SKF NOTE: This is one of my favorite letters from Neil Peart. Written in October 1986 on his two-week old Macintosh computer, it captures many sides of Neil: the writer side, the techno side, the drumming side, the reader side, the songwriter side, the band-member side, the music business side, and the friend side.
I don’t think Neil Peart/Rush fans will have trouble deciphering any parts of Neil’s letter. He was a great man and I miss our corresponding very much.
Enjoy!
SKF NOTE: Drummer Fred Below agreed to a Modern Drummer, in part, if the magazine would publish a booking advertisement for Below’s band. That idea was mine.
When I first asked Below if he was interested in being the subject of a MD feature interview, he wanted MD to pay him for his interview. That was not a standard MD practice.
I mentioned to Below the publicity value of an MD feature interview. And somewhere in our conversation I learned Below had a new working band. In the end, Below agreed to an interview. In exchange, MD published an advertisement for Below’s band including booking contact info.
This envelope likely contained the photographic prints accompanying Below’s MD interview. It may also have contained Below’s band advertisement.
I’m guessing I saved it because the forwarding and return addresses are Below’s handwriting.
SKF NOTE: That this classic, musical band is carrying on Gordon Lightfoot’s music in his absence is a musical gift to listeners, and the ultimate tribute to Gordon Lightfoot.
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We should continue on’: Lightfoot Band returns with first tribute show to honour Gordon Lightfoot’s legacy
Jan. 27 show at Toronto’s El Mocambo set to pay homage to iconic singer-songwriter
By Yoyo Yan Markham Economist Sun
Wednesday, December 6, 2023
The musical legacy of Gordon Lightfoot,…lives on through the Lightfoot Band’s upcoming performance, “The Songs of Gordon Lightfoot.”
The band, known for its decades of collaboration with Lightfoot, is set to pay homage to the iconic songwriter on Jan. 27, 2024, at Toronto’s renowned El Mocambo, starting at 7 p.m.
Featuring the original Lightfoot touring band — comprising Rick Haynes (bass), Barry Keane (drums), Mike Heffernan (keyboards), and Carter Lancaster (lead guitar) — joined by their newest member, lead singer and rhythm guitarist Andy Mauck, the show will showcase selected songs from Lightfoot’s illustrious career.
SKF NOTE: This morning I started re-listening to an Andy Newmark interview drummer Max Weinberg and I did in NYC the early 1980s. My goal is to see what, if any part of that interview can be made available here.
Meanwhile, I came across this brilliant excerpt with John DeChristopher and Andy Newmark talking about Jim Gordon.
Why brilliant?
Well, Andy tells the story of being in the studio with Carly Simon’s road band to record her “No Secrets” album. The producer decides Jim Gordon is a better drummer for the song, “You’re So Vain.” Newmark’s reaction to that news is, to me, amazingly professional. He isn’t threatened, his feelings aren’t hurt.
Instead, Newmark introduces himself to Gordon, asks if Gordon is okay with Newmark watching him from the drum booth, and Gordon says okay.
And that experience, Newmark tells us, “opens the door” to his looking anew at his own drumming; at how, moving forward, he, Newmark, has to modify his NY/East Coast drumming style.
Thank you, to DeChristopher and Newmark for sharing this.
SKF NOTE: In 1988 I interviewed Jason for a profile in the July/August Drums & Drumming magazine.
This interview, a year later, was meant for publication in a new project writer Chip Stern was launching; a combination percussion magazine and audio cassette.
Unfortunately, Stern’s project never got off the ground. Jason’s interview tape sat in a box for 34 years until I digitized, and a friend did a great job in ridding the original audio file of background noise, and in making Jason’s voice and mine audible.
This interview with drummer Jason Bonham happened on September 1, 1989. Our key topic was Jason’s new band, self-titled Bonham, and release of Bonham’s first album, The Disregard of Timekeeping.
I hadn’t heard the full album at the time of this interview. As I mention to Jason in this interview, Epic Records sent me partial album tracks. Jason explains here that was because a leaked version of the album was getting airplay two weeks before the album’s release. To clamp down on that, Bonham’s record label stopped distributing the full album.
Bonham fans who liked The Disregard of Timekeeping, which I did, should enjoy this discussion on the formation of the band, the song writing, the album recording, and Jason’s unique approach to drumming on The Disregard.
There are also some insightful stories about Jason’s dad, John Bonham, and the members of Led Zeppelin.
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