Through the years, The Outlaws have lived in the Southern Rock shadow of Skynard’s fame. In their day, they were ignored by the critics and dismissed by music hipsters. In the 70’s, I must have seen The Outlaws seven or eight times, usually at The Capital Theater in Passaic, NJ. Their shows still remain on my “Best Of” list. Check out this video and ask yourself, “What happened to real Rock? In the last two decades, what bands come close to playing Rock ‘N Roll, in the manner displayed here, with some god-damned balls, for Christ’s sake?! Why have we forgotten how good Rock can be, and instead, ingest current songs that can’t duplicate, but can only reference this era?” (Kid Rock: Skynard/Zevon) When you come up with some answers, please let me know. We need to return to musician’s playing real instruments in ensemble situations, playing real Rock ‘N Roll!
I attended a few shows on the same tour as this video. As you watch you’ll notice an abscence of posturing, styling, mugging, prancing, referencing or acting. Refreshing.
Emedin Rivera and I have gotten some press recently in the Paiste Newsletter and in the Vic Firth Newswire. For the full story click here or on the image below.
The last date of the very last M2M tour. This is a video of soundcheck, shot by the parents of guitarist, Marius Graff. Weeks earlier, Marion and Marit of M2M invited a former fan, Michelle Branch to our rehearsal studio in NYC. Michelle’s first album was just released and she was exited to share her success with her new colleagues of M2M. She invited us to play a show with her in Central Park months later, and the girls of M2M were excited, believing they were going to headline the show. Up to this point, we were on tour as the opening band on the Jewel tour. Can you imagine the girls of M2M singing Jewel songs during soundcheck, while Jewel is cringing in her dressing room?
When we arrived in Central Park it was obvious that Michelle Branch was the headliner (her record was on the top of the charts by then) and not suprisingly, she was nowhere to be found when the girls of M2M needed “clarification.” Marion and Marit were stunned and dejected. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Marit, Marion had just inked her own deal with Atlantic Records, with the objective of severing ties with her life-long business partner (Marit) for good. Until that point, the only conflict that I witnessed between them was when Marit wanted to play The Strokes cd on our tour bus. Wanting Britney Spears instead, Marion stormed off to the back of the bus and locked herself in the rear lounge.
This was our soundcheck before our final show of the tour, and the last M2M show ever. That’s me on the drums!
This and many other loops, downloadable for free. Just click on “Downloadable Drum Loops” from the menu to the right. Choose the loop you wish to download, and click on the down arrow on the right of the player. The download will begin. Afterward, import into iTunes, Garage Band, Pro Tools, etc., and enjoy!
Sure, there’s more of it, but more isn’t always better. Growing up, the greatest source of music in my life was radio; WABC AM radio in NY. The Doors, The 5th Dimension, The Beatles, The Young Rascals, were all piped through the radio on our kitchen counter, in Somerset, NJ. Later, it was a huge deal when my brother and I got an FM radio to share. Together we’d discover Led Zeppelin, The Guess Who and Rick Derringer, while laying about in our room. There was more, however. There were story tellers, like Gene Shepherd that lit up their words with vivid detail, which unleashed our imaginations.
Dying Breed: The Dance Band Drummer
The what? According to my logic, the drummers I listened to early on (Ian Paice, John Bonham and Danny Seraphine), were influenced by Gene Krupa, Buddy Rich and Chic Webb. Although these cats also played crazy jazz, their origins were in the dance bands of Tommy Dorsey, Count Basie and Benny Goodman. To my ear, the styles of Paice, Bonham and Seraphine have a lilt or swing because of this, that’s absent in many contemporary drummers. By the way, one of my first drum method books was “Beats and Variations for the Dance Band Drummer.” It’s one of my favorite and most valued instructional books. Professionally speaking, I got a lot of useful stuff from this book, most of which I still use on gigs.
Marty and the End of An Era
Speaking of by-gone eras–There is a famous ballroom in the Bronx on West Farms Square called The Stardust Ballroom. The first time I heard about it was in the movie, Marty. The next time, was Woody Allen’s movie about The Stardust entitled Stardust Memories. In later years, when working with older musicians, I’d ask them about the ballroom. “What was it like to play there? Who did you see or work with?”, and so on. This was the joint that, in the Big Band days of Frank Sinatra and Benny Goodman, was the place to be. And for musicians, it was the place to play. All the big names worked there. I recently worked with an old-time band leader, Joe D’Maer, who led the house band at the Stardust in the 1950’s. He told me many stories, among them were the grueling hours of the job; 8pm-2am. Also, the house band was responsible for playing dance music and supporting incoming acts, which was no small task. Anyway, this theater is one of those beautiful, ornate Vaudville theaters that once thrived, doubling as a movie house and a performance venue. Old-timers tell stories about Bronx life, and spending entire days watching movies and entertainment in a place like this. In the movie, Marty (Ernest Borgnine) tries to rev up his lovelorn life by going to the Stardust Ballroom with his buddy on a Saturday night. This black and white movie deeply resonated with me. I’ve since become fascinated with NYC and The Bronx of the 40’s and 50’s. At this point, I’ve been teaching in the South Bronx for nine years, but it wasn’t until a few months ago that I realized I pass by The Stardust Ballroom on my daily commute home from work. As a matter of fact, I’ve been passing it every day for the last nine years. What caught my attention was the scaffolding around the building. In May, demolition ensued. At the time of this posting little remains of this beautiful and historic structure. Although the era ended a long time ago, I’m disappointed and saddened that I never set foot inside the building It was always right down the street from where I’ve been working for the last nine years.
Here’s some video I shot on my phone, on way home from work last week:
