Today is the 53rd birthday of one Jeffrey Dean Isbell, aka Izzy Stradlin of Guns N' Roses.  He's the high school pal of Axl Rose, co-founder of GnR, and key songwriter for them writing/co-writing just about every big hit they had.  He walked away from all that at the height of their popularity and if you can believe it, has done 10 solo albums since!

He started out as a drummer, switched to bass (mainly because he had his drum set  stolen) and eventually played rhythm guitar.  He's a pretty smart guy for having graduated from High School with a "D" average, and I think GnR's biggest problems could be blamed on him leaving the band as much as Axl's mental problems.  So on his birthday, I salute him and all GnR fans ... maybe I can sneak in another GnR track today on the Punch-Out !

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