-tom613-

My real name is Tom Bettini. I play bass for ABLAZING GRACE, an acoustic trio called HILLBILLY SPEEDBALL and I write all the music, lyrics,and play bass for a solo project called SOUPLINEMAN. I also teach bass lessons.Check out www.myspace.com/ablazing_grace AND www.myspace.com/hillbillyspeedball here on MySpace.I love bass. In my house are so many basses that I dont know how many there actually are anymore. There is one six string guitar. It is not mine.I started playing bass in 1975. I gave up a career in law to be a professional musician in 1977. My mother threw me out in 1978. Parts of my family dis-owned me. Over those years I played in many, many road bands, living in conditions that were sub-human/sub poverty because I loved music so much and I knew it would pay off eventually. I didnt get clothes for Christmas........I got bass strings. I didnt get a car for graduation, I got a left handed Rickenbacker and walked to practice. I played for the rock group JACKYL from 1987-2000. During those years, I recorded bass tracks on the first 4 studio albums, the first live album, the BEAVIS & BUTTHEAD EXPERIENCE soundtrack, the WOODSTOCK II soundtrack and set 2 GUINESS world records. The first record was 100 SHOWS IN 50 DAYS. The second was 21 SETS IN 24 HOURS. Yep, you read it right....21 forty minute sets in 24 hours! We also played WOODSTOCK II (1994) in front of 325,000 people. What a rush! We toured with AEROSMITH, TED NUGENT, DAMN YANKEES'S, LYNYRD SKYNYRD, SLAUGHTER, ZZ TOP, BRUCE DICKENSON, TYPE O NEGATIVE, ENUF'Z'NUF, MIND BOMB and many more I cant remember, and played many one-off shows/festivals with KISS, PETER GABRIEL, METALLICA, HENRY ROLLINS, ZAK WYLDE, WHITESNAKE, EXTREME, JASON BONHAM, SASS JORDAN, THE FABULOUS THUNDERBIRDS, BLUE OYSTER CULT, PAT TRAVERS, MEGADETH, PANTERA, SICK OF IT ALL, and a shit load of others I cant remember either....we also did a couple of gigs with Brian Johnson of AC/DC getting up and jammin' a few with us. That was waaaaaaay cool.People often ask me "Do you have children?" and I reply, "No, I have basses and I take them out to play".Oh yeah..........if you look at my pix and wonder "wtf?........is he left handed or right handed, and whats up with those strings?"Yes, I am left handed................I just play it strung backwards............so no, you are not tripping........I also LOVE cars. Especially '60's '70's high performance vehicles. My main ride/rod is a 1972 Dodge Charger that is anything but stock. It is in a constant state of evolution as i gradually turn it into the ultimate stop light neck snapper/high way star/highway terror. I also have a 1965 Dodge Dart, a 1977 Lincoln MARK V, and I currently am eyeballing a 1971 Ford Torino parked down the street.SEE YA ON THE ROAD.......... I edited my profile with Thomas' Myspace Editor V4.4