Food for Thought

Stuff has been bubbling to the surface lately.  That is, stuff referring to musical/emotional/psychological/spiritual states.  It’s taking a while to formulate these musings into a coherent statement, so I thought I’d offer this tidbit gleaned from one Mr. Leon Parker (courtesy of a ripped-out page of Drum magazine, that’s stapled to the wall of one of the rooms I teach in at the Seattle Drum School). Enjoy.

When I graduated high school in 1983 there was Dave Weckl, Wynton Marsalis, and Ronald Regan [sp]. And I was very unhappy. Oh, and the drum machine and the threat of nuclear war. What kind of outlook is that? Well, I don’t care what anybody says, Dave Weckl has not turned out to be the next Steve Gadd. Nobody’s hiring Dave Weckl for his groove. Wynton Marsalis is not the next anybody. Ronald Regan [sp] was an actor. The drum machine has basically taken over the heartbeat which is why people are disconnected today, if you think about it.

There used to be a time when a person had a sound, a desire, a purpose and they wanted to express it and it wasn’t about how much money you could make.