Don Christopher Kassay started playing drums when he was only 4 years old. in 1965 when he was a sophmore in high school, he and his best friend formed their first band "The Tempest". The band consisted of 7 members that included a 3 piece horn section that was unheard of for such a young group. The band typically played a variety of top 40 rock and Motown cover songs including songs from such artists as the Rolling Stones, The Who, theTempations, Wilson Picket, Four Tops, Otis Redding and Marvin Gay to mention a few.

Although he was only 15 years old at the time, the band became very popular and was a big success playing at least 3 nights a week and they even had their own club called "the Hut" that was managed by the local Boy Scout Troop. The Tempest however was so busy they only played at their own club a few nights a month, so they had to hire other local bands to come in and play. The Tempest did have a big advantage over other local bands in the area, their manager was the editor of the local paper. You cannot get much more publicity than that!

When asked what was one of his most memorable moments, he instantly said that in 1967 "The Tempest" decided to enter a state-wide 'Battle of the Bands' held at the state fairgrounds. He remembered being on the double ferris wheel when he heard The Tempest's name being called to be ready to go on in 20 minutes. On stage Don recalls looking out at the 1000s of people watching and yelling at the top of their lungs. He thought, "Now I know what the Beatles felt like at Shea Stadium. He recalls playing and never heard a note from the band the crowd was screaming and yelling so loud. Luckly however, their short performance was enough for the Tempest to walk away with 1st place.

In 1972 shortly after graduating from college, Don hired an agent and almost immediately became a highly recuited professional tour drummer. In fact, he was so highly recruited that he had to turn down a lot tours, and bands realized they had to book him weeks and sometimes months in advance to get him as thier drummer.

In 1995, after 23 years touring, he decided to semi-retire and pursue other oppoturnites in the music business. This is when he started Thunder & Lighting Concert Productions, Thunder Mastering Studios, Don C. Kassay Publishing Company and Thunder Records.

In October of 2009 Don decided to start his own social network because he was not satisfied with the other social networks on the Internet. That is when he started The Music Network. The Music Network has only one theme and that theme is MUSIC.

Below are some of the musicians and/or artist Don has worked and become friends with over the past many years. He still keeps in contact with most of them and on occasion will go out on tour with them for a few weeks at a time.

Rod Stewart, Elton John, Paul McCartney, Three Dog Night, Kansas, .38 Special, Henry Lee Summer, Billy Joe Royal, Journey, Aerosmith, White Lion, Winger, Firehouse, Warrant, Greg X. Volz, Rick Derringer, KIX, Dr. Hook, Danger Danger, Queensryche, Billy Squire, Wynton Marsalis, Milton Bullock, Conway Twitty, Loretta Lynn, Charlie Daniels, Blackfoot, Gregg Allman, The Cars, Jimmy Buffett, Junior Walker and the All Stars, Linda Ronstadt, The Fabulous Kays Band, Grand Funk Railroad, Fog Hat, Eddie Money, Nazareth, Delbert McClinton, Diane Bailey, Eddie Miles, Johnny B. Denton, Molly Hatchett, Steve Earle, Marshall Tucker Band, Eddie Rabbit, Louis Mandrell, Barbara Mandrell, Dottie West, Shelly West, T. Graham Brown, Larry Gatlin and the Gatlin Brothers, The Black Crows, Alice in Chains, Little Caesar, Savatage, Joan Jett, Little Feat, Gladys Night and the Pips, Herman's Hermits, John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band, Ben E. King, Ray Charles, Roberta Flack, Meat Loaf, Mother's Finest, Richard Marx, Steppenwolf, The Coasters, Hall and Oates, Jon Bon Jovi, Staircase and Doc Holiday to list a few.

Written by: Becky Slayzak