Neil Peart -- The Latest News

Neil has posted a February 2010 update to his website called "Fire on Ice."

Labels: neilpeart.net, News updates, written by NEP

I've been hearing about Paragon cymbals with a "brilliant" finish for a little while, and it appears that Paragon Brilliant is now a finish available from Sabian.

Neil Peart wrote an article about the new cymbal finish for Sabian.com.

------------------------------------

Dec 22, 2009

- NEIL PEART SPEAKS UP ABOUT PARAGON BRILLIANT -

   The evolution of Paragon Brilliant is about more than spit and polish. It began with the pursuit of the openness and responsiveness of an older cymbal, right "out of the bag."

   I have always found that brand-new cymbals have a certain "tightness," both in their physical response and in their sound, and it takes a few shows to play them in. Then they loosen up and start to "dance" on the stand, and the swell of sound from attack to decay would become smooth and open.

   When I was talking about that quality to the dedicated cymbal-makers at SABIAN, they took it as a kind of challenge: how can we build that "played-in" quality into the cymbals?

   Wheels started turning in the imagination of Mark Love, chief designer and sound alchemist at the factory in Meductic, New Brunswick. He figured that because playing the cymbal creates heat in the friction among the molecules of the metal, then perhaps carefully-applied heat to a newly lathed-and-hammered Paragon could create the same effect.

   Experiments began, and prototypes were sent to California for "field-testing" by me and Sabian's Chris Stankee. Each prototype was carefully weighed and played, with stick-tip, shoulders, and mallets; notes were collected on a (very scientific) clipboard then exchanged with Mark at the factory. Eventually the formula was perfected.

   A careful application of the finished Paragon cymbal to a buffing wheel (a big old "steampunk" kind of machine, where a craftsman controls the force and time) brought it to a temperature of 400-degrees F, and produced a well-tempered instrument that danced on the stand, and sang out clear and bright. 

-  Neil Peart

Via Rushisaband and PowerWindows.com

Labels: cymbals, Sabian, written by NEP

Neil Peart has updated his Bubba's Bar 'n' Grill section of his website with Turkey recipes.

Bubba's Big Bird

Cranberry Jelly

Brutus's Turkey Stock

Brutus's Turkey Chili

In addition, there's a pre-order for Bubba's Hockey Jersey (the same one Neil wore while taping the new version of the Hockey Theme for TSN).

Labels: Bubba's Bar N Grill, Bubbawares, neilpeart.net, written by NEP

Neil has posted a Bubba's Book Club update to his website for 5 books.

Bubba's Book Club - Issue 14

Labels: Bubba's Book Club, neilpeart.net, written by NEP

Neil has posted an update to his website called "Autumn Serenade - November 2009."

Labels: drums, neilpeart.net, News updates, written by NEP

Neil Peart remembers how Blue Cheer influenced him as a 16-year-old. Blue Cheer's Dickie Peterson died on October 12, 2009.

Louder Than God: Rush's Neil Peart Remembers Blue Cheer's Dickie Peterson

Labels: written by NEP

In the September 2009 edition of News, Weather, and Sports, Neil recounts his growing fascination with a hummingbird nest in his backyard as his daughter's due date approaches. This is a great read.

The Ballad of Larry and Suzy

Thanks to Tony Stiles via Power Windows for the head's up!

Labels: neilpeart.net, web article, written by NEP

Neil has posted an update to his website called "A Little Yellow Cabin on Yellowstone Lake - August 2009."

In this update, Neil writes about his last solo trip before "the Blessed Event--the birth of our baby in August. After that, I wouldn't be going anywhere for a while."

Neil has so much to say in this update, there are actually two parts. One of the most interesting for me was the section where he breaks down the history behind the lyrics for "Manhattan Project."

There are other interesting reflections on what's good about America, opinions on Ralph Nader and Jane Fonda, and new country song lyrics.

