VINNIE - The thread about Colaiuta

[Pocketplayer]

Favorite Vinnie performance...EVA!

[Rodge]

Favorite Vinnie performance...EVA!

Vinnie told me that they were there for a week, the only night "terrible", they did that recording we all know...

[Pocketplayer]

...interesting. Maybe that's why I like it so much. It isn't "perfect"
Vinnie is really loose as a goose...cig hanging out of mouth, Chick
pounding on keys with sticks...the whole thing is just cool.

[Rodge]

Yeah that gig is AWESOME !!!

But when you know that, I'd loved see/listen a night in fire.

[Rudy_Ment]

So what I'm wondering is, did Vinnie ever get married or is he a loner? Does he have kids and might there be a Mini/Minnie Colaiuta who plays drums?

[Odd-Arne Oseberg]

So what I'm wondering is, did Vinnie ever get married or is he a loner? Does he have kids and might there be a Mini/Minnie Colaiuta who plays drums?

Married and divorced to Darlene. Josh Freeeze was the ring bearer. Married for about 11 years.

[Old Pit Guy]

I'm genuinely curious about this, and I absolutely do not mean to offend, but what compels musicians to want information about another musician's personal life? It's not as if whether he has ever been married or fathered children gives anyone insight into what or how he's presenting his music. To me, it's closer to those icky message boards on Yahoo where someone like Blake Lively is selling a sexual image and so people may want personal information to go along with that. But a guy whose drumming that we may admire and study? I don't understand why anyone would want to know more than what they hear on record or see when he plays.

Is it just a celebrity thing?

[Odd-Arne Oseberg]

In this day and age, especially how social media works most people end to show off their family or significant other.

Weckl shows off his daughter all the time.

Vinnie obviously isn't into that, a more private person in that person in that regard. It's no secret that he used to married as she was mentioned in several interviews, was present and participating in the Robyn Flans interviews and even has a song dedicated to her on his album.

Bein gthe sensitive artist type myself, I have no problem understanding why Vinnie isn't more outspoken about other stuff. He comes from a different age, even only being close to 40, I can relate. It's not what I signed up for as a musician. Also, just as much a skilled hired craftsman helping othrs express their vision than his own.

Though Vinnie plays on popular stuff he is a continuation of generaions of jazz musicians. Not a stick twirler.

It isn't that weird, though. Music is an expression of our lives and who we are, a big part of that is our personal life. Most artists tend to be open about that.

If we look at his contemporaries, musicians he's worked with and so on though, you see a very different attitude from much of what happens today. Even if they were hired hands it was very much a band type of situation and the frontmen/frontwomen were very much musos and part of the band type people.

Were I in the same situation I would also keep my personal life mostly private. My Facebook page reflects that. Drums, cats a bit of food... Interests for sure, but it's not my bedroom. When I get out gigging more again it will be mainly promotion and work related stuff.

Vinnie doesn't even have a Facebook page, so... If he was teaching like Dave he probably would, but even though we put them in a certain box because of skill and their generation they belong to very different parts of the music business.

Dave teaches, tours with jazz cats and runs a studio as much on the other side of the window.

Vinnie is the one of the most used big session cats and plays stadiums. He doesn't have to promote himself as a brand. He's a top hired gun and probably gets paid the part, too.

[Old Pit Guy]

I appreciate all of what you've written in response, but it doesn't seem to address my question .. or maybe I missed it!

You mention social media and people posting pictures of their children and so on. Yes, but they're offering that information of their own accord. I'm asking why people would want to know personal things about someone who obviously doesn't feel so inclined to share. I'm also wondering why it's important to have personal details of someone admired because they play the same instrument as someone else. Is that why an individual's personal life becomes an interest?

It very well may be just me and perhaps a small percentage of people who don't care to know, while more expect personal details to be common knowledge. That's why I'm asking - it seems odd to me and always has.

I met a number of my drumming influences (at a younger age) when I attended school. Most were polite and agreeable, but none of them offered details of their personal life, and I wouldn't have dared ask them without benefit of being their friends over some period of time whereupon that might occur naturally, if at all.

I guess what I'm asking is how the jump from "Yeah, his style was a major influence on me" became guys wondering out loud stuff like "Is he a loner/married/emotionally stable/a drug user" etc etc ..

[Rodge]

It's a part of the fantasy I guess ?

Vinnie was, is still, so important for me that I was looking to know EVERYTHING about him, but I've been lucky, he gave me his friendship, though I was just a stalker back then, and I can be it still time to time...

Saying this, I can understand if somebody wants to know a little bit more, about his idol, that what is shared public.

I also understand that privacy is privacy.