MAKING MEMORIES
by Michael Cartellone
May 22, 2026
Hello Cleveland!
And Hello fellow Rush Fans!
I’m happy to say that Arnold G. … the Rush Sculptor...and I are longtime friends. And, we are both natives of Cleveland, Ohio.
We have had many years together of fun and shared history, be it Musical and/or Personal … specifically with our mutual appreciation of Rush.
I remember many occasions sitting around and listening to Rush albums together and one night, specifically, listening intently to the ride cymbal on "La Villa Strangiato”. I can neither confirm nor deny there was marijuana involved.
Arnold and I have kept in touch all these years, even after I moved away from Cleveland to try to further my music career.
It’s with this springboard that my story begins.
Hold Your Fire
It was the fall of 1987 and I was living in New York City. I had just landed a gig playing drums for Tommy Shaw, who had taken a break from Styx to pursue a solo career. One day in early December while still at my day job, Tommy’s manager called to tell me I needed to take a leave of absence. The reason: the following week I was going to open for Rush at Madison Square Garden!
As you might imagine, for a 25 year old kid who had only played bars up to this point, this was an unbelievable bit of news! One of my first calls was to Arnold G. and he was as excited about this as I was! In actuality, The Garden was only one, of about 8 shows, the Tommy Shaw Band were going to open for Rush.
The First Gig
At the very first gig, which was in the Meadowlands, NJ, there was a bottle of champagne in our dressing room. Attached to the bottle was a welcome note written by Neil Peart … and also signed by Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson. I thought that was incredibly classy. Not wanting to miss the opportunity, I took the note off the bottle to keep for myself (maybe that wasn’t classy, but I didn’t care). I still have that note in a scrapbook, by the way.
Anyway, I first met Neil on December 11th at Madison Square Garden. I was backstage in a loading dock area, with my drumtech who was finishing setting up my kit. The Rush limos pulled in … and when Neil got out of his and saw me, he walked over and we introduced ourselves to each other. He took one look at my kit and said, “I see you have a denting problem” and chuckled. He was correct. I had been playing too hard and had dented my drumheads. Unfortunately, I still do this.
He then took me up onstage in return, to show me his kit. All of you will remember, this was the white kit with the hint of pink. It was set up in a circle: acoustic kit at the front … electronic kit at the back … and lived on a rotating drum riser.
Neil tilted the back kick drum upward (a clever design on hinges) and invited me to sit down … which was thrilling. I didn’t play it, but just sat there in awe. The last show of this run happened to be in Cleveland on December 17th at The Richfield Coliseum.
This is where I saw my first arena concert as a teenager, so to be playing there was going to be a dream come true.
That night, the Tommy Shaw Band was invited into Rush’s dressing room … and I was chatting with Neil about how nervous I was, playing my hometown. I mentioned my parents and a ton of my family and friends were there. Neil said he completely understood and mentioned how the guys in Rush have the same experience every time they play Toronto. This made me feel a little better.
I was so nervous in fact, that after the show I was so sick I ended up in an emergency room with dehydration!
Fortunately, that scenario only happened that one time because, we were invited to do the entire Hold Your Fire Tour in 1988, playing every big arena in the U.S. That tour was an amazing experience … and the best part of it was establishing a friendship with Neil, that continued for the next 33 years.
An Author and a Painter
You might be interested to know, that during my friendship with Neil all those years, we didn’t talk about drums. We talked about his writing … and we talked about my painting. These were the other parts of our lives that were very important to us … and we were always interested in what each other were doing with those endeavors.
Perhaps, Neil didn’t have other friends like this … and I have often wondered if that is why he took a liking to me the way he did. Every time he would release a new book, he would send it to me with a nice inscription. Actually, he did that with every Rush CD, too. Every time I would finish a new painting, I would send him a signed reproduction. It really was a fun exchange that went on for years and years.
Neil was incredibly kind to mention me in two of his books: "Far and Near” and “Far and Wide” … and I was very flattered that he did that. The comment in “Far and Wide” is easily my favorite thing that has ever been written about me:
Thanks buddy, very kind words, indeed.
Making Memories
I thought it might be fun, here, to share random memories of my times with Neil.
• As early as I can remember, Neil called me Don Cartellone. This was a play on my last name and The Godfather movie.
• Every time I would call him on the phone, he would answer “Don Cartellone”! —- I loved this.
• During the Hold Your Fire Tour, on a night off, when Rush rented out a bowling alley and had a party and Neil had me come to his lane and bowl with him all night. I suck at bowling, but that didn’t matter.
