Happy New Year

Ok ... so I'm way behind on blogging. I apologize and while I'm not committing as one would when making a New Year's Resolution, I will do my best to be better this year.

First up ... the show with Jen Knight. To be honest, I have a love/hate relation ship with Cane's. Sometimes, it can be an amazing venue. Others ... well, let's just say there can be flaws. The first "flaw" came when the first band on the bill suddenly morphed into another band and inserted themselves as the second band on the bill. A hard rock/heavy metal act, much better suited for a scar'd sanity show than a Jen Knight and Agent 22 show, they wore a little bit on the audience's patience.

For Jen's set, I ended up using Ryan Moran's (Agent 22's drummer) drum kit. It was very interesting to suddenly play a kit with only one crash and one ride (mine has three and two respectively, plus lots of other metal). I think my recent love affair with Max Roach came out in my playing a bit more as a result. The show went well EXCEPT for some chowder head (me), setting the metronome to the wrong tempo for Highway 101 and counting us in really, REALLY slow. After the first chorus, we jumped to the correct speed, but it was a bit embarrassing for me. On the plus side, we were quite locked in at that slower tempo!

After us, Agent 22 played. Not only was it great to see all three members of Agent 22 playing together again, I was especially appreciative to get to hear Ryan's take on certain songs that I was going to have to play with Tom Griesgraber on New Year's Eve. Ryan is, quite possibly, San Diego's best drummer (he's in Slightly Stupid as well as Agent 22), for he's got chops to spare, but he's a masterful craftsman, knowing when and where to use them ... plus his groove is sick.

On New Year's Eve, I played with Tom Griesgraber out at Harrah's Rincon Casino. After surviving scary winds and a scarier route (remind me why I trust Map Quest) to get there, we found ourselves in a invite only room. After about 30 minutes of our first set, Tom was approached and asked if he could play more "up-tempo jazz" songs. Having already played the two jazz covers in his bag of tricks, I asked if I should try and play more "up-tempo" like. Now, I've yet to find a voice that is comfortable for me to use with Tom. I can't do the scar'd sanity thing with him, and I don't play with him enough to really explore what I want to be doing musically with him. Generally, I default to quiet time-keeper guy. That being said, when I volunteered to be more "up-tempo" on songs, I ended up playing somethings that I regretted. Also, I've yet to really nail the end of 77 Times. I was thinking the other night that doing a Vinnie playing Sting kind of thing might be the trick. Maybe I'll get to try that out later this year.

Right now, I'm in an odd head space as a drummer. I feel a bit as though I've lost a little of who I am musically, and need to go looking for it. Perhaps it's not lost, but, rather, I'm no longer who I was and I need to take a good hard look at who I am and what that means to my playing. Thankfully, I've got the time ...