I befriended Barrett and hung out with him when we both played on Rush Street in different bands in Chicago. I have many great memories from my association knowing him.
I hung with Barett a lot in the early 80s with my friend Andy Florio, I never did see him play though...We hung out at this drum show at USC that ended with Steve Gadd (who was amazing) Barrett had a very nice wife too who was a lot younger than he was...I do a pretty good imitation of is voice you could hear him talk from a half a block away...
One of my favourite stories was Barrett being interviewed for a radio thing and the interviewer mentioned he had just got married and his wife was much younger than him. Asked whether he was concerned about the age difference, Barrett gave the classic reply, “ Man, if she dies she dies!!” If you never saw the great man in the flesh, you don’t know what you missed!
