Your Best Drum(mer) Memorabilia

joedrum

joedrum

Junior Member
Not much but I got an autographed playbill of Buddy I got from him in the eighties. Also, a pair of Levon's sticks when they played in Boston years ago...Promark - Hickory - "The Natural" model. Plus I got a Ludwig pedal that's probably a minimum of 80 years old. I'll post a picture with serial number and one of you guys who knows a lot more than I do can tell me about it probably.

What you got?
 
I have a pair of sticks signed by Todd Sucherman, from one of his clinics that I attended.

But the coolest thing I have... I was fortunate to win a Facebook contest by WFL IIII drums. I won a 1909 snare from them, with the head signed by all the members of Seether, as well as William Ludwig III. The inside of the drum is also signed by John Humphries of Seether, and William Ludwig. I still pinch myself that I actually won this thing, and that was a year and a half ago. (And yes, it sounds awesome)
 
I have a used stick from Ringo's stick bag (about 15-20 years ago.) No authentication except that it came from someone in a position to have received it from Jeff Chonis or even Ringo himself.
 
I saw Steve Gadd on his Mission From Gadd tour several years ago. Along for the tour was Paul Francis who at the time was Zildjian's head of product development. I had a great conversation with Paul and he showed me many of the prototype products he was working on at the time. Some of the cymbals were for sale, and I grabbed a pair of hi hats that he had developed with input from Steve Gadd and another pair that he built along with Akira Jimbo. I got Paul to sign inside of all the cymbals. Later that weekend I met Steve Gadd, and I had him sign the top of the hats he had helped develop. A year or so later I met Akira Jimbo, and I got his signature on the top of the other pair. I have a lot of cool memorabilia, but I have to imagine that the two sets of hi hats are fairly unique.

Also, this may sound corny but the first signature I ever got from a pro drummer was from Bermuda, who I had been a fan of since I was in high school.
 
bermuda said:
I have a used stick from Ringo's stick bag (about 15-20 years ago.) No authentication except that it came from someone in a position to have received it from Jeff Chonis or even Ringo himself.
Click to expand...

I too have a pair of Ringo's sticks from about the same time. I got authentication from a former Pro Mark employee as well as Ringo's personal historian, who both confirmed that the pair I have was indeed from Ringo's personal stock as it was printed with Purple ink, and the retail versions were all printed with Red. They were gifted to me by a local lighting tech who "acquired" them from Ringo's Floor Tom after sound check...

I also have a couple other fun items.
The LAST pair of Regal Tip Lars Ulrich model sticks produced. While working for the company I found a handful of pair in the warehouse. We couldn't sell them because he has switch to Ahead in 96, so I figured I would just give them to Lars. I contacted Metallica's management and Lars had his drum tech get in touch with me when they came to town. I returned all the sticks, keeping one pair for myself! hahahaha

Let's see...
I have a pair of Regal Tip "JC" model sticks, signed by Joe Calato. Company founder, and inventor of the nylon tip.
And on my recent tour down under, I got a pair of sticks from a local drum shop and had all the drummers on the tour sign them. They include the current touring lineups for Faster Pussycat, Wednesday 13, Enuff'Z'nuff, Tuff, and of course me.
 
Just a few odds and ends...

A friend of mine was in New York and somehow got me one of Anton Fig's drumsticks

I had an autographed Greg Bissonette VHS instructional tape but it's long gone. I saw him in clinic, super cool guy.

A broken drum stick from Brian "Brain" Mantia (G n' R, Tom Waits) from his Bay Area clubbing days in the early 90s. Saw home several time with different acts.

Lastly.....don't flame me.....a ticket stub autographed by Lars Ulrich. I saw him at a Radiohead concert back in 1997.
 
got two pairs of sticks from virgil donati when i went to see him in a clinic/masterclass years ago before he switched to techra sticks.

got a signed VF stick by joe letz, who then played for combichrist after i teched for them during a local(ish) show they did.

got multiple signed drumheads by various drummers from the various drumming conventions ive attended and when theyve come and done clinics/masterclasses in my hometown. including mike johnston, nicko mcbrain, craig blundell, ralph petersen, nikki glaspie, ray luzier, marco minnemann, and good few others :)


got a signed drumstick from jason bittner of shadows fall which i got from him back in 2006

also got some signed sticks by gary wallis as well that one of my friends gave me.
 
