Combined with a full electronic kit, my setup was massive. Not quite Neil Peart-sized, but impressive enough for a guy playing clubs without a road crew to set it up. I affectionately referred to it as "The Beast."
I remember auditioning for bands when my ex-wife was several months pregnant, probably about as far along as my daughter is now. As I unloaded, the band was impressed by how much stuff I had fit into the car. And then my pregnant roadie popped out of the back seat!
My current wife added her touch to the kit when she found a set of toms in my favorite color - orange. She was so excited about the present that there was no way she could keep the secret until Christmas. She stopped by my work to show them off immediately after she picked them up.
It has been a decade since I have been a member of a band and my time behind the kit has been increasingly infrequent. Still, the thought of letting them go has made me more emotional than I was prepared for. Sitting behind The Beast, I've gotten married, raised two kids, gone through a divorce, found love again, and remarried. Beating on them as hard as I could has gotten me through challanging times. Those drums have kept the beat for seven bands on stages throughout Los Angeles, some, like Gazzarri's and the Country Club, that have passed on into history.
A bandmate once asked me if drummers have the same attachment to their drums as guitarists have with their instrument. My response was, "How could I 'love' something that I beat on so hard?" But now, as I prepare to part ways, I find that the attachment is there.
Tomorrow morning, I am hoping to get one more chance to sit behind those drums. I will then pack them up and send them on to someone else. My wife says the person buying them fixes up kits for students. This takes the sting out of parting ways, as it makes me happy that someone else will be discovering the joy of making music while I settle into the rhythm of the next stage of my life.
Carl Petersen is a parent advocate for public education, particularly for students with special education needs, and serves as the Education Chair for the Northridge East Neighborhood Council. As a Green Party candidate in LAUSD's District 2 School Board race, he was endorsed by Network for Public Education (NPE) Action. Dr. Diane Ravitch has called him "a valiant fighter for public schools in Los Angeles." For links to his blogs, please visit www.ChangeTheLAUSD.com. Opinions are his own.
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