I’ve been a life long lover of the drums, started playing in the early 70’s at the age of 4. My dad was a pro bass player starting back in the 60’s and would take me to rehearsals at the local music hall. Fast forward to now and I still play but like to restore the odd and rare drums from days gone by. Here is a Rogers kit I found on CL in bad shape, broken parts and a dull brown haze on the wine red ripple wrap. The bass player of The Dickies Dad was the owner and bought this kit new back in 62/63 in Detroit. This kit has been on stage with some of the greats. It is very rare and has tons of history, therefor worth a pretty penny...I sold it to redo my 41’s interior Before After Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
Cool project. I started playing drums when I was 12 years old and my fist set of drums was Slingerland Blue Sparkle Gene Krupa set this was in 1959. I still own this set and have them in a closet. I used the play drums in a band called the Artistics and we played rock and roll shows in Connecticut and New York area. Also did many weddings along the way and stuff like that. I still practice almost ever day but no longer have the time or the desire to play gigs any more. About ten years ago I purchased a Mapex Venus Series in black and I love the sound this set has better then any other set of drums I have owned. I only use Remo Heads which is what I have used for the last 59 years of playing the drums. Jimbo
Thanks for the comments! That Slingy kit you have is worth some $$$...I've bought, repaired and turned couple hundred of drums, snares, cymbals and hardware. The one I regret the most was a Slingy Radio King 60's era, it was the first pro drum I bought back in the early 80's from my local fire dept band. I moved to the UK in 92 for a year to tour with a band and sold it when the funds were running low so I bought another to replace it but it is not a solid ply shell, it is a 3 ply Hollywood Ace that I will never part with. Mapex make some nice drums too, I've owned a couple of their snares and they record great. Anyone else with old drum stories??? Let's hear em!
I went to high school with Remo Belli's son, Mike. LBCD, Cool set of old drums. I used to own a vintage guitar shop in Hollywood during the 80s, but moved to Japan for 5 years, got married, and decided to give up music as a profession. Those old Rogers are pretty darn cool, although not as sought after as the old Gretch kits, that is still a cool kit you got there. I once sold an old Jordan amp to Steve Jordan, he used to play in the Paul Shaffer band...Steve bought the amp, which was not a real fancy amp, because it had his name on it. One of his roadies came and picked it up from my shop... I wish I would have saved a few vintage guitars as they went up in value so much...coulda, woulda, shoulda...we all know how that goes. I play bass. Mostly I play upright, when I play...but haven't played for about 10 years. I have one electric bass I saved, it's a '59 p-bass with a '63 body. After I retire I might take up music again. Music is the one of the greatest languages in the world!
Steve Jordan...I use his signature sticks.... Awesome drummer! Gretsch drums, owned a few of those too. USA customs are amazing with the silver paint on the inside of the shell! Probably the most famous of them all....... DJ Fontana's Gretsch kit with cow hide resonant bass drum head
Did you or your Dad play with Elvis? I see you're in Long Beach...there's a place called World Of Strings, and the owner is one of the best bass luthiers in L.A. There used to be a band from Long Beach called The Mighty Flyers. There was a friend of theirs who played blues guitar, his name was Steve Samuels. Steve drove an Edsel. Unfortunately seeing Long Beach caused me to do some googlin' and I see Steve Samuels passed away back in 2014 according to a post by Freebo on FaceBook. He had a stump on one arm, and he could strum as well as pick with a nub/bone he had. He was a great player. Sorry to find out he passed. He used to sit in with The Mighty Flyers. I found a video on youtube...Steve Samuels was from Sacramento but kind of lived out of his Edsel...it was packed with all types of stuff...he always had his guitar and amp in the trunk. Sold him a few guitars, but he used to hang out in my shop and was there 2 or 3 times a week.
World of Strings was great!!!!! they set up a few guitars for my band back in the 90's. I believe one of the guys opened up a new shop on 7th and Cherry, a friend had a guitar set up with him and it plays great!