Labels: neilpeart.net, NEP motorcycling, News updates, written by NEP

Neil has posted an update to his website called "Under the Marine Layer - June 2009." About two-thirds into the update, Neil drops a big surprise:

At the same time, under that same marine layer, my wife Carrie was seven months pregnant. [Pause for sharp intake of breath and shiver of apprehension.] Our baby was growing and kicking, protected and insulated in its own oceanic fluid, its own marine layer. The anxious (not to say terrified) father kind of wished the baby could stay there, safe from harm, and not have to embark upon a life of menace and potential tragedy. He had lost before, and probably couldn't stand to lose again. People kept saying it was going to be all right, and he tried to keep telling himself that. Even in the June Gloom.

When I first read that passage, I had to go back and read it again. Did Neil really just write that he was going to be a father?

Congratulations to Carrie and Neil!

Labels: neilpeart.net, News updates, written by NEP

Neil has posted a new recommended reading update to his website for 5 books.

Recommended Reading - Issue 13

Labels: Bubba's Book Club, neilpeart.net, written by NEP

Neil Peart has posted a new Latest News to his website. This time, he writes about a quest in the Laurentian Mountains to find "The Eye of Satan."

The Quest for the Phantom Tower - March 2009

Labels: neilpeart.net, News updates, web article, written by NEP

Neil Peart has posted an "official" update for the long-awaited "Roadshow Illustrated Companion" book. Unfortunately, it looks like this book isn't going to be published.

Read the update here.

Labels: neilpeart.net, written by NEP

Neil has updated both the Latest News and Bubba's Book Club. To read these updates, click the links:

A Winter's Tale of Summers Past - Feb 2009

Issue 12: February 2009

A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry

Late Nights On Air - Elizabeth Hay

Man Talking - Mike Heppner

Labels: Bubba's Book Club, neilpeart.net, News updates, web article, written by NEP

The original LP version of Fly By Night included the lyrics sheets on the LP sleeve. Thanks to Don Douglas of Ottawa, Canada, for sending me these to me. Click here to see these pages.

To see other Neil Peart original lyrics sheets, go to the following pages:

The Words and the Pictures - Volume 1

The Words and the Pictures - Volume 2

Labels: lyrics, Site updates, written by NEP

Neil has posted a new "News, Sports, and Weather" update for December 2008:

December in Death Valley

Labels: neilpeart.net, NEP motorcycling, News updates, written by NEP

Neil has posted two new updates to his website:

News: The Drums of October - November 2008

Bubba's Book Club: Issue 11 - November 2008

Reviews include:

The Deptford Trilogy: Fifth Business, World of Wonders, The Manticore by Robertson Davies

Barney's Version by Mordecai Richler

Deer Hunting with Jesus by Joe Bageant

Greasy Rider by Greg Melville

Labels: Bubba's Book Club, drums, News updates, web article, written by NEP

Neil Peart has published issue 10 of Bubba's Book Club to his website. In this issue, he reviews:

• The Colony of Unrequited Dreams - Wayne Johnston
• The Custodian of Paradise - Wayne Johnston
• The Alexandria Quartet - Lawrence Durrell
• Zen and Now: On the Trail of Robert Pirsig and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - Mark Richardson
• A Voyage Long and Strange: Rediscovering the New World -Tony Horwitz

Labels: Bubba's Book Club, neilpeart.net, written by NEP

Neil has posted a new update to his website. You can read it here:

Independence Day - July 2008

In this update, among other topics, Neil writes about how much he enjoys the crowds at Rush concerts and the importance of wearing a helmet while riding a motorcycle.

Labels: neilpeart.net, NEP motorcycling, News updates, Rush SnakesArrows, web article, written by NEP

Neil has posted a new update on his website. You can read it here:

When the Road Ends - June 2008

Labels: neilpeart.net, Snakes 2008, web article, written by NEP

Neil has posted a new update on his website. You can read it here:

South by Southwest - May 2008

Labels: neilpeart.net, NEP motorcycling, News updates, written by NEP

I've added a new section to my website about Neil Peart's Modern Drummer Ask a Pro columns.

