<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In Part 1 of <\/span>Drummers Past<\/span><\/i>, I went all the way back to the beginning of my lifelong love affair with drums and drumming.\u00a0 The idea was to compile a listing of as many of the drummers I could remember playing with and\/or meeting since the drum bug hit me back in 1963.\u00a0 We are not talking about drummers from famous bands;\u00a0 just the ones from my days living in Marquette and Ontonagon.\u00a0 It did not hit me exactly how many people have been included in my \u2018drum circle\u2019 until Part 1 neared the end of my high school years.\u00a0 Each and every person discussed so far was involved in the musical education we received in the Marquette Area Public Schools.\u00a0 Part 2 will be more about the musical education that came my way via playing with various musicians outside of school.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Once my folks took a flyer and fronted me the money to buy an actual Ludwig Classic drum kit in April of 1966, the die was cast for me to eventually play in a band.\u00a0 I say they \u2018fronted me the money\u2019 because I helped my dad cut, haul, and sell a lot of firewood at $8 (and later $10) per pickup truck load.\u00a0 This was a small money making hobby for my dad, but there were many a Saturday when I was rousted out of bed with, \u201cCome on boy, we have to pay for those drums!\u201d<\/span> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0My back yard neighbor, Louie, was a year older than me and had bought an electric guitar with his paper route money.\u00a0 The first summer I had my kit, he came over with another kid from farther up the street also named Lou.\u00a0 Louie introduced Lou 2 as \u2018The drummer in the band we are putting together.\u00a0 We practice in the old bar that his grandpa used to run behind their house.\u00a0 He wanted to see your drums.\u201d I obliged and sat down and played a basic four beat riff ending with a roll around the kit and a cymbal crash.\u00a0 When I asked if he would like to try them out, he said, \u201cWow, no thanks.\u00a0 You are much better than I am.\u00a0 I have a hard time doing rolls.\u201d\u00a0 I was in no way anything more than a beginner myself, but I took that as a compliment (and no, I never did hear Lou 2 play although we did go up the street to see their rehearsal space and his drums).<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0By Christmas time, I had progressed enough that I got to actually play with a real band.\u00a0 My sister had a Christmas party in our basement and a few guys in her class who had a band were there.\u00a0 They saw my drums shoved off in the corner and ran out to get their guitars and amps before they dragged me into the basement to play with them.\u00a0 When the serious slow dancing started, the records went back on and I was banished back upstairs.\u00a0 After eight months playing along with records, my mind was racing because I had just proved to myself that playing in a real band wasn\u2019t a pipe dream after all.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0With less than a year of woodshedding under my belt, I got a call from guitarist Ron Phillips.\u00a0 He said their drummer \/ vocalist had \u2018lost his drums\u2019 so they were looking for a new drummer for his band.\u00a0 It turned out the drummer ended up playing a small organ (I never did get the story of how he lost their drums) which I found out when they brought their gear over to our house to audition me.\u00a0 It went okay but I sensed they were not overly impressed with my playing.\u00a0 Ron the guitar player had to show me how to play the tom tom riff to <\/span>Wipe Out<\/span><\/i> but judging from their exchanged glances, it seemed they did like how fast I picked it up.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The rhythm guitar player asked, \u201cHey, I hear there is a state bull (meaning a State Police Trooper) that lives in this neighborhood.\u00a0 Do you know where?\u201d\u00a0 I pointed at the basement ceiling and said, \u201cYeah.\u00a0 Upstairs.\u00a0 That would be my dad.\u201d\u00a0 I am not sure if this was a factor in me not getting the gig, but I wasn\u2019t ready to start hanging with high school guys yet.\u00a0 Four years later, our band, The Twig, did a two band dance with Ron\u2019s band (now known as Sweat Equity). Their old drummer was still playing keyboards.\u00a0 The guy who got the gig instead of me was named Ted Thomas and he was a good drummer and singer . . . and a real lady killer.\u00a0 Whenever we crossed paths after that, we would talk drums a bit before Ted would wander off to talk to any and all females present.