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Steve Smith here. I'm currently on a US Clinic Tour for Zildjian, Sonor, Remo, Vic Firth, Shure and DW Pedals.

In this Clinic Diary I'll be writing about my experiences on this clinic tour and posting the updates daily. First I want to bring you up-to-date on what has been going on for the last couple of weeks since I left off with my DVD Diary on the making of Steve Smith, Drumset Technique and History of the U. S. Beat.

In the past few weeks the folks at NYC DVD are continuing to work very hard at "authoring" the DVD program. The Hudson production team of Paul Siegel and Rob Wallis are involved in checking on all of the details from menu design to chapter titles and dozens of other details. I'm also in the loop and we get 10-20 emails a day that consist of updates to check on and approve or offer alternate ideas. At this point we are planning on a November release for the DVD.

Tuesday-Thursday, September 24-26
My engineer Bob Biles and I mixed 34 tracks that were recorded with Buddy's Buddies live at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club. In June of this year I played for a week at the legendary London jazz club with the Buddy Rich alumni quintet Buddy's Buddies. Buddy Rich had a long history of playing at Ronnie Scott's so the guys were glad to be returning to the club that they had played so many times before. This group features the front line of Steve Marcus on tenor and soprano saxes and Andy Fusco on alto sax. The rhythm section features my Vital Information bass player, Baron Browne, and the great pianist, Mark Soskin. Mark wrote all the music for the "Historical Band" my new Hudson Music DVD, and we even played one of the tunes from the DVD on the Ronnie Scott's gig. Mark also did some arranging for Buddy's Buddies and brought in an original trio tune that we played. We recorded two of the six nights and ended up with so much good material that we will be releasing two CDs: "Steve Smith and Buddy's Buddies Very Live at Ronnie Scott's Set 1 and Set 2." We'll chose 8 or 9 tracks per CD -- these two recordings will be released on the Tone Center label in 2003.

Saturday, September 28
I spent the day at The Plant Studios in Sausalito, CA with producer Corrado Rusticci. Corrado is one of the top record producers in Italy, but he lives and works in the San Francisco Bay Area. The artist he is currently working with is Italian pop singer Christina Marocco. All of Corrado's productions use very creative loops and synth programming and on one track I played full kit with the loops and on three other tracks I overdubbed cymbals to give the programmed drums a "live" feel.

On Monday, September 30 I drove to Half Moon Bay, CA (a little over an hour from where I live in the San Francisco Bay Area) to the production facilities of Steve Michael son. Steve's company produced the "Lost West Side Story" DVD that Hudson Music distributes. The next Buddy Rich DVD that will be released in 2003 is the "Channel One Set" that is the continuation of the concert that "Lost West Side Story" footage is from. I did a "commentary track" for some selected pieces that will be used in the Special Features section of the DVD. It was a thrill to watch Buddy play and offer some of my ideas and perspectives about his technique and concepts. I thought it would be a good idea to get my friend Joey DeNoia involved in this project. Joey DeNoia was Buddy's personal valet for over 11 years and has some incredible Buddy stories that not many people have heard. When I get to Orlando, FL in the next few days I'll interview Joey for the Special Features section of the DVD -- this should be interesting. Joey went through his archives and found some fantastic photos that he shot at the filming of the "Lost Tapes" (this was originally call "Live on King Street"). These pictures will be used in the artwork and in a photo gallery in the DVD.

Tuesday October 1
In the afternoon I received a last minute call from record producer Louis Biancocello to come to a session and record a track that was currently in progress. The drummer they were using wasn't working out and he wanted me to walk in and play the tune. Louis is a producer for Sony Music and has produced many of the top Columbia artists. This project is a new group called Aranda, who are two brothers that are amazing singers and very good songwriters. I had recorded one track for them a couple of months ago, but with Epic putting some pressure on them to complete the recording for a January release, they were in the studio finishing up their tracks. I got to the studio around 6:00pm and the kit was setup and ready to go. I wrote a chart and I recorded a number of takes that were all saved in "Pro-Tools." They were happy with my playing and asked me if I could record two more tunes the next day. I had planned on working on some clinic ideas, practicing and packing because I was leaving the very next day, Thursday, to start this clinic tour. They made me an offer I couldn't refuse so the next day,

Wednesday October 2
I went back to the studio and played on two more tunes, then went home and packed and got a few hours sleep before I got up the next morning to go the airport.

Thursday October 3
I flew to Wichita, Kansas and met up with the other members of my Vital Information band, Baron Browne (bass), Tom Coster (keys) and Frank Gambale (guitar). The first two gigs of the clinic tour were actually Vital Information gigs that also had clinics before the band performance.

Friday October 4
I did an afternoon clinic at Wichita State University in Wichita, Kansas. This was for the students at the University and we had a very in-depth and interactive clinic. J. C. Combs is the head of the percussion dept. at Wichita State and he has a very good program where the students are exposed to European Classical and U. S. Jazz as well as African, Cuban, Brazilian and Indian music. After a short break Vital Information played two sets to over
400 people whose ages ranged from elementary school kids to 90-year-old-jazz-fans!! This was the widest demographic we had ever played for and the audience was very responsive and gave us an overwhelming reception.

Saturday, October 5
The Vital Info band rented a car and a van and drove 7 hours to St. Louis, MO. We saw lots of cornfields and silos.

Sunday, October 6
I did a drum clinic from 5:00-6:00 at the Melvin Price Convocation Center which is at McKendree College in Lebanon, IL -- just outside of St. Louis, MO. The clinic was for Drum Head Quarters who was a co-sponsor of the event along with McKendree College and the U. S. Air force. Drum Headquarters has been a longtime supporter of Vital Information, in fact they sponsored a gig for us in 1983!! After my clinic there was a performance by the USAF Band of Mid-America from Scott Air Force Base. They are a tight pop/rock/jazz group featuring my friend Leroy Wilson on drums. Then Vital Info played an inspired set that was loose and creative. After playing together for so many years the band is getting looser and tighter! We're stretching out even more these days, which feels very exciting. This will be the last Vital Info gig for a while until I see the guys in Montreal on November 10th for the Montreal Drum Festival. Zildjian rep Dana Jo Cox was at the gig as well as the Drum HQ crew Jim and Rob, who took great care of us.

Monday, October 7
I was up and out of the hotel by 6:45am to catch my flight to Memphis for the first stop on the clinic tour. Originally I was booked into the Mars store in Memphis, but Mars filed Chapter 11 last week and they closed the Memphis store immediately. Zildjian and Sonor moved the clinic to the Memphis Drum Shop. Owner Jim Pettit wanted the clinic to begin with, but since they weren't a Sonor dealer the clinic went to Mars. With the Memphis Mars store closed now the Memphis Drum Shop IS a Sonor dealer, congrats!! At 2:30 J. M. Van Eaton picked me up at my hotel for a tour of legendary Sun Studio. J. M. was the house drummer at Sun during the heyday of producer Sam Phillips recordings that took place at Sun in the mid-50s. J. M. was a teenager when he played drums on the Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Little Green Men, Bill Justis and many more of the great tracks that came out of Sun Studio.

J. M. was not credited at the time, but we hope to let more people know about his important contributions to the foundation of Rock ‘n' Roll drumming in the documentary that we are currently working on for Hudson Music, the "Legends of Rock Drumming." We have already interviewed J. M. Van Eaton for this project and that is how I've gotten to know him. J. M. is a charismatic and warm person and we have stayed in touch since the interview. When he heard I was coming to Memphis, J. M. offered to bring me to Sun Studio for a tour!

The tour was very entertaining and educational. The tour guide had a passion for music history and brought the story of Sun Studio to life. I highly recommend this tour if you have already taken it. J. M. then brought me to the Memphis Drum Shop, one the best drum shops in the world. The store has a strong vibe and the audience was OUT OF CONTROL! They were so enthusiastic that it pushed me to new heights. Jim Pettit, the owner of the Memphis Drum Shop wants Vital Info to play in his performance center next year when we tour the U. S. in March/April/May, which sounds like a good idea to me! The Memphis Drum Shop clinic was a great way to start out the clinic tour.

Tuesday, October 8
I was up and out of the hotel by 6:30am to catch the flight to Raleigh, NC for a clinic at Mars Music. After arriving at the Raleigh/Durham airport, I met Zildjian's Director of Artist Relations, John DeChristopher and East Coast Artist Relations Manager, Jim McGathey in the Airport Holiday Inn Shuttle van, they had just flown in from Boston. John DeChristopher is known in the business as "Johnny D" and he takes care of all of the Zildjian endorsers with great professionalism, respect and humor -- Johnny D is a groove to hang with!

Jim started with Zildjian three years ago and I've gotten to know him over the years and he too is a very cool guy. I'm glad Jim will be accompanying me on the clinic tour. My main contact at Sonor USA, Rusty Martin, personally brought the drums to the Raleigh Mars store. Rusty does a great job of taking care of my Sonor needs in the USA. Every store that I do a clinic at has bought new Sonor drums that are identical to the setups that I use. This means I play different kits at every clinic which requires me to arrive at the venue at least three hours before the start of the clinic in order get the drums ready to play.

I tune and adjust a large Sonor kit with a 5"x 14 snare drum, a 20" Bass Drum, 8," 10," 12," rack toms with 14" and 16" floor toms. In addition to that I use a Sonor Jungle set that has a 16" bass drum, 10" rack tom and a 13" floor tom and a 12" snare drum. I set the bass drum up with Remo Powerstroke 3 heads, the toms have clear Ambassador Remo heads, and on the snare drums I use Fyberskin 3 Diplomats, because they sound great with brushes. I'm carrying my own Zildjian Cymbals, DW 9000 Titanium double pedal, a set of Shure mics and my Vic Firth "Steve Smith" signature sticks.

To get the drums tuned, setup and miced takes over two hours. At that point I'm ready for a short break before the folks come in for the clinic! Many times we do the setup and then get right into the clinic, with a tour like this there isn't much "free time." The clinic at the Raleigh Mars store was very well attended, over two hundred people were around the stage. The people asked a lot of questions and gave me a warm and enthusiastic welcome. The sound was good in the store and the staff, especially Nick and James, took fantastic care of me. Afterwards we all went to the local Outback for some food, drink and stories!!

Wednesday, October 9
Zildjian heavy hitters Johnny D and Jim McGathey, along with yours-truly, were up and out of the hotel by 8:30am to catch the flight from Raleigh/Durham, NC to Orlando, FL for a clinic at Mars Music. Our United flight was delayed so we were rebooked onto a couple of U. S. Airways flights in order to get us into Orlando on time for the 4:00pm setup.

Everyday we spend at least 6 to 8 hours traveling which can be a serious grind after a while. The weather in Orlando was an amazing 85 degrees! I do like Florida. The staff at Mars Music was very organized and took great care of us. We worked together getting the drums tuned, setup and sound-checked, by the time we finished setting everything up it was 7:00pm, time to hit.

I started the clinic by playing with brushes on just a snare drum. I saw that my friend Danny Gottlieb was in the audience so I invited him up for a duet. I was demonstrating some snare drum techniques and Danny has some of the best snare drum chops in the world. We played an up-tempo version of Kenny Clarke's "Salt Peanuts" with each of us playing only a snare drum. It was effortless to lock up with Danny and trade choruses, 8s, 4s, 2s, and 1s!! I then continued on for another 1 1/2 hours of talking, answering questions, and playing.

The audiences at the Raleigh, NC and the Orlando, FL Mars stores were quite large, over 200 enthusiastic drum fans. They gave me a lot of positive energy and asked good questions. At the end of the clinic I introduced the audience to another good friend of mine, Joey DeNoia and they gave him a warm round of applause. Joey had driven up from the Miami area so I could interview him for the upcoming Buddy Rich Hudson Music DVD "The Channel One Suite Set." (to be released in 2003)

Joey talked to the audience about Buddy Rich and had everyone thank Buddy for his incredible contribution, all together now, "Thank you Buddy." Joey was Buddy's drum tech and personal valet for 12 years. After the clinic we went to the hotel where I set up my DV camera and I recorded over an hour of Joey talking about his experiences with Buddy Rich. Joey told some priceless stories about his adventures on the road with Buddy and he also addressed the different facets of Buddy's personality -- the Yin and the Yang.

I'll be sending the tape to producer Steve Michaelson for inclusion in the Special Features section of the Channel One Suite Set. We ended the interview at 2:30am and I got to sleep at 3:00am and unfortunately I got my wake-up call at 4:45am so we could be at the airport by 5:30am to travel from Orlando the Grand Rapids, MI -- gotta love this routing!!

Thursday, October 10
Johnny D heads back to the Zildjian headquarters in Massachusetts and Jim McGathey and I travel 10 hours to Grand Rapids, MI. I got a little sleep on the flight to Chicago and some more on the short flight from Chicago to Grand Rapids. At every clinic we are met at the airport hotel by the local Zildjian or Sonor rep, and they drive us to and from the clinic.

Today Zildjian rep Roger Burns picked us up and drove us about 20 minutes to the clinic location. We arrived at a movie theater that RIT Drums owner, Paul Militello, had rented for the clinic. This was the first time I did a clinic in a theater where they were showing a Goldie Hawn movie next door and the people came in with popcorn and drinks! This is the fourth clinic that I've done for RIT Drums, the first dating back to the late 80s. We had a large crowd of over 250 folks and they had a lot of questions, which makes my job easier.

I find that even though I have a general format or an outline for my clinics, each one is very unique. The questions, sound of the room, overall audience vibe and response all factor into the direction of the clinic. One thing different about this clinic is that I included a section on some of the Indian drum compositions that I have been studying. There were quite a few high school age drummers at this clinic. I found out that RIT has a strong teaching staff and many of the RIT students attended the clinic.