Go to the Ask a Pro section of my site to see these columns.

Labels: drums, Modern Drummer, written by NEP

Neil has posted a new update on his website, writing about his love for winter in Quebec and posting many pictures from his cross-country skiing and snowshoeing expeditions. This almost seems like a companion piece to his February 2006 essay My Laurentian Soulscape, which appeared in Canadian Geographic.

Labels: neilpeart.net, written by NEP

It's been almost a year since Neil's last recommended reading update, as he's been out on tour with RUSH. In his latest book recommendations, he reviews This is Your Life, by John O'Farrell, The Emperor's Children by Claire Messud, Unfinished Journey (Twenty Years Later) by Yehudi Menuhin, This Is Your Brain on Music by Daniel J. Levitin, and Metal Swarm (The Saga of Seven Suns - Book 6) by Kevin J. Anderson.

I rather enjoyed how he began the last book review:

Consider it duly noted that Kevin Anderson is a good friend of mine, but that would not be enough to earn a glowing review from Bubba's Book Club.
      Being Bubba's friend doesn't hurt either, of course, though it can be hard for Bubba not to be envious (the first deadly sin -- I know) of a writer like Kevin, who is so prolific, so fulfilled, and so accomplished.

Finally, he adds a homework assignment to read Newfoundland author Wayne Johnston, The Colony of Unrequited Dreams, and The Custodian of Paradise. He writes:

A few years back I was asked to contribute to a year-end newspaper article on "my favorite book of the year." If I had been asked last year, I would have named these two.
      Enough said. Check them out. (Of the library, or better yet, buy them. Support the poor, deserving author.)

Labels: Bubba's Book Club, neilpeart.net, written by NEP

Three magazine articles from 2007 have been added to NeilPeart.net.

Motorcyclist Magazine - May 2007

DRUMHEAD Magazine - September/October 2007

Labels: drums, magazine article, NEP motorcycling, written by NEP

Neil has posted an update to his website for December: The Hour of Arriving.

There are lots of great pictures and more stories about the European leg of the Snakes & Arrows tour.

In the story Neil mentions a sign that someone held up at the Clark County (Portland/Southern Washington) show, "NP--THIS IS YOUR LIFE." I was at that show, and I remember seeing that sign and being somewhat confused. It's interesting to read Neil's take on it.

Labels: neilpeart.net, NEP motorcycling, Rush SnakesArrows, written by NEP

Neil has posted an update about the European leg of the Snakes & Arrows tour, "Haste Ye Back." No mention of the 2008 leg of the tour.

This is Neil's fourth update of the tour. The other three include

• "Shunpikin' it Old Skool," posted on August 20, 2007
• "Every Road Has Its Toll," posted September 26, 2007
• "That's the Way We Roll," posted on July 13, 2007

Labels: neilpeart.net, NEP motorcycling, Rush SnakesArrows, written by NEP

I've added two new postcards from Neil, sent to me by Cygnify. You can check these out on the Postcards from Neil page. Thanks, Cygnify!

Let me know if you have a postcard you'd like to share.

Labels: postcards, written by NEP

Neil has updated his website with "Shunpikin' it Old Skool," about the last North American leg of the Snakes & Arrows Tour.

This is Neil's third update of the tour. The other two include "That's the Way We Roll," posted on July 13, 2007, and "Every Road Has Its Toll," posted on August 20, 2007.

Labels: neilpeart.net, NEP motorcycling, Rush SnakesArrows, written by NEP

Neil has updated his website with "Every Road Has Its Toll," about the second leg of the Snakes & Arrows Tour.

You can read the update about the first leg of the tour here: "That's the Way We Roll."

Labels: neilpeart.net, pictures, Rush SnakesArrows, written by NEP

Neil Peart wrote an article for the August 2007 Modern Drummer, entitled "The Drums of Snakes & Arrows."

