Omar Hakim Clinic at West LA Music

[drum4fun]

Thanks got_a_match_grip? A certain HODer named Fuse had an avatar similar to the one I am using. [img]wink.gif[/img] What can I say Animal has a special spot in drummers' hearts.

[Steve Holmes]

Well that was fun. Omar played great, his feel is so good. His pocket is so deep, it's a joy to watch.

The Pearl guys were there pimping the new Reference line of drums. They went a bit overboard with the details on how they make drums vs other companies. You tend to lose people after about ten minutes of "How shells are sealed" and BIRCH VS MAPLE ROUND ONE FIGHT!! And to top it off, they had a second drum set for one of the Pearl guys to play, and play he did. For like 25 minutes! He was good, but people were there to see Omar and this guy thought it was the guitar center drum off trying to blow all kinds of stuff. It was funny at first, then it got old. It was almost rude to take advantage of a captive audience who are not there to see you in the first place. At one point T-Bo leans over to me and says "uhh...am I missing something?" [img]eek.gif[/img]
Then Omar played along to some tracks from his CD's. You can't teach the Omar thing, he's got it naturally. Great groove, great feel, spot-on time. He was great.

Hung out with John, Danny, Chooch, and Shedder afterwards. Good times.

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ June 08, 2005 02:28 AM: Message edited by: Steve Holmes ]</font>

[ohdrum]

I learned that Omar fabreezes his shoes, was influenced by zepplin and tortilla chips made with lard are pretty darn good!

[latim]

Hey fellas,

I had a blast of a time tonight watching Omar do his thang. "Ya know what I'm sayin?". I think that line melted the ice of the finicky LA crowd. Like Steve mentioned, Omar's playing is clearly an extension of his persona, character, and being. You can't teach someone that, it's inborn. Lucky mofo.

I finally got the chance to connect to some local HOD'erz and grub hard at Don Antonios. Great pick Danny!

Yes, I think everyone will agree with you Steve. That product dude from Pearl was noodling on the kit waaaaaaaaaaaaay too long. At one point, Chuck was holding up the Pearl catalog really high in front of him to subtly hint boredom and to move things along. That guy was too far up in his soap box. Poor guy.

Anyways, it was a great delight hanging out with you all tonight!

So, who's going to start the new topic of 'Top 10 cheesy questions asked at a drum clinic'?

[Randy walker]

I'll bet the Pearl guy was Raymond Massy

[cjbdrm]

Omar owes me 50 bucks. Did anyone get it for me?

[cjbdrm]

Check out Omar's playing on Joe sample's "Spellbound". Serious groove.

I've tried to play "Seven Years of Good Luck" like him...it's impossible...

[likedachuch]

hey randy,

you're on the money! it was he. it was a bit unfortunate that he came off just doing drum calisthenics on the kit. i mean he was all over the place. nothing for us to really latch onto. when he did go into a groove, he seemed as though he was trying to impress with speed. i felt a bit bad that he was working so hard and yet, alot of us were starting to tune out.

as for omar, what can they say? when ya got it, ya got it. his groove and feel is soooooo infectuous. my description of his drumming is 'hook within the groove'. ya just can't stop listening to it, and can hear a song through it. he will always be a huge inspiration and he did not dissappoint last evening.

the one thing that i really liked about last night was how omar comes off as being so down to earth and approachable. he came down to the audience to have questions answered. that was way cool.

it was great seeing the gang, again! steve, joe-mech, danny, johnny t, latim, shedder, ohdrums, seung, demetrius t.

ya know we all crawl outta da woodworks when a giant's in town. [img]smile.gif[/img]

hope to hang soon again!

da chuch

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ June 08, 2005 11:20 AM: Message edited by: Da Chuch ]</font>

[Randy walker]

Too bad about Raymond, he is a very strong player. Probably not the best call to sit and play during a clinic by a great player such as Omar.

[likedachuch]

randy,

ray DID have facility. perhaps he needed to play a few tracks of his own? the thing i noticed at clinics lately is that you tend to wow the clinic-goers more when there's a musical context to which all those blazing chops (again within context) can be expressed.