https://youtu.be/3LETECq3VhU
Tuesday, May 31, 2022
Sunday, May 29, 2022
Friday, May 27, 2022
Upcoming Star Wars Series Gets a Release Date
According to Star Wars: Andor Confirms Disney+ Release Date, we have to wait 97 days (August 31, 2022) in order to see the Andor series on Disney+. I really like the way the trailer is structured, with the different surfaces being pounded and having it fit into the music in the trailer. It's one of the best trailers I have seen lately.
https://youtu.be/aqajjdvlpEk
Thursday, May 26, 2022
What Do you Want?
Apparently, the answer to the title of this post is solely dependent upon political party. Stellar writer Erick Erickson's column Solution or Issue dives into his answer in 4 paragraphs. This was also published yesterday, May 25, 2022: The Democrats Don't Want a Solution to Gun Violence.
Wednesday, May 25, 2022
Blink 182 Makes Me Want The Offspring
It's the strangest thing. Listening to Blink 182
for the first time in a very long time, made me want to re-visit The Offspring. The decision quickly becomes do stick with their Greatest Hits
or do I feel like enjoying the deep cuts on their earlier album:
https://youtu.be/UVkg-PfDDmI
for the first time in a very long time, made me want to re-visit The Offspring. The decision quickly becomes do stick with their Greatest Hits
https://youtu.be/fejPNjwlNYo
or do I feel like enjoying the deep cuts on their earlier album:
https://youtu.be/DJUx410ju_o
https://youtu.be/Q-tVeCMM0fA
Tuesday, May 24, 2022
Collecting Media
When I see a dude with a collection of videos like the one in this article - ‘There’s something comforting about it’: the collectors who won’t let go of their DVDs and videos - I confess my first impulse is to wonder how long it would take to convert all of those videos to MP4 (or some other file type) and whether I have enough empty storage room on my library of external hard drives if I were to do that conversion.
WL FOREVER will be Defended by Me as NOT being a Hair Metal Band
https://youtu.be/W6GMIR2Rz5E - White Lion - 01
I can't embed White Lion's Mane Attraction album like I wanted to so go listen to it on Youtube.com: https://youtu.be/ONZak37sYxM - White Lion - Mane Attraction
Monday, May 23, 2022
Friday, May 20, 2022
DW Hosts are Ignorant about She-Hulk
In general, I like listening to both Michael Knowles and Matt Walsh. However, when it comes to the MCU, both are ignorant and resort to baseless criticisms, which is what the following two videos are an example of.
https://youtu.be/RVnVOkW1qDo
https://youtu.be/wVKLe45J3PI
Thursday, May 19, 2022
My Ideal Drums
Warning: This is a longer than normal post
This is my destiny drums.
I have a Google alert set up so that when "Ludwig Vistalite clear" is a match on "craigslist.org", I get an email. For years, I have patiently waited for my Ideal Drums to be located through this Google alert and while there have been matches in the past, they have all, for one reason or another, not been matches I have drooled over as much as the match that arrived in my Inbox on May 18, 2022 at 10:43 PM (last night after I had gone to bed).
1970’s Ludwig Vistalite 5-Piece Drumset - $1,800 (Iowa City)
$1,800 OBO - Feel free to make me an offer I can’t refuse!
This is a stunning, crack-free 1970’s Ludwig clear Vistalite “Big Beat” 5-piece drumset w/ matching snare drum. All shells are in great condition, no cracks, no rust on chrome, very slight wear - tape residue on bass drum.
As you can see from the pictures, these drums are clean, and have that great vistalite sound as well. All drums have original internal mufflers, and are fitted with remo pinstripe heads.
Please send me a message at (563) Five Seven Zero - 0641 with any questions or offers.
I will ship these drums, but I would prefer to meet in person - I would be willing to drive ~100 miles to meet in order to facilitate this sale.
Sale Includes:
- 5x14” Snare
- 8x12” Mounted Tom
- 9x13” Mounted Tom
- 16x16” Floor Tom
- 14x22” Bass Drum w/ Double Tom Mount
[snip]
posted: a day ago
updated: a day ago
But it's not going to be easy to justify spending $1,800 (or maybe a little under that) when I don't have any gigs lined up for my Ideal Band which would fund such a purchase.
I sent this message to the seller:
This is my Ideal drumset. I have a 24" bass, 13" mounted tom, and 2 x 16" floor toms. This will date me - my parents bought my set when I was in 8th grade, back in 1984 and it's been the only drumset I have ever owned!
I am monitoring the ad for sure. Son gets married next month and we're getting the bar bill so I need it to be less than $1000 before I can present it to my wife... right now, my set is stacked up under my basement steps because I have been playing my son's Yamaha DTX500 electronic set for the past few years.
Hope you sell it, even if it's not to me...
Wednesday, May 18, 2022
Dave's Gone Skiing is an amazing Odd Time Tune
The idea of me being able to play any song that has smooth transitions between time signatures - in this example, 9/8, 7/8, and 4/4 - is a daunting propostion. Right now, I feel like my drumming abilities will never be able to include "playing smooth transitions between time signatures" - but, perhaps, this video will change my life!
