Ringo: Alcoholism is ‘A Miserable Disease’

Posted on August 27, 2015 by Scott K Fish

Beatle’s Ringo Starr drums up a new job
WITH a personal fortune of £180 million he doesn’t need the money but the 75-year-old Beatle’s new TV ad is hardly his first commercial starring role.
By DOMINIC UTTON
PUBLISHED: 08:09, Thu, Aug 27, 2015 | UPDATED: 08:23, Thu, Aug 27, 2015

Ringo and family.

Ringo and family.

“I love to be relaxed,” Ringo says. “I don’t know why people think because you’re a well-known pop star that we relax differently. We don’t.

“We hang out at home, have dinner and go to the movies.

“I like to sit on a beach in the sun and listen to waves. But you can’t do that every day, can you?”

In the 1980s Ringo’s struggles with alcoholism led second wife Barbara Bach to write about their hard-living lifestyle in the book Getting Sober… And Loving It .

Ringo later described that time in similarly bleak terms: “It gets really lonely, you know? It’s just really cold and lonely. It’s a miserable disease in the end.

“There’s a crowd of you and it’s lonely. Because that’s all you’re doing is getting p****, you know?”

In 1988, however, he straightened out, sobered up and concentrated on music.

[S]ince recovering from alcoholism [Ringo] has recorded another nine [albums] – six since the turn of the millennium alone.

With the release of his 18th album Postcards From Paradise this year he has overtaken Paul McCartney for solo records and in April his fortune was estimated at £180 million.

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Ten Most Sampled Drum Beats in Music History

Posted on August 27, 2015 by Scott K Fish

SKF NOTE: An interesting piece in this morning’s news. Some drummers listed are new to me — always a pleasure! The full story includes all the songs. You can listen to the beats and read backstories to all the songs. Some of the drummers aren’t listed. Thank you in advance to anyone who can correctly fill in the blanks.

These are the breaks: 10 of the most sampled drum beats in music history
By Corbin Reiff@corbinreiff
Aug 26, 2015 12:00 AM

Drum breaks: Those small patches of space within a song where the singer shuts up, the guitarist backs off, the bass rumbles down, and the percussionist is given a moment or two to shine. Before the rise of sampling, those moments were merely considered artistic flourishes, necessary bridges, or just breathers from the mayhem swirling around the kit. Afterward, they became essential building blocks for some of the greatest music ever recorded. Below is a collection of some of the most widely sampled drum breaks, with just a few of the songs that feature them.

1. Led Zeppelin, “When The Levee Breaks” (1971)  John Bonham

2. James Brown, “Funky Drummer” (1970) Clyde Stubblefield

3. The Winstons, “Amen, Brother” (1969)  G.C. Coleman

4. Melvin Bliss, “Synthetic Substitution” (1973) [No drummer listed]

5. The Honey Drippers, “Impeach The President” (1973)  [No drummer listed]

6. James Brown, “Funky President (People It’s Bad)” (1974)  Allan Schwartzberg

7. Mountain, “Long Red” (1972) N.D. Smart

8. Billy Squier, “The Big Beat” (1980)  Allan Schwartzberg

9. Kool And The Gang, “N.T.” (1971)  George “Funky” Brown

10. Lyn Collins, “Think (About It)” (1972)  [No drummer listed]

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‘Twas a Drummer Invented Country Rock: Jon Corneal

Posted on August 26, 2015 by Scott K Fish

SKF NOTE: Interesting news story. I’ve listened to – and like – a lot of country rock since I owned an advance copy of The Byrds’s Sweetheart of the Rodeo in 1968. But I confess I was not familiar with drummer Jon Corneal until reading this item. Looking forward to learning more about his music and career.

The Byrds drummer, country-rock pioneer plays Fort Myers show
CHARLES RUNNELLS, CRUNNELLS@NEWS-PRESS.COM

You’ve probably never heard of Jon Corneal. But if you’re a fan of ‘60s and ‘70s country rock, you’ve almost certainly heard his music.

The Auburndale, Florida, native is often name-checked as the genre’s very first drummer, and you can hear his playing on classic country-rock albums by…The Flying Burrito Brothers (“Gilded Palace of Sin”) and The International Submarine Band (“Safe at Home”).

Corneal’s friend Gram Parsons often gets credit for inventing the genre, but Corneal insists he’s the one who came up with the idea first.

Corneal…says he introduced Parsons to country music and played with him in early ‘60s rock band The Legends and later pioneering country-rockers….

