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| TUESDAY
December 01, 1998
Next Gig: This Coming Friday, December 4th I was able to practice a good solid two hours today. It's very hard to do six hours nowadays. I'd love to, but I have to budget my time. Maybe in the next week or two I will go for a full six hours. I need to be ready for the New Year's Eve gig at Disney World. I worked a little on the 'Stick Control' book. Boy do I need to spend more time on that! That's a good foundation book and I haven't worked on it much this year. The 'Advanced Techniques for the Modern Drummer' book is one I like to work with to gain more independence between hands and feet. I'm glad I got started on this book again. I usually work on Dave Weckl's chop building exercises and I always find them very effective in warming up before gigs. The Weckl routine is definitely a mainstay, and it really helps me to get ready for a big band gig.  I listened to the CD 'Monk On Monk' today. This album won album of the year in the Downbeat Readers' Polls. It's a great album. I reread the article in Downbeat on T.S. Monk, son of the late, great Thelonius Monk, one of the pioneers of the Be-Bop Era. I'm already thinking of resolutions for the coming New Year! And I think I'm going to start by thinking of keywords that will function as reminders to help me improve myself as a musician and as a person. I was thinking of these keywords: Self-Renewal I am focusing on redefining myself as a drummer in a swing band and what my roles are in this position. I need to see my place in this NEW swing movement, this SECOND swing era (as I call it), and research the old drummers of that era who actually defined swing. Perseverence I will definitely focus on self-improvement on the drums, getting to the next level and making sure I tie up all the loose ends, and practice the things that I am weak in, and not just go over things I already excel in. A Positive Spirit I am now concentrating on taking full responsibility for creating a positive energy and vibe during performance onstage. I feel it's up to me to carry the torch in this respect, so it's up to me to generate a positive flow and help eradicate the negativity that can occur onstage. Dedication I must dedicate myself wholeheartedly to my drumming, and pay homage to the drummers of the past by researching them and discovering what each of those drummer's role was in the development of swing music and jazz in general. I know I must generate my own positive attitude about the art of drumming, and get others to feel the reverence for this style of music, this style of drumming. Reaching Out I will try to be more outgoing toward the general public, and try to function as a true representative and spokesman of jazz music and the NEW swing movement. I must focus on being more vocal, and creating more ties to the swing community. And this also includes reaching out to family and friends more, and making sure those connections are maintained. For although my work is very important, I must not neglect family and friends. Well, I think that sums up my resolutions for the coming year. I guess I figure if I start to focus on them now, I can be ready to practice them well into the New Year. I feel I'm already beginning to focus and implement them now, so I think I'm on the right track. An Article On Diet & Cancer I read a great article in the November 30th Issue of Newsweek concerning diet and cancer. I guess the bottom line is: more fruits and vegetables, plus more fish, beans, tofu, and more whole grains. Of course, stay away from things like french fries and ice cream (darn!). During the tour, when we stayed in Las Vegas, ironically, I ate very healthy. Well, I love seafood and at the hotel we had a $30.00 a day per diem for food. Well, I kept eating at this cafe on the second floor of The Las Vegas Club along with the other guys in the band. During our stay at The Las Vegas Club I ended up eating all of the seafood items on the menu on subsequent visits to the cafe! Needless to say, I felt very healthy during our stay there. What's good about Las Vegas is that the food usually is very good and quite cheap. This was no exception, and it was basically free for the band, so we definitely took advantage of the good food there. What was great about my seafood meals was that they gave me the right portions of seafood, vegetables and rice, along with a nice salad (I used oil & vinegar). Boy did I feel healthy! Anyway, after reading the Newsweek article, it really made me think about focusing on eating right, and staying in shape for a better performance onstage. Well, I'm glad it got me thinking about that again. And it's something I can carry into the New Year as well. Currently Reading:
Lawrence Stone - Stick Control (Book) Jim Chapin - Advanced Techniques for
Led Zeppelin - Houses of the Holy T.S. Monk - Monk On Monk Mormon Tabernacle Choir - It's Christmas Keith Jarrett - Lausanne & Bremen Carlos Rull 
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