"A Night To Remember"

[peter c]

www.thediametrixletter.com/achildrecalled.mp3

This is my last great
story, guys. I saved it.

All I knew was that I
had never heard a drum-
mer do so much an yet
groove SO HARD in my
life (all of 16-years).

This is what it was like
for me to hear the album
"The Leprechaun" and on
WRVR radio, NYC.

It wasn't like he was
doing a lot but he was
and all at the same time.
I'd been used to and I
think we still are ac-
customed to hearing the
drummer knock on our
doors but this guy got
in without a key.

"Nite Sprite" was the
contrast in this work.
It was like being stung
by 500 bees and at once!

I had to see this drum-
er! I just had to!

I kept trying to picture
what this guy looked like.
They mentioned that his
name was Steve Gadd. I
had never heard of him
before, you understand.

No offense but with a
feel like that, he had
to be black or latin!

[img]wink.gif[/img]

That name, though... It
didn't sound too black.
He's not Latino... Is
he Italian? Well, what-
ever he is, I have to see
him because I want to
SOUND LIKE THIS! Those
cymbals - Argghh!

Well, I scoured my trusty
Village Voice and found
his name but the band did
not sound familiar to me.

STUFF - Live at Broady's,
featuring Cornell Dupree,
Eric Gale, Richard Tee,
Christopher Parker and
Steve Gadd. Hmm. Two-
drummers... I had not
seen that before.

"Who are these guys?", I
thought.

[img]wink.gif[/img]

I couldn't find out any-
thing more about them.

Of course, I had to ask
my mom about it. I didn't
have any money. I needed
the next week's allowance
to get into this place.

She asked me how old I
had to be to get in and
I told her that I was
not sure, which was true...

It was a cool fall-night,
I believe. I got an over-
coat. I used a little
bit of shoe-polish on my
THIN mustache. My afro
was so big that it ob-
scured most of my face
(it was actually the
size of Billy Preston's
for those of you who
remember him).

I took the train up to
this place, on the upper
East Side. I was alone.
I wanted to get really,
really close.

I get off the train
and walk to this place
and I can't believe how
small it was. It was
an 8:00pm show. I got
there at 6:00pm. I was
the ONLY person in the
whole darn place. They
asked me what I wanted.
I told them that I was
there for the show.

"Have a seat. Something
to drink for you?"

I knew I had about $3 to
my name after paying the
guy the cover.

"I'll have some water,
thanks."

Well, I sat there, think-
ing to myself... 'Well,
at least I have a good
seat but... where are
they setting up?'

I asked the guy behind the
bar and he pointed at this
TINY little spot by the
wall. 'NO WAY!', I thought.

How can we get two drum-
mers in here and I saw
this tiny, ratty drum kit
piled up behind a barrier
there. This is just great.

I come out to see Steve
Gadd and they probably
won't have him because
the stage is too small!

[img]frown.gif[/img]

What can I do but sit
and wait. What a waste.

Well, if they show, they
will have to set-up. I'll
find out soon enough. (I
wonder what he looks like.
'He's got to be black...')

So someone else walks in
and this guy is the worse
for wear, NO DOUBT. He's
got a cigarette dangling
out of the corner of his
mouth, stumbling towards
me and the playing area.
I notice that he's carry-
ing a stick bag, a snare
and cymbal bag. I get up
to offer him some help.

I'm serious. [img]eek.gif[/img]

I get up to him, taking
snare and cymbal bag
and I ask him...

"Are YOU Steve Gadd?"

"Yea, man... Hey, could
you help me set up my
drums? I'm late."

"Steve Gadd?! Wow! I have
to tell you, I heard you
on Chick Corea's "Lepre-
chaun" and I mean I have
never heard drums like
that before and those
cymbals..."

"Yea... Yea, man... Can
you help me with this?"

I could tell he was kind
of in a hurry...

I helped him pull over
Pearl, white 20" kick,
with what I thought were
very small racks (10 and
12) and one of them was
obviously customized be-
cause of the Gretsch
snare lugs. I asked him
about it, remarking a-
bout what bad shape
they were in.

"You liked them good
enough on that album,
didn't you?"

"You played THESE drums?"

He just smiled.

"It's all in the heads.
Here, take this...", hand-
ing me some JUNK hardware
on the floor.

I was trying to put tog-
ether this High-Hat and
was having trouble. He
told me it was old and
handed me a roll of duct-
tape - his "best friend"
as he put it.

I couldn't believe this
was the kit I heard on
that album.

He took out his cymbals
and I saw the HH's...

"Wow... Those are the
best high-hats I have
ever heard... I loved
Tony's but these..."

"Tony's?"

"I studied with Tony
Williams just recently."

"What?! You studied with
Tony?! Tony Williams?!
You studied with Tony
Williams?! Man, that cat
is the mother of the moth-
er-fu----s!!! I can't
believe you studied with
him! Whoa! Tony..."

He was interested in Tony.
I wanted those high-hats.
I had to say something.

"I'll give you $300 for
those high-hats."

He smiled.

"$400."

"They're not for sale, man."

"$500!"

"They're not for sale, man!"

He was smiling the whole
time, while muttering Tony's
name over and over again.

We were putting together
the kit and I mean it was
hard. Again, it was in ter-
rible shape. He handed me
the drum pedal. This looked
worse than the high-hat.

I tried to get this thing
to grab the rim of the kick
and was not having any luck.
I then noticed that he had
two more toms on a rack.
They were a 13" and 14".
I asked about that. He
just smiled again. However,
when he saw what I was
talking about, he becaame
real concerned.

