A Vinnie Story

[five eight]

GRRRRRRREAT story, Mr. Lucas, reminiscent of Steve Vai's tale in Zappa's studio. I can't think of anyone I'd rather see Vinnie live with than Allan Holdsworth.

Maybe John McLaughlin too. [img]wink.gif[/img]

[Mr. Acrolite]

I saw Vinnie on that Holdsworth tour in '89. When it came to Florida, it was a double bill: Alan Holdsworth and Ronnie Montrose. [img]confused.gif[/img] Loosely patterned after the Beck/Vaughn tour of years past, they would take turns headlining. Montrose's show was a basic rock concert, with a professional but non-dazzling rock drummer. The night I went to see them, Holdsworth was the opener, to be followed by Montrose.

I was there with a friend of Montrose, so I got to go back and meet him and his band. The drummer was a really nice guy - can't remember his name. While Holdsworth's band was playing, and Vinnie was shredding, Montrose's drummer grabbed me by the arm and pointed at the stage. "Look at that," he said. "Every other night, I have to FOLLOW Vinnie. Can you believe how ridiculous that makes me feel?"

He was very humble, and saw the humor/irony in the situation. And to his credit, he played rock-solid drums behind Montrose. But I would NOT want to have been in his shoes!


Mr. A.

[five eight]

Another great story and another reason that HOD keeps me tuning in daily. Thanks, guys, I absolutely trip on these 'hitherto unknown insights' into the drumming community.

Now who's got a board recording of this Holdsworth/Colaiuta tour to post? [img]cool.gif[/img]

[FuseU1]

5, you have to KNOW that SOMEBODY out there recorded at least a portion of AT LEAST one of those shows!!! [Where are you, you friends of some debaucherous soundman somewhere?!! Or maybe ALLAN himself?! [img]wink.gif[/img] ]

Got another one fo ya's. Back in '84 when Vinnie did his now infamous & much sought after clinic tour w Tim Landers, he was warming up on the kit provided for him prior to the actual clinic, & myself & a fellow drummer friend who has since gone on to play w a major national Nashville artist were peering thru the little window in the door to the room, shrieking w disbelief about what we were witnessing...Vinnie was "bustin' this poor kit's a**" when the hats started moving away from him drastically, almost falling off the riser's edge...without so much as a WAVER in the groove, he stretches his HH foot way out, almost coming off the throne, placing his foot in between the bottom of the HH's hardware, & yanks the darn thing back; then places L stick in mouth & straightens it further w L hand, & reaches down & straightens the throne while rising up off of it, still playing the tune [a ferocious fusion track]...later on during the Q & A period, he gets up from behind the kit & knocks the hats & the cym stand over, & darn near falls on his face, proclaiming, "I'm really uncoordinated...I can be a real klutz sometimes"...yeah, right, OKAY, Vinnie, if you say so.... [img]eek.gif[/img] [img]tongue.gif[/img]

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ December 17, 2003 08:23 PM: Message edited by: FuseU1 ]</font>

[marklucas]

This past Saturday, I stopped in and saw a friend of mine who works at a music store in Augusta,GA. He was telling me that he had seen Allan Holdsworth 3 times.One of those times being in Atlanta at the Variety Playhouse w/Vinnie.I assumed that this was during the 3 week stint he did w/Allan in '89.My bud said that at that time,he had heard of Vinnie but didn't know who he was or what he played like.He said that the first tune,they took it to the mat and absolutely shredded it.After the second tune,he introduced the band.When he said Vinnie's name,my friend looked at another guy and said "This is going to get ugly real quick!" The real part of the story is this-

My pal Geoff said that Vinnie was playing this tune and he had some sheet music on a stand to his left. Also,there was a little fan blowing I guess to keep it some what cool where Vinnie was sitting. Anyway,right during the middle of the tune,the fan blows Vinnie's sheet music off the stand and Vinnie reaches down to pick it up while blowing this blistering fill around the kit with his right hand and foot(without missing a beat of course!)Geoff said that he along with everyone else in the joint erupted with yells of disbelief.

All I have to say is "Vintage Vinnie" and WOW
[img]graemlins/sleepy.gif[/img]

[five eight]

A friend of mine used to run sound in a venue that often booked second tier acts like The Producers and Joan Jett. He had a standard set-up: mikes run up in the ceiling for room sound combined with the board mix. He has a nice collection of fantastic sounding tapes. [img]tongue.gif[/img]