And That's Why HE'S Steve Smith...

Watch til the end, it's not very long.

He Belew Me Away!

Adrian Belew that is. (www.adrianbelew.net)

I saw this show on the Radio Radio newsletter and thought "Cool." But I wasn't sure on going since I was completely unfamiliar with the guy's solo work and only slightly better acquainted with his King Crimson stuff.

But I took a chance and trekked down to Fountain Square, despite being really tired before even getting into the shower.

I took Mr. John Peddie's advice and stopped at Smokehouse on Shelby where they gave me way too much food to eat in one sitting. Great BBQ for a great price. My waitress suggested the pulled pork dinner platter over the beef brisket.The pork was juicy and wonderful. The sweet BBQ sauce was good and tangy. The baked beans had a surprisingly deep flavor. My plate could easily have fed two adults with room for desert. I happily stuffed myself almost sick since, being on the Ninja, a doggie bag wasn't feasible. Though I really hated looking at how much I left behind. I despise wasting food, especially when I done paid for it!

So I walked around the corner to Radio Radio, bought a ticket and a Killians Red. The show seemed to take forever to start and the opening act was a bit on the silly side. The guy played goofy covers on mandolin, then a custom fretless sitar then a dobro. It was extremely well-executed and you could tell the guy can really wail on his instruments. And that fretless sitar thing sounded awesome. But the guy's song choices made me say "HUH?" As good as he played, I suspect he could have written some seriously good originals. Eh, whatever.

Adrian and the Slick siblings (Eric on drums and Julie on bass) took the stage well after 10pm and proceeded to kick major booty. Adrian's fluid screaming guitar, Eric playing thunderously on a small but massive-sounding FOUR piece kit and Julie sounding grooving and slinky on that bass. They do a sort of jammy funky progressive rock thing. I can't wait to order their live CD. Hopefully it's recorded well and I get a better presentation.

Radio Radio is a pretty lame venue cuz if you ain't in the front row you're pretty much not seeing anything. And that's a good part of the fun with a band that is that proficient. The sound was sub-par too. Julie's bass was way too low in the mix and the highs were too shrill.

But despite the sub-par presentation of the band I still had a lot of fun and, from what little I saw, it was obvious the AB Trio was enjoying themselves too. I bought a t-shirt and got the band to sign it and said hi and stuff.

It was great to see a packed house for this sort of obscure artist. Indianapolis needs more nights like that if we're to attract better artists in the smaller venues.

Anyway, if you like King Crimson or good fusion type music, check the linked site for more dates. I think you'll enjoy yourself.

In The "A Broken Clock Is Right Twice A Day" Department...

... Zappa Plays Zappa won a Grammy for "Peaches En Regalia"!

It's actually one of my less favorite performances on the DVD / CD set, as its tempo is a bit too slow. (Most of the time I hear that tune, it's the Dixie Dregs doing their rendition - with Dweezil Zappa guest-starring - on their most excellent live CD "California Screaming".)

It is very nice to see such a rather obscure concert performance get a little recognition in our mass-consumption world.

If you like Frank Zappa's work at all, go get the 5 disc set (2 DVDs, 3 CDs) at Amazon HERE (free shipping!).

It's more than well-worth the money. Every member of the ZPZ band is a monster player. I really enjoy watching Joe Travers on the drums. He's a monster and pulls it off with a very nice touch on his DW kit. They also have Terry Bozzio spanking the skins on his own kit on a number of songs. The horns, the keys, the percussionist, the bassist and rhythm guitarist ... no one disappoints here. And Steve Vai as guest star on guitar for some tracks.

And last but not least, Dweezil's guitar work simply amazes. He surely does Frank's legacy proud.

I Love My Family...

My snare drum family that is...

From left to right they be:
4 x 15 Tama Kenny Aronoff Super Piccolo
8 x 14 Tama vintage 80's Superstar
6.5 x 14 Ocheltree Dangerous (weighs a ton and a half!)
a 6 x 14 "Frankenstein" drum from the shop of Johnny Craviotto
5.5 x 14 Tama Starclassic Performer
5 x 14 Payne Percussion single-ply
4 x 14 Payne Percussion multi-ply
5 x 12 Tama Mike Portnoy Melody Master hammered steel

I have a very nice snare selection. I can get pretty much any possible snare sound I want, except for the big, thin metal sound. But I hope to get another Kenny Aronoff snare in the 6.5 x 14 size to cover that part of the spectrum.

