Antone Irwin Kaleel (Michael James Bennett)

added 6 photo(s) to the memorial :

March 5, 2021

added 1 photo(s) to the memorial :

March 5, 2021

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March 2, 2021

I met Mike during a gig I was playing at the thunderbird in Pittsburgh in 2005, he was friends with my friend and the guitarist through the car business. I had seen Slasher on IFC the year before and I heard some guy talking and was like, I know that... moreI met Mike during a gig I was playing at the thunderbird in Pittsburgh in 2005, he was friends with my friend and the guitarist through the car business. I had seen Slasher on IFC the year before and I heard some guy talking and was like, I know that voice....I looked over and knew immediately who it was! What a weird small world! He came to our gigs whenever he was in town and I stayed in touch with him over the years. He was such a music lover!! Years later, I think it was fall of 2012, I was in NYC and all of a sudden found myself with no place to stay, started calling everyone I knew looking for someone who might know someone to put me and my friend up for a night. Slash answered and let me use the rest of his damn Hilton points! To this day the nicest room I've ever stayed in. I ended up traveling all over CA a few months later in the spring of 2013 and went up to visit him in Lake Arrowhead. I fell in love with Cali and moved to LA a couple months later, then I really got to hang with him a lot! Sometimes I'd go up there for a weekend or on holidays but more often he would come down to see me sing on Sunday nights with my friends at Canter's Deli. We drove up to Santa Cruz with with our friend Timmy one time, I was into some guy I'd met there and when we got there he had a girlfriend. I was so upset and even though we were supposed to stay a few days Mike was like we're out of here. We blasted The B-52s the whole ride home and all sang our guts out. He always could make me feel better! Mikey was one of the most encouraging and supportive people I've ever met. He talked about his girls and how proud he was of them, story after story, constantly. He loved to dance and just shoot the breeze, he was always smiling. I wish I hadn't been so far away these last few years (I moved back East, got married and had a little boy, god I wish he could have met my boys, he would have loved them). I talked to him a couple months before he passed and even though he was having a tough time he still had hope and joy in his voice. It was always like no time ever passed when we got in touch. He was a true friend to me, and I will miss him forever. Love you my friend, and all my love to his girls and everyone else he left behind. <3 less