How things are connected

Sometimes it's strange how things are connected in this world... here are two examples.

1) Just before going to Beijing, in this posting, I wrote about the Steve Gadd drum lick (broken doubles between hi-hat and snare) from Rickie Lee Jones' "Chuck E's in Love". You can hear it here.

Now I'm back from China. In Hongkong (a part of a private trip after working in Beijing), we went to see a jam session in a bar. People there told me that the drummer is really good ... and then, during a solo, he played exactly this lick :-) - things are connected in this world, and drummers love Steve Gadd everywhere.

2) Another strange coincidence: I'm a big fan of the new orleans keyboard player / singer Jon Cleary, and was hoping to finally see his band when I get to New Orleans again later this year (late Nov / early Dec). Turns out that he plays in Treibhaus with John Scofield (and George Porter Jr. from the Meters on bass! wow!) on 1 December... so I'll miss him because I'll be in New Orleans!

Omnipresent China?

As my second trip to China is getting closer, just like the first time, I start noticing references to China everywhere. On TV yesterday, Bart Simpson got infected with the Chinese Panda virus. While I searched for bars in Beijing, I was coincidentally listening to "Woody and Dutch on the Slow Train to Peking" from Rickie Lee Jones' "Pirates" album (one of the most beautiful albums ever!). Is this just a coincidence, or is China really omnipresent in our lives here in Europe, and I only notice that before going there?

Since this is supposed to be a blog about drumming, let me say that Steve Gadd's drumming on Woody and Dutch is just great (this shows why I once liked brushes :-) ), and anyway nobody else could have played a better drum track for "We Belong Together" from the same album than (check out what happens after 2:20). And, speaking of Steve Gadd and Rickie Lee Jones, there can be no better example of his broken doubles between the hi-hat and snare than in the song "Chuck E's in Love" from the album named "Rickie Lee Jones". Ah, I just remembered, that one is available on Keith Cronin's great "Drum Licks from Hell" page, right here. This page is great, just like his "Drum Grooves of Doom" page. To get back to Rickie Lee Jones - I've been a big fan of hers for a very long time, but I had no idea that Tom Waits was once her lover until I visited her Wikipedia page the other day. Why didn't they record a duet album? Shame...

Hm, now that was more about drumming and music than about China, despite the title. Well that's just the spirit of this blog - "mostly drums".