"We have got to get this
thing right. We have to."

We thought about it for
a second and Gordon Ed-
wards (I didn't know at
the time) walked in. It
was getting to crunch
time. I thought of some-
thing... I took my sub-
way token and put it be-
tween the pedals teeth
and the rim of the kick.
It was just right!

"All-RIGHT! Thanks, man!
Thanks, man!"

He asked me a few more
questions about Tony,
while we set the rest
of the kit up and...

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ November 13, 2003 10:50 PM: Message edited by: peter c ]</font>

[sashal3]

AND WHAT?! You're killing me...KEEP GOING!

[FuseU1]

Dohhhhh! You TOY with us, Pedro! We are but like PUTTY in your HAAAANDS! [In my best Ren Hoek/Peter Lorre voice]...
Now, don't make some of us anxious fellow HOD bruthas havta COME OVER THERE... [img]wink.gif[/img]
LOL

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ November 13, 2003 04:23 PM: Message edited by: FuseU1 ]</font>

[blake1]

You TEASE!


And........

come on [img]graemlins/cry_smile.gif[/img]

[sashal3]

Keep in mind Pete is a writer....absolutely brilliant play on suspense...I will wait as long as it takes...

[peter c]

www.thediametrixletter.com/achildrecalled.mp3

...showtime was almost
here. I could see some
people coming in, includ-
ing members of the band,
which I could not recog-
nize at all. They looked
so old to me.

[img]wink.gif[/img]

I had no idea of what
was taking place in my
life. NO IDEA.

Well, we were done. The
kit was up. I hope it
holds together is all
I can gesture to him.
He was very happy. I
sat right in front of
them - maybe 3-feet.

They started playing
these tunes... I act-
ually recognized some
of them but they were
all instrumental and
with a real simple,
core groove. People's
heads were bobbing up
and down, side to
side. The staff were
grooving and when the
drum solos came, they
were different, unlike
anything I'd heard.

This guy grooves like...
...like... ...like...
The only guy I could
think of was Gene
Krupa, except he was
a swing-drummer but it
was the way everyone
was reacting to it. I
saw EVERYONE into it.

It was for EVERYONE.

There was more, though.
I saw all of these
supporting triplets on
the snare that I had
never seen or heard
before and this weird
off-beat ride of his...
Man! This cat is a
groover like no other!

His solo was monster!
All in rhythm, he did
LH triplets going down
the kit (kick-T1-T1,
kick-T2-T2 etc., and up.

(That's where Vinnie
got it).

[img]wink.gif[/img]

He would do this thing
I had never seen be-
fore - the ratamacues
between the snare and
toms that DROVE the
section OR solo like
a freight train! I re-
ember trying to stick
that from my memory
the whole train ride
home!! It was the most!

And there was the way
he moved behind that
kit! He was INTO THE
MUSIC and it was some-
thing rabid and infect-
ious! YOU GOT INTO IT
BECAUSE HE DID! It's
hard to describe...

What a monster show
and surrounding such
basic material. That
it could have that im-
pact was just over-
whelming to me. How
can a drummer do so
much with so little?

What about that crap-
set?! How could it
sound SO GOOD?!

Well, it came to an
end, or, at least, the
first set came to an
end and I went up to
him, thanking him for
letting me be a part
of that experience. Of
course, I sung his
praises LIKE EVERYONE
ELSE there. He looked
very tired, though he
smiled, thanking me
for helping him set
up, mentioning the
pedal, which he did
really KICK!

He asked me to get
him a couple of Cokes
from the bar. I got
them for him, real-
izing something that
I forgot... Oh no!

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ November 13, 2003 05:52 PM: Message edited by: peter c ]</font>

[peter c]

I'm not a story teller
but a technical writer
and I'm supposed to be
working... but I am re-
membering how excited
I was and I WAS!

www.thediametrixletter.com/dty031113.gif

[img]frown.gif[/img]

...but I will finish it
today - at least, this
first night.

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ November 13, 2003 09:31 PM: Message edited by: peter c ]</font>

[sashal3]

Thanks,Pete..very nice,,,,I happen to think that you tell stories very well. Work must come first before the gratification of us readers waiting for the next chapter. Until then,all the best!

[peter c]

www.thediametrixletter.com/achildrecalled.mp3

The subway token! I
got him the Cokes. I
don't have money left!
I only paid for the
first set! I have to
leave now and go home!

"Thanks, man. I really
need these."

"Uh, Steve... You know
that token I put in
the kick..."

"Oh yeah, it worked
great! You are my hero."

"No, I... I need to take
it back. I have to leave
now. I only paid for the
first set."

"NO! You can't take it
out now! I NEED that
pedal to be perfect."

"I don't have any money,
Steve. I mean, NO MONEY
and I have to take the
train home."

He reached into his
pocket and pulled out
a $10 bill, crushing it
into my hand, holding
it with both of his.

"Tomorrow... Smuckers,
in Brooklyn... Come.
Be there. Tell them
that I told you you
could come into the
dressing-room. OK?"

"Wow, thanks. Sure,
I'll be there."

"Thanks so much for
your help tonight and
I'm glad you had a
good time."

[img]eek.gif[/img]

My life would never be
the same.

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ November 13, 2003 05:52 PM: Message edited by: peter c ]</font>

[five eight]

Absolutely one of the best stories I've ever read 'up in here.' Can't wait to read about Smuckers (?) but right now I've gotta dig out that old STUFF record I haven't heard in years.