Friday, October 30, 2009
On Thursday I completely reconfigued my cymbals to see how moving things around sounded. I added the 16" Zildijian Avedis crash that I borrowed from Pants and shifted the Colorsound to the primary crash position instead of my splash. I couldn't take it. Too loud for too long! It then occurred to me that I could use one of Pant's straight stands and add my splash back in to the mix. I haven't tried playing like this yet...but it gives the option of choosing either crash or splash depending on the song. I do still think that I'd like a medium sustain crash/splash, though.
I have to say, though, listenting to Survival, Evasion, and Escape this morning, the splash really doesn't sound too goofy...though given the totally goofy environemnt of that record, it probably isn't a good test. I'm thinking about recording some songs played both ways (once with splash and once with crash) and seeing how they sound played back. I think I may have a distorted "view" from the throne.
At the music store yesterday I found an interesting new option...13 inch Sabian AA EL Sabor Salsa Splash. It was thicker and larger than the average splash, with slightly turned up edges. Supposedly it is for latin/jazz...but I kind of liked it. Good price too.
I have to say, though, listenting to Survival, Evasion, and Escape this morning, the splash really doesn't sound too goofy...though given the totally goofy environemnt of that record, it probably isn't a good test. I'm thinking about recording some songs played both ways (once with splash and once with crash) and seeing how they sound played back. I think I may have a distorted "view" from the throne.
At the music store yesterday I found an interesting new option...13 inch Sabian AA EL Sabor Salsa Splash. It was thicker and larger than the average splash, with slightly turned up edges. Supposedly it is for latin/jazz...but I kind of liked it. Good price too.
Neil Peart
I started to talk about Rush a while back but put it on the back burner to simmer for a while. I've known for a while that, like Led Zepplin and The Who, that Rush was an influential band for drummers...but like those other two, it wasn't a band that I ever paid attention to. Yesterday I bought a Rush playalong book to get the education started.
Neil Peart is referred to in drumming circles as "The Professor." He is known for his technical proficiency and stamina as well as for the fact that he completely revamped his playing style in the mid-1990s. From Wiki, "Peart is often regarded as one of the finest practitioners of the in-concert drum solo. He is known for extensive, intricate drum solos containing odd time signatures,complex arrangements (sometimes total separation between upper and lower limb patterns: e.g. an ostinato dubbed "The Waltz"), and exotic percussion instruments."
I listened to the Rush playalong cd front to back and followed along with the music. I didn't even sit at the kit. I assumed it was all going to be stuff way beyond my skills, but that wasn't entirely true. Several of the songs were things I could probably pick up fairly easily with the exception of a few passages. Some were more complicated, of course. But I was able to follow along, which is set one. The more that I do that the more that I learn how figures that look a certain way sound...which makes it easier to sight read drum music. It also makes me more familiar with the common figures...which makes me more likely to start using them in my own parts. In addition, there are plenty of short passages in the Rush book that would make for great exercises...just 4 measures taken as an exercise type thing. His style on these tracks was simpler and more basic rock oriented than I'd expected.
Listening to the cd made me think about my brother Roger. I don't think about him much. He was a fan of Rush. He lived a mostly troubled life until he died a few years ago in his 40s. While I was listening to the cd I wondered why he liked the band. What grabbed him about them? Did he appreciate the musical prowess? Was it an escape? Did he just like the sound of it?
YYZ solo:
From his dvd Anatomy of a Drum Solo, about Tom Sawyer:
More from Anatomy of a Drum Solo, including his thoughts on solos:
From Buddy Rich Memorial Concert (a major influence on his style change):
This is pretty funny...I'm sure Neil Peart would agree with it too...
Neil Peart is referred to in drumming circles as "The Professor." He is known for his technical proficiency and stamina as well as for the fact that he completely revamped his playing style in the mid-1990s. From Wiki, "Peart is often regarded as one of the finest practitioners of the in-concert drum solo. He is known for extensive, intricate drum solos containing odd time signatures,complex arrangements (sometimes total separation between upper and lower limb patterns: e.g. an ostinato dubbed "The Waltz"), and exotic percussion instruments."
I listened to the Rush playalong cd front to back and followed along with the music. I didn't even sit at the kit. I assumed it was all going to be stuff way beyond my skills, but that wasn't entirely true. Several of the songs were things I could probably pick up fairly easily with the exception of a few passages. Some were more complicated, of course. But I was able to follow along, which is set one. The more that I do that the more that I learn how figures that look a certain way sound...which makes it easier to sight read drum music. It also makes me more familiar with the common figures...which makes me more likely to start using them in my own parts. In addition, there are plenty of short passages in the Rush book that would make for great exercises...just 4 measures taken as an exercise type thing. His style on these tracks was simpler and more basic rock oriented than I'd expected.
