Walfredo Reyes Sr., a tall, thin man with olive skin and heavy-lidded eyes, moves with the elegance of a bygone era.
Standing in the kitchen of his Concord home next to his wife, Debbie Bellamy-Reyes, he cuts an impressive figure. It's a hot June day but the groundbreaking Cuban-born percussionist and drummer is thinking of an espresso, explaining that it's a Cuban tradition to have your coffee and then a cigar, "if you like such things."...
Well, after a very, very long travel day I finally made it to my hotel. All the band members' flights arrived at approximately the same time and although we had all worked together on many previous tours with Dan, this was a relatively new line-up. Long time Fogelberg veteran, Robert McEntee was doing guitar and keyboard parts as well as adding his vocal talents to the ensemble once again. Jim Photoglo, an extremely accomplished singer / songwriter in his own right, was taking over on electric bass and background vocals with that beautiful high tenor voice of his.
And of course, the inimitable Michael 'Zoot' Hanna was on keyboards, which meant he would be covering everything from Grand piano and Hammond organ to complete orchestral string parts ...
2003
The making of Steve Smith: Drumset Technique and History of the U.S. Beat.
The original idea for this educational DVD started around 1995 when my playing started to take on a new ease and my thoughts about being a U.S. Ethnic Drummer started to mature. I was also inspired to work on a new educational project by all the drummers that attended my gigs and clinics and for years have being asking me to put out a new video on hand and foot technique ...
2002
This past May, I was a part of the Tom Joyner Fantastic Voyage Cruise 2001 as part of the Bobby Blue Bland Orchestra. The cruise itself was short for us, as we did only three days as well as Al Jarreau, whom we shared a stage with, and Isaac Hayes and Boyz II Men. So after a lot of hateful IM's from Pam, I decided to finally sit down and try to recall the events of the cruise. So here we go, and keep in mind, I haven't kept a journal whatsoever since I have been blessed to be able to play drums. So let's see what the Rodd can come up with, shall we??...
2001
to film new footage for a "rockumentary" concerning John's career up to and including his preparations for the upcoming US tour.
Thursday the 18th [May 18, 2000] started like any other day except for the fact that I was getting ready to fly to England. Why? To begin shooting a documentary on my friend, business partner and of course the bass guitarist of the millennium.... John Entwistle...
2001
Day 1
I have a 10:55 PM flight from JFK this evening and I am packed on time for once. We had been out running errands and when I returned home there is a message from the airline saying that my flight was canceled. On one hand it's a bummer because I need all the time I can get to mix and master this project with John (Entwistle) and Bobby. However leaving home has always been the hardest part of the business for me so now I get 1 more night and day with my family. John and I decided months ago about which songs we were going to use and the record company agreed before we signed the contract. I feel that we picked the best material to represent this band. We have chosen to keep the track list private for now but I can say that the cross section of songs should provide something for everyone...
2001
Few people would dispute the fact that one of the queens of rock & roll would have to be Debbie Harry, so when the phone rang as it does most times when someone wants to hire me to play drums for them the voice on the other end says, "Are you available for these dates ? xx/xx/xx" sure... and xx/xx/xx?" This one i'm not sure about.... VALENTINES DAY! (sH!t... My girlfriend's going to kill me!) This one I'll definitely have to get back to you about. By the way who is it with anyway? Oh!.. (short pause) Deborah Harry and Chris Stien... Yeah, I think I can make ALL those dates: ) ya' got anymore?...
2000
OK, it's the end of April of this year and my wife, Kelly and I have just taken on a new singer, Glenn Sakazian for whom we are producing and shopping a record deal under our new production company, Jammin Planet Inc. We've got people in our office till all hours of the night, and we are incredibly busy. Of course this is the time that I get called for the Cher audition- I think it was on a Tuesday. I was scheduled to audition on Friday...
1999
Jose' is currently out on a US tour with Patti LaBelle and Dony is out with Brooks and Dunn live on an arena tour until the end of this year.
Well, well, well........,
Has been a most interesting time editing this piece. I have purposely left the "look" of the piece in the way it was transmitted, ie: instant message, e-mail, chat room, etc., etc. Given this is an online project it will be true to form to leave it in the multimedia vein. Much cooler this way...
1998
El Negro is at Gonzalez y Gonzalez, in Greenwich Village, New York, New York. Tonight, El Negro talks with great friend and peer, Robby Ameen. Currently working with Paul Simon in his upcoming Broadway play, Robby is best known for his innovative work with Dave Valentin and Ruben Blades. His "Sure, there's room for me in there!" approach, creating parts for full drumset in Latin music, introduced a new style of drumming now known as Latin-Funk. Also, Ralph Irizarry, timbale player with Ruben Blades, stops by the table to make a few comments...
1998
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