Corneal, 68, says he came up with the idea of combining country and rock while touring in the ‘60s. His band and crew members often played country radio stations on the road, and they’d usually stop at country bars to listen to the jukebox and live bands. Then, when he returned home, he’d go back to listening to rock ‘n’ roll.

Soon, the two sounds started to merge in his mind, and “country rock” was born: Country songs with electric guitars, pop melodies, a driving drum beat and a rock ‘n’ roll attitude.

Corneal…says he’ll play “some of the authentic sounds of country rock” — music from what he calls the “canon” of ‘50s and ‘60s country songs that all the great country-rock bands pulled from. Songs such as Ray Price’s “I’ve Got a New Heartache” and Dale Noe’s “It’s Such a Pretty World Today.”

“I’ve been doing this for 55 years!” Corneal says. “People don’t believe me when I tell them I’ve been doing this for 55 years.”

Corneal blames his anonymity largely on his chosen instrument: The drums. Drummers are almost always pushed to the back of the stage and hidden from music fans — who usually pay more attention to the singer and guitarist, anyway.

Corneal says he’s not bitter about being ignored by music historians and country-rock fans, but he’d still like to get some credit.

“I hate to toot my horn, but I’ve paid my dues,” he says. “Gram gets all the press. Which is crazy, because he’s dead and he doesn’t need the acknowledgment!”

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Doudou N’diaye Rose: The Very Precise Language of Drums

Posted on August 25, 2015 by Scott K Fish

SKF NOTE: Truly amazing drumming. “The very precise language of drums,” indeed. RIP.

MUSIC
Doudou N’diaye Rose, 85, Senegalese Drummer and ‘Human Treasure,’ Dies
By BRUCE WEBERAUG. 23, 2015

Doudou N’diaye Rose, a master drummer and bandleader from Senegal who became an emissary of his native culture’s joyous and complex rhythms to the rest of the world, touring with percussion orchestras in Europe, Asia and the United States, died on Wednesday in Dakar, Senegal. He was 85.

Mr. Rose was skilled on a variety of native African drums, but he was especially known as a virtuoso of the sabar. A tall wooden drum covered with goatskin and circled with pegs, the sabar, which is usually played with one bare hand and one stick, was traditionally used for communication between villages and to accompany myriad social occasions. Mr. Rose studied those traditions, absorbing what he called “the very precise language of drums,” in travels throughout Senegal and expanded the language, creating numerous riffs of his own.

…Rose appeared onstage or on the bill with Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, the Rolling Stones and Peter Gabriel….

“I never wanted to play blindly,” Mr. Rose said. “I met the elders so that they could teach me the very precise language of drums that everybody recognized then: how to announce a bush fire, that a snake has bitten someone and what kind of snake, that a woman who has just got married has gone to the conjugal home and that the husband is happy with her.”

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Jon Fishman: Jazz Was This Monster Around the Corner

Posted on August 25, 2015 by Scott K Fish

Relix.com
Little Drummer Boy: Local Hero Jon Fishman Reconnects with His Syracuse Drum Teacher
by Jess Novak on August 22, 2015

Jon Fishman

Jon Fishman

Jess Novak: You took lessons from [Syracuse, NY drummer] Dave (Hanlon) when you were 13. Why drums?

Jon Fishman: My mom took me to see Buddy Rich when I was 10. I was all [into] Buddy Rich at that time, but then Dave had a picture of Louis Bellson on the wall, so I checked him out and was introduced to this whole world of big-band drumming. Then Sonny Payne. I discovered all that through Dave.

JN: What about rock drummers?

JF: I heard “When the Levee Breaks” (Led Zeppelin) on the radio when I was a kid. Something about it—the articulation of that beat and how it goes with the song. There are a lot of Zeppelin songs where the drums go along so well with the melody. I was learning Zeppelin from the time I was eight to 13. Zeppelin, Hendrix, The Who. I was a closet guitar player, too. Zappa—all his drummers are their own category.

JN: What changed after you took lessons with Dave?

JF: When I was 13, jazz was this monster around the corner. It was an entirely different level of coordination. You know, “Jazz is the teacher, funk is the preacher and one without the other, you have nothing but the blues.” I think that’s true. For drummers, or any instrument, it seems like with jazz and classical, or Afro-Cuban music—you stretch your limits. You get independence and coordination you won’t from just rock drumming. I wanted to learn how to play a swing ride and the other figures you play on a snare and hi-hat. I went to Dave for that.

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