The early days

As I mentioned previously, my first band was a 6 night a week disco band, and while great for the discipline I learned and the stable money, I needed something that would challenge me on different levels. In '76, a guitarist friend of mine was in an amazing original band called Bill Holland and Rent's Due and they happened to need a drummer. He recommended me, and that changed the direction of my musical life! A fair number of fun memories from my times with the band will be shared in the coming posts. Today I want to talk about the Cellar Door, a 200 seat original music club in the Georgetown area of DC. Back in the 70's when I was fortunate to play there, it was one of the most happening clubs on the whole East Coast. Acts of every type imaginable played there and just a sampling of some of the people we opened for were: Steve Martin, Joan Armatrading, John Lee Hooker, Buffy St. Marie, Woody Shaw, John Hammond Jr. It was truly a magical time for original music and I wouldn't trade it for anything! Some of the shows I saw there were Return to Forever, The Meters, Mose Allison, Kenny Rankin, Lee Rittenour and more. The best part for me, getting to open for this wide array of musicians, was the opportunity to pick the brains of other drummers and just learn as much from those who are ahead of you as possible. I was very fortunate in that just about everyone I've ever opened for was friendly, approachable and happy to talk shop with a young up and comer. Now that I'm at the latter stages of my career, I've enjoyed paying it forward whenever possible, which is what I was able to do when I taught over 5 years at the local School of Rock. I feel music is in good hands with these new generations coming up..