May the 4th Be With You!!  Today, Dave demonstrates demonstrates three different drum strokes: the free stroke, the lift stroke, and the finger stroke.  In the news, Bonzo gets a birthday bash, Chad Smith releases an iOS app, and the unfortunate story of marching band hazing gone wrong.

Here is the video that goes along with today’s episode!

Show notes after the break!

• Adler and Wright to play at Bonham Birthday Bash tribute concert, May 31st
• “Rock the rhythm, beat the odds,” A celebration of music education
• New chad smith app and twitter Q&A
• Hazing leads to drum major’s’s death

Welcome to Drummer Talk #170 where we talk about some of our best and worst gig experiences!  In news, we talk about yet another drummer with his own coffee, the K Zildjian scholarship, DW’s new airlift system, and we pay tribute to the late, great Levon Helm.  Did we mention that Jeff Bowders is the drummer of the week?!

News

• Aerosmith drummer Joey Kramer launched his own line of coffee, “Rockin’ & Roastin’,” a organic, fair trade, custom-roasted coffee.
• Kerope Zildjian Scholarship
• Levon Helm loses the battle against cancer.
• DW Airlift
• Forearm-less drummer’s videos make it onto msnbc.com
• Woodshed Percussion presents second annual “Shedfest”
• International Jazz Day to celebrated with All-Star Concerts
• Zildjian extends Drummer Love deadline

Drummer of the week, Jeff Bowders

• Born in 1976 and his favorite movie is “Rocky”, www.jeffbowders.com
• He has played for people like Rebecca St. James, Ginny Owens, Fusebox, Chris Tomlin, and Paul Colman Trio. Jeff is currently Paul Gilbert’s drummer and an instructor at Musicians Institute. Recently came out with an album entitled The Pilgrimage of Thingamuhjig, featuring his drumming.

We’re back from our long hiatus with a show talking about the 10 things (in no particular order) the “best” pro musicians have in common.  Also, we have 2 new guys on the mic!  In news, Luis Conte gets the online drum academy treatment, Roy Haynes is honored, Questlove opens his own hoodie shop, and Zildjian’s Drummer Love heads to Europe!  Show notes after the break!

Show Notes

1. INTRO

• http://www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org/

2. NEWS

• Luis Conte school of percussion
  http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2012/04/12/prweb9395422.DTL
• Roy Haynes to Receive Peabody Medal
  http://www.jazzpolice.com/content/view/10113/79/
• Zildjian’s Drummer Love Europe
  http://www.idrummag.com/news/2012/4/13/zildjians-drummer-love-get-some.html
  http://zildjian.com/drummerlove?utm_source=generic&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=DrummerLoveEurope
• Questlove’s Hoodie Shop
  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/30/questloves-the-hoodie-shop_n_1391652.html
• Sonny Igoe Dies at 88
  http://www.northjersey.com/arts_entertainment/music/145878935_Sonny_Igoe__88__drummer_for_Big_Band_greats.html
• World’s Largest Cowbell Ensemble
  http://www.boston.com/Boston/businessupdates/2012/03/phish-drummer-ben-jerry-plan-world-largest-cowbell-ensemble/2Ezo4eJ8baYpdNVwMDYTbM/index.html
• King’s X Drummer Gives Message to the Fans
  http://somethingelsereviews.com/2012/04/05/kings-x-drummer-jerry-gaskill-releases-new-video-message-for-fans-ill-be-better-than-ever/

3. TOPIC – http://www.zorothedrummer.com/thebiggigbook/index.html

• 10 Things the Best Pros Have in Common

• The best professional musicians are all self starters and entrepreneurs.
• The best professional musicians have an unquenchable thirst for learning.
• The best professional musicians arrive early.
• The best professional musicians arrive prepared.
• The best professional musicians have a healthy balance of career and the rest of life.
• The best professional musicians can read anything you put in front of them.
• The best professional musicians can play anything you ask them to play.
• The best professional musicians have a desire to see others grow in their own musicianship.
• The best professional musicians embody a servant-minded attitude towards their role in music.
• The best professional musicians are humble about their gifts and talents and strive to leave every bridge unburned

LP Square TambourineWe’re back form Winter break with our Winter NAMM 2012 recap.  The English Muffin sits in and we’re joined by PastorStix, our roving correspondent, who went above and beyond the call of duty in bringing us the most unique and interesting things to see and hear at the convention.  Show notes, pics and more after the break!

It’s the last show of 2011 and today we talk about shaker technique.  From Eggz to Caxixi, we cover how to shake that thang!!  Drummer of the week is John Dolmayan!

News

We’re back from PASIC and it’s time to recap what we’ve learned!  Show Notes after the break!

• PASIC Blog over at Drumathon.com
• California Percussion P-Bag
• Emil Richards

Thursday, Nov 17, the folks over at Drum Channel will be live streaming a performance and interview with drummer Hannah Ford and bassist Nik West.  It’s FREE!  Click Here.

Ok, so Aaron Eckhart has had a good career before he was Two-Face in Batman, but I couldn’t resist.  The busy actor is slated to star in the upcoming biopic, The Drummer, about the life of Beach Boys drummer, Dennis Wilson.  Often overshadowed by his unstable interesting brother, Brian, not much has been told about Dennis’ life (including a friendship with serial killer, Charles Manson).

Look for The Drummer to be out in theaters late 2012.

It’s that time of year again for our annual PASIC Preview!  PASIC is Nov 9-12 and we’ll be liveblogging from the show floor! Show notes after the break!

News

On this week’s show, we talk part 2 of Surviving a Cover band.  Show notes after the break!

Show Notes

UKDrummer.com recently spoke with legendary drummer, Bill Bruford, to talk about his autobiography and vinyl release, Bill Bruford – The Autobiography.

Here’s a taste

UKDrummer.com: The music scene has changed quite a lot since your retirement in 2009, what are your thoughts on the current shape of the Rock drumming world?

Bruford: It really is an entirely different place compared to the world I grew up in, drummers used to be expected to be different, and often had to think out of the box in order to make their playing more interesting or unique. Everything was played and performed in ‘real time’ and live, and when you made a record every member of the band sat in the same room and recorded together, and hopefully with a little luck you were a little different on that recording than what you were on the previous one. Bands didn’t just release the same album over and over back then.

Read the full interview here!

Meinl is planning their 2012 Meinl Drum Festival and want to hear from you about what artists you’d like to see.

Head over to their blog and chime in!

Want to win $1000 in gear and DVDs from MyCymbal.com and Drum Channel?  You can enter Drum Channel’s Drum Solo contest and impress the world!  Submissions and voting are now open!