Listening to the cd made me think about my brother Roger. I don't think about him much. He was a fan of Rush. He lived a mostly troubled life until he died a few years ago in his 40s. While I was listening to the cd I wondered why he liked the band. What grabbed him about them? Did he appreciate the musical prowess? Was it an escape? Did he just like the sound of it?
YYZ solo:
From his dvd Anatomy of a Drum Solo, about Tom Sawyer:
More from Anatomy of a Drum Solo, including his thoughts on solos:
From Buddy Rich Memorial Concert (a major influence on his style change):
This is pretty funny...I'm sure Neil Peart would agree with it too...
Jonathan "Sugarfoot" Moffett
I went to see "This Is It" last night, the concert documentary of Michael Jackson's last days. I didn't go to see it because I'm a massive MJ fan. MJ was, however, a cultural touch point for me. I remember very vividly watching the world premiere of "Thriller" on MTV. It was a big deal at the time. He wasn't an artist that I bought albums for or would call myself a "fan" of...but he was an artist that had a big part in the back ground of my cultural and musical education and history.
Beyond that, I wanted to see the movie because I thought it would be cool to see what goes into the development of such a large scale concert tour. I saw a similar documentary of a Rolling Stones concert once and it was fascinating.
Film trailer:
There are two drummers in the show, a percussionist, and kit drummer, Jonathan "Sugarfoot" Moffett. There is a bio of Moffett here.
I was very happy to see that the dummer (and the other musicians and dancers) were prominent parts of this movie...and of the planned tour. It is clear how important the live drum tracks were for this show (I guess I'd expected it all to be canned electronic drums, but it wasn't). You can see the drummer in most of the shots, and his beat is clearly one of the most important elements in the show, if not THE most important. This is, after all, dance music.
He played simple, but powerful, parts. It was very clean. And I was struck by the fact that no matter what was going on...he was there playing. I think he was the only musician on stage who never took a break.
Drum Channel video:
Here is his drum set up for the This Is It tour. The video focuses on the hardware because it was made by Gilbralter.
Here he is talking about his cymbal line:
Jonathan "Sugarfoot" Moffett
Soultone Cymbals | MySpace Video
A couple of brief comments about the movie itself. The show was really going to be something. Whether you like MJ or his music or not...it was going to be a feast for the eyes and ears. I was left wishing I could have seen the final concert to see how all the video clips and costumes and effects interplayed. Some of those things that were worked on for months never actually got completed, which is a shame. My favorite parts of the movie were where the humanity shined through. As a musician with very little self-esteem, I'm always wondering if other people have doubts...make mistakes...have fears. There were a few times in the movie where MJ had clearly given a certain direction to the band...and then changed his mind without telling them. He never showed that this was his fault. I could imagine being in that band and thinking "dude, we did what you told us to do". This made me laugh and realize that everybody deals with bosses who can be self-absorbed and who can misplace their own mistakes on others. The other funny thing was that MJ didn't like the in-ear monitors they were using. In one scene he is obviously irritated by them and explains that he's having trouble using them because he never has before. Even the King of Pop doesn't use in-ear monitors...so obviously you don't have to do that kind of thing to be successful. How the man could hear to sing without them on stage is kind of amazing, though. As for him...yeah, he seemed in control and perfectly fit. He was dancing and singing and keeping up with kids half his age. Did he likely have an addiction to prescription drugs...yeah. But he was functioning in spite of it. This is not to say he didn't likely have a problem that needed tending to...just that he was still able to do his job in spite of it. I suspect a combined tolerance to drugs for his insomnia, his desire to get a quick fix for the insomnia (that led to more and more intense drugs all the way up to anesthesia), and a careless and incompetent physician combined to kill the man. It is a tragedy...but it is a tragedy that is played out every day in lots of lives. Was it more tragic what happened to him versus all the people who choose drugs/alcohol over living every day (not just the "addicts" but everyone who chooses escape over living)? It is all tragic. Drugs are dangerous. Power is dangerous. Both cloud your judgement and lead to faulty thinking. Combining them is super dangerous.
Beyond that, I wanted to see the movie because I thought it would be cool to see what goes into the development of such a large scale concert tour. I saw a similar documentary of a Rolling Stones concert once and it was fascinating.
Film trailer:
There are two drummers in the show, a percussionist, and kit drummer, Jonathan "Sugarfoot" Moffett. There is a bio of Moffett here.
