Got a call from the singer/guitar player. We’ve been playing tons of gigs with a fill in bass player since our regular player moved to Portland. We’ve been frustrated with the fill in as he doesn’t know more than half the tunes we play. And he doesn’t seem to know any of the “cool” half either.
So the call was a voicemail letting me know we have a new bass player and “she’s cute.” Hmm… Interesting.
Just another regular gig for me last night:
1. Bashed the shit out of the drums
2. Chicks flashing their tits at the band
Rock & roll been bery bery good 2 me.
I’m a “hired gun” today at the Park City Arts Festival. I play with a rock band on the big stage at the top of main street at noon.
I’ve played gigs with this band off and on for years, though I haven’t played with them lately. They sent me a set of CDs for me to review the tunes we’re playing. I checked the tunes out and made my notes for the gig so I’d be fairly prepared. Then they sent me a revised list and 3/4 of the tunes on the new list weren’t on the CDs and I haven’t heard them. So now, rather than being somewhat prepared I’m going into 3/4 of the gig with NO idea what I’m playing.
Sounds fun.
Thanks to Sean for his work on fixing my new DW copper snare. Thankfully, at last night’s gig the throw off worked flawlessly.
Now I can honestly say that this new snare kicks f’n ass. It is quite possibly even MORE responsive than my old brass Ludwig (RIP). I’m a happy snare camper now.
Last night’s gig was great because my bass player who moved to Portland was in town to play. It’s SO much better when your bass player of 20+ years is there.
I bought a new video camera on the way to the gig and taped the show so we can give a DVD to any fill-in’s. That will be useful.
So at the last gig I was excited to try out my new copper DW snare drum. It wasn’t cheap but it was supposed to sound awesome. I chose it not only for it’s sound, but because the drum sales guy told me this would be a “durable drum which would last years of heavy gigging, even as hard as I play.”
I guess he was wrong because 30 seconds into the first song with this drum the f’ing throw off threw off. I thought I’d just whacked the throw off arm so I turned it back on. With each snare hit the throw off arm would go about 1/3 of the way off. So after 3 hits the damn thing would turn into a timbale, no snares…
Nice. I replaced a 35 year old Ludwig that worked perfectly at my gigs for two decades for a 2006 DW that lasted 30 seconds before it failed. I had to find some damn masking tape to tape the frigging throw off arm in the up position to finish the gig.
I’ve since had last year’s model throw off put on this thing so we’ll see if that can break the record and last, oh say ONE song?
A drummer gotta do what a drummer gotta do.
In this case, using a shim I found to assure that my newly f’d up kick pedal clamps onto my kick drum properly…
Today I was a drummer, not a sound guy, computer geek or whatever. I was a drummer. It felt good too…
Now that I’m back in the gig rotation somewhat it was time to make a trip to the local drum shop. This shop is run by two long time pals. What’s cool about this place is….well, it’s a drum shop. They don’t sell guitars or PA systems. They sell drums.
I had a wonderful Ludwig brass snare drum from 1962 or so in my gig kit for close to 20 years. I bought the thing for $15 from a guy who didn’t want it anymore and didn’t know what he had.
That Ludwig snare was the loudest, sweetest, most responsive drum ever. I could play licks on that thing I’d never be able to pull off with other snares. Unfortunately that drum, my Top New Beat HH cymbals and the snare case were ripped off about a year ago. I would have gladly given up my entire drum kit rather than losing that snare.
I’ve been playing gigs with my other $15 early 60′s Ludwig snare but this one was made of steel and not brass (though they both look exactly the same with a chrome finish). This one is about 20 pounds lighter than my old one. It sounds great but isn’t “magic” like my old brass one was.
