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It’s been a long time, as the saying goes. The past week or so has been filled with noteworthy drummer news, and for me personally, a couple of great concerts.

I’ll start with the news that inspired me to write today. I was at the Sheryl Crow show last night, at Mountain Winery in Saratoga, a truly beautiful outdoor venue. Before the show, I stood in the vino concession line, behind a woman who was wearing a Little Feat concert tee. I asked if she’d recently seen them, and she turned to me to say that she sees them every time the come to town. My interest in her shirt, stemmed from a recent local radio station morning show (KFOG), on which the topic of du jour was great live albums. A listener sighted Little Feat’s Waiting For Columbus, as one of the all time greats. I quickly downloaded on Rhapsody and must say, it’s pretty darn good. Back to the lady with the Little concert tee. When I told her I’d never seen Little Feat, but had once seen their drummer (Richie Hayward) with Robert Plant, her date told me that they’d just heard that Hayward has liver cancer. I was of course sad to hear this, not only because he’s a fantastic drummer, but because I imagine it sucks in the worst kind of way to be diagnosed with such an illness. I went online today to see if I could get corroboration on this report of Hayward’s illness, which I did indeed find. The worst part of the story may be that he also reportedly has no insurance. In a personal message on the Little Feat website, Hayward mentions a fund raiser put together by his close friends, which will support his medical needs. I know that Hayward is not the first person that this has happened to, but I wondered how such a successful player has no insurance. My best wishes to the Hayward family and circle of friends.

To lighten the mood of the evening, I was treated to a phenomenal performance by Jeremy Stacey, of Sheryl Crow’s band. I witnessed a performance that began with a true display of restraint, but was immediately fascinated with the use of a maraca and jingle-mute with his right hand, with which he created exquisite percussion compliment to several songs. The controlled use of acoustic and electric percussion toys continued, but as the evening went on, Stacey began to throw down increasingly complex fills. I’d finally decided that he struck me as playing with a style that reminded me of the man himself (Bonzo), and even looked a bit like the late great one, from a distance. Then the band pulled a true surprise – a cover of Zeppelin’s Rock and Roll. Stacey was marvelous and inspiring.

In other news, I received a Facebook ping yesterday that Charlie Watts was leaving the Stones. Again seeking corroboration, I found a conflicting story. Here’s the article that may have started the rumor and another article that disputes the report. My initial thought was that all good things come to an end, but I felt some excitement in the thought of X-pensive Wino drummer, Charley Drayton filling the chair. In any case, I’m curious to see if anything more comes of the story.

My final noteworthy mention is that I saw the recent Green Day show in San Jose. Trey Cool is still Trey Cool – the drummer with a refined niche and silly as all get out. His performance was solid, but the venue sound wasn’t great. I know that the venue (HP Pavilion) isn’t the pentacle of live music venues, but I couldn’t help wonder if the band couldn’t have pulled together a stronger sound engineering crew. I was also bummed by the bands 45 minutes worth of what I call “working the crowd.” Reviews I’d heard have said the band plays almost three hours. Minus all the antics and audience participation, it felt like a 90-minute performance. That’s a good amount of time to perform, but the other 45 minutes or so felt like a little piece of my evening that I’d love to get back. Despite my rant, the band played quite well, my wife loved it (though she admitted to enjoying the ‘05 show much more), and I feel luck y to have attended. Go see them if you haven’t ever done so. If you’re a drummer, definitely try to catch one of Sheryl Crow’s shows.

Until next time.
~r