I was very happy to see that the dummer (and the other musicians and dancers) were prominent parts of this movie...and of the planned tour. It is clear how important the live drum tracks were for this show (I guess I'd expected it all to be canned electronic drums, but it wasn't). You can see the drummer in most of the shots, and his beat is clearly one of the most important elements in the show, if not THE most important. This is, after all, dance music.
He played simple, but powerful, parts. It was very clean. And I was struck by the fact that no matter what was going on...he was there playing. I think he was the only musician on stage who never took a break.
Drum Channel video:
Here is his drum set up for the This Is It tour. The video focuses on the hardware because it was made by Gilbralter.
Here he is talking about his cymbal line:
Jonathan "Sugarfoot" Moffett
Soultone Cymbals | MySpace Video
A couple of brief comments about the movie itself. The show was really going to be something. Whether you like MJ or his music or not...it was going to be a feast for the eyes and ears. I was left wishing I could have seen the final concert to see how all the video clips and costumes and effects interplayed. Some of those things that were worked on for months never actually got completed, which is a shame. My favorite parts of the movie were where the humanity shined through. As a musician with very little self-esteem, I'm always wondering if other people have doubts...make mistakes...have fears. There were a few times in the movie where MJ had clearly given a certain direction to the band...and then changed his mind without telling them. He never showed that this was his fault. I could imagine being in that band and thinking "dude, we did what you told us to do". This made me laugh and realize that everybody deals with bosses who can be self-absorbed and who can misplace their own mistakes on others. The other funny thing was that MJ didn't like the in-ear monitors they were using. In one scene he is obviously irritated by them and explains that he's having trouble using them because he never has before. Even the King of Pop doesn't use in-ear monitors...so obviously you don't have to do that kind of thing to be successful. How the man could hear to sing without them on stage is kind of amazing, though. As for him...yeah, he seemed in control and perfectly fit. He was dancing and singing and keeping up with kids half his age. Did he likely have an addiction to prescription drugs...yeah. But he was functioning in spite of it. This is not to say he didn't likely have a problem that needed tending to...just that he was still able to do his job in spite of it. I suspect a combined tolerance to drugs for his insomnia, his desire to get a quick fix for the insomnia (that led to more and more intense drugs all the way up to anesthesia), and a careless and incompetent physician combined to kill the man. It is a tragedy...but it is a tragedy that is played out every day in lots of lives. Was it more tragic what happened to him versus all the people who choose drugs/alcohol over living every day (not just the "addicts" but everyone who chooses escape over living)? It is all tragic. Drugs are dangerous. Power is dangerous. Both cloud your judgement and lead to faulty thinking. Combining them is super dangerous.
Playalong Books
While picking up a new felt for my cymbal yesterday I discovered that there actually are TWO series of playalong drum books...the Hal Leonard series AND the Alfred series. I actually have one Alfred book (Green Day) and just didn't realize, because the cover art and format are so similiar, that it was a different company. So yesterday I picked up Alfred's Rush book (more on Rush in a minute). Thankfully there aren't many Alfred books in the series(and I don't recognize many of the drummers)...or I'd go broke. I seem compelled to collect all these things.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Five Star Drum Shops
Speaking of travel, I've been meaning for the longest time to look into the Five Star Drum Shop network and to plot out which ones I could hit next spring on my planned road trip to SXSW.
It looks like those would be:
DRUM HEADQUARTERS
7241 Manchester Road
St. Louis MO 63143
314/644-0235
Jim Uding
www.drumheadquarters.com
MIDWEST PERCUSSION (memo to myself, this is in Chicago, so accessible pretty much any time)
19027 S. Jodi Road, Unit B
Mokena IL 60448
708/479-4300
John Litrenta
www.midwestpercussion.com
SKINS 'N' TINS DRUM SHOP
29 Main Street
Champaign IL 61820
217/352-3786
Liz and Terry Hawkins
www.skinsntins.com
EXPLORERS PERCUSSION
8050 Wornall Road
Kansas City MO 64114
816/361-1195
Wes Faulconer
www.explorersdrums.com
MEMPHIS DRUM SHOP
878 S. Cooper Street
Memphis TN 38104
901/276-2328
Jim Pettit
www.memphisdrumshop.com
RAY FRANSEN’S DRUM CENTER
3412 Williams Boulevard
Kenner LA 70065
504/466-8442
Ray Fransen
www.rayfransensdrumcenter.com
PERCUSSION CENTER
6990 Portwest Drive, Unit 100
Houston TX 77024
713/468-9100
Mike Henry and Donna Fisher
www.percussiononline.com
JEFF RYDER'S DRUM SHOP
Jeff Ryder
www.jeffryderdrumshop.com
3300 West Anderson Lane
Austin TX 78757
512/371-1550
9323 Perrin Beitel Road
San Antonio TX 78217
210/599-3143
WOW! That's a lot of music stores.