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I was a letter writing fool back in the day. Letters from Kenny Aronoff..Ian Paice..Russ Kunkel..Robbie Bachman..Andy Newmark..Hal Blaine..Art Wood(Star Search) drummer..Rod Morgenstein..Richard Bailey (which I still have to locate for a member of this forum) a cassette tape from Larrie Londin on what Al Duffy from Pearl did to the bearing edges on his recording custom kit for sustain..and low end. A clear beater from Rick Latham. The most lengthy and personal letter (s) were from Andy Newmark which I dearly cherish.
 
When the Thirteenth Floor Elevators reunited for one show in 2016, drummer John Ike Walton had a new 22" bass drum head painted that was a reproduction of the one he used back in the 60's. We were chatting right after the show, and he offered it to me for $250. I immediately sent him a check.

I also own sticks, mallets, and a broken Speed King pedal that were owned by Dino Danelli.
 
I have a pair or two of sticks given to me by Simon Wright. Dean Markley Butts. I took a few lessons with him when he lived local to me.

I have a Zappa poster signed by Chad Wackerman. Got it at a clinic.

I have a Brooklyn Standard snare with the snare side head signed by Mike Johnston.
 
I have an autographed copy of Accents and Rebounds. It was signed by Stone and given to Joe Morello. Actually, he gave Joe a handful (6-7 copies). The first copy was Joe's personal copy. I think they are trying to find a place for it (and the accompanying letter) in a museum or collection. The other copies were for Joe to hand out as he wanted. I guess Joe never got around to giving most or all of them out. I bought a copy when they were auctioning his estate items a few years ago. The pics are from the auction, so I only own the autographed book, not the letter.

For how cool it is to own a piece of drum history, it does not compare with the experience of studying with Joe. It was amazing studying with him.

Jeff
 

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I got a drumhead and a pair of sticks from my favourite drummer back in the 90s.

We shared the stage with the New Zealand band Shihad.....they were my fave band at the time.

I absolutely loved Tom Larkin.......he was loud and aggressive.

To have a lead singer with the name Jon Toogood.......that's badass.

I lost both the drumhead and the sticks.


Here's the track...."Pacifier"

 
I seem to have quite a lot...
My favourite things are a postcard from Bill Bruford sent to me in a hand addressed envelope and the message "Good luck in your drumming career" on the back, signed of course. There's a story - my then partner and I went to see Earthworks at the Royal Northern College of Music and I went to ask for an autograph, despite being aware of the great man's legendary grumpiness - he was breaking down his kit, but was REALLY nice, he said "sure" and asked me for a pen - we then spent what seemed like ages trying to find one before i thanked him and said maybe another time, because I didn't want to waste any more of his time. He was very apologetic. Unbeknown to me, my partner wrote to him asking or a signature, telling hem the story and he wrote back almost immediately. That's effort neither of them need made, and it is special because of that.
The same partner made it possible for me to attend Freddie Gee's Drum Academy twice and I still have my lesson notes from there, with signatures and messages from Gregg Bissonette, Steve White, Neal Wilkinson, Mark Mondesir and Andy Gangadeen - all of them, fantastic people - as well as some signatures and pictures of my fellow students from both times I went.
Loads of autographs from clinics and some sticks, either from clinics or in one case, caught in the audience ( Steve White, Buddy Rich tribute in Sheffield 2008ish )

I like memories.
 
It's best to plan ahead of you think there might be an autograph opportunity with your drumming heros...

I think I probably have the only copy of Sir Gwain and the Green Knight signed by Omar Hakim. He gave a drum clinic years ago (back in the days when when I played bass), and I was embarrassed because I hadn't planned well and didn't have anything for Mr. Hakim to sign other than my college literature class textbook (I always arrive early and pass the time reading). So I apologized to him for only having available what was essentially my homework. He was a total professional and graciously signed the front page of the book, and I treasure it to this day. A while back, I went to a Todd Sucherman Master Class. Knowing that there might be an autograph opportunity I came prepared with a drum practice pad for him to sign, so he didn't have sign the book I had in my car which was a beat up, dog eared copy of Ralph Waldo Emerson's, Nature and Collected Essays.

So, I've learned it's best to be prepared with drum specific items that show respect for the person whose autograph you're seeking.
 
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Son of Vistalite Black has a photo with Jane's Addiction drummer Stephen Perkins, Dark Tranquillity drummer Joakim Strandberg Nilsson, Lettuce drummer Adam Deitch as well as sticks signed by all of the above, a drum stick Meshuggah Tomas Haake threw in my direction and signature sticks from the likes of Cannibal Corpse's Paul Mazurkiewicz, Gojira's "Evil" Mario Duplantier. Oh, and a drumhead signed by Sepultura's Eloy Casagrande -- one of the "Best Metal Drummers in the World Right Now."
 
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