My traveling companion, Jim McGathey from Zildjian, assists me in the setup and breakdown of the drums and he already has learned the nuances of my setup. Traveling with him is enjoyable and a big help. I've done clinic tours in the past where I have traveled by myself for a couple of weeks but having a partner makes the entire experience much easier and more enjoyable. After the clinic Jim McGathey, Roger Burns, the staff at RIT Drums and myself all went the local TGI Fridays for some food and drink. I enjoy the hang after another long day.

Friday, October 11
Today was the hardest travel day yet. The late nights and early mornings are starting to catch up with me and today I felt like I was on a European tour with jet-lag. Jim and I were at the Grand Rapids, MI airport at 7:30 am for our flight to Chicago, I slept a little on the 1/2 hour flight. I nodded out again during our two hour O'Hare layover and on the flight to Pittsburgh, PA.

Sonor rep, Roger Jewell, picked us up in Pittsburgh and brought us to the Ramada Inn in downtown Wheeling, WV. By the time we got to the hotel it was 4:00pm, the time we needed to be at setup/soundcheck. I quickly washed up and drank a pot of coffee made on my in-room coffee maker and ran down to Roger's car for the ride to the clinic location.

Roger and Jim had picked up a pizza so we could have something to eat on the way and it turned out to be one of the worst pizzas I've ever had, but it didn't matter, I hadn't eaten all day and I needed something so down it went.

The clinic was for C.A. House Music Company, which is located in Saint Clairsville, OH. They held the clinic at Ernie's Esquire Club in Wheeling, WV, which is a fine venue for a clinic. The C. A. House Music staff was very professional and helped us get setup in record time. Even though we got there after 5:00pm we were totally setup by 7:00pm.

The clinic had a loose and intimate feel and the folks asked many questions about everything from cymbal selection to how I got started playing drums in the first place. I was enjoying the sound and feel of the drums and played more than I usually do. There was a good turnout (over 125) considering the clinic was on a Friday night. Because C. A. House Music has a pro teaching staff there was a lot of young drum students in attendance as well as many pros and all levels in-between.

It's encouraging to see so many drummers taking the time to attend the clinic and seek out new ideas. After the clinic Jim and I plus the local Zildjian rep, Bill Banfield, and the friendly staff of C. A. House Music, Tim, Bruce, Heather, and Erika, all went to Ernie's restaurant for some late night appetizers. Once again the stories were flowing and we had a fun night. I don't have a clinic tomorrow and I'm quite happy that we'll check out of the hotel at noon and then drive -- not fly -- to the next clinic location in Columbus, OH.

Saturday, October 12
A day off! I got to sleep-in until 11:00am, we checked out of the hotel at 12:00 noon. Local Zildjian rep, Bill Banfield, drove Jim McGathey and I from Wheeling, WV to the Airport Hotel in Columbus, OH, which took about two and half hours. (The clinic on Sunday will be for Columbus Pro Percussion and we always stay near the airports so we're only a short courtesy van ride away from our early morning flights.)

We listened to the new James Taylor CD on the way, Steve Gadd sounds excellent, as usual, on this recording. Once we check into the hotel we found nearby mall where we had a leisurely late lunch. We went into the Virgin Mega Store and I picked up the new Greg Osby CD "Inner Circle" as well as the new Soulive "Turn It Out" and Joshua Redman's "Elastic" CD with Brian Blade. Brian is a serious player and I've been digging him on the new live Wayne Shorter CD too. We stopped for few supplies at a CVS store and then went back to the hotel where I'm currently resting!!!

The only thing I HAVE to do today (except for my laundry) is sign 350 DVD covers that Rob Wallis from Hudson Music sent to the Wheeling, WV hotel. These are for folks that attended one of my clinics and pre-bought my new Hudson Music DVD -- "Drumset Technique and History of the U. S. Beat." I'll sign the covers and then Fed-Ex them to Hal Leonard so they can ship them out as soon as the DVD is ready.

Sunday, October 13
I got to sleep late again today which felt great. Our Zildjian rep, Bill Banfield picked Jim and I up at 3:00pm to travel to the venue at Capital University. The Huntington Recital Hall in the Conservatory of Music is the perfect size for a drum clinic. There is a small stage and about 250 seats, which were just about all filled for the clinic.