The owner was one of the best luthiers on bass viol. His name is Jon Peterson, I just found him on the web. I knew they closed down, but he was partners with another guy for a while or something. Jon did own it. The last time I was there when he setup my bass he had a bass that belonged to a jazz player I studied with briefly, his name was Monty Budwig. His wife was a great pianist, Arlett McCoy. I was bummed as Jon told me that Monty had died...and Arlett was selling off his basses. Anyway, Jon was an amazing luthier, I don't know anyone else I would let setup my bass, I would drive it down to Buena Park (now, used to be Long Beach on Cherry). Looks like he works out of a shop in Malibu also. Better for me. My Mom lives in Newbury Park. But nobody in NorCal can come close to the work that Jon does, at least that I've met. http://www.uprightbassrepair.com/ Sorry for the derail, but back to drums. One of my friends was lucky to buy a marimba from Mike Belli when we were just out of high school. He still has it to this day, but lives back in Connecticut. When I grew up in L.A., there was a big change happening in Jazz with the fusion...the older drummers like Shelly Mann, Dick Burke, Shaughnasey, Rich, et al were being replaced by people like Alex Acuna and Vince Calaiuta, et al and it was having a major shift in L.A. jazz...and that holds true for bass as well with Abe Laboriel, Patitucci, Stubenhaus, et al...it was an interesting time because rock-n-roll sucked at that point, there was a bunch of MTV Hair Bands...jazz was actually pretty exciting.
Holy moly, is that William Clarke on harp with Steve Samuels? Clarke was a great harp player who passed away prematurely. You had me running through Rod Piazza & The Mighty Flyers recordings to see if Steve Samuels was on any of them. Unfortunately not. I'm loving this thread even though I no longer have my Slingerland blue sparkle kit. Hell, I'd be happy just to have one of my old '60s Slingerland catalogs! Here's a video any drum freak should watch. I remember being blown away when this Tonight Show episode was first shown on tv. I was already a Buddy Rich fan but this put me hip to Eddie Shaughnessy, who's killer himself without Buddy's flash.
Yes! ES and BR both on blue/olive badge Ludwigs. Here is GK on Slingerland and BR on Rogers....Sammy is bad ass on the skins too!
I did not realize how much my old Slingerland kit was worth! I went into Sam Goody store one day to pick up a new set of sticks and when I started talking with their resident drum expert he asked me what type of set I had. When I told him it was Mapex kit he asked how I liked the sound and I told him the sound was excellent he looked at me hand said I agree with you. When I told him about my old kit the Slingerland set his eyes lid up and he asked me if I would be interesting in selling them and when I told him no because it has more sentimental value for me. He offered me $1,000 dollars for the kit. He explained to me that he wanted the shells. Jimbo
The Mighty Flyers were great, I like the blues and they were one of the better ones. They had a song on one of their albums, I had it on vinyl. There was a song that starts out as an airplane ride and the plane is crashing...as the plane is going down, the way the song goes, right before their solos it says, "Drinks are NOW being served!". I just love that line... I saw that on TV when they did it live when I was a kid. Here's some car trivia to tie this in. When I grew up in the San Fernando Valley, we used to go cruising on Van Nuys Blvd. Wed. night was cruise night, and me and my friends would all go down there. I went to high school at Monroe which is right by the 405/Nordoff, now that area is called North Hills. It used to be called Sepulveda. Anyway, as some of you may know, Reid Stolz resurrected cruise night quite successfully, he was a classmate of mine and I am still in contact with him today, he works at Hornburg Jag/LR in Hollywood. Reid's dad was a trumpet player in the Tonight Show band, I remember his name being Don. I never knew that until after we had graduated, it wasn't something Reid told people too often. I mentioned I had studied briefly with Monty Budwig. The tonight show had 2 bass players back in the day, Ray Brown, one of the most famous upright bass players of all time, but Monty Budwig also played on the tonight show when Ray couldn't make it or had out of town dates. That tonight show band was one smokin' band...ALWAYS, no matter who they had on, Doc Seversinsen had one of the hottest bands in town the entire time I was growing up. Thanks for posting that video, brings back some memories. And FWIW, I wil add...it's amazing how many musicians collect old cars, so many of them. When I had my guitar store in Hollywood I remember many of them (this is just a few). Kid Ramos had a beautiful mid 50s White Caddilac convertible. I seem to remember it having a baby blue top/interior. Bernie Larson (El RayoX) drove a 60s convertible Skylark, Howie Epstein (bass with Petty) drove a mid 50s Ford, at the time I drove a '67 Mustang GTA Convertible. Sadly, I had to sell it to bring my house out of foreclosure when I moved back to the States from Japan in '87, as the grey market which I was involved in was coming to a halt due to Regan adjusting the exchange rate. The 80s were a crazy time for me, Asia was a real learning experience for me. Met my wife in Japan, we have 2 wonderful kids and have been married for 32 years this past November.
