Rest in peace Eddie Van Halen, thanks for inspiring guitar players like me to be creative, and have a great time doing it.

This year’s six inductees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame were announced Wednesday morning and Pat Benatar was snubbed. She is one of the most successful female artists of the 80’s and she set the template for female hard rock singers at a time when few female hard rock singers had a presence on the charts or at rock radio.

Last week I heard the news about the passing of Neil Peart after a three years battle with glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer. We’ve lost a few great musicians over the past years, but this one hits hard, not only for me but all the musicians on my personal Facebook, needless to say the news spread quickly.