Jim Rupp, who is one of the owners of Columbus Pro Percussion, joined me onstage for a smoking snare drum duet on "Salt Peanuts." Jim is a working pro having played many great jazz musicians like Jimmy Heath, Diane Schuur, Woody Herman and many others. I also had a great talk on drumset history with the other store owner, Bob Breithaupt. Bob has done a lot of research on drumset history and has a wealth of knowledge on the subject. He also as an excellent DVD on Hudson Music called "Snare Drum Basics." Jim Rupp and Bob Breithaupt are instrumental in developing a high level of drumming awareness in Columbus. Columbus Pro staff members, Andy and Corey did a great job with the setup and breakdown.

With such a personal environment I was able to answer question in detail and have a casual exchange with the very high-energy audience. We had questions on snare drum technique, bass drum technique, implied metric modulations and many others. I had the audience clapping odd-time rhythms and advanced polyrhythms and they were happening! Note that the 2002 PAS Convention will be here in November, don't miss it.

Monday, October 14
Zildjian's East Coast Artist Relations Manager, Jim McGathey, and I arrived at the Columbus Airport (on Columbus Day) at 8:00 am for a flight to Dallas/Ft. Worth and then a transfer to Lubbock, TX, which is the closest airport to Hobbs, NM -- the location of the clinic at Music World. Upon arriving in Lubbock we were greeted by a huge photo of The Crickets:singer/guitarist Buddy Holly, bassist Joe B. Mauldin and drummer Jerry Allison.

Buddy Holly is a Lubbock hometown hero and icon. I played in Lubbock last year with the Indian/jazz group called East meet Jazz and I visited the Buddy Holly museum. I found the museum to be very well presented and interesting, definitely worth seeing. Also last year I interviewed Crickets drummer Jerry Allison (he now goes by J. I. Allison) for the "Legends of Rock Drumming" documentary that is in the works for Hudson Music. J. I. is a very engaging and funny person and he gave us a fantastic interview.

Meanwhile, back to the clinic tour... Jim and I were picked up at the airport by Buck, from Music World's Roswell, NM store, and Benn, from Music World's Hobbs, NM store. The clinic was held in the Hobbs store, which is a two-hour drive from Lubbock, TX. We checked into a local hotel and decided to get some Tex-Mex food at the restaurant across from the hotel before the drive. Our server, Matt, was an extroverted-late-30ish-burnout who kept us laughing throughout the meal. He was lamenting the fact that his parent's generation got all the good Rock Reunion Tours, "what do I have to look forward to?" he complained, "Ratt, Cinderella, Warrant, and Poison Reunions??!!??" Matt got a big tip!

On our drive to Hobbs we listened to Remember Shakti with John McLaughlin and Zakir Hussain, with all of us keeping count of the 7 or 11 beat cycles they were improvising on, very inspiring music. Once we got to Hobbs the setup went very smoothly and quickly thanks to Jim knowing my setup so well and the able assistance of the Music World staff, Buck, Benn, Gabriel, J. C. and Belinda. Music World is a large and attractive store that has many Sonor kits in stock and on display. I was happy to see they are very successful with the Sonor line and are selling many kits out of their stores.

The turnout for the clinic was strong with over 175 people filling the store. They don't have many clinics in Hobbs so the people were excited and ready to rock! The clinic was a lot of fun with the audience members being open and involved, asking many questions. The new Zildjian ZXT Trashformer was a big hit. We put the Trashformer on top of a 21" Sweet Ride and it transformed into roaring monster! I moved between the Sonor Jungle set and my "normal" Sonor kit demonstrating many topics, e.g., playing with a click, tuning, rock double bass grooves, feathering the bass drum and much more. After the clinic Dave, who owns the store, drove Jim and I the two hours back to our Lubbock hotel. We grooved all the way back to the Sun Records greatest hits CD I had bought in Memphis.

Tuesday, October 15
Jim and I started the day with a 20 minute courtesy van ride to the Lubbock airport at 8:00am. First we had a flight to Dallas/Ft Worth, then a flight to Denver, CO and finally a flight to Grand Junction, CO. The good news was I finally make it to Grand Junction at 3:45 pm, the bad news was Jim couldn't get on the over booked flight to Grand Junction. He finally arrived at 5:30pm and was rushed to the clinic venue by Don Heisler, the local Zildjian rep. Both Jim and Don jumped in and helped out with the setup, which was in progress.

The local Sonor rep, Mark Allison, brought his pristine Sonor Hilite Exclusive kit for me to use. We tuned it up and it sounded incredible. I owned a kit exactly like it before I started using the Sonor Designer series. The clinic was sponsored by JB Hart Music and held at the Mesa Theater in the beautiful town of Grand Junction, CO. The in-house sound system rocked and we got a huge sound from our Shure mics on both kits. The folks from JB Hart Music did a great job promoting the clinic and we had the largest attendance to date, 300 people.