I really want to get a set of 10 lug wooden hoops and put them on either the 5 x 14 Payne Percussion snare or the Craviotto. I'm thinking putting them on the Craviotto would be a better move. It's a bit thin on the tone side and some wooden hoops should thicken things up nicely.

I would also like to stain the naked 5 x 14 Payne Percussion snare and maybe the Craviotto (though I would have to strip that one first). I would stain them the same colour as the 8 x 14, which is the colour of my main 12 piece kit (a gorgeous Cherry Wine finish).

Holy Crap!

This video is just insane. The cymbal? WTF?



Mike Mangini is a pretty cool guy to meet in person too. He spent a long time in 1999 after the Steve Vai show in Columbus explaining his one-handed (freehand, some call it) snare roll technique. I really hope to catch him in a clinic someday.

Turkey Day Danger!



And for Jay, slow-mo DOGGIE madness!

Silly Fun In Drumming.

MORE Gorilla Goodness!

The more part comes from gorilla soft porn.

Don't ask.

More weirdness.

Michael Mangini On Drums!

Michael Mangini is a technical genius on the drums. He wrote two "Rhythm Knowledge" books, one of which has a technical exercise that I swear expanded my brain power just by doing it slowly and badly!

He's also a super-nice guy. I met him for the first time in 1999 after a Steve Vai concert. The second time, two days later on the same tour, he spent a good amount of time explaining his one-handed snare drum roll to me.

He's also really short and has an outrageous Boston accent. This first clip is him playing along with a Nuno Bettencourt guitar track from the band Extreme.



BEYOND Ridiculous: (go to 1:30 on this next one for some INSANITY!)


I believe those are just super-fast doubles, but I could be wrong. It goes by pretty dang quick!

One more just for fun, him playing along to a Steve Vai track (one of my faves from the Fire Garden CD):


Oops! I love YouTube. Just found this one:


ONE audible stick click on the rim at the end? How sick is that?

I Guess I Held My Fire On This One...

Man! I missed out of the Rush Geek Week. I didn't see John-O's blog post on it and I was unaware that the Prime Mover blog even existed. But with the "better late than never attitude" (which, now that I think of it, really doesn't apply to pulling out) I put on the thinking cap and came up with my top 8 Rush albums. Just eight cuz it was too hard to decide after that! But first...

A little history on me and Rush. Since, you know, it's my blog and all...

May of 1990... Lawrence Central High School. I attended the Senior party at the school because my friend Sean Strong was going. It was winding down and someone came and grabbed me and said I'd won a prize. I don't even think I knew there WERE prizes!

But my prize was two tickets to see some band called "Rush". Rush? What the hell is THAT? Keep in mind I was getting my musical cues almost exclusively from MTV at this point: Poison, Ratt, Whitesnake, Ozzy, Twisted Sister... you get the idea. Hair Metal Bands for the most part. Except for Iron Maiden, which almost never got airplay.

But I took the tickets and asked Sean if he wanted to go. He said yes. But I still had no idea who they were.

We went. It was... weird. I didn't know a single song. I remember seeing Trees on the video screens. I remember a laser show. And I remember the inflatable bunnies. But not much else. Again, I thought it was very weird.

I think Mr. Big opened for them but I didn't dig them either at the time.

So Rush went into the "whatever" file.

A few years later, I kept hearing certain Rush songs on the radio and digging them. I am pretty sure it was Dreamline that inspired me to buy the Chronicles collection. Again, I thought it was very weird stuff, but this time it intrigued me for some reason. I started to really get into it, especially the drumming.

Neil's drum parts actually inspired me to start taking drum lessons, leading to me spending way too much money on drums. My current main kit is a Cherry Wine Tama Superstar birch kit. I actually didn't know that the Superstar line of drums was Neil's choice of kit back in the early 80's until well after I started buying the pieces on Ebay. Nice coincidence!

Then Counterparts was released in late 1993. I liked it okay, but didn't listen to it much. The one night Jason and I were hanging the Christmas garland in the living room. And we put it in. And I GOT it. I think the exact moment was the drum break late in the song Leave That Thing Alone.

I've been addicted ever since.

I took Jason to see them in early 1994. I saw them in 96 and then three times on the Vapor Trails tour (2nd row under Geddy in Cincinnati with Jason!), then on the R30 tour. (I'm trying to block out more recent Rush memories...)

Anyway, on with the show! My RUSH top eight:

# 8 - Roll The Bones - The first five songs are homeruns in my book. I love Where's My Thing especially. This was the return of the Rush instrumental, their last before this one was YYZ! That or Bravado are my favorite song.

