Letting Go
So it has been my intent of late to simplify my life. This means eliminating all of the things that I own that serve only to clutter my life. Those things that we all own that we own simply from habit of owning them.
Last night I was driving to rehearsal with this band that I have little hope for. I am playing drums in this band and playing drums is not something that I particularly want to do anymore. I made a living as a drummer for almost twenty years and now my body is tired of it. And my mind is tired of the same old music that this band is playing. In short, I do not want to play the same music I’ve been playing for the last 30 years and I do not want to put the effort into practicing the drums in order to play something new. I don’t really want to play drums anymore. I do it because other people want me to and it is habit.
Anyway, like I was saying, I was driving to rehearsal with drums in the car. I had drums already set up at the rehearsal site but I was going to switch some stuff around. I have the equivalent of two sets of drums. Depending on where I’m playing, I choose what to use. When I got to the practice place, the guitar players house, and began to unload, a woman approached me and said that she had seen me drive up with drums in my car and wanted to ask me a question. She wanted to ask me if I knew where she could find a used set of drums for her son. He was seventeen and had been playing the snare drum in band at school for some years and she decided maybe it was time for him to have a set.
I looked at the lady and thought for about 2 seconds and said “I have a set I’ll sell you and I’ll give you a real good price. No cymbals, no throne but it is a name brand set, a little old but in pretty darn good shape. You can have it for 400 bucks.” She was a little dumbfounded and a little skeptical so I pointed to the drums in the car and said, “That’s them right there. A six piece set of Pearls, I have some cymbal stands in the trunk he can have too.” She decided to take my number and talk to her son and husband.
About a half an hour into rehearsal there was a knock on the door and there was the woman with son in tow and carrying $400 in cash. We went out to the car, I opened the doors and told him to take ‘em away. I went to the trunk and scavenged a couple of cymbal stands, a high-hat stand that needed a little repair, and a bass drum pedal. When the boy came back for the last pieces, I said “You know these drums have some history. They’ve played with The Kingsmen, The Drifters, a couple of shows with The Coasters, a show with Strawberry Alarm-clock, one with Freddie Fender. Bob Seeger used to come to hear those drums occasionally. They’ve been from Main to California and everywhere in between. You treat them well.”
I think his mom was more impressed than he was but that was not the point. I was letting go of the person that I used to be to make room for who I wanted to become. It was hard to do but I know it was the right thing to do.
Last night I was driving to rehearsal with this band that I have little hope for. I am playing drums in this band and playing drums is not something that I particularly want to do anymore. I made a living as a drummer for almost twenty years and now my body is tired of it. And my mind is tired of the same old music that this band is playing. In short, I do not want to play the same music I’ve been playing for the last 30 years and I do not want to put the effort into practicing the drums in order to play something new. I don’t really want to play drums anymore. I do it because other people want me to and it is habit.
Anyway, like I was saying, I was driving to rehearsal with drums in the car. I had drums already set up at the rehearsal site but I was going to switch some stuff around. I have the equivalent of two sets of drums. Depending on where I’m playing, I choose what to use. When I got to the practice place, the guitar players house, and began to unload, a woman approached me and said that she had seen me drive up with drums in my car and wanted to ask me a question. She wanted to ask me if I knew where she could find a used set of drums for her son. He was seventeen and had been playing the snare drum in band at school for some years and she decided maybe it was time for him to have a set.
I looked at the lady and thought for about 2 seconds and said “I have a set I’ll sell you and I’ll give you a real good price. No cymbals, no throne but it is a name brand set, a little old but in pretty darn good shape. You can have it for 400 bucks.” She was a little dumbfounded and a little skeptical so I pointed to the drums in the car and said, “That’s them right there. A six piece set of Pearls, I have some cymbal stands in the trunk he can have too.” She decided to take my number and talk to her son and husband.
About a half an hour into rehearsal there was a knock on the door and there was the woman with son in tow and carrying $400 in cash. We went out to the car, I opened the doors and told him to take ‘em away. I went to the trunk and scavenged a couple of cymbal stands, a high-hat stand that needed a little repair, and a bass drum pedal. When the boy came back for the last pieces, I said “You know these drums have some history. They’ve played with The Kingsmen, The Drifters, a couple of shows with The Coasters, a show with Strawberry Alarm-clock, one with Freddie Fender. Bob Seeger used to come to hear those drums occasionally. They’ve been from Main to California and everywhere in between. You treat them well.”
I think his mom was more impressed than he was but that was not the point. I was letting go of the person that I used to be to make room for who I wanted to become. It was hard to do but I know it was the right thing to do.
posted by Mark at
6:59 AM
1 Comments:
Who rocks harder than you! Wow! I'm impressed. More with the fact that you let that much history go.
Nicely done friend!
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