Who's going to Gadd @ West LA?

[ladanny]

I'll be there for the entire event. Joes Mech, when are you guys getting there? CBrady? Pocket? Chooch? Steve and Derek?

Call my mobile if you go.

Danny
310-678-2844

[DPFRD]

Somebody mini disc this please. I missed the one in Mesa cause my girlfriend was thrashing her weigth around in the sea of drama.

[PocketPlayer]

They asked kindly to NOT video or audio the event. Gadd was Gadd...he didn't play much and answered questions most of the time...a little disappointing. It was nice however to be in the presence of the guy and the drum community. What he does do he does great with amazing touch and feel. Extremely musical in all he plays. He is also a great guy...amazingly simple and easy going. His approach to life is NOT what one would think for a guy so accomplished. That is probably the best part of the clinic--the MAN Steve Gadd and his very laid back approach to life...he really lets life breath, just like his grooves! I did walk away with one core skill--that was listening. His greatness lies in his ability to listen effectively.

Even though he probably didn?t mean it, he did discuss the Inner Game of Tennis stuff about the Self 1 and Self 2. It was funny for me to hear him answer a question about how he, like us all, wrestle with this difficult balance between head and heart.

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ October 08, 2005 11:08 PM: Message edited by: PocketPlayer ]</font>

[drum4fun]

It was great meeting Danny, Joe's Mechanic, and CBrady! I found the clinic inspiring and I thought it was the best drum clinic that I have ever attended. Steve Gadd was entertaining from both a playing and speaking perspective. He oozed musicality.

For me, the drum clinic started on a good note (sorry for the pun). Good fortune smiled upon me at the autograph session as I ended up being the first person in line. I got the chance to give Steve Gadd a hug - always a wonderful thing to get a hug from a living legend! [img]biggrin.gif[/img]

Some of the main points that Steve Gadd mentioned and I remember are:
- Record your playing to hear what you really sound like.
- Play comfortably and relaxed.
- Get the maximum mileage out of a groove that you enjoy for example Mozambique by orchestrating and playing various variations.
- Don't spend so much time inside your head (i.e. worrying about are you good enough, what other people think of you, etc.) Think of the audience as being more like you than different as this will minimize your stage fright.
- Follow your passion.
- "Sometimes you have the magic; other times you chase the magic." This was Steve Gadd's way of saying sometimes musicians feel inspired and sometimes musicians have off days.
- When playing in the studio, instead of turning up the volume of a particuliar musician's part, try to bring the volume down on the other musicians' parts as this will help save your hearing. Focus on a particuliar musician, who has the same goal as yours like grooving.
- He felt that "feel" is developed.

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ October 09, 2005 04:52 AM: Message edited by: drum4fun ]</font>

[ladanny]

Pocket, sorry we missed you.

Joe's Mech, Drums4Fun, and CBrady, always good to see you.

I thought the clinic was great. I wasn't expecting to hear Steve play much. For me, it's MUCH more interesting to hear what he has to day.

I think my favorite part of the entire clinic was after he played is first 10 minute "solo", he said "well, you've heard my entire repertoire. Now what?" That got a great laugh out of the crowd.

As Joe's Mech pointed out, during an "African tribal solo" he performed, we noticed that he wasn't playing a solo, but rather, playing a SONG. There was an intro, verse, themes, climax, and out. Is really was a song.

Sorry for those that missed it.

Danny

[ladanny]

Hard to take pictures. I took a few, but can't really tell much. It would guess there were about 1800 people there. We were right behind the "VIP" secion and sat behing Curt Bisquera and others. Gadd also gave MAJOR props to Rick Marotta as a major influence, who was also there.

Danny

[ladanny]

Oh and John D. says "hi" Got the DVD, program, and poster signed. John was very nice and told Steve I was "part of the club"

[Randy walker]

LOL
Yeah, Prudence had mentioned yesterday of hearing 1400, very kewl that it was even bigger.
Glad to hear you got a copy of the program, those are the prize [img]wink.gif[/img]
At the clinic here, Gadd gave props to Marotta aswell.

He did the 50ways stuff, demonstrated some of his patterns, mozambique and foot technique.
Overall, just an awesome experience to see Gadd upclose no matter what he has to say.
Lasttime I saw him was PASIC 95, which happened to be the year I moved to Phx.

[PocketPlayer]

For those who have not seen Gadd, get the PAS video with him from '95, Alex Acuna and Luis Conte. It was very similar to his performance in clinic. He even opened with the exact same brush song and did the same demonstrations with the Mozambique pattern. What Steve did Sat was show the development of 50 Ways (as Danny described) until it evolved into what we know it to be. I agree about the "tribe solo" which came from a guy's question about tribal music and spirituality--you heard the song and that's what makes Gadd, Gadd. The clinic was very different than seeing Smith, Weckl or Donati.

Joe's Mech made an interesting comment in another thread about Freddy Gruber--something like we need to get his stories preserved. I couldn't agree more with this.

About ten years ago, the actor Burt Reynolds made a similar comment on doing a TV show that highlighted all the older actors who had a lifetime of stories to tell before they pass. I thought of how many people in the business from the 30's, 40's, 50's and 60's are just sitting in apartments in the LA area waiting for someone to listen to their experiences.

This reminded me of visiting me 91 year old grandmother for a week before she died. I sat in the upstairs part of her house and listened to stories of the grandfather I never knew and her life. That's living history.

I think they same should be done with the history of drumming--just stories all edited together in a DVD. I'd love to do this and in fact started a similar project years ago called Project AIM in which I interviewed professional athletes and drummers in effort to find motivation (or as Gadd terms, inspiration) to kids 10-17 who are involved with drugs and gangs. I was looking for highlights as to why these professionals were so driven and what motivated them to pursue their dreams daily during their developmental years.

All to say--stories from the drum legends are priceless and need to be preserved with passion to be passed to the next generation. We still have cats from the early years with us that experienced the genesis of it all. AMAZING!

[Shawn40]

Yeah PocketPlayer,

We alway might to go to listen the "old" people, we have so much to learn from them.
I do it each time that I can...

It will be really great to have a TV show like The Actor Studio but for musicians, I learn a lot from some actors too !!!

Peace.