It looks like those would be:
DRUM HEADQUARTERS
7241 Manchester Road
St. Louis MO 63143
314/644-0235
Jim Uding
www.drumheadquarters.com
MIDWEST PERCUSSION (memo to myself, this is in Chicago, so accessible pretty much any time)
19027 S. Jodi Road, Unit B
Mokena IL 60448
708/479-4300
John Litrenta
www.midwestpercussion.com
SKINS 'N' TINS DRUM SHOP
29 Main Street
Champaign IL 61820
217/352-3786
Liz and Terry Hawkins
www.skinsntins.com
EXPLORERS PERCUSSION
8050 Wornall Road
Kansas City MO 64114
816/361-1195
Wes Faulconer
www.explorersdrums.com
MEMPHIS DRUM SHOP
878 S. Cooper Street
Memphis TN 38104
901/276-2328
Jim Pettit
www.memphisdrumshop.com
RAY FRANSEN’S DRUM CENTER
3412 Williams Boulevard
Kenner LA 70065
504/466-8442
Ray Fransen
www.rayfransensdrumcenter.com
PERCUSSION CENTER
6990 Portwest Drive, Unit 100
Houston TX 77024
713/468-9100
Mike Henry and Donna Fisher
www.percussiononline.com
JEFF RYDER'S DRUM SHOP
Jeff Ryder
www.jeffryderdrumshop.com
3300 West Anderson Lane
Austin TX 78757
512/371-1550
9323 Perrin Beitel Road
San Antonio TX 78217
210/599-3143
WOW! That's a lot of music stores.
PASIC Plans
So I'm starting to think about my trip to PASIC, which is just two short weeks away. It is being held in Indianapolis, which may be the best possible location for me. It is within driving distance and it is a town that I know a bit and am comfortable in because I used to take business trips there about once a month for two years. I don't like travel that involves stress and confusion. Indy is easy for me so I ought to actually be able to enjoy myself.
Some make fun of Indiana, but Indy isn't a bad town. It is still trying to recover from the rust belt economic diaster of the last 30 years, but it is trying hard.
Being on a tight budget and pretty well in the know, I have chosen to stay at the hostel, which is only about 6 or 7 miles from the conference, which is being held, I'm happy to say, downtown. Today I spent some time planning the details of my bike route from the hostel to the conference. Mainly to save money on parking I'm planning to bike in to the conference each day unless the weather is crazy bad. To save money and, well, because I can. I've got my choice of a very nice bike path, The Monon, or pretty decent streets to travel in on.
I also just realized that Broadripple, the quirky/cool part of town (ala Willy Street in Madison), is only a few blocks north of the hostel and also on The Monon. Which means I'll have plenty to do in the evenings...restaurants, live music, street life, etc.
This may well prove to be the best trip I've taken in a long time. Like putting on a comfy old sweater.
I'm also pretty psyched about the swag potential. There's a HUGE list of exhibitors for the conference...and surely most of them will have a sticker or magnet or keychain or whatnot that they'd like me to haul home with me. Lots of useless shit with cool labels. Woo hoo. I better bring the large messenger bag.
Some make fun of Indiana, but Indy isn't a bad town. It is still trying to recover from the rust belt economic diaster of the last 30 years, but it is trying hard.
Being on a tight budget and pretty well in the know, I have chosen to stay at the hostel, which is only about 6 or 7 miles from the conference, which is being held, I'm happy to say, downtown. Today I spent some time planning the details of my bike route from the hostel to the conference. Mainly to save money on parking I'm planning to bike in to the conference each day unless the weather is crazy bad. To save money and, well, because I can. I've got my choice of a very nice bike path, The Monon, or pretty decent streets to travel in on.
I also just realized that Broadripple, the quirky/cool part of town (ala Willy Street in Madison), is only a few blocks north of the hostel and also on The Monon. Which means I'll have plenty to do in the evenings...restaurants, live music, street life, etc.
This may well prove to be the best trip I've taken in a long time. Like putting on a comfy old sweater.
I'm also pretty psyched about the swag potential. There's a HUGE list of exhibitors for the conference...and surely most of them will have a sticker or magnet or keychain or whatnot that they'd like me to haul home with me. Lots of useless shit with cool labels. Woo hoo. I better bring the large messenger bag.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