Not as polished and treble-y as Presto, I love the production on this one. Lots of snap to Neil's snare. Probably my favorite sound of any of their CDs.


# 7 - Moving Pictures - Right off: THE Rush song as the opener. I'll hear no argument otherwise. Rush opening with it on the Vapor Trails tour was AWESOME! Totally unexpected.

Most of the first four songs (Tom Sawyer, Red Barchetta, YYZ and Limelight) are all very likely to be in the top ten of any Rush fan. Lush lyrical descriptions on Red Barchetta, The Camera eye and Witch Hunt. The only "off" song it the closer Vital Signs. Very Police-ish but Rush puts a neat spin on it.


# 6 - Power Windows - Funny aside, this was the last Rush CD to fill my collection when I was on the mission to buy all their stuff. I heard Territories on the Counterparts tour and didn't know what song it was. I kept buying their CDs and getting mad that THAT SONG WASN'T ON IT! So of course it had to be on the LAST one I bought.

Big Money is a great opener. Tons of energy. One of those Rush songs that just encompasses everything awesome about the band. Marathon is another great Neil Peart lyrical playground. The music and lyrics marry up just perfectly. I don't know any other band that constantly paints such lush descriptions with their lyrics and then nails the perfectly complimentary vocal part. Grand Designs is one of those songs I really love than you never hear fans talk about. The same with Emotion Detector. And a GREAT closer, Mystic Rhythms.

Not a bad song on this one.


# 5 - Presto - Very treble-y production, but I actually love that. Not as pretty as Test For Echo, but very good arrangements and production. Lots of balls in certain spots (Show Don't Tell, Scars). The closer, Available Light, is my favorite song overall.

Anagram is a great fun song lyrically. The Pass and Presto have great sadness in the vocal performances. Scars smacks of desperation to my ears. The lyrics and vocals are amazing on this one. Maybe more than any other Rush outing.


# 4 - Counterparts - My sentimental favorite and the first Rush CD I really got into. The first three are killer songs, esp. Cut To The Chase. I also love Double Agent, Cold Fire and Everyday Glory. And, of course, the instrumental Leave That Thing Alone.


# 3 - Test For Echo - This is Rush's prettiest CD. And I don't mean that in any feminine or wimpish way. It has a lightness and fine polish to it. There are songs with tons o' balls (Driven, Time and Motion) and a great instrumental (Limbo). And maybe some of Rush's most singalong-able lyrics ever. But overall there is just something... airy about the overall feel of this one that I love. I'm not conveying my point well... maybe an artistry? Who knows. It's just a great CD.


# 2 - Permanent Waves - The opening three songs (The Spirit of Radio, Freewill and Jacob's Ladder) would put this one high on my list, but the closer Natural Science is the best song on the CD, a whirlwind of musical badassedness.


# 1 - Vapor Trails - (should have been named "Vapour Trails" if you ask me... no one did)
Great songs. Total BALLS! Heavy tones, heavy chunkin' rhythms, heavy lyrics. The intro song is just a musical kick to the crotch. I don't like the heavily amplified production / mastering on this one though. It distorts the louder notes and totally screws the overall sound. (Interesting analysis on that HERE.)

But the songwriting and sheer attitude of this one outweigh any deficits by far. It was an amazing way for the band to come back from a long absence and say "Check us out. We're not done. Not even close."

Of course, then comes Snakes & Arrows...

Brush THIS!

There's a new Drum DVD coming out and I cannot wait. This is gonna be cool.

It's all about drumset playing with brushes. It's an art I've hardly BRUSHED UP on. I have a long way to go just with sticks, let alone hand and brush playing. But I'm fascinated by the topics. And with all of these great players... it's gonna be awesome.

Steve Smith's "Drumset Technique/History Of The U.S. Beat" is an incredible wealth of drumming information. To know he's a big part of this drumming DVD too makes me think it will be well worth the dollars spent.

I also keep forgetting to pick up Gregg Bissonette's DVD set. He's another of my drum heroes and I know it will be entertaining even if I already have the materials covered by some other source.

Definitely NOT Just A Four Piece Jazz Kit...

"Amazing" is completely inadequate to describe this guy.

EDIT:
Okay, a little more on TB: every drum on that massive kit is tuned to a specific NOTE. He has both diatonic and chromatic notes on his kit. Therefore he can actually play distinct melodies on his toms.

He can also play two different rhythms with each of his each on his foot pedals while playing melodically on the top toms. (I've seen his do this in person twice. It's stunning to watch.)

And since DJ's too lazy to use the YouTube search function: