The way I have played improvised solos has been simple - yes, there is a vocabulary of things you can do and you can move back and forth in between them. But if your vocabulary is large, so is your bank of ideas you can pull from or construct on the fly by using little bits and pieces. So, going bac...

This is something that I have been thinking about lately during my sabbatical away from drumming (birth of my son). I have been struggling a bit to mentally justify to myself why drummers tend to compose and perform solos with the same basic structure on a regular basis. Mind you, some of these guys...

Thanks, Gavin. Great to meet ya as well. Sorry you didn't think the quality was up to par - it sounded good to my ears when I was there, but I certainly can relate. I wish a couple of videos of mine were wiped out of existence altogether. :) Anyway, still kind of processing the entire experience, it...

A couple of days ago I attended the Grand Opening of Victor Salazar's new shop downtown Chicago and it was unbelievable! As a loyal customer of The Drum Pad (who Vic used to work for) it has surpassed my wildest expectations. The event was attended by Billy Ward, Gavin Harrison, Todd Sucherman, Terr...

You know, I am not sure why that is, but there really isn't any footage of the man playing anywhere I am aware of. Surely all these people that have studied with him must have had enough respect for his own playing to undertake the effort. Sadly, I can't find any footage or recordings.

I guess I could, but I'd have to ask Vic what his and Jimmy's policy on that would be as I don't want to step on anyone's toes or violate any kind of a policy in place. I am not sure if Vic is planning to record any performances himself, I know that The DrumPad's 20th or 25th Anniversary gig with Ji...

RIP Mr. Gruber

I am...

Congrats, brother! One point off for looking like a bearded Matt Cameron in the last photo.... But really, nicely done over the years. Thanks for the website, the music, and the two cents!

So Sting is coming around Chicago in November, but I don't think I am going... They are playing Rosemont Theatre in Chicago and that venue has shitty acoustics (having seen Dream Theater there a couple of weeks ago, which was a terrible sounding gig - to no fault of the band). In addition, way too m...