In the article, Neil tells the story of how "Snakes & Arrows" came to be, and he also analyzes his drumming in each song. He writes a lot about other drummers he admires, too. One of my favorite quotes is about Terry Bozzio (who also likes to play large drum kits):

"During a visit to the DW factory last year to check out the drums I would play on this album, I saw one of Terry's massively intricate drumsets under construction. When I sat behind it with all those chromatically tuned drums, the fantastic array of unique cymbals, and multiple pedals (eleven, I think), I looked around and up and down at that dizzyingly complex instrument and thought, "This is the guy's mind I'm looking at."

An excerpt of the article is now online at DW Drums:

Labels: magazine article, Rush SnakesArrows, written by NEP

After the first leg of the Snakes & Arrows Tour, Neil has updated his website with a news update. You can read it here:

"That's the Way We Roll!"

Labels: neilpeart.net, NEP motorcycling, Rush SnakesArrows, web article, written by NEP

The highly anticipated "Snakes & Arrows" CD was released today. This is Rush's 23rd album (including live releases, but excluding compilations). Rush.com has been appropriately updated with "Snakes & Arrows" artwork (very cool!).

Once you click the "Snakes & Arrows" CD image, there are other clickable areas, including:

• Lyrics
• Photos (same ones that have been up on Rush.com for a while)
• Player (not working yet as of this writing)
• Biography (the Neil's "Snakes & Arrows" essay (PDF))
• Track listing
• Downloads (screensavers)

Track listing page

On the home page, I also noticed the photo gallery appears to be updated. I've seen most of the photos, but the interface is different.

Gallery page

On this site, I'm starting to add more content to my "Snakes & Arrows" tour page as it comes in. The latest addition is a "Snakes & Arrows" reviews feed on the top right (you can also view and save this as an RSS feed if you want: Snakes & Arrows RSS feed). I'll continue to update this page as more "Snakes & Arrows" news and information is available. The RSS feed for Snakes info is: Snakes & Arrows information.

Enjoy the new CD!

Labels: Rush SnakesArrows, written by NEP

On Neil's website, he has posted links to "The Republic of Nothing" by Lesley Choyce for which he wrote the afterward, and a recommendation for "Pike's Folly" by Mike Heppner.

From Neil's website:

"Pike's Folly is clever, funny, endearing, and well written, with special praise for how skillfully Heppner takes the reader inside the mind of a character who is gradually losing her grip, discarding her sanity with her clothes as she walks naked into the streets of her Rhode Island town. It takes a Faulknerian tour-de-force of writing skill to pull that off, and he does it.

Highly recommended -- and especially appreciated as a more-or-less 'impulse purchase.'"

Labels: neilpeart.net, written by NEP

Neil has posted a new news column on his website.

http://www.neilpeart.net/news/index.html

In 5,893 words (including pictures), Neil writes about:

• Why he hasn't been writing as many columns of late
• Preparing for the upcoming tour
• MySpace
• How he writes those tour book intros--and all the work that goes into them
• A recent motorcycle trip
• How cold it is in Toronto
• His new drum kit for the "Snakes & Arrows" tour

Enjoy.

Labels: written by NEP

Neil has been sending out quite a few bulletins lately. You have to be a MySpace member and a "friend" of Neil's (there are 16,928 of them as of today!) to receive these bulletins. But I will periodically post them here, too. (If you're interested, my MySpace profile is at the following URL: http://www.myspace.com/andyodrummer. Feel free to send me a friend request.)

From: Neil Peart

Date:
Feb 12, 2007 6:16 PM

Subject
I love this free Monday - more questions answered....

Body:
I moderate this site as I can, however, my tour Riding Partner and Director of Security for RUSH for eight years (you can read all about in Roadshow) helps me moderate this site.
So yes - sometimes me, Sometimes Michael AKA SPQR.
Enjoy...

--------------------------------------------- 

From: Neil Peart

Date:
Feb 12, 2007 5:56 PM

Subject
Tour dates...

Body:
The dates are not confirmed yet, that's why they are not on rush.com. So far it seems the first show will begin in Nashville June 13th...
Don't hold us to it.
Management is still working!

