M
Matt Bo Eder
Guest
So the wife and I were prepping the house for a re-appraisal in hopes of a re-fi on Friday and while I was cleaning up stuff in the garage, it dawned on me how much drum stuff I've accumulated over the years. In the process of making the garage look nice, I took an inventory of how much gakk I've collected and no longer used and found I have enough left over full pieces of hardware, along with several small boxes of extra hoops, and hardware bits to fill three 30x30x14 trap cases. In fact, most of it was inside two 30x30 Anvil trap cases that I've owned for years.
If I set aside my newly acquired Pearl stuff, I had enough hardware to outfit two complete kits, and enough random parts to build stuff with.
I've changed a bit in my years here. Of course, a lot of things begin to change in your life as you go through your 40s and into your 50s, and my feeling on accumulating more stuff has certainly changed in favor of experiences and family instead.
So I loaded up everything in my car and took it to Pro Drum in Hollywood. I dumped the bit pieces in their "spare parts" bin (some of it looking very new), I bagged up some of the classic Ludwig parts I had (lugs and such) and left it on the counter so they could put it where they could find it when other vintage-minded folks came in looking for specific Ludwig parts (which there are a lot of). The trap cases filled with bass drum pedals and stands, and the extra Enduro drum cases and cymbal vaults I left in the middle of the shop.
I decided to just let them have all the stuff, including all the cases. I'm lightening my load, and helping out my favorite drum shop, so they could in turn help out other drummers less fortunate. I've been hanging around at that shop for over 35 years now and it's like visiting family. I'm sure they certainly don't need my help to stay in business, but they appreciated the gesture. At first he wanted to give me something for it all, and after I hem-hawed about it, I couldn't figure what I needed anyway, and wasn't expecting anything. I finally left with a couple of t-shirts.
The bigger gift I got out of making this surprise trip to the shop was finally getting to meet Ndugu Chancellor (I got a picture with him but I haven't gotten it yet from the owner, he'll post it to Facebook when he gets around to it). I got to chat with him a bit after I told him I loved his playing since I saw him in a clinic with Louie Bellson back in 1983. We talked about those days, how he's teaching at USC now, talked some about Sakae drums (who he endorses now). We talked some Disney stuff and he found out I did this drumming rodent thing, and he knew some of guys there too, so we had some common ground. I told him I'd say hi to some players when I saw them again.
But his attitude about what you should know as a musician really reminded me of what my attitude used to be. There are things you should just know if you plan on being a working musician in this town, and he exemplifies that. It was cool to be reminded of that. I think when I was around educators as a student-teacher, I tended to let 'students be who they are' and always be positive. The reality is different. If you're a guitar player, how can you not know anything about the blues? If you study drums, how can you not have gone through stick control? When I get to pick the brains of the people at the upper echelon of our craft, you really discover what a different plane those people are on, and humbled by where you're actually at. That was my big lesson for the day. It made the spring cleaning and the trip worth it.
I'm inspired to play more, which I haven't felt in a while. Now I'm really glad I decided to unload all that extra gear to help others. It's helped me too.
Just finding parts of me I've forgotten about, eh?
If I set aside my newly acquired Pearl stuff, I had enough hardware to outfit two complete kits, and enough random parts to build stuff with.
I've changed a bit in my years here. Of course, a lot of things begin to change in your life as you go through your 40s and into your 50s, and my feeling on accumulating more stuff has certainly changed in favor of experiences and family instead.
So I loaded up everything in my car and took it to Pro Drum in Hollywood. I dumped the bit pieces in their "spare parts" bin (some of it looking very new), I bagged up some of the classic Ludwig parts I had (lugs and such) and left it on the counter so they could put it where they could find it when other vintage-minded folks came in looking for specific Ludwig parts (which there are a lot of). The trap cases filled with bass drum pedals and stands, and the extra Enduro drum cases and cymbal vaults I left in the middle of the shop.
I decided to just let them have all the stuff, including all the cases. I'm lightening my load, and helping out my favorite drum shop, so they could in turn help out other drummers less fortunate. I've been hanging around at that shop for over 35 years now and it's like visiting family. I'm sure they certainly don't need my help to stay in business, but they appreciated the gesture. At first he wanted to give me something for it all, and after I hem-hawed about it, I couldn't figure what I needed anyway, and wasn't expecting anything. I finally left with a couple of t-shirts.
The bigger gift I got out of making this surprise trip to the shop was finally getting to meet Ndugu Chancellor (I got a picture with him but I haven't gotten it yet from the owner, he'll post it to Facebook when he gets around to it). I got to chat with him a bit after I told him I loved his playing since I saw him in a clinic with Louie Bellson back in 1983. We talked about those days, how he's teaching at USC now, talked some about Sakae drums (who he endorses now). We talked some Disney stuff and he found out I did this drumming rodent thing, and he knew some of guys there too, so we had some common ground. I told him I'd say hi to some players when I saw them again.
But his attitude about what you should know as a musician really reminded me of what my attitude used to be. There are things you should just know if you plan on being a working musician in this town, and he exemplifies that. It was cool to be reminded of that. I think when I was around educators as a student-teacher, I tended to let 'students be who they are' and always be positive. The reality is different. If you're a guitar player, how can you not know anything about the blues? If you study drums, how can you not have gone through stick control? When I get to pick the brains of the people at the upper echelon of our craft, you really discover what a different plane those people are on, and humbled by where you're actually at. That was my big lesson for the day. It made the spring cleaning and the trip worth it.
I'm inspired to play more, which I haven't felt in a while. Now I'm really glad I decided to unload all that extra gear to help others. It's helped me too.
Just finding parts of me I've forgotten about, eh?
