed to try to reach in my own performances. In '81 we did a tour with Ritchie Blackmore and Rainbow. Got to know Ritchie and Roger Glover and Don Airey too (totally amazing keyboard player and also an inspiration). I hadn't seen Roger since that tour and it was awesome to catch up with him and Don. I had met Ian Paice in Orlando FL when we would hangout at this bar in Cassleberry where we would drink Heiniken, pretend to play pool and occasionally get up and jam on the band of the week's gear. Ian Paice is just such a phenomenal drummer/musician and there aren't really enough superlatives to describe his ability and incredible contribution to rock music and to percussion in any genre. So there! I was introduced to Ian Gillan for the first time on Friday night and pretty much felt like I'd known him forever. Plus you gotta respect those pipes! I'm not forgetting about Steve Morse whom I've known for quite a while and is a guitar virtuoso in his own right. I believe it was Steve who asked me to get and play on "Smoke On The Water" but all the guys said they thought that would be cool too. Honestly? I think in some way, my life had been leading up to this moment. I replied "hell yeah!" and took off to my dressing room and grabbed my guitar so I could try and remember Ritchie Blackmore's signature solo in that song. I had learned it note for note as busy-work about ten years ago. Getting up on stage and playing that classic song with these amazing players was definitely a high point in a life filled with a lot of cool moments. Ian Gillan was killing it vocally! Ian Gillan invented a vocal style that has bred many many imitators but no one comes close to his confident and powerful voice. Everywhere I looked on stage everyone was locked on that vicious groove that Ian P and Roger were laying down, big smiles all round. Anyway...I thought I'd tell you about my experience and hope you can imagine how cool it was for me. Talk again soon. K? Cheers, PT (p.s. my manager, Bruce Pilato, is standing in for Don Airey in this photo)