So today I decided I’d find a replacement for that old lost snare. My first thought was a Ludwig Black Beauty. The Black Beauty is the exact same drum as the one I lost, only it’s black instead of chrome. Ludwig is still making them amazingly. I tried the 2006 model, along with about 6 other snares today. I tried a copper Ludwig snare from the early 70′s which I could have picked up for around $100. It didn’t “sing” the way I wanted. I also tried a few other metal Ludwigs, Gretsch’s etc. My final decision was between a 5″ solid copper Copper Shell Collector Series by DW and that 2006 Black Beauty.
I put them both on a kit and bashed them like I normally would at a gig. BASHED them. Both drums sounded amazing. Neither sounded like my old brass baby but they sounded amazing in their own different ways. I finally ended up deciding to pick up the DW. It is a beauty. It weighs about 300 pounds. Sean, my sales guy & buddy said this one would be a little more durable on the road and it was about $100 less than the BB was.
I also picked up a new gig bag for the DW since my old snare GB was ripped off as well. Threw in new heads for the whole gig kit and oh, I had to pay for the sticks I demo’d with since I beat ‘em up pretty bad.
Gig tomorrow night. First time with the new solid copper snare. A report will follow (hopefully with many women flashing the band…hot women this time though).
I’m back in the gig rotation… Looks like I have gigs lined up for the next few weeks now. That could be good, given my newly updated marital status…
The sad part is that I said goodbye to my bass player of over 20 years a few weeks ago. He moved to Portland. He and I have shared some of the most crazy, amazing, fun, insane events a musician could imagine. From strippers bearing it all to the band, to bar fights, to big time bands who are tripped out on cocaine we saw it all.
So there’s talk of a new bass player for us who is female. Hmmm. Dream situation is the new bass player is hot as hell and digs me. I’ve done many gigs with a hot female in the band, usually the singer. It’s more than OK from the drummer’s perspective to get a gander at a great ass for a few hours and play rock & roll drums to boot. Ok dream on….
Perhaps the most interesting nugget is that the current fill-in BP is on the state’s registered sex offender list for some “activities” with underage girls. Terrific. The singer warned me “no child molester jokes.” Oh, ok I’ll try to control myself.
I’m sure some kind of nutty report will follow after tomorrow nights’ gig.
Alternate titles:
“It’s all about who you know.”
“Met the mayor of Salt Lake City this weekend!”
“Jazz is alive and well in Salt Lake.”
“Rocky Anderson tries to bring Salt Lake out of the dark ages.”
“Tom Scott’s band is amazing.”
How is this for a venue?
In the pic above Patti Austin is performing with her rhythm section and jazz musicians from Salt Lake. Her whole set was a tribute to Ella Fitzgerald. I’ve never heard Patti perform live before and she was totally amazing.
The Rippingtons
The Rippingtons (above) have been around for about 20 years playing their style of jazz. These guys are very talented and tight live. But they’re not my style. They’re kind of like Kenny G meets Lee Ritenour. Though I had front row seats through my best pal Matt, I couldn’t stand the whole set. The Kenny G sounding stuff was making my skin crawl.
Tom Scott
I’ve been a Tom Scott fan for years. There’s Kenny G, the cheeseball “jazz” sax player and then theres one of the best sax players ever in Tom Scott. Tom Scott spent his time practicing, writing and working with the likes of George Harrison and many jazz greats while Kenny G was at the hair salon.
Tom Scott’s band is f’ing amazing. Most of them look like cats from Memphis. His keyboard player was a blind black guy who was having so much fun on stage I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face. His Hammond B3 piped through a Leslie sounded SO cool I was melting.
My new pal: Salt Lake Mayor Rocky Anderson
In the pic above my new buddy Rocky Anderson is addressing the crowd. My friend Matt (once again) introduced me to the Mayor. In a conservative republican town like Salt Lake, Rocky is a breath of fresh air. Rocky is the one guy who is trying to bring Salt Lake out of it’s shell and turn it into a modern city with arts, decent liquor laws and attractions that people other than Mormons would want to see.
Way to go Rocky. Keep up the great work.