 ---------------------------------------------

From: Neil Peart

Date:
Feb 12, 2007 4:21 PM

Subject
Since people are asking...

Body:
RUSH, as a band, does not have a page on MySpace, nor do Gedd or Alex. There are many fan sites which is fine, but only one Official site run by Neil and his office.
PS: http://www.myspace.com/rushband is GONE!
Thanks to all!

--------------------------------------------

From: Neil Peart

Date:
Feb 12, 2007 6:36 AM

Subject
http://www.myspace.com/rushband

Body:
Still operates with impunity. Is there not cyber justice??
Thank you all for you support!
NEP

-----------------------------------------

From: Neil Peart

Date:
Feb 12, 2007 6:19 AM

Subject
Once and for all -For the cynics lurking about; Fair enough!

Body:
For the cynics lurking about; Fair enough!
How do you know Neil Peart on MySpace is authentic?
Simple:
Rush.com leads to Neilpeart.net
Neilpeart.net leads to here.
Clear it up? Good I thought so.
Enjoy!

Labels: written by NEP

I just posted the second volume of "The Words and Pictures." This volume features three new lyrics sheets from "Permanent Waves." As with the first volume, the original handwritten lyrics are an interesting glimpse into Peart's creative process.

View The Words and Pictures Volume 2

View the Words and Pictures Volume 1

Labels: written by NEP

In the latest NEP recommended reading, Neil reviews no less than seven books.

Read the reviews here.

Labels: neilpeart.net, written by NEP

In the latest NEP News update, Neil writes about recording the new Rush album, working with new producer Nick Raskulinecz, and more. He also has included a few pictures. Thanks to DKos for the head's up!

Photograph by Andrew MacNaughtan

Labels: neilpeart.net, written by NEP

Neil has published Issue 6 of his Quality Reading column.

In this issue, he reviews A Complicated Kindness, by Miriam Toews.

Read the review here.

Labels: neilpeart.net, written by NEP

Neil has posted another Quality Reading review on his website. In this issue, he reviews:

• Brighton Rock -- Graham Green
• The Winter of our Discontent -- John Steinbeck
• Frank Lloyd Wright -- Ada Louise Huxtable
• Pike's Folly -- Mike Heppner

Excerpt:

First of all, in the previous issue of "Bubba's Book Club," I definitely set the bar too high with that Hemingway review. In the first few installments, I only set out to offer brief recommendations of particular books I had read recently and enjoyed. However, I should know by now that everything I start out doing for fun eventually turns out getting all serious. Though I am by no means an overachiever, I do tend to get overly ambitious.

That same "trap" has led me into ever-growing ambitions in drumming, bicycling, motorcycling, reading, writing, and even posting updates on my Web site. Lately I keep wanting every one of those little "open letters" to be better than the one before, and instead of dashing off a casual report, I end up laboring over those stories as much as I would "serious writing."

Labels: neilpeart.net, written by NEP

• The new Rush album and how it's going
• A new DW drum kit
• A side project Neil has been working on (very, very cool)
• Photos

Labels: Vertical Horizon Burning the Days, written by NEP

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The day I picked up Alex and Geddy at the local airport was sunny, but near freezing, and the three of us hugged each other through masses of coats, scarves, and gloves. All bundled-up like . . . Canadians in winter.

We loaded their overnight bags in the back of my new winter "hot rod" -- an Audi S-4 Avant, with a 4.2-liter V8 crammed into a tight little all-wheel-drive sports wagon -- and I drove us to my house on the lake, sometimes playing Finnish rally driver on the snow-covered roads. Along the way, we passed near the village of Morin Heights, where we had shared so many good times, recording at Le Studio -- now closed and abandoned. The number of albums we had made there stretched from Permanent Waves in 1979 to Counterparts in 1994. Those long stays at Le Studio's comfortable guest house had been for the purpose of recording,
yes -- but also playing volleyball, pedal-boating, cross-country skiing, watching movies, dining on fabulous French-Canadian food, and having some of those kinds of nights you're glad you only half-remember.