• In 2005, when Neil was nominated for a Grammy for his drum solo “O Baterista”... and, by chance, Lynyrd Skynyrd was performing on the Grammy Awards that year. The night before the Awards, I visited with Neil at a Grammy party and he told me he was dreading the outcome of the award … whether he won or lost (he didn’t win, unfortunately). At that party, Neil and his wife, Carrie, Rush’s manager Ray Daniels, my wife, Nancy, and I posed for a photo, together. In the 33 years we were friends, that is the only time Neil and I were photographed together. I’m very sorry to report that I don’t have a copy of that photo and I never even saw it.
• Like Neil was, I am a proud endorser of ProMark Drumsticks. Over the years I have changed the type of stick I use several times, which isn’t uncommon for drummers to do. About two years ago, I began playing the ProMark "Neil Peart 747 Signature” stick. Somewhere out there, Neil is smiling because his sticks are playing Freebird!
• Spending the afternoon with Neil in Santa Monica at his Bubba Cave … the garage with all his fancy cars lined up.
• Going to the “Burning For Buddy” soundcheck in NYC … watching the show that night from the audience, in the same row as Carrie … and ending up on camera as a happy spectator.
• Spending the day together at Madison Square Garden when Rush played there during the R40 Tour. Hanging out in Neil’s dressing room and him showing me his nasty foot fungus.
• Going onstage and him showing me the “Modern" Kit and the “Retro” Kit he was using for that R40 Tour.
• Watching them soundcheck in an empty Madison Square Garden.
• Going to a Chinese Restaurant together in California, where he was speaking French and I was speaking Italian.
• Neil and I actually did discuss drums, once. In 1992, I was writing a drum column for a Los Angeles based magazine called Powerkick. I asked Neil if he would be interested in doing an interview with me and he said yes. So, a few days later when Rush played Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre on their Roll the Bones Tour, we sat in Neil’s dressing room after the soundcheck. I turned on my tape recorder and Neil immediately said, “I was thinking about something you said on the phone the other day” … and then he proceeded to talk for the next 20 minutes. I just sat there and didn’t say a word. When he finished, I looked at the list of questions I was holding in my hand, looked up at Neil and said, “ok, thanks”. We both laughed, as he literally answered everything I was about to ask and had conducted the interview with himself!
… “another traveling friend, Michael Cartellone (longtime drummer with Lynyrd Skynyrd, which would surprise you if you knew him - a sophisticated urbanite and fine-art painter)” …
April 1, 2017
This is the date of an email, which is still on my phone.
In this email, Neil took me into his confidence and told me about the brain cancer. He went into very specific details about the chain of events of those first few months … and everything he went through. He asked me to keep this to myself … I did.
As we all know, Neil sadly passed away January 7, 2020.
It had been almost three years since he had told me the news … and even though I kept bracing for this, it was still incredibly shocking when he passed away.
I couldn’t help but think of some of his beautiful and poignant lyrics …
“When I heard that you were gone, I felt a shadow cross my heart”.
My Tribute
I have been a Pearl Drums Endorser since 1990, back during the days of my old band, Damn Yankees. When I reached my 30th Anniversary, Pearl asked if I would like to do something special to commemorate it. I suggested combining my two Loves: Drumming and Painting … and painting a one of a kind snare drum. The drum would consist of portraits of my Drumming Heroes.
Those heroes are: Neil Peart, obviously … and … Ringo Starr, Bill Bruford, Terry Bozzio, Stewart Copeland and John Bonham. Pearl did a nice little video and online article about the drum (which I have kept in my personal collection).
I’m sorry Neil wasn’t still with us to see my portrait of him … I think he would have gotten a kick out if it. But, knowing him as I did … much in the way he reacted whenever I praised him … he would have said, “You flatter me too much”.
That’s who he was. A humble and sensitive, caring man.
I miss you, my friend.
—-Michael
Biography
Michael Cartellone was born June 7, 1962 in Cleveland Ohio. He began painting at the age of four and drumming at the age of nine. Music and Art would be a simultaneous learning adventure throughout his childhood.
Music Career
Michael's professional music career began at the age of 11, when he played his first bar. After many years of the club circuit, he moved to New York City at the age of 22. After playing with former Roxy Music/UK keyboardist Eddie Jobson and then former Styx guitarist Tommy Shaw, Michael found himself a member of the multi-platinum selling band Damn Yankees. This was the springboard for a career that has included recording and/or touring with John Fogerty, Peter Frampton, John Wetton, Freddie Mercury, Cher, Adrian Belew, Accept and Lynyrd Skynyrd.
Art Career
Michael's art career has included Gallery shows in New York City, Phoenix, Washington, D.C., Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Fort Collins, Colorado and Long Island, New York before beginning his affiliation with the prestigious Wentworth Galleries.
A few words about Michael from Arnold G. - TRS
The force of nature that is Michael Cartellone, is best expressed in the lyrics of Mission from Rush’s 1987 Album, Hold Your Fire.