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In the summer of 1967, I got a call from Rick Leppanen, the bass player in the band I had jammed with at my sister\u2019s Christmas party.\u00a0 He lived about four blocks away and asked if I would be able to come over and rehearse with them.\u00a0 Rick explained their drummer Neil was not good at showing up to practice and they had a bunch of new songs to learn.\u00a0 I hopped on my bike and was there before he had time to hang up the phone.\u00a0 It was a lot of fun to play with them again and when I left, Rick asked if it would be okay if he called me again sometime.\u00a0 After the second or third time he called, I started wondering if they might ask me to join the Self Winding Grapefruit.\u00a0 One day, they showed up at our house out of the blue and asked if I wanted to go to the drive-in movie with them.\u00a0 I was entering my freshman year in high school and I am pretty sure my mother was relieved that I begged off.\u00a0 A freshman in high school hanging out with college freshmen even made me feel a bit awkward.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Sometime in August, two things happened that put me in contact with three new drummers.\u00a0 The first was guitar player Mike McKelvy, whom at the time I knew as the older brother of one of my classmates.\u00a0 I found out much later that when his family had moved from California to Marquette, he arrived in town as a drummer.\u00a0 In fact, the red sparkle drum kit I was playing at Rick\u2019s house used to be McKelvy\u2019s.\u00a0 Mike dropped by Rick\u2019s house when we were practicing to play a couple of cuts off a brand new album he had purchased on a recent trip out west.\u00a0 Our jaws dropped when he put the needle down on <\/span>Purple Haze<\/span><\/i>.\u00a0 In one instant, I became a big Jimi Hendrix fan and as soon as the album arrived in town, the Jimi Hendrix Experience\u2019s drummer, Mitch Mitchel, was added to my pile of practice records.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0At the first high school dance that fall, Mike\u2019s band played <\/span>Purple Haze<\/span><\/i>.\u00a0 I watched their drummer intently because I already knew the <\/span>Are You Experienced? <\/span><\/i>album inside out.\u00a0 Their drummer, Randy Seppala, was also the older brother of another classmate but I was too much in awe to talk to him.\u00a0 He had an identical silver sparkle Ludwig drum set as mine which allowed me to snag a lot of tips just by watching him play.\u00a0 I spotted Randy at the Porcupine Mountain Music Festival a few years back.\u00a0 He now lives in the Covington area and I see his name pop up at various musical events with groups he performs with.\u00a0 I introduced myself and mentioned I was still playing my original Ludwig kit that matched his back in high school.\u00a0 Randy said, \u201cMan, I wish I still had mine.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The third drummer I met at Leppanen\u2019s house was the drummer I was subbing for.\u00a0 Neil showed up at one rehearsal and found me playing his kit.\u00a0 It was just as awkward as it sounds, but we still finished the song we were playing.\u00a0 Rick simply said, \u201cThanks for helping us out, Ken,\u201d which I understood was my invitation to escape.\u00a0 Apparently Neil got the message and started to show up.\u00a0 When they played high school dances, I knew all their songs and in my mind wondered how I would have fit in.\u00a0 I took three things away from this experience:\u00a0 1) Neil was an okay drummer, 2) I would have done fine if they had asked me to join them, and 3) I had no doubt at all that I would be in a band of my own somewhere down the line.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0As a footnote to this story, I used to correspond with Steve Seymour from Escanaba.\u00a0 Steve ran a record store and penned newspaper articles called <\/span>Rock \u2018n\u2019 Roll Graffiti <\/span><\/i>\u00a0(which he also compiled in a book of the same name)<\/span>.<\/span><\/i> \u00a0 I got an email from him one day in which he said, \u201cI went to a show at the casino in Harris the other night.\u00a0 I got talking about bands with the guy sitting ahead of me and he said, \u2018I used to play drums in a band in Marquette called the Self Winding Grapefruit!\u2019\u00a0 One part of me really wanted to tell him, \u2018Yeah, Ken told me all about it,\u2019 but I let it slide.\u201d\u00a0 Small world, right?<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0My old high school bandmates Tom Lyons and Wayne Maki both ended up getting their own drum kits.\u00a0 Wayne used to jam with a piano player named Bruce (who was very good) and