Earlier this winter, when the three of us were making plans for our meeting in Quebec, I had been jokingly calling it our "corporate retreat." And indeed, we do have some "business" to discuss, but first -- we eat and drink.

Traditionally, Alex had been the chef among us, going right back to the early years. We would be away songwriting in a cottage or farmhouse, with no catering or nearby restaurants, and Alex would cook for us. Over the years, I have had so many amazing meals from the kitchen of "Papa Paisano" (pounding his chest with one fist and declaring, "I will cook for you!)"), and it was Alex who taught me why a person might spend all day cooking food for other people -- it was an act of love.

So I was a little intimidated cooking for "Papa Paisano," as well as for Geddy, an internationally schooled and sophisticated connoisseur of food and drink -- an experienced winer-and-diner.

Geddy brought a bad cold with him, unfortunately, and was feeling poorly, and Alex was just getting over the same winter malaise. I always notice that when I'm in Quebec for a month or so in winter, I never get sick unless someone visits from the city -- bringing all the "latest germs." That was the case this time, for the next day, I started to get the cough and aching, too.

However, Geddy also brought some choice wines from his well-stocked cellar, and we started by uncorking a fine burgundy to accompany a lunch of mushroom ravioli (from a batch prepared by my friend Brutus, on his visit the previous week, when we noticed that we seemed to spend most of our days in the kitchen
cooking together -- how evolved we men are these days!). I sautéed the ravioli with olive oil, garlic, orange zest, and plum tomatoes.

The three of us stayed gathered around the kitchen island, music playing while I rolled out the pastry for a blueberry pie, and got it put together and in the oven. (It was only my second attempt at a pastry-type pie, and it wasn't very pretty -- the crust uneven and patched up a little crudely -- but I was hopeful it would taste good.)

As recounted in my previous news report, back in January I had sent Alex and Geddy some lyrics. I knew they had been working with some of them, but I hadn't heard anything yet. That day in my kitchen, we had a momentary panic when Alex went searching through his bags and couldn't find the CD -- frantically calling
his son Adrian in Toronto to try to have it sent up, or to be uploaded somehow to the Internet so we could download it there (the extremities of modern technology). Adrian reported that he couldn't find the CD in Alex's studio either. Alex had another look in the part of his bag where "he would never put it," and walked back into the kitchen holding the clear plastic case, shaking his head.

"That was close."

We gathered before the fire in the living room and started listening. As the songs played out, the response we all shared was a sense of clarity -- for Alex and Geddy, playing the songs for me that first time threw their strengths and weaknesses into sharp contrast, and they kept saying things like, "I know what we have to do here." Same for me, lyrically -- I was very gratified to hear parts that worked, saying "Yeah" when I heard Geddy sing a line just perfectly, while also knowing right away what I could improve upon.

There were five song sketches -- guitar, vocals, and drum machine -- and I liked them all. I also noticed those songs already seemed to have a sort of unity, a stylistic approach of chord structures, rhythms, and vocal delivery that I could only describe as "spiritual." I'll say no more about that aspect until we get farther into it, but it was wonderful that after thirty years of working together, we could still find different paths to explore together.

Then it was time for dinner. Back in the kitchen, we nibbled on pate de foie gras with a bottle of Sauterne that had been aging in my wine closet for many years -- waiting for such an occasion -- and a couple of fine Quebec cheeses. I prepared the appetizer: scallops sautéed in garlic and butter with avocado vinaigrette (my California influence brought north), then I dished out the main course: fillets of fresh pickerel baked with cherry tomatoes, asparagus tips, dill, and chopped onion; jasmine rice; grilled red, green, yellow, and orange
peppers in olive oil; snow peas, baby carrots, and yellow beans.

It was all very colorful, that's for sure, and the secret for me is all in the timing. A few years ago, when I was first starting to learn how to cook, I said to Geddy that I couldn't believe I could actually do it, after years of
thinking cooking was "magic" or something.

