Do you want to be famous?

Im already famous -
my wife recognises me imeadiately and often mobs me
My friends often stop me in the street to chat
my bandmates recognise my playing straight away - and im their first choice for any drumming gig !
got to work on the rich part of the equation though but im in no hurry ..
 
Holy crap man...I have to ask, at the end of the day, do you feel your early experience was an advantage for you or disadvantage? One would think disadvantage by default but you never know.

The experience with my deafness? Both. One the one hand, I may be short-changed in the suave-movement skills of social skills, as I came along missing critical skills, and I still don't have some of them, however, even though deafness has obvious benefits such as being able to sleep solidly at night provided I wear an eye mask at night, etc., the other not-so-obvious benefit was shielding me from being taught at a young enough age to be sucked into whatever belief system was around me before I was old enough to be able to form my own worldview, and it extended the time in which I lived in a, I don't know, a lower state of civilization(?) or socialization where my mind was growing in its own direction rather than being shaped through language (though it could be said that it was being shaped visually just from exposure to technology like bicycles, TVs, vehicles, though I didn't know their names or why they worked, but it's a different thing). It's kind of like being caught between the average child and a child who lived in the wild. You could say that I hated and resented school work because it represented the cage to the child, the growing adult who wanted to do whatever, whenever, anytime, even though the highlight of the school day was always the playtime or lunch time. That would be true of children in general, but it was even stronger in me because I didn't receive the sort of teaching through language of how to be until much later. It was almost like during that time, I was one foot out from going into the wild and never found again, following that natural instinct to simply be.

It was hard...
 
I take it you play by vibration like Evelyn Glennie does ?). What's fascinating is how absorbing music through senses other than hearing is obviously deeply satisfying too. To feel those vibrations as pleasing patterns ... it seems pretty amazing to me.

Sorry to hijack, but I want to clear up a common misconception. No, I don't. When I'm at home plugged into my sound board, everything I experience musically comes down that headphone wire (which is plugged into my hearing aids). I hear it. I don't feel it. To me, feeling it like some deaf people supposedly do has no comparison to actually hearing it because there is a LOT of auditory information that can't possibly be felt by a human, such as the difference between an oboe and a clarinet, a man's voice and a woman's voice singing in the same register (so that you can't mistake one for the other in a song), or an Ovation guitar from a Les Paul. No way. Sorry :)
 
Sorry to hijack, but I want to clear up a common misconception. No, I don't. When I'm at home plugged into my sound board, everything I experience musically comes down that headphone wire (which is plugged into my hearing aids). I hear it. I don't feel it. To me, feeling it like some deaf people supposedly do has no comparison to actually hearing it because there is a LOT of auditory information that can't possibly be felt by a human, such as the difference between an oboe and a clarinet, a man's voice and a woman's voice singing in the same register (so that you can't mistake one for the other in a song), or an Ovation guitar from a Les Paul. No way. Sorry :)

Ta for the info DD. If you are using a hearing aid does that mean you can hear a little bit?
 
Ta for the info DD. If you are using a hearing aid does that mean you can hear a little bit?

The only valid reason for wearing hearing aids for me. I have residual hearing, and I make great use of it, as you can see from my posts. That's why I know there's no comparison between feeling things and hearing them. My hearing is rudimentary compared to yours. I can't pick apart guitars from each other, tell you what melodies they are playing or what key it sounds to be in, never mind if that's an Ovation playing on a CD. However, I can tell pitches and tune instruments, but in restricted environments (don't ask me to tune a bass guitar on the fly in the middle of a song, though I can get a didge drone going and tune my voice to it, an octave above and either a fourth or a fifth above it (need to check it on a piano)).
 
bermuda said:
Someone can be very successful, yet obscure to public recognition

This is so VERY true of many session drummers - I see a distinct divide between successful drummers: the ones who come out with DVDs and truckloads of "promo" material, and the ones who are far too busy in the studio to do any of that.

I have the utmost respect and admiration for drummers from both sides of the divide, but the devide very tangibly exists.

If I'm completely honest, I would rather be on the "promo" side of the divide...not because I have huge confidence in my ability or skill (I don't), but because one thing I love more than playing is teaching by playing - which is precisely what clinicians do, and they get recognition for it; not for being a person, but for the hard graft that they put in to get where they are!
 
The only valid reason for wearing hearing aids for me. I have residual hearing, and I make great use of it, as you can see from my posts. That's why I know there's no comparison between feeling things and hearing them. My hearing is rudimentary compared to yours. I can't pick apart guitars from each other, tell you what melodies they are playing or what key it sounds to be in, never mind if that's an Ovation playing on a CD. However, I can tell pitches and tune instruments, but in restricted environments (don't ask me to tune a bass guitar on the fly in the middle of a song, though I can get a didge drone going and tune my voice to it, an octave above and either a fourth or a fifth above it (need to check it on a piano)).

Ta again DD - it's a whole other world. Seems like you hear a bit like my Dad. Did a test on him and he only goes to 6kHz. He says "what?" a lot because he's too cool to wear hearing aids.
 
Famous is something you become, not something you strive for.

F&ckin-A right! You should get fame because you are GOOD at what you do. Unfortunately some people are famous for having pretty much damn near no true talent. Examples: Kim Kardashian (big ass) & Paris Hilton (money, and if I may she should use some to buy some tits and a brain!).
 
I'd settle for gainfully employed in a field I'm good at and actually enjoy.

Screw famous.... I hate it when people I barley know stop to make small talk with me at a gig.
 
... Unfortunately some people are famous for having pretty much damn near no true talent. Examples: ... Paris Hilton (money, and if I may she should use some to buy some tits and a brain!).

The dumb blonde thing is a cliche and doesn't apply to Paris, although she plays up the cliche for laughs: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khE6v1mL0q4


Screw famous.... I hate it when people I barely know stop to make small talk with me at a gig.

Me too. Being famous is for extroverts.
 
Be careful what you wish for. I like being able to go out in public and not have to worry about people coming up to me. There is a certain comfort in flying under the radar.

Although there have been some very well known drummers, lead singers and guitarists are usually more well known. Other than Buddy Rich, there aren't too many famous bands named after the drummer. As opposed to Huey Lewis, Bon Jovi, Doughtry, Tom Petty, Pat Benatar, etc.

When I sing lead vocals on my songs, I can see people craning their necks to see who is singing. They look at all the other band members first, and then they are very surprised when they finally figure out the drummer is singing (process of elimination). At our next gig, we are going to start the night off playing a series of accoustic songs, and I am going to stand up front, singing and playing some light percussion. This should be interesting!
 
I don't care if I'm famous or not; I just want the feeling of playing to a crowd and knowing they love the music, whether or not they know me.
 
On topic: No. I want to be rich! 'Cause when you're rich you can buy fame (and an SQ2, and hi-end cymbals, and even more guitars, and a decent mixing desk, etc.).
Doesn't necessarily work the other way round.

[Just kidding but I think the above correlation is true though.]
 
Depends on what you plan to do with the fame.


alright..my next band will be called The Ming Kennedys...well..no it wont..but thats a great name...especially beacause the first search returned by google for the name references NASA.

oh, and by the way defdrummer...you kick ass...having the cognitive envelope to extrapolate musical perception to augment limited frequency perception is astounding.
 
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