Even though the Hart family has been in the music business for 40 years, this was their first drum clinic and they were wonderful hosts. Aaron Hart saw that every detail of the clinic was taken care of. His staff, headed by "Caveman" Tim, made sure that everything ran smoothly. The audience members asked very good questions about practicing, stick grips, how to develop fluid chops and had me demonstrating some advanced techniques like Implied Metric Modulations (all are subjects that I cover in detail in my new Hudson Music DVD).

After the clinic, storeowner Jan Hart took the whole crew out to eat. We enjoyed some good food at "Bostons" and everyone told interesting stories. Jan's father, who started the Hart music store 40 years ago, was a drummer and knew Gene Krupa. I loved hearing stories about those early years of jazz drumming. The head of jazz studies and percussion from Mesa University, Dr. Michael Waldrop, also joined us for dinner. I had met him in Berlin, Germany about ten years ago when he was the drummer with the Broadway show 42nd street. He had gotten the whole Vital Information group free tickets to see the show and I hadn't seen him since then. He is a very good drumset player, percussionist, composer and runs a strong program at Mesa. Grand Junction has been a real high point of the clinic tour.

Wednesday, October 16
We arrived in Denver just in time to drop our bags at the hotel and make our way to the Gothic Theatre, the location for the Rupp's Music clinic. The theater has been newly remodeled and is beautiful, a great place for a clinic. Sonor rep, Mark Allison, brought his Sonor Hilite Exclusive kit for me to use again, so I didn't' have to spend a lot of time tuning.

Bob Rupp, who is owner of Rupp's Music, has been in business for 18 years, which is quite an accomplishment in today's world of superstores driving many independents out of business. Bob is a very good drummer and has been balancing his own career between his shop and his touring. He is also one of funniest, high-energy guys you'll ever meet. We had a lot of fun hanging out before and after the clinic.

The Gothic Theatre was full by the time the clinic started, with 475 people in attendance, a new high for the clinic tour! Once again, the audience was excited and asked many questions, the clinic seemed to go by very fast. There was a video projection screen on the stage with three cameras focusing on close-ups of my hand and foot techniques, this worked well for a drum clinic.

After the clinic I went to the lobby for autographs and there was a steady stream of drummers with CDs, posters and drum heads to be signed. There were players of all ages in attendance, the older jazzers and rockers as well as the young beginners who have just been studying for a short time. Rupp's has a good in-house teaching program headed by Gary LaFrancois, a former Freddie Gruber student. As I've been finding on this tour, all of the shops have great staffs with enthusiastic and capable drummers that work in the shop and also play many gigs with various bands. The Rupp's Music staff took care of business and were lots of fun to hang with. Darren Hahn, who is the drummer for Ani DeFranco and a Zildjian endorser, joined us for dinner after the clinic. With Bob Rupp as our host we had plenty of laughs as we wound down from the day.

Thursday, October 17
Jim McGathey and I were greeted in Fresno, CA by the local Zildjian rep, Eddie Kramer. I've known Eddie for many years and he is a super guy and a friend. We arrived in Fresno at 1:00pm so we had a little time to check into our hotel and relax before heading to the University of California, Fresno where the clinic was held for Bentley's Drum Shop.

I've known Dana Bentley for many years and have done two clinics for him in years past. Bentley's is one of the biggest Sonor dealers in the USA. He always has his shop full of Sonor kits, new and used. Dana had a brand new Sonor Artist Series snare drum in the store -- it was the model I helped to design and it was the first time I had seen the drum live.

I wanted a drum with the look and sound of a vintage drum with the straight rim and hooks. This snare drum has all of that and more. It is a pleasure to play, sounds great at all dynamic levels and it looks amazing.

The venue held 200 people and it was over sold with at least 230 people in attendance. The room at the University of California is the perfect size for a drum clinic, the acoustics are good and the sight lines are clear. The questions had me demonstrating everything from snare drum and bass drum technique to playing Indian rhythms, the drum parts for the Journey tune "Don't Stop Believing" and the drum solo from the Journey "Captured" album. I haven't played those for years, but they came back to me fairly easily. I had a lot of fun and the audience gave me an overwhelming reception. I hope to be back in this area soon with Vital Information.

After the clinic we went to the local TGI Fridays with a large crew for food, drinks, stories and laughs. This clinic tour has been the best one I've even done. Even though the constant travel has been hard, I get to play first class musical instruments each night and play to my highest level. I'm rewarded with positive feedback from appreciative people who are looking for new ideas and abilities, that makes it all feel exciting and worthwhile.