Mission
Spirits fly on dangerous missions
Imaginations on fire
Focused high on soaring ambitions
Consumed in a single desire
In the grip of a nameless possession -
A slave to the drive of obsession --
A spirit with a vision is a dream with a mission.
Lyrics by Neil Peart
I really think that lyric best describes Michael’s extraordinary journey and vision. Michael’s story is really one of singular focus, of shear will and determination. You hear about the idea of having a clear vision and living into that vision. That is Michael. It’s actually a rare thing that a relatively small number of people posses: to know with certainty from a very early age what you want and be able to manifest it.
It is said that it takes 10,000 hours to master a skill. It doesn’t just happen. If I were a gambling man, I would bet that Michael had achieved this benchmark by his teens. Add to that a high level of self confidence, self discipline, positivity and a striving for nothing short of perfection. Back in the day it was rare to see Michael without a broad smile on his face. He was always happy to be doing what he was born to do. Now add one more essential component: absolute support from the best parents anyone could hope for - Joseph and Grace Cartellone.
But even with all that, you still need to show up and do the work. Practice, perform, rinse and repeat on loop, with no complaints. You have to know how to take care of yourself and your health along the way too. Michael learned these things early on and applied them to himself and his craft. This is not something that money can buy either. Michael grew up as a middle class kid in Solon.Ohio. He played in the schools marching band.
On this trajectory there will always be people that are envious and wish if only that was them. But that is a flawed analysis. It can’t be them because they are not Michael, anymore than they are Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson or Neil Peart. Nothing happens unless you show up and do the necessary work. Michael did the work, lived hard into the dream and as a result, the experience happened for him as it was supposed to.
It’s not just talent though that makes Michael all that he is. It’s much more than meets the eye. Back in the day his family and friends also watched his assent in real time. There was simply no one who would or could match Michael’s energy, drive and ambition. You know that military saying: lead, follow or get out of the way? Yep. Sounds harsh, but that is what it takes. And Michael did all this years before there was even a whisper of the internet. He had to be resourceful and make every opportunity to network, count When he finally got his shot to audition for Tommy Shaw’s Band by putting himself where he needed to be, in New York City, he was so powerful on the drums that its said there was not much left of the kit after Michael was done playing. (Perhaps the beginning of Michael’s dent problem) Tommy was impressed. Michael was the one. The world had indeed bent to his will and manifestation had arrived on time.
So for those of you thinking this should be you. Sorry to say that it really can’t. At least not in this particular way. It’s a singular story with a specific set of circumstances that can’t be replicated in quite the same way. But, it is an inspirational story for sure.
It also wasn’t by chance that Neil and Michael became friends, in my humble opinion. Neil was clearly not very comfortable in the Limelight. Michael is the opposite and opposites attract.
So please join me in celebrating Michael’s ongoing journey and for his generous contribution to this project. I suspect with Neil watching from afar, he would be proud of his friend’s’ continuing adventure which is far from over. There is lots more art, music and life left to live and to look forward to.
Michael isn’t finished Making Memories.
Arnold G. - TRS - May 2026
For more info on Michaels Music and or Art career please visit:
This advertisement was in The Scene Magazine … promoting the Rush Concert (with Special Guest: Tommy Shaw) in December 1987. The Scene Magazine was the entertainment newspaper in Cleveland.
This is Neil's hand written letter, which was attached to a bottle of champagne and left in the Tommy Shaw Band dressing room … December 1987.
Getting ready for the Rush show at the Richfield Coliseum on 12/17/87. Shown here with Tommy Shaw and band.
Twenty-five year old Michael in December 1987, posing with Arnold's first ever Monster Mask. Micheal had just joined up with Tommy Shaw and was beginning to tour in late '87. He went on to join Damn Yankees with Shaw, Blades and Nugent and of course has been with Lynyrd Skynyrd since 1999.
This was Neil’s very kind inscription to Michael, in his "Traveling Music” book.
“The Four Davids” are Michael’s paintings representing 100 years of Art History. Neil’s email response to these paintings was: "Congratulations! What a truly EXCELLENT set of works. Conceptually, thematically and technically — the real thing, in big-boy letters: ART!"
This is the drum Michael painted with his drumming heroes, to celebrate his 30th Anniversary as a Pearl Drums endorser. Those heroes are: Neil Peart, Ringo Starr, Bill Bruford, Terry Bozzio, Stewart Copeland and John Bonham. The drum is called “Thirty Years”.
Michael's nostalgic tribute to New York City (set in the 1920's), is what he considers his most personal painting to date. This period piece brings to life in vivid detail: buildings, billboards, vehicles and figures of the time, all capturing a moment of a bygone era. The nostalgia doesn't stop there. Of special importance, are the three figures in the foreground, Michael's heroes: (left to right) Harry Houdini, Michael's father Joseph, and Charlie Chaplin.