“What do you call a guy who hangs around with the band?...THE DRUMMER!”  That’s me. I’ve been playing drums since I was 15 years old (8 if you count my mother’s pots and pans).  I definitely expected to be better by now but, oh well, no one ever knows the drummer screwed up, they just think they’re dancing wrong. All drummers are frustrated guitarists and vice versa, but I’m also a frustrated keyboard player, sax player, and at times, my daughter’s recorder.  I do own a guitar… it’s white.  If you see it I want it back. 

Growing up jamming rock music was a requirement in my house with two older brothers on the keyboards and bass respectively.  We played what I like to call “caricature” versions of Hendrix and Steely Dan.  We didn’t know what it stood for but the neighborhood kids seemed to like it, which is more than I can say for my mother, right “Twitchy”?  Playing high school dances as a high school student was a dream come true.  Thank GOD nobody recorded things in those days.  I had the privilege to rock out with Russ in those early days too and picked up again in college.  Kind of a top 40, female vocalist, dance band.  Katrina and the Waves… YEAH!  What followed was a series of modern rock bands with Mikey (bass) and at times Brian (keys) that catered to teeny-boppers until our hair got too short to fool people anymore.  Eventually “You guys rock!” changed to “You smell like Advil” and we knew it was time to move on.  Like elderly flocking to Florida, we sought the comfort and companionship of our contemporaries. Voila! Classic Rock band.  

I reunited with these guys to do some holiday/charity stuff which led to a wedding and the dreaded “Adult Contemporary” lineup of music.  As you all know, “Adult Contemporary” is a gateway drug for crack, so we keep the James Taylor to a minimum.   That being said, I don’t think I’ve ever had more fun than playing R&B or theme songs from 80’s sitcoms.

With all due respect to George Bernard Shaw (“Youth is wasted on the young”) I have to say that no audiences are better than Classic Rock audiences.  Finally, people that pay more attention to the music than their hormones.  Or at least APPEAR to pay more attention.  Maybe they’re just watching me to see if my hair finally moves.  That’s another thing; I ponder meaningless questions like these all the time.  Does anyone know if ALL palm trees make coconuts?    

 …See you at the shows…