Well, I’ve finished the last bit of fire related business for me here in Pendleton.

As I’ve mentioned before, when I moved to the UK, a lot of my old stuff that I didn’t need on a daily basis stayed in the old office, and most got cooked in the fire. A very few boxes of things- mostly CDs (or CD boxes) and LPs made it out, and I finally had time to day to pack up the usuable stuff to send home.

At the bottom of one box was a cheap digital clock I bought at a 2^nd hand shop for $.75 in 1997 because a room I was rehearsing in that week didn’t have a clock and I didn’t want to keep the orchestra late (I can’t wear watches).

Anyway, I used to keep it in my briefcase for ages for similar situations, then retired it when I got to the GRSO in 1999. It floated around my flat for three years, getting used as a proper alarm in the guest room and so on, and occasionally getting taken on trips when I remembered it. When I moved in 2002, I was sure I’d tossed it- after all, it was just a cheap, ugly little piece of junk….

Anyway, at the bottom of a box of soot covered CDs this afternoon, there it was…. Still keeping perfect time- four years after I last looked at it. I now fear this clock and will never betray it again. All hail the clock! The clock is good! All hail the clock, the clock is good!!!!

I also found some tapes that I’d given up for lost- old recital things and the only known recording of Slanted Glance, my very first band. One of the members is now deceased, so it meant a great deal to find it, although I doubt I can listen to it now….

Travis has asked for my 10 must have recordings. That’s a tough one- I’m going to work on it for a couple of days. Meanwhile, here is my list of 10 favorite drummers of all time (in no particular order).

1-       The guy playing timpani on the Celibidache/Munich Phil film of Bruckner 8. He’s possessed!

2-       Mitch Mitchell (from the Jimi Hendrix Experience). Definitely the most underated rock drummer in history. 

3-       Tony Williams. His playing on Four and More (and he was only 17) changed my life

4-       Elvin Jones. The ultimate modern jazz drummer.

5-       John Bonham. The best sound and feel in rock history 

6-       Max Roach. Perfection and poetry

7-       Clyde Stubblefield. The only person on this list I’ve worked with. Played guitar briefly in a jazz group in Madison with him. He is the funky drummer

8-       Evelyn Glennie. When I first heard of her, I thought it must be a crossover gimick- hot, barefoot, deaf percussionist? Well she is hot, but also one of the best performers on any instrument I know. 

9-       Chester Thompson (for his work with Zappa, not Genesis). The Helsinki Concert is the best post-rock drumming I’ve ever heard. My favorite of Zappa’s many great drummers because he had the virtuosity and the sophistication, but also a much funkier, more interesting feel and sound than any of the others. 

10-     Art Blakey. A force of nature. Albums like Free for all and Indestructable re-define “intense”  

All hail the clock!

c. 2007 Kenneth Woods