There are only two more clinics left in the tour, L. A. and Salt Lake City. After that I'll have a short break before I go on the road again with the group Summit. Summit is an Indian/Jazz group led by composer/saxophonist George Brooks. The band features Zakir Hussain on tabla, Kai Eckhardt on bass, Fareed Haque on guitar and myself on the Sonor Jungle Kit. We have already recorded a CD that will be released sometime next year (2003).

Friday, October 18
We flew from Fresno to LA for a day off in Los Angeles before the clinic at West L.A. Music. Because I wear a Zildjian jacket and Jim McGathey wears a Zildjian t-shirt we usually have people in the airports asking us, "are you drummers?" or "do work for Zildjian?" or some variation of that. Today at the Fresno airport we had someone tell us he wasn't a drummer but he wanted to be reincarnated as Neil Peart! It seems Neil has fans everywhere!! In fact, the drum tech that worked for me when I played in Journey, Lorne Wheaton, is now Neil's tech. Lorne and I talked recently and he is very excited and happy to be working for Neil. Jim and I picked up a rent-a-car at LAX and drove to our hotel and now it's time to rest for a while, catch up on email and phone calls.

Saturday, October 19
I arrived at the clinic venue at 11:15am to get setup for the West L.A. Music clinic. West L.A. Music holds their clinics in an outdoor amphitheater across the street from the store. The weather was nice and about 250 people were there by the time the clinic started at 2:00pm.

It felt good to have a clinic outside, in fact this was the second time I have done a clinic at this venue and I remember enjoying it the first time also. The large Sonor kit they had for me was a beautiful "Tony Williams Yellow," and they sounded great. The host for the clinic was Glen Noyes, who is a recognizable character since his picture is always in drum magazine ads posing with some famous drummer. I once called Glen the "Forrest Gump" of the drum world since he has pictures of himself with everyone. I wouldn't be surprised if pictures of him and Chick Webb, Baby Dodds or Gene Krupa turn up at some point.

The L. A. audience wins the prize as far as number questions asked. They had so many questions I had to stop them a few times to fit in some playing. I even had some kid ask me if wear a wig! HUH? I enjoy getting questions and they help to make each clinic unique. Even though I do have a few solo pieces that I play at each clinic, the clinics all end up being very different because of the questions and the vibe of the audience.

In response to the questions I demonstrated Journey drum fills, Led Zeppelin drum beats, Indian drum compositions, rudiments, hand and foot technique, polyrhythms, drum ‘n' bass grooves, and more, they had me working! After the three hour clinic there was an autograph session and "give-a-ways" inside the store. The companies that sponsored the clinic tour gave away great prizes EVERY NIGHT of the tour: 40 pairs of "Steve Smith Signature" Vic Firth sticks, a Shure 57 microphone, a 16" A Zildjian crash cymbal, a Sonor 2001 snare drum, a set of Remo heads, and also various "swag" from all of the companies, Zildjian T-shirts and towels, Remo Putty Pads, DW pedal stickers and shirts, Vic Firth stickers and rudiment posters, Sonor and Zildjian photos and posters of yours-truly for the nightly autograph session.

Hudson Music had flyers on "practice points" taken from a PDF file on my new DVD. They also had forms to buy an advance copy of the DVD. All DVDs sold in advance will be autographed (which I have already done) and sent to the shops as soon as they are ready. All of the stores sold quite a few DVDs already!

Once the autograph session wound down, my clinic tour companion, Jim McGathey from Zildjian, gave me a ride to the L. A. airport, LAX. I was able to catch a 10:15pm flight to San Francisco so I could spend a couple of days at home before the last clinic in Utah on Tuesday, October 22. Jim has been great fun to hang with and I'll miss him. He took care of all of the details of travel, advancing the clinics and supervising the daily setups. He travels home to the Boston area on Sunday morning. I'm happy to be home after being gone for over two weeks. I had a Fex-Ex package with two "check discs" of my new DVD waiting for me when I got home. The entire Hudson Music production team will be checking the DVDs over the next few days to make sure they all work correctly before we give the final approval for their manufacture and distribution. It won't be long before they are in the stores!

Sunday, October 20
I took a day off and relaxed at home.

Monday, October 21
Throughout the day I watched the "check disc" copies of my new Hudson Music DVD. I tried every menu, option and function and found a few "fixers." In the evening I had a conference call with the production team: Hudson's Paul Siegel & Rob Wallis and New York DVD's Brian Brodeur. We discussed all the little problems that we each discovered and then Brian went to work fixing everything with a Wednesday, October 23rd, 4:00pm deadline. He has to have everything finished by then and Fed-Exed out to the manufacturer. We will get one last set of "test discs" by Saturday and by next week they will be manufacturing the final product.