Dave's Gone Skiing seems like a worthy tune to conquer. Here's some help: https://www.skillzdrumlessons.com/blog/free-drum-lessons-simon-phillips-daves-gone-skiing-01/
https://www.drumeo.com/beat/odd-time-drumming-tips-simon-phillips/
Dave's Gone Skiing seems like a worthy tune to conquer. Here's some help: https://www.skillzdrumlessons.com/blog/free-drum-lessons-simon-phillips-daves-gone-skiing-01/
Tuesday, May 17, 2022
Words about DT
“The wave of Guns N Roses changed a lot on the West Coast as early as 1985/1986. Motley Crue almost didn’t exist for a while when the dam broke for Slash and Axl. I think me getting asked to join a once glam band turned old school rock wasn’t even on my mind at all when it happened” Jason McMaster said in an interview with Get Ready To Rock. “I was still in the thrash band Watchtower up to 1988 but l took a side gig playing with Dangerous Toys around 1987. At the time Appetite for Destruction was blowing up and l think the label were looking for another GnR, they always run to the streets to find another band that sounds like something else, even if it’s only a little bit, so they can sell a copy to the same person that bought the original.”
“It wasn’t even on our minds to get a deal and tour. We were having a blast as a bar band in Texas then all of a sudden there was a record deal and money. Getting a deal was almost an accident for us. I had to leave the band Watchtower which was rough. After we got our record deal we ate like we had never eaten or seen food before. It was a happy time, some of us spent our money and some of us saved it.”
“Our label brought in producer Max Norman” McMaster told Sleaze Roxx. “We were so green at the time. We didn’t know what we were doing but we all knew who Max Norman was! We were fans of the Ozzy records he worked on and l was a fan of Armoured Saint and l loved what he did with them.”
“It was so cool working with Max Norman” McMaster told Full in Bloom “He told us so many good stories about Randy and Ozzy, also Dirty Looks who he worked with as well. Max would make me sing things about twenty times, it was a lot of work but he taught me a lot like how to get the best out of tracks. We all learnt a lot. It was hard work with long days, usually only one day off a week but we learnt a lot about recording, about vibe, feel and timing. Our budget was around three hundred thousand dollars and l think we went over budget a bit as well. We went Gold but there were so many middlemen that by the time it got to us we didn’t make a lot of money. I don’t think we ever recouped any expenses. These days the best money we make is in reunion shows.”
“The music videos were way too expensive” McMaster admitted to Legendary Rock Interviews. “Videos were costing us between 80K and 115K, l mean come on! We didn’t need all that catering and hair and makeup. Now you could make a video like that for 5K or less. It was a learning experience and a lesson to all bands, look into your contract! I was almost having a heart attack looking at the budget set for these videos. All this was coming out of our pocket in the end. Recoupable was one word l had to learn real fast.”
“I think the earliest songs l wrote with Dangerous Toys ‘Queen Of The Nile’, ‘Here Comes Trouble’ etc were literally the first songs l had ever written” McMaster told Metalliville. “Songs that had stories to them and weren’t just imagery like a lot of metal lyrics. It was fun to learn that, what l call the study of the craft. It’s always a mystery to find out the right way to write and record a song. I have pretty much found out that there are no rules at all. It’s whatever makes you comfortable and whatever you believe to be the right way of working at that moment.”
“People got the message early on that the song Scared was about Alice Cooper” McMaster commented to Sleaze Roxx. “I wanted to celebrate Alice and the song pretty much wrote itself from there on. I remember we were playing the Whisky and our label gave out tickets on KNAC the hot rock station at the time. The place was jam packed. I’m in the dressing room and someone told me Alice was walking up the stairs at that moment! I went white as a ghost. It was the first time l met him, we talked for a bit and took a few photos. He was complimentary about the song Scared and said he was honoured. We also did some press with him for the tour we did with him and Judas Priest. I was in a tank rolling down Sunset with Alice and Rob Halford. I was trying to be cool but l wanted to man hug those two dudes! I’m a fan first and foremost like you and everyone else. I’m so incredibly grateful to have got to the top of the mountain for just a glimpse.”
Monday, May 16, 2022
The BB
I came across a cool website called Bespin Bulletin - https://bespinbulletin.com - which has information about Star Wars.
Top 5 Drum Videos of 2022 on Drumeo
- https://www.drumeo.com/beat/dennis-chambers-james-brown-drum-beat-fatback
- https://www.drumeo.com/beat/hannah-welton-learn-drum-songs
- https://www.drumeo.com/beat/5-impossible-buddy-rich-licks
- https://www.drumeo.com/beat/the-genius-of-phil-collins
- https://www.drumeo.com/beat/greyson-nekrutman-caravan-drum-cover
- Paradiddle Short https://www.youtube.com/shorts/t0Eo8NpfsyE
How Often Should you Practice Drums
I received this email from Drumeo on Saturday and thought it was worth remembering.
I do not have a regular routine for practicing drums. There have been several times when I've gone to either a RP (formerly RPM) session in Cedar Rapids or a 515 Mass at Saint Thomas More without holding a drumstick in my hand since either a RP session in Cedar Rapids or a 515 Mass at Saint Thomas More.
