SKF NOTE: This is my letter, written the morning of July 13, 1983, to drummer/teacher Fred Gruber.

This morning I am scanning a stack of papers. Interview transcripts, drum columns, old contracts, and letters. Letters to me from drummers. And letters to drummers from me.

This letter is mostly about my belief that the world was coming to the end of great, unique drummers who knew and cared enough about their craft, to pass along their knowledge to upcoming drummers.

In general, what I was seeing in 1983, were drummers who neither knew nor cared about drum history. I was seeing more drummers caring about becoming stars, not artists.

Not that artists can’t be stars. But a star doesn’t need the dedication of a true artist.

We need teachers who can work with kids, I wrote Gruber, more than we need performers who perform to kids.