Another Instrument Story, This Time Drums...

We were at the Old Town Brass Band gig yesterday at the Fredonia Brewery. My son Morgan was on drums and my brother Glenn asked how long he had had those drums and I replied that he probably got them when he was in high school. Cathy jogged my memory with a couple of details and as I love to tell a musical instrument story and all instruments need a story to make them have a soul. These drums have a good story.  

Morgan was finishing high school and had been saving some money to replace the old black Olympic set of drums we bought him when he was 11 years old. Those drums are stacked in the music room and have quite a history of service themselves, still sound good (pro tip, tune your toms so you can play here comes the bride) and see enough use I can't part with them. Morgan was playing well and ready for a set up in gear quality. 

We drove down to Houston, I don't recall where we shopped, probably Guitar Center and Morgan purchased this set of Tama drums. I think he saved more money and bought cymbals and stands at a later date but this is where Cathy jogged my memory. The Super Bowl was in Houston that year. It was 2004 and the Panthers played the Patriots. We did not care much about the game but the City of Houston threw a big downtown street party and one of the bands to play for free was Los Lonely Boys. We took in this concert and as the Boys had not quite broken big yet with Grammy wins and such they were awe struck by the big city reception and the small town group of brothers put on a great show.  

Turns out the game was good though YMMV as the Pats won. Janet Jackson was the half time show and she outraged the world with a costume malfunction that reveled her nipple (every woman has two) for exactly 1/2 of a second. We made it all the way back to Lufkin with a set of drums that's now pushing about 17 years old. 

Morgan does not have to save his money up to buy gear piece by piece anymore. He pays the bills with a good day job but the pocket cash from the brass band goes into custom drum heads with the group logo, stuff like a special slash cymbal or here you see the bass drum and the marching snare he bought at the Hicks Antiques Instrument sale where I bought a new horn myself this past weekend. 

Buy an instrument. Use it. Give it a soul. Make it have a story.