Finding An Old Friend Too Late

by Bob Boilen

I just learned about the death of an old friend. I began to loose touch with Don Bernstine when my music tastes went more toward Talking Heads and his went more toward Def Leppard.

I've spent the past few hours catching up on Don's life and he did pretty well for himself. Turns out he's the guy who bought so much of that great rock memorabilia for the Hard Rock Cafe.

This picture slays me on so many levels. Don and I worked in a record store together in 1973 when the first Queen record came out. We got one copy in the store, looked at the cover and both thought: "Who are these guys? This looks great!"
We blasted that record over and over. It was our common ground, I loved Queen for the band's unique, arty sound, and he loved them because they rocked. We even went to see Queen on the group's first U.S. tour.

Seeing Don sitting next to Queen's guitarist Brian May is like seeing an old friend who's just found his dream. It makes me happy and makes me cry at the same time.
Goodbye Don Bernstine, I'll miss you.

10:18 PM ET | 06-30-2009 | permalink

comments |