Once I heard about a Ludwig set that could be bought and told our drummer that he should upgrade. He went to get them and came back to my house....this was in about '82. When he bought them he was told that "he had to take all the drums". Along with the early 60's Ludwig set he got a like new Slingerland Radio King set from the fourties in pearl with 24" bass.
I know for a lot of people this may sound crazy but I love to practice drum rudiments each day and after 59 years of playing it is what I love to do. I find I have no interest in playing gigs any more but I totally enjoy putting the head phone and listen and playing along with Buddy Guy! My drum kit is set up in my office so that anytime I get a few Free minutes I can play. I have towels on the heads to keep the noise down and it is a chance to just relax and play. I love watching old videos of guys like Pistol Pete Allen, Benny Benjamin and Muriel Jones who were the three main drummers who played on every Motown record they ever made. When you talk about Motion history these three drummers were the real deal but the weird thing is which ever one was available at 2:AM in the morning would show up and play until 5 or 6 in the morning. Watching them play one of the most famous fills in drumming history the R,on the high tom LL,R,L, on the snare and R on the floor tom for a very different style of a six stoke roll. Jimbo
Great thread idea! I love drumming. Started in 4th grade on an Acrolite, got my Slingerland blue sparkle Stage Band set new in ‘67, did the high school rock band deal . Put them away for about 30 years, then got talked into backing the praise songs at church. It’s been my weekly gig now for going on 10 years. Bought one of my mentors stuff , a few years ago... a 1954 Leedy & Ludwig new era set... I call her my pearly gates #1 kit. I really dig vintage drums, no pro ; but I can usually keep the beat!
Moving on...probably one of my biggest influences would be Ringo...I know...a lot of drummers think he is a hack but I think he rocked in a weird and cool unorthodox way. Both Ludwig and Zildjian saw HUGE profits due to him. Ludwig have some of the most sot after drums every made. 1920’s....the iconic Black Beauty by Ludwig Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
I will live and die with the Beatles music. I had what some would call progressive parents, when I was only 4 or 5 years old they gave me and my sister Beatles albums starting with the first Please Please Me and With The Beatles (with the heads on it). It is one of the only bands/music I can play and not annoy my family when we took trips in the car...every year I play Taxman when I do my taxes...they will always be a part of me. My Dad was very much into music, but didn't play. He had a lot of friends in the music business. He was good friends with H.B. Barnum, one of the first black producers in L.A. area, AFAIK. As a kid my Dad smoked pot during the 60s, and told me and my sister that it was "Turkish Tobacco", which is why it smelled funny. Him and his friends would be smoking it driving down Fairfax...little did I know how illegal it was at that time...here we are in 2018, pot is legal in California! (FTW) Most of my life I have watched friends getting their heads beat in over pot, taken to jail for a joint, some were sent away to prison for a joint...and now it's finally legal...who wouda thunk? (but I digress...LOL). I don't think anyone realized or knew what was about to happen in the 60s, when I got my first Beatles albums in '63, the world knew they were going to be big, but they had such an impact on not only music, but the country IMO. For any of you nay sayers about Ringo, stifle your mouth! Kudos to you LBCD, don't let anyone talk down on Ringo, he might have not had the best style, but his beat was just fine...there is a bit of irony to the Beatles, a friend of mine from L.A. has been playing guitar with Paul McCartney for about a dozen years, his name is Brian Ray. In the 80s, me, Brian Ray and Bernie Larson used to hang out in Hollywood a lot...Brian always had great gigs, Smokey Robinson, Linda Rondstat, Nicolette Larson, etc...he just always had good gigs...Bernie, not so much, and lives in Ojai now and has a band called "Cry On Cue". No denying my love for the Beatles!
Great story! A few years ago the wife and I were walking on HB pier and there was a guy that worked in one of the Concession stands selling HB memorabilia. We got talking about something he was selling and cut to the chace...he was friends with Brian Ray and played in one of his bands from back in the day, that was his claim to fame I guess ...small world. Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
The Jalopy Journal
