friday, december 8

Cyn and Glenda posted their "small kid piano pix" recently, and I thought I'd share mine too.

This particular photo was taken when I was in the first grade and we lived in Bremerton, Washington. I was six at the time and I started lessons at age five. This was my first recital, so it was a big deal for my family, as I recall.

I don't remember being nervous at all, or maybe I just didn't know any better. But I remember the whole event as being pretty fun, and I enjoyed getting all the attention.

My recital piece was "The Tinikling", an arrangement of a popular Philippine folksong. My parents made sure I'd practiced this song daily, and I remember "breezin" through the number without a hitch. It was a rather medium difficult piece for a six year old, and the practice paid off. The Tinikling sort of became my signature piece and my parents made me play it at every opportunity to impress people.

My parents were always like that. They wanted to show me off to friends and relatives when they would come over. I always felt uncomfortable, but I did the job... I got it done. And I was rewarded somehow with money or candy and of course, applause. I suppose that got me started on performing in front of an audience... those get-togethers with family and friends.

As much as I used to hate playing piano for family and friends, I rather miss it now. I miss basking in that sort of limelight. I'm a professional musician now, and it's ironic that my parents hardly ever come out to see me perform nowadays. Well, they do every once in a while, and when they do I am very, very happy. It brings me back to the old days of playing the piano in front of family and friends.

wednesday, december 6

tuesday, december 5

our first christmas together

Again, I must say, my how time flies (especially when we're having fun).

Here is a photo of my lovely wife, the year we met in 1978. I was a music major at San Diego State and she was in Law School. So, this obviously was our first Christmas as boyfriend/girlfriend and we were just going out together at the time.

We broke up and thought we would never see each other again. It was mutual, and I guess we simply wanted to date other people and stuff. Until 8 months later, when fate brought us together again at a bookstore in Mission Valley. And the rest is history.

I wrote a song for her entitled "If By Chance We Meet", about the moment we met again and everything just fell into place. Maybe the planets were aligned just right or something, but it was a pretty important moment for us.

monday, december 4

the reason why i play the drums


Friday night at the Juke Joint was another revelation...

I can't begin to describe the joys of playing drums, I've drummed all my life... more than 30 years now! Ever since I picked up my first pair of drumsticks at age 9, and hounded my Dad to buy me my first snare drum. I've always loved drumming.

There's something primal about drumming. All the technical aspects aside, playing the drums is something the human race has done for eons. It's natural, it's expressive, and tribal...

I recommend everyone just go out and buy some bongos or something, and just play for the sheer enjoyment of doing it. Go out to the park and play, out in the open spaces.

Anyway, Friday's gig at the Juke Joint was the usual deal until the final end. We had the bassist and one of the saxophonists from my former band that night. And it was almost like old times. Old times meaning three years ago when the swing revival was in full-swing, when everyone from high school kids to old timers were out there on the dance floor having the time of their lives.

Those days are gone, and now it's survival of the fittest.

The last number of the evening was Sing, Sing, Sing, and my co-leader asked me if I felt like playing it. And I wondered what he meant by that. But, no time to debate a song that's been overplayed to death. I said, "let's do it!".

And somehow I became very much alive! And the opening drumbeat seemed different and fresh. And I knew what he meant. The song's been so overplayed that it didn't mean much to anyone. But I think I showed them that it could be started with a different feel, one that would change the whole chemistry of the song. And not just something people have heard in "Chips Ahoy" commercials.

And the song once again went over well with the audience.

And once again I took my drum solos, and the final one started something fierce within me. I was determined to see this one through. And I felt I had the audience's complete attention. Every drum lick kept the audience guessing what I would do next, every rudiment seemed to lead the way to the next one in calculated fashion.

Then I started to build up the energy, getting louder until I found myself in a flurry of cymbal crashes and single stroke rolls, all the while maintaining this "wicked" double bass drum roll that would not stop... and I didn't feel that I was in "the zone" all night until Sing, Sing, Sing came.

If there was such a thing as drummer heaven I was there once again. And the audience returned their appreciation for my efforts.

After the show this young black man came up and complimented me on my performance. He said, "Man, I ain't never seen anything like that. Man, you smoked!". And then he shook my hand. And I felt very honored.

And in my mind I humbly thought, "man, I'm just paying tribute to the real drumming giants who lived before me, and I wasn't even close to matching them", but it sure felt great to receive that kind of appreciation.

Funny how I always come back down to Earth, especially after a successful night like that. And I drive back home to my family, back to reality. And the dream and the fantasy quickly dies... but at least I knew that I had fulfilled my dreams, if only for a few moments.

And thinking in those terms, life has been good to me.