Posts Tagged Drumming
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July 30, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
Sweetman Podcast # 223: Lance Philip
Welcome to episode 223 of Sweetman Podcast with support from our sponsors – T Leaf T and Yeastie Boys Now – as you probably know, as well as the usual platforms (this site, soundcloud, iTunes/Apple) you can now get to Sweetman Podcast on Spotify – follow it there and have it saved in your Spotify […]Archive
July 8, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
They Say It’s Your Birthday – 80 Great Thingos By (and about) Ringo: Ringo Starr at 80
1. He was the first drummer to use a drum-riser on TV; sales of sticks and kits went up about 400% the next day after his appearance on Ed Sullivan. 2. The drum feels and fills and groove of Rain 3. Ringo’s malapropisms, wit and rejoinders. He gave us the lines that fed into Eight […]Archive
June 29, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
Neil Peart Was The World’s Most Overrated Drummer
A few years back I reviewed a Kindle Single, a keen drummer’s list of his Top 30 Drummers. Keen drummers don’t always make the best writers and this book – well it’s a sliver of a book (as is the point of Kindle Singles – seems wrong in this instance to bestow a title like essay) – […]Archive
June 18, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
My First Ebook: Drummers You Just Can’t Beat
I’ve just made and published my first e-book. It’s available now at that link over at Amazon for a couple of bucks ($3.44 is the NZ rate). It’s comprised of the articles I wrote here under the banner Drummers You Just Can’t Beat and includes some new and edited pieces as well as many of the eulogies […]Archive
May 26, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
R.I.P. Jimmy Cobb
The great Jimmy Cobb has died, aged 91. He was the last surviving member of the dream team that played on Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue – the jazz album that even non-jazz fans know and love (and probably own). Cobb was one of the great jazz drummers – a master of sensitivity and taste, […]Archive
May 1, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
R.I.P. Tony Allen
Reports are coming in that Tony Allen has died. He was just shy of his 80th birthday and had remained very active in music across the last decade; in fact he was super prolific – with a diverse range of collaborations across jazz, pop and funk music. But even if he had stopped playing 40 […]Archive
April 29, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
R.I.P. Hamilton Bohannon
Hamilton Bohannon has died. The drummer and journeyman musician was 78. He was no household name, but there’s a good chance your household has heard his music – whether when a teenage Bohannon was playing drums for the teenaged (“Little”) Stevie Wonder and as the bandleader backing many other Motown players, or via his own […]Archive
March 14, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
In Praise of Hobbies Where You Kinda Suck: The Wonderful Experience of Being Quite Shit
I was never the greatest drummer. But I made a living from it. For a while. I made more money playing the drums in bands around the country than I have ever made from writing. I’d pack the car for a weekend and play songs I didn’t love to audiences there for beer and I […]Archive
December 18, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
Drummers You Just Can’t Beat: # 19 – Karen Carpenter
Karen Carpenter – sadly thought of as a punchline by some, known to be an incredible singer and one half of the mega-successful sibling duo, the Carpenters – was a drummer. Brother Richard was in charge of song selection (covers) arranging, producing and composition. But if he was the boss Karen was the star. Ask […]Archive
December 5, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
Poem: Tight But Loose
Playing along to Babylon Sisters on the drums. And Angela- the Theme from Taxi. Man, Bernard Purdie and Idris Muhammad. Beautiful. There’s a philosophy to their playing. They know the magic is in holding back. I never knew how to hold back, so I just dropped out. That’s how it’s usually been. Coming back to […]Archive
September 29, 2019 by Simon Sweetman