Swing drumming great Louie Bellson passed away on February 14th at the age of eighty-four. Initially inspired by Chick Webb and Sid Catlett, Louie found his drumming voice very early on by combining the clear melodic phrasing and rudimental soloing style of Gene Krupa with the swinging groove of Papa Jo Jones and the extraordinary speed of Buddy Rich. Besides his great technique and always-musical approach to the drums, Bellson was responsible for designing the first double bass drum setup and popularizing its use – thus pioneering a new approach that was later adopted by many rock drummers. The LA Times has a full obit on this drumming legend up now This Link.
The April 2009 issue of Modern Drummer is all about Mitch Mitchell, the legendary drummer with the Jimi Hendrix Experience who passed away last November. In this issue you’ll also find my extensive feature with mathcore drumming genius Blake Richardson of Between the Buried & Me, as well as an update with Josh Garza of NYC’s own Secret Machines – one of my favorite bands! It really is a fantastic issue. Read the full issue of the April 2009 Modern Drummer online at This Link!
From Modern Urban Living: “Sweet Meats creator, Lauren Venell, took her meat expertise (she comes from hearty butcher stock) and product design skills and combined them to create some delicious looking pillows! Originally starting as a personal art project, demand for the pillows soon grew and now she’s making a killing! If you think meat is neat, check out Sweet Meats for more meat related goodness. Continue reading Meat Medley Plush Toys and Pillows!→
Given a choice, I’ll always choose Coke over Pepsi, and I especially have a fondness for Coke collectibles and memorabilia, of which I have a tiny collection. So I was especially attracted to the website Cola Plaza, run by Xander – an avid collector of Coca-Cola cans, bottles and other Coke related memorabilia whose collection of over 8,000 different Coke cans is really quite impressive. Continue reading Coca-Cola Can Collection!→