Geddy replied, "Of course you can cook -- you can play drums!"

That was funny, and incisive, for there were indeed some relations there -- counting down the rhythmic intervals of the different ingredients until everything arrives at the perfect "doneness," at the perfect time.

Geddy contributed a delicate Chablis to accompany that main course, and finally, we dived into that warm blueberry pie (I called it "ugly pie" when I brought it out of the oven, all lopsided and bubbling over with purple goo, but I had to admit it tasted amazingly good) with ice cream and coffee.

Earlier, Geddy had decanted a bottle of vintage Bordeaux, but we decided the perfect coda for that symphony was Calvados. (Sadly, when the guys flew back to Toronto the following day, I had to drink that Bordeaux all by myself.)

It had been a good meal, a great day, and I was exhausted. Geddy went off to the guest house to get some rest and nurse his cold, while I lay on the sofa in front of the fire, and Alex cleaned up the entire kitchen.

If you ask me, that's an act of love!

. . .

So now I'm going to spend the month of May in Toronto, where we have rented a small studio. It will be great to have the opportunity to work together on those songs, and hopefully some new ones, too. For me, after spending more than a year working on my book, Roadshow, it will be nice to take off the "author" hat (BMW
Motorcycles baseball cap) and put on my "lyricist" hat (the old cowboy special, given to me by a fan in Dallas, that I always think helps keep my versifying down-to-earth) and my "drummer" hat (African prayer cap).

I like all of those hats, and all of those jobs, but it's especially the drumming I'm looking forward to right now. Lately I've been getting all inspired about "hitting things with sticks," driving around listening to Steve Smith's
recorded work (to keep me humble) and enjoying a couple of sessions of "drum duets" with my friends Chris Stankee and Gregg Bissonette (another humbling, but inspiring experience).

One night in early April, I went to a Hollywood jazz club, Catalina's, with my drum teacher, Freddie Gruber (now seventy-nine-years-young), and a couple of his other "students" -- though all of us were in our fifties. I've compared Freddie before to a tennis coach, and with him, once you're a student, you're always a student. One evening that same week, he and I were sitting around his living room, listening to great old songs on the radio and talking about everything in the world. Out of nowhere, Freddie picked up a pair of drumsticks from the coffee table and started demonstrating something on a handy practice pad. Our companions at Catalina's were Jim Keltner and Ian Wallace, both master drummers with long resumes, and we were there to see and hear one of the all-time great drummers, Roy Haynes.

Roy was eighty-one, yet played with a mastery, artistry, and musicality that made the four of us turn to each other and smile, and lit another fire of inspiration for me. Between shows, we went back to say hello to Roy, meeting another great drummer, Ndugu Chancler, and we all sat in the little dressing room and listened to Freddie and Roy tell stories about the 1940s jazz scene on 52nd Street in New York.

"This drummer used to play with that band, and sit in after hours at this club that was just down from that club, across the street from that other club, you know, where those two young actors shared the apartment upstairs." Their stories revealed those two actors to be Marlon Brando and Wally Cox, and name after name spilled out in Freddie and Roy's conversation -- sax players, drummers, actors, poets, painters, hustlers, and hookers, a whole magical time and place brought to life through the memories of those two forever-young characters.

For Roy's second show, our table was joined by another drummer, Joey Herredia. Freddie and I had gone to see Joey play the previous year, when Freddie had assured me, in his dry manner, "It will be . . . of interest."

Indeed it was -- Joey was a stunning young Latin drummer, with that angular, syncopated time sense that seemed so powerful, so exotic, so impossible to me. Again, I felt inspired -- by a style of drumming that I hadn't heard before, and couldn't play myself (but I'm working on it).

That evening at Catalina's was quite a "drum summit" for me to be part of, and perfectly timed, as I began to feel myself swept up into the world of rhythm once again.

I wrote earlier that when I first heard the new songs from Alex and Geddy, the word that occurred to me was "spiritual." I wonder if there's such a thing as "spiritual drumming?"

I'm working on it.

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