How Famous Drum Beats Come To Be

If you love music but aren't a drummer (and even if you are a drummer) you might find this fascinating - click on the links for a full lesson :)

I've always been fascinated with drum beats that are instantly recognizable, and how they were developed, such as Steve Gadd's 50 ways to leave your lover. Something so difficut that most drummers work for many hours to try and learn it - yet it sounds so easy - and is so recognizable.

Jeff Porcaro was one of the greatest drummer that ever lived - was THE session played to hire with Steve Gadd. Among the hundreds of albums he played on were Boz Scaggs' "Silk Degrees" (for which he wrote "Lowdown" and "Lido Shuffle"), Dire Straits" "On Every Street", Michael Jackson's "Thriller", Elton John's "Jump Up", Don Henley's "End Of The Innocence", Warren Zevon's "Excitable Boy", Rickie Lee Jones' debut, and Bruce Springsteen's "Human Touch".

He formed the band TOTO with his brothers. Many don't know that "Rosanna" is considered a difficult and unique drum groove. Here's how it came about:

Babylon Sisters + Fool In The Rain + Bo Diddley = Rossana.

Berndard Purdie is master of the shuffle - Babylon Sisters and many more - and if you don't know about him or the "Purdie Shuffle" check THIS OUT and you will think he is the coolest man alive. He will "splain to you" what's going on.

Now - maybe you've heard of a shuffle song called "Fool In The Rain" and drummer named John Bonham?

Well what if you put those two together into a whole new beat that is pretty damn complex? You end up with Rosanna. Here is the late, great, Jeff Porcaro 'splaining it. It's a great example of how drummers borrow from the past, tweak things here and there, and end up with a famous beat.

Christy and Steven Visit!

Has a great four-day visit from Christy and Steven. Went to Discovery snowboarding on a cold, windy day, followed by soak in the natural hot springs at Fairmont. Here's video of Christy snowboarding.

Anyone Know This Guy?

Click Here.

Scroll down and watch the video.

This guy reads intelligent books!

Good Bye

I was following Shane and his buddy on snowboards, second run of the day, until I saw this sign. They had told me "we're going to leave the ski area for a bit, and we're going to go past this sign, and don't let it freak you out." Well it did! I had to at least stop and get a picture of it. Then I wrote these words down and put them in my pocket: If you find my body, give these words and my camera to Laurie. Laurie, please post these words with the picture onto my blog as my last words.

"The only two people you know!"

After a great day of snowboarding at our local hill today, we hit the lodge for a beer. Having just moved to a new place, I never run into anyone I know. But in the lodge's tavern I had two people say "hi Ed!". It was a great feeling to actually know somebody. It made me feel like this really is home. And then Laurie pointed out an interesting fact: "you only know two people - one is a bass player and the other owns the local brewery." It didn't take much thinking to realize that if you only know two people, what two better people to know.

The Real Reason We Moved To Missoula

...is told on the our local brewery website. The Kettle House makes the best beer in the world, and we just made their home page - we are famous. Not only is it a good story, but it's also 98% true: Click Here For...The Rest of The Story

Glacier National Park for 25th

Spent four days in and on the edge of Glacier National Park for our 25th. We stayed at the Izaak Walton Inn in Essex, MT, a wonderful old railroad lodge that is now a XC ski lodge with groomed trails. We skied their trails in addition to two days backcountry in Glacier loving our new skis. Most guests take the train from Minnesota or Seattle area, and the train actually stops at this remote lodge. Best of all: no tv's or phones in the place so they retain the charm of the past and you can really get away. Definately check this place out if you love this kind of getaway. And...see this park before it's called the park formerly known as Glacier (the park's glaciers are receding).

This is one of our photos. We put together a short slideshow that brings you along on our backcountry skis to show you what this spectacular national park is like in the winter: Glacier National Park Slideshow Link.

Black Diamonds for 25 Years Together

We made it: 25 years of marriage. Supposed to be silver but times have changed. Either that, or the girl I met in the Colorado Rockies hasn't changed. I suspect the latter. Maybe we made it 25 years because we often agree. In this case, we agreed on what we wanted to get each other for our 25th. So we went to the local mountaineering shop and said "hook us up with backcountry skiis, bindings, boots, and poles." And so he did. [These are heavy duty cross-country skiis made for going off the trail in deep snow, with metal edges, wide for floating in deep snow, hiking-like boots, an hourglas shape like downhill skis for turning, and scales for climbing].

A fitting gift since our love of mountains and backcountry is what brought us together originally, and our recent move reunited us with backcountry possibilities close by. In college (Colorado State) we would pack a lunch, emergency supplies, and head out for long days exporing from passes near Breckenridge, up Cameron Pass, or in Rocky Mountain National Park. And after 25 years it's come full circle.

They immediately went under our tree. I call this picture a Montana Christmas Tree.

When we told the owner of the store it was our 25th anniversary gift, he said we had to get a diamond. That is, mountaineering poles made by Black Diamond.