Since being in TX, I’ve seen “How The Grinch Stole Christmas” four times in my short time here so I thought it appropriate to include it in this message.

I’ve been testing out (yes another) new set-up and a fellow drummer at work asked if I could do a quick video. I didn’t realize at the time but it recorded everything in reverse.... thus the right-handed look. This goes out to Big Lecifer!

Cheesing off soundguys since 1984, 


derek

Here’s more as I’m transcribing the ancient scribes into a calendar program... 

February 27, 1984 - Took the job. Now the permanent drummer in Danny Jackson's band. (I was offered the drum chair when an older drummer named Yusef moved away. This was my first band and we were later featured in the school paper on August 30th, 1984.... ROCKSTARS! I remember setting up outside the garage where the wind was blowing very hard... thus the cymbal angles. We later added a female bassist/singer but never played out in that configuration.)

May 5, 1984 - Huey Lewis & The News. (This was technically my first concert although I had seen Tom Jones/ The Sylvers at the Beaumont Fair earlier on. The band was touring the ridiculously successful Sports album so it was a great time to see them. Recently, I saw the band again a couple of months ago but this time from the backstage area... pretty cool from my 1984 perspective! Thanks to my Aunt Bert for taking me. Another bit of trivia... also the first time I was groped by a girl.. but that’s another story)

May 6, 1984 - First performance with Danny Jackson Band for NAACP Banquet at Ramada. (My first gig with a band... I remember playing some Prince songs from 1999 and “One On One” by Hall & Oats.)

May 7, 1984 - Talent portion of the Thespian try-out at West Campus and had to give a speech... did ok but drum stick fell out of my hand. (Since I was ALL about Huey Lewis & The News and was still inspired from seeing them, I decided to use this for the talent portion of the try-out. In true Napoleon Dynamite style, I walked out on a dark stage and hit the Play button on a massive “boom box” which contained a cued up “Heart of Rock and Roll” which I played along to. The next night at the Thespian Banquet. I received the award for Best Pledge.... 

September 5, 1984 - Dede cheers tomorrow. (Wow.. apparently I dated a cheerleader!)

Hey, I guess this drum thing was starting to paying off!

I was doing some cleaning and came across my stack of journals... now let me explain that they’re not exactly “journals” so much as calendars lots of scribble inside. I suppose it came from my parents who kept a calendar in the kitchen to keep track of school band concerts, bills, and birthdays. So I started with one in 1984 and continued until the early 2000’s... that’s a long time.

I was doing some cleaning and came across my stack of journals... now let me explain that they’re not exactly “journals” so much as calendars lots of scribble inside. I suppose it came from my parents who kept a calendar in the kitchen to keep track of school band concerts, bills, and birthdays. So I started with one in 1984 and continued until the early 2000’s... that’s a long time.  In my mind, I wasn’t keeping a serious documentation of my “all so important existence” for all posterity... it was something to do every night before going to sleep. 

In reading these again and transcribing them into a calendar program, I have to admit it’s like reading about someone else’s life.  Although I still remember some names and places, I certainly don’t remember all of the typical feelings that a teenager experiences... how the smallest things were the most important and life altering situations that would change the course of your life.. FOREVER! Well.... they didn’t... of course I didn’t know that then and neither did you when you thought you’d just die if ________ didn’t happen. 

So I’m compiling (and commenting) a list of things that I’m rediscovering about myself... some are funny, some are waaaay out of character, and some are telling of what was to happen to me later.

January 28, 1984 - Played golf with Jeff & Bobby. (These were 2 of 4 brothers that lived down the street and they were in their golf period. Of course, I wanted to hang out with the cooler, older guys so I took up golf.... it didn’t last long)

February 2, 1984 - Tryouts for play and Stark Reading Contest. (This was my first tryout for a play and I was soooo good that they had me running the lights. As for the Reading Contest, I had a really thick kuntree akcint and was relatively uncomfortable in front of people soooo I didn’t make it out of the first round)

February 25, 1984 - Went jogging and went by Dunn’s house when they were having rifle practice and I could do it pretty good so I might join rifles. (Where to start... the jogging thing I have no idea... I had a crush on two out of three Dunn sisters and one of them was in the rifle corp. I actually considered dropping out of the drumline to do rifles in order to be able to hang with one of  the sisters and have access to the other. Luckily I came to my senses and stuck with the drum thing cause there isn’t much call for rifle twirling in the studio ;)

February 26, 1984 - Very sore

February 29, 1984 - Might go to Dance-a-thon with Lisa B. (Apparently I’ll stoop to any level to get next to a girl)