You may know from other posts I had a brief “fling” with learning to play drums when I was very young. Seeing “Wayne’s World” made me think I too could play drums and my parents “caved” buying me a beat up old black Ludwig “double bass” set with cracked cymbals. Think my dad gave the guy $200 cash.
I was into “death metal” and “nu metal” back then (still am). As I remember, my parents were mostly afraid that music would be a bad influence and I would “do drugs” or it would “hurt my grades.” To make a long story short, my Mom finally tired of it (must have sounded like Hell
) and one day a few years later it was just… gone.
But not before I had had lessons and actually did learn a thing or two.
Last Christmas, my wife bought me a “PDP” set and I started messing around on it. I’ve never told you any of this about her before. She was married at 17 to her high-school sweetheart who played guitar in an Indianapolis-based band. She herself can play several instruments and can sing. They had opened for some major bands around the mid-west and she has met many celebrities and “famous” people.
Finally she left him over his drug and alcohol abuse and in 2010, we met through E-Harmony. We’ve been married since 2011. Almost 6 years younger than me, she is a nurse, getting a GED and putting herself through college.
She is still friends with him and we went to see his band play the other night. It is a “cover” band. I got to “sit in” on this hard rock classic. Simple enough that even I couldn’t fuck it up, the only “difficult” part is where it stops in the middle and the guitar riff starts in again. As long as you don’t mess up the “snare drum hits” you’re OK.
The crowd must have been drunk (also the current “anti-police” sentiment in the United States probably contributed to it although this audience was significantly "older" than most of the protesters) because we got a standing ovation.
But I don’t think I’ll quit my “day job” anytime soon.
(Below: Rob Halford. )