My friend Andy Moore posted this a while back on his Facebook wall. It’s not true at all, but I found it so funny I wanna use it in my press kit.
“…Billy Riddim, a good man and a damn fine drummer whose towering intellect is matched only by his craggy good looks.”
1. The right word can build up; the wrong word can tear down. (Lord, help me say the right words.)
2. When I get a migraine, I might ask you to close the shades in the bedroom and shut the door quietly, please.
3. Up is a movie my kids watched a few weeks ago; I didn’t get to see it.
4. Behind a drum kit is where you’ll find me.
5. Ooh! What is that a bag of dark chocolate peanut butter cups you picked up for me ?
6. I’m not sure this health care thing is a good idea.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to Susan’s yummy roast chicken, tomorrow my plans include playing a jam at the Waterworks, and Sunday, I want to finish up our Sunday School material on the Apostles Creed!
1. Today I will be firing up the grill, and cooking out for the staff.
2. Some people ask “Why is it you wear paisley underpants?” and I say why not?
3. What do you think of this whole “arm twisting” that caused the president to cancel his trip?
4. At some over-priced coffee shop where they use a bunch of froo-froo Italian words instead of “small,” “medium,” and “large” it’s free Pastry Day til 1030 Friday!
5. People say that what we’re all seeking is available to us for free–as long as we get enough “rich” people to pay for it.
6. The image I cherish most is a picture of me playing my very first drum set. (Or it might be the painting of Two Bush that my great-grandfather painted that I had framed for Dad.)
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to a romantic supper and a movie, tomorrow my plans include picking up the children at their grandparents, and Sunday, I want to get the budget done for Dave Ramsey’s class Tuesday night!
1. I am so looking forward to playing with the cats of Three Button Deluxe tonight.
2. I’ve got a whole bunch of stuff that needs to be done, but it can’t be done until later.
3. When you get smacked in the face so hard with a shovel that you spit teeth out, you may want to consider how you got into that particular situation.
4. My family is a big part of my life.
5. If you need anything let me know; I try my dead-level best to help my friends.
6. My boy Matthew asked me yesterday when we could go on a cruise; I would love to take him on that kind a trip. (OK, not grammatically correct, but you get the idea!)
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to laughing hard as Quick takes all kinds of stupid out-there solos, tomorrow my plans include the Family Fun Fest and a gig with Blind Albert, and Sunday, I want to have a great lunch with my family!
I was surfing around youtube yesterday at lunch, looking for something to listen to on my lunchbreak. (I frequently use youtube to listen to music–caring not a fiddle for the video portion.) I found this clip of Steve Gadd, Vinnie Coliuta, and Dave Weckl.
Dave Weckl takes the first solo, and opens with those tasty cymbal flourishes. Dave is mostly known as a smooth Jazz/fusion player for the likes of people like Chick Corea. I don’t particularly care for that style of player, but I can tell you Mr. Weckl is a monster player with monster chops. No doubt you can see that here.
Vinny Coliuta. The man does it all. Zappa. Sting. Jeff Beck. ’nuff said? The guy is a freak. He’s got more chops than a meat market. Heck, watch that one handed snare roll with his left hand while is right hand goes all bombastic on the toms.
Gadd is, technically–in my opinion–out of his league here. Steve Gadd is a killer player, no doubt. He outplays me with one hand. He’s got a gazillion records in which his tasty studio studies come to the fore. That great groove from Paul Simon’s “Late in the Evening“? Gadd playing the mozambique with four sticks. How about “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover,” with that interesting diddling between hihat and snare? Gadd. What about that laid back off beat fill from “Chuck E’s in Love“? (See 1:56 in that last video.) How about Steely Dan’s “Aja,” and all those drum fills? Gadd on the first take! C’mon! But the thing is, technically, they’re not all that hard. It’s the groove that makes them so good!
Back to our clip. 2:45, Gadd comes in. And what does he do? He reaches back to his drum corps days, and pulls our a frickin’ marching cadence so yummy you wanna get up and dance. Man, I LOVE that. I’ll take groove over chops any day of the week. And for me, this clip nails that. Yes, Weckl and Vinny are all over it. They outplay Steve–from a technical standpoint–seven ways to Sunday. And yet it’s Gadd’s portion of the solo I’ve been listening to over and over for the past two days.
Gimme groove! I like it more better.
