Keith Richards likes to sleep and answer letters from fans.

I recently bought this written letter from Keith Richards to a fan. I still find it amazing back in the day these guys actually DID answer fan mail regardless of how brief the note was and how busy they were.

What was a real treat was to see the original letter from the fan that came with the signed Keith note.
Goes to show you the passion the fans had at the time, what they were interested in knowing about their idols and what they wrote in their letters.

This one is a scream.
Dated July of 1964.
Enjoy.

I’m a drummer. What could be better than hanging with other drummers?

A quick story about a hack drummer’s dream. Hanging out at the Zildjian cymbal booth at the NAMM show in Anaheim last week.
NAMM is the premier music industry show.
Covering 800,000 square feet in 4 days was not easy. I tried, but found I was most comfortable just hanging out with some of the best drummers in the world at the Zildjian booth.

Here left to right…. John DeChristopher, Vice President, Artist Relations &
Event Marketing Worldwide at Zildjian, me, and Max Weinberg of the famed Bruce Springsteen E Street Band.

Max Weinberg is a Zildjian artist as is Charlie Watts of the Rolling Stones. Danny Seraphine of Chicago, Kenny Aronoff, Steve Smith, Alan White, Sheila E., and Hal Blaine to name a few.

Here’s a list of the drummers that showed up at the Zildjian booth to sign autographs for the thousands that lined up on Friday and Saturday.
The best of the best.

I got to meet Max again when he played with his Big Band in Cambridge this past summer.

The Christmas present that never came. My Ringo Starr Drum kit.

It was 1964/1965 and The Beatles were all anyone could talk about.
Girls brought their Beatle dolls, pins and purses to school.
Beatle lunchboxes were the only thing to carry your PB&J sandwich in.
They were everywhere and on everything.

I was 10 years old and decided drumming would be my life’s calling.
Why not right?
Not a professional baseball player.
Not a Doctor, to my parents dismay.
Not even an aspiring artist, which I already exhibited a real talent for.
But a drummer, just like Ringo Starr.

You see, there was this drum.
Not just any drum.
A toy drum, not even a REAL drum.
But this drum was different.
It had Ringo and The Beatles faces and names emblazoned
all over the packaging and the drum itself.

It must be THE DRUM that Ringo thinks is the best right?
If I’m going to be as good as him, I had to have this.
No substitute.
It was this or nothing.
It was all I wanted and asked for that Christmas.
Sounding a little like Ralphie from a Christmas Story right?

I grew up in a predominantly Italian/Irish neighborhood.
My parents were dead poor.
So we celebrated Christmas, without the tree on Christmas day.

As much as a hoped, begged and pleaded for this, it never came.

Probably couldn’t afford it that year.
So instead, I got “The Big Bash Drum.”
A knockoff.
No Ringo face or decal.
No Beatles.
No fancy packaging.
Plastic, orange with a stand and sticks.

This drum is so obscure, I couldn’t even find any reference on it.

But….I found plenty on the drum I wanted.
The Ringo Drum Set by Selcol Industries.

Someday I’ll buy myself one.

My Courts and Hackett Skull Ring.

After posting on my blog the story behind Keith Richards’ infamous skull ring, I was buried in emails and questions, regarding the post.
Seems there was a fair amount of interest in Keith’s ring, who made it and just general discussion about who in fact makes the “coolest skull rings in the world.”
Posted in October of 2009, it has since been viewed 800 times and has the most comments of all my postings.

I decided to treat myself to a Courts and Hackett skull ring.

Photo by my daughter.