I disagree with the first line in the quoted email below, which says, "Learning the drums is easier when you're a kid. On the contrary, I think it would be more true for me to write, "Playing the drums is easier when you're a kid and there is a difference. When I read the word learning, I think about opening a book and
picking a page and reading the notes on the page and then translating
those notes into a pattern in my brain which then sends messages to my
hands and feet. When I read the word playing drums, I recall how I used to go down to my drums in 3904 Studios (the house I grew up in)
and play drums whenever I happened to be home alone. It was never a
conscious choice to go play as I wanted to play drums. I think about situations when
I would get home from high school at 3:15 and would have to be back to
high school for swim team practice by 4:00 so I would go downstairs, set
a timer for 15 minutes, pick up some sticks and start making sounds
come out of my drums. I wanted to spend those 15 minutes not doing
homework, not watching TV, not listening to music on my stereo, or
writing.
It's true that if I happened to figure out how to translate what I heard in my brain into sounds from my drums, then, okay, sure, I learned how to do something. More often than not, though, I would just play. I used to use a cassette tapes to document some of my drum sessions. I wish I had the forethought to keep a log with a line entry each and every time I played drums, but I didn't. My general impression from listening to some of those cassette tapes from the late 1980s into the early 1990s is that I tended to find a pattern I liked and play the hell out of it. I can tell when I had probably just heard some new pattern in a song I liked or on the radio or when I had just been listening to Metallica because I would play a pattern that is familiar to my ears all these years later.
I wish I had a strong history of practicing my drums and had the self-discipline to do so but I don't. I've tried to instill a regular routine of going to the den, picking up the sticks and practice pad but because my time is limited, I often find other "important" tasks to complete, such as counting how many times I have played drums at a Saint Thomas More Mass. I did that the other day, counting up my worship aid booklets - I keep one for each Mass. From 2013 --> 2022, I have 107, which means I'm very close to averaging playing drums at a Mass once a month. If I play 13 more Masses between now and 12-31-2022, I will have 120 worship aid booklets, which is 120 Masses / 10 years = 12. The reality, though, is that I only have 10 worship aid booklets from the years 2013 - 2015, which either means I have worship aid booklets stashed somewhere "where I won't forget that I put them there" or I didn't play a lot of drums at Saint Thomas More during those years (which could also be true).
My point in mentioning all of this is I need to practice more but I doubt I will actually practice more. It's a hamster wheel. In the meantime, read what Drumeo believes about practicing drums below.
Learning the drums is easier when you’re a kid.
And not because your brain is a “sponge.” It’s easier simply because you have somebody else schedule your lessons and make sure you show up on time. All you have to do is PLAY and practice.
As an adult, juggling multiple schedules (work, family, health), it’s harder to be consistent with playing the drums.
And consistency is the key to learning this instrument (or anything).
Now imagine your busy schedule could actually help you become a more consistent drummer 😮… stay with me here.
Creativity comes from constraints.
Everybody’s busy.
Seriously, everyone. There’s an old saying: “work expands to fill the time available for its completion.”
Translation: No matter how much or how little you have to do, you barely have enough time.
So the key is to become more efficient. And there’s one trick you can do to instantly become more efficient in your drum practice.
Fail to plan, plan to fail.
Legendary drummer & artist, Benny Greb, learned this the hard way.
As a college student, he started recording his practice sessions. Listening back to the tape he humbly realized how much time he squandered bursting into random fills, tuning and repositioning his gear, and noodling until he found something to practice.
That method worked for him as a kid with unlimited time – but when he found himself under time constraints he realized he’d have to do better.
So Benny decided he would plan his routine BEFORE he sat down to practice.
It sounds so obvious, but very few of us do it – and it was a powerful shift on Benny’s journey to becoming one of the world’s greatest drummers.
The art of scheduling.
Every Sunday, I plan my workouts for the week.
I take a quick look ahead and immediately write off any days that it’s not gonna happen – why put that extra pressure on yourself?
When I see which days are available, I write down what I’m going to work on. And you can do the same with drumming:
That’s just one example ^.
You can come up with any plan that works for you and your goals – but I’ll say from experience that it helps if you have a go-to practice resource that fits YOUR schedule.
Drum Lessons For Busy Adults
I’m biased…
But Drumeo was basically built to be drum lessons for busy adults.
You don’t have to commute to lessons (or have that defeated “falling behind” feeling when you miss a lesson).
Just plan your week of practice and choose the lessons you’re going to work on. If you’re not sure what to work on, you can follow the step-by-step Drumeo Method (it tells you exactly what to practice at every stage of your drumming) OR upload a video of yourself and get a personalized recommendation.
That way you can focus on exercises that will actually help you improve.
You can check it out here:
You’ll even get a free practice pad & sticks with your lessons because we’re celebrating International Drum Month (🥳).
However you approach it, I hope this technique helps you plan better practice sessions and make consistent improvements behind the kit.
To Your Drumming Success,
- Jared Falk
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