Progress Report

Wow. Here's a pic Tony sent me of the new bass drum. Very different look on the lugs from other Po' Boy stuff. I like it a lot, and look at that grain. Once you see this with the rims and heads and the toms, you'll drool. I'm so stoked about this. This is the new line and I guess I'll be premiering it next weekend... in what I'm told is going to be a good sized turn out. Hey, no pressure! Damn that's a beautiful drum!

Giant

Another pic from back in the day. If you don't know John Weathers, you need to check him out. He's the unsung hero of the Prog band Gentle Giant. These guys really did set a Prog precedent. They were on the scene early and this guys drum parts were really fantastic. Talk about navigating some twisted meter and crazy arrangements. I just listened to the song Cogs In Cogs and I'm still knocked out by it. Really, if you think you know Prog but you don't know Gentle Giant, you need to rethink.

Countdown

Wow wow wow. Crazy but true, we're almost there. Just 10 days. I can't begin to tell you how stoked I am about this thing. I think this will be the first time I've taken the stage by myself for a set. It's kind of daunting but, you know what? I love the stuff I'm going to talk about. I think the material I'm going to present is fascinating. I think the instruments I get to play are fantastic. I'm going to get to hang with a bunch of drummers and hear some great music. I am completely amped about the Dave Nezat clinic. I've been listening to some stuff on line and I think it's gonna be great. I love the cajun, zydeco, jazz drumming and I'm hoping to pick up some slick tricks from this guy. I just know this is going to be one great weekend.

You know, in a way this is going to be a great relief for me. I live down here in Arizona and it was 110 degrees yesterday. Colorado cool sounds real nice. Also, I'm going to take a final in Ed Psych just before I leave and I'll be done with that class, so this trip will be a nice little vacation for me.

Interesting

Some time ago I installed a function on my blog that gives me information (mostly stats) about my blog visitors. I can see how many visitors I've had on a certain day, what country/city they came from, whether they're a new or returning visitor, how much time they spent on the site, how many pages they looked at, what key words they searched for, etc...

I think it's interesting that most of my visitors have come from searches on two topics: The Black Page/polyrhythms and Mind Maps (I'm sure you can understand why I lumped The Black Page and Polyrhythms together). Obviously there is considerable interest in both topics. I wonder if the people interested in Mind Maps are interested in polyrhythms and vice versa. Who knows?

Zane Map

Okay check it out. My son Zane has been watching me make mind maps. He thinks they're "awesome and cool". He has to do an oral presentation on a president. He's allowed to use props so he decided to make a mind map instead of using note cards. (I think Zane is awesome and cool)

New Kit

Okay, here's the fininsh I'm getting on my new kit. This is a birch/maple hybrid with natural finish.

The bass drum will be virgin, i.e. no tom mount on it. The rack toms will be on seperate stands so that I can change configurations easily to accomodate various canon and fugue ideas. The 20" kick should bring everything down a little bit for ease of movement while still providing a good bottom end. I'm told it should be ready in time for my clinic. Fingers crossed.

The sizes are:

20 x 18 kick, 10 lug

8 x 8 rack, 4 lug

10 x 8 rack, 6 lug

12 x 9 rack, 6 lug

14 x 12 rack, 8 lug

16 x 16 floor, 8 lug

14 x 5.5 snare, 8 lug

Yet Another Prog Drum Pic

Yes, this is Bill Bruford, another of the drummers who had a profound impact on me. Of course this is the cover photo from his disc Master Strokes. Great pic. Stylish white tee-shirt. You can see the Simmons Drums in there. Wish I hadn't had such a bad experience with Simmons Drums! Oh well. I had a bad experience with a Bill Bruford "Drum God" clinic too. Whatever. The guy has created some of my favorite music. None the less, this is a great prog drum pic. You know, if you look at my collection of prog drum pics, you'll start to get an idea of who my favorite drummers are.