QotD: My Musical Influence

Which friend or acquaintance most influenced your taste in music? 
Submitted by Rev Stan.

We have to set the wayback machine to 1979. I met a guy on the pier at Fisherman's wharf in San Pedro, California. His name was Gary, but he also went by Chuck. He was really nice, and really excitable. He was significantly older than me, but I didn't get any kind of creepy vibe off of him. He just thought I'd like to see his band, and a few other bands. So, I did. That's how I got into Punk Rock. Then, I found out that my cousins were into it, as well. That influenced the direction I took in Punk Rock (there were many, really.) I tended more towards the arty side, but never all the way into post-punk, or New Wave. I still like mostly the same areas: I like power pop, I like thrash, I like garagey stuff, I like rough and tumble country, I like really tight jazz, I like atonal modal type experimental stuff, and I like reggae. All of that was available to me at "Punk Rock" gigs, in Los Angeles, in the late seventies and early eighties. I owe all that to Gary McDaniel, better known as Chuck Dukowski.