Woodshed: BLITZKREIG!!!!

Sometimes if you want something done right, you have to bloody well do it yourself.


That's precisely what happened at Back Street last night.  My return to semi-active duty these last four weeks has been anything but an easy chore off the boards; on the boards, the results have been rather spotty, to say the least.  With two of the  four plays I've made so far being lackluster at best, there was absolutely NO way I was going to let play #5 fall into the same category.  Things have changed significantly for me the last month or two, and one of those changes was with me last night, as she was during last week's outing.


For quite some time now various people close to me have been saying "Chris, why don't you try your hand at teaching the drums as a way to branch out a bit during your down-time?"  Per usual, Uncle Buffalo was the one who bandied the notion about most frequently.  Wellsir, three weeks ago I finally gave in, and took on my first-ever drum pupil.  Sheila and I actually discovered each other through a different set of circumstances I won't go into now, but once she told me she was an aspiring drummer I just went "Hmmmm............  Okay, what the hell, she'll be my first!!"  In short order, we met and got acquainted, then Sheila showed me what she could do on the skins.  For having only played the last two years, she displayed an excellent grasp of the basics; more than enough of a good strong foundation to build on.


When she was done, Sheila gave me a huge Smile for not laughing hysterically at her modest {but wonderfully sincere and sharp} efforts, then handed me her sticks and said "Your turn!"  What she didn't know was that her modest {but wonderfully sincere and sharp} efforts had given me the itch, and I promptly let loose a five-minute artillery barrage well worthy of the salad days, totally without any accompaniment.  The look on Sheila's face when I finished was instantly seared into my permanent memory.  After a minute of dead silence, with my new pupil slack-jawed, she said in a husky voice "You have GOT to teach me everything you know!!!"  Me being me, I slammed her with "Well, that'll take about five minutes or so," and our deal was struck.


Last week's play was Sheila's "feet-wetting" exercise; I figured BB's Sunday rituals would be the most logical place to start gently corrupting, er, I mean educating a novice.  Since it was her first time, I kept things pretty low-key, and as was reported last week my own blow that night was barely up to par.  On the heels of that, I subconsciously decided that the next one would be a right proper Woodshed Patrol, and went about my business all last week.  Sheila was eager as all get-out as our next outing loomed, but I kept her focused on her first assignments right up to the moment we walked into Back Street last night.  I made the rounds with Sheila, and she's already being recognized as a potential Regular, so one basic task was well accomplished as we settled into the social part of the evening.


In due course, BB kicked things off with Joe, Josh, and Jumpin' Jimmy sitting in for Darryl.  Josh and I are slowly going beyond Drum-Buds into the Drum-Brother status I have with Tim Heidemann, so his work is becoming complementary to my own, which makes things much more enjoyable.  As happened last week, BB and the Lads laid down a tasty benchmark for the evening, which gave both Sheila and me the itch.  However, my itch was very nearly extinguished when the first Aggregation went up and knocked out a blistering "Hey Joe," and a few other equally strong tunes.  The featured player was "Kid" Hayden, a fifteen-year-old guitar wizard.  I was instantly transported back to my original stint as a Regular, when I frequently went up with another young genius, "Little / Much Bigger" Stevie.


Something snapped inside of me then, and when Hayden was done I pounced on him for a preliminary chat, which turned out to be as fruitful as I'd hoped.  One Aggregation later, BB called me up with Hayden and Legal Mitch on bass, never once suspecting what was just about to erupt in his face.  The chat I had with Hayden was to determine a good setlist, and we wasted no time whatsoever before jumping straight in with both feet.  We started off with a ferocious Jimi-style "Johnny B. Goode" which Unka Chuckleberry hisself would have loved to death.  From the outset I went straight for the jugular, clamped down hard, and took off to the races in a huge way.  Hayden did his job magnificently, but I deliberately pushed him as hard as I could; I was after "epic," and both Hayden and Mitch responded accordingly to my histrionics and played their asses off.


The next tune was  Cream's version of "Crossroads," and by now I was in full roar, and the rest of the unit had quickly become the latest incarnation of my musical 219th Artillery Brigade {The HellHounds}.  We laid on the super-heavy impasto, and once again I strained HARD against the leash, this time trying to blow the whole damned audience right out of the building at once.  Hayden and Mitch stayed tightly welded to my sides beginning to end, and we cooked for nearly nine solid minutes before flourishing out.  Hayden glanced at and Smiled me almost constantly during this tear, so I locked my best determined-but-happy game face on for his benefit, and went about my increasingly wild mayhem.  Mitch and I knew exactly what each other was doing and where we were going, so our direct interaction was several brief bits of eye contact and Smile-flashes.


Our units' final number was Jimi's "Voodoo Child {Slight Return}," and this time I went all-out like Hank Aaron coming up to bat with the bases loaded, bottom of the ninth, Game Seven of the World Series.  Did my main man James Marshall up damn proud, we did.   Hayden shredded like a whole civilization's worth of lives was depending on each note and lick he cranked out, and Mitch gave me some fabulous improv-counterpoint as I boiled and bombed along.  This final strafing run also stretched beyond the eight-minute mark, and like the two previous sorties was met with a very rousing round of the clap at the conclusion.  BB didn't have to milk the crowd for anything as Hayden quit the stage, but he did manage to surprise me by picking up his axe and starting off a reprise of "Crossroads," before I could get up off the throne.


This time around, we did a much slower and somewhat calmer arrangement, quite like the version Cream themselves did during their 2005 / 6 reunion shows.  Although I slowed the tempo and employed lots of dynamics throughout, I still kept up the fire and bombast as a sort of heavy undertow that leads to a Titanic-swallowing whirlpool.  Stone me if our silliness didn't result in one more fine round of the clap, before I finally got off the boards, for once well-pleased with what went down.  Sheila was all smiles as I plopped down at our table to cool off, and I  mechanically responded to the several enthusiastic compliments about my overall mess once more, too damn tired to even bother with the Modesty Monster.


The upshot of it all is that last night's play, while one of the better ones, was also a fine bit of hands-on field research work for my star drum pupil.  The total eruption I triggered last night was a textbook example of how I draw all my inspiration from my band or Aggregation-mates.  Hayden and Mitch were both on their A-game, and whatever merit my own playing had was 100% due to them; a fact that was easier for me to demonstrate to Sheila, rather than merely explaining it.  Yes, it was great fun also, but my focus was mainly on opening Sheila's eyes as opposed to pleasing the crowd, hammering BB to death, etc, etc.  In the end, I did exactly what I set out to do, and then some.  For me personally, last night's patrol was the return to form I was after; for Sheila, it was the next step along her budding drum-path.  And most of the signs from last night seem to be pointing towards a brightness in the distance, albeit still a long and possibly treacherous ways off.


Whatever the case, I've still got a pupil to nurture for the immediate future, which is a new {but pleasant, and sincere, and sharp} one on me.  I'm still taking everything else one day at a time too, so please sit tight as things unfold themselves organically; no way in hell am I going to push things too hard at this early stage.  Y'all will be apprised regularly, so relax a bit and be ready for the next news when it comes.


Which ought to be shortly, dig?