All things drums or drumming
We’ve known Mark and Linda for over 30 years. They’re master gardeners, dancing chefs and fun conversationalists. They’re fellow RV’ers with lots of travel tales to tell and TWO campsites at their home – the garden site and the treehouse site. They’re also crafty instigators, having planted the irresistible kernel that caused our exploration of Maine to include this stop in Simsbury, Connecticut.
First, the back story…
Continue reading “Simsbury picnic jam”
I first heard about Drum Center of Portsmouth about 6 years ago. Their byline is the Largest Drum Shop in the World! Ever since then I’ve been determined to visit sometime when we might be near. Well, we were near!
Continue reading “Drum Center of Portsmouth”
I’ve been taking drum lessons from Drumeo, an online music education program, since 2018. Students share videos with each other providing encouragement, trading tips and generally enjoying the camaraderie of the community. Dave has been a member since 2013. During the past winter, he posted a video of himself drumming with a band, and I saw ‘Maine Academy of Modern Music’ on a banner in the background. Hmmm… Me: Hey Dave, are you from Maine? Dave: I live near Portland. New England states aren’t very large. On a global scale, we’re next-door neighbors…
As we were planning this trip, I sent him my usual email. Me: We’re going to be in Maine and we’ll be near Portland, wanna jam? Dave: Yes. (I’m paraphrasing, here.)
Continue reading “Near Portland”
Walker always asks to be in the top photo, showing us that he can still do what he does best – relax on the couch. He hasn’t changed a bit since we last saw him in 2021 and first met him in 2016. And he still loves us.
Continue reading “On the road to Andover, Maine”
Long before we started planning our Eastern Canada tour for this summer and fall, there was exactly one fixed point in the schedule, and that was a four-day blues jamming extravaganza in Grand Rapids, Michigan organized by our friend Tom (aka tommytubetone), that we could catch on the way home. Tom is no stranger to this blog, having hosted us twice when we were around Kalamazoo. Tom also jammed with me that time in Memphis as well as at various other times and places going back almost ten years by now.
This event was already being laid out when we swung by to see Tom in 2018, and it was well along in the planning stage when we stopped by again in 2019. And while it was disappointing to see all of those plans go into storage with COVID, much like a fine whiskey improves with age, when this bottle was finally opened we found there was pure magic inside.
Continue reading “BGU/Grand Rapids, MI”
Our loyal readers may recall we jammed with Iris last July while enroute to Toronto. It was so much fun, we had to do it again!
Continue reading “Toronto, ON – again”
It’s getting to be about time for a musical post. We’ve been learning and practicing a particular song with an eye towards recording it to use as a joint “summer recital” piece for an online music school we’re both involved with, also as a recording we can share, as well as just to add the song to our repertoire.
This would be the most elaborate on-the-road recording we’ve done, and a first test of our latest traveling studio gear.
Continue reading “Recording: The Studio On The Road”
We met Stephane Chamberland, an internationally known drum educator, at the Drumeo meet up in Toronto last July. His session there was amazing – a series of small yet effective changes that would radically transform the sound of our drumming. At that time I knew that if I ever made it anywhere near Quebec City, I’d be signing up for a private lesson. We’re in Quebec City. Time for a lesson!
Continue reading “Quebec City, part 1 – Drums”
My mom loves Florida! In fact, she claims no desire to ever be in New England again, so we’re grateful that she lives is a senior facility with exceptional staff, where she loves the people and the activities that are customized for her. Although we’d like to see my mom more often, we only get to visit 3-4 times a year due to the distance (1500 miles/2400 km). We try to drive at least once a year which allows for an extended stay, a few stops along the way, as well as bringing along some music gear. Then, of course, we aim to pack all of her favorite things to do into that visit!
Continue reading “Halloween visit with mom”
Each time we drive down to visit my mom, we select a different route, aiming to see different sights along the way down and back, meet up with friends, and hopefully find opportunities to play music. For this trip, we opted for a relatively western route through the Appalachian Mountains. The timing would be great for us to visit 2 national parks we’d not yet visited, and it would be peak foliage season in both – New River Gorge and Great Smoky Mountains National Parks.
Coincidentally, and serendipitously, 2 Drumeos we met in the last year were in our most direct path through the mountains. Wanna jam?
Continue reading “Jams with friends, part 2”