Introductions

Originally written, Tuesday, May 22.

Me? I’m a drummer. And a pianist—and, I suppose, a guitarist—but mostly, I’m a drummer. Now, don’t take that the wrong way. I’m not some muscle-head, barely-literate skin-smasher with toms the size of timpani. Sure, I’ve got strong arms. I’ve got to. That’s what comes of lugging six drums and four cymbals everywhere, up and down stairs, in to barrooms, out of barrooms, in to the car, out of the car—I know exactly how to stack a six-piece and two guitar cabs in a 2001 Volkswagen GTI and a ’91 Buick Le Sabre. I even know how many drums I can bring on my bicycle trailer—but, my strong-point is my ability to read music: I sight-read class A drumset solos (after a couple tries) and can nail all the horn hits on a swing chart at three hundred beats per minute (or two-hundred for the difficult ones). I can read Don Quixote in Spanish, too. I’ve never tried to read drumset music in Spanish, but, I bet it’s not hard. How can you tell if a note is Spanish you ask? The accent. Ba-dum Ching. I just came up with that. Not too bad for a Tuesday.