Tuesday, October 22
After two days at home I traveled to Salt Lake City first thing in the morning. I left my house at 6:00am in order to get to the San Francisco airport in time for the flight. I arrived in Salt Lake City at noon and was picked up by Zildjian rep Don Heisler who was also at the clinic in Grand Junction, CO. It was good to see Don, he really takes care of business and keeps me laughing with his great sense of humor.

After checking into the local hotel Don and I went to a great new CD/Record shop called Orion Records. Owner Andy Fletcher showed us around the store, which has lots of hard-to-find-recordings of all genres and a very strong jazz selection -- he even had Buddy's Buddies and Vital Information, I love it when they have my CDs in the store! I was able to pick up a reissue I'd been looking for, Freddie Hubbard's Red Clay with Lenny White on drums, a classic. Don and I went up the street to Guru's for lunch and we each ordered a One-Pound-Burrito, now we were fortified for the rest of the day!

The venue for the clinic was the Libby Gardner Hall in the University of Utah, Music Department. I arrived there at 2:00pm and started setting up and tuning the Sonor Delite and Jungle kits in a back room. My friend Jeff Hamilton was scheduled for a clinic in Libby Gardner Hall from 3:00-5:00pm. Jeff's trio had played a concert Monday night at the Sheraton for a Jazz Series presented by Gordon Hanks. Gordon brings world-class jazz groups into Salt Lake City and has helped to develop a large and appreciative audience for jazz in Salt Lake City -- over 1,200 people attended The Jeff Hamilton Trio's concert.

Jeff is one of the most musical and melodic drummers I have ever heard, and he is simply the greatest brush player on the planet! Jeff invited me up in the middle of his clinic for a snare drum duet with brushes on the tune Salt Peanuts. We both taught at a drum camp in Germany over the past summer and while we were there he taught me his version of Salt Peanuts with brushes. I have been playing a modified version of it with sticks on my clinic tour. The duet was great fun and once again, I got a lesson from the master. My clinic started at 7:30 pm and there were well over 200 people in attendance. The clinic hosts were Kelly Wallis and Sean "Sheen" Chase of Backbeats Drum & Backline, the top drumshop and backline provider in Salt Lake City. Kelly is a working pro and he also teaches percussion at the University of Utah. The Backbeats Drum & Backline staff of Nate and Koby assisted in the setup and did a super job.

Throughout the clinic I explained and demonstrated all of the equipment I use, answered questions, played solos on both Sonor kits and generally had an enjoyable time on my last clinic of the tour. One point that I made during the clinic is, if you are a young drum student get some solid foundation in snare drum technique. A good drum teacher will show you the rudiments, which can help you develop good hand technique. A good teacher will also show you music fundamentals like reading music and jazz independence. With this kind of background you can then play anything you want. The type of teacher that mainly shows you how to play beats off of recordings is not preparing you to be able to go very far with your drumming abilities, avoid these "teachers." By learning the fundamentals, you can then easily figure out any beat you want to play and you will be on your way to communicating with musicians and not just locked into playing a few beats.

After the clinic Kelly Wallis, Jeff Hamilton, Don Heisler, Kevin, who teaches jazz history and guitar at the University of Utah, and myself all went to Third & Main for some drinks and cigars. Everyone relaxed from the day and told some hilarious musician stories. Whenever you get a group of musicians together the stories can go on and on. I go home in the morning and I'll actually have a couple of weeks at home before I go on the road again in November.

This has been the best clinic tour I have ever done for quite a few reasons. John DeChristopher and all the folks Zildjian did a fantastic job organizing the overall tour. Zildjian's Kimberley Quinn worked hard on the travel and hotel arrangements. I had Jim McGathey from Zildjian on tour with me, which was great fun and he also helped to make the entire tour go very smoothly. All of the companies that I endorse -- Zildjian, Sonor, Vic Firth, Remo, Shure and DW pedals -- were extremely supportive and contributed thousands of dollars of give-a-way prizes and also helped in the organization of the tour.

I was able to "set-up" the release of my new Hudson Music DVD, "Drumset Technique and History of the U.S. Beat," and according to Johnny D at Zildjian, we had the highest overall attendance of any clinic tour they have organized. It's great to see that so many people came out to hear live music and are interested in drumming enough to seek out new ideas, thank you all for coming to the clinics. We have already booked gigs for Vital Information into next May and we will posting those dates in the upcoming months. Thanks so much for reading this Clinic Tour Diary, it has been a lot of fun having the opportunity to share my experiences with the fans of Hudson Music.

See you on the road,

For information about instructional, documentary and performance DVD's, videos and books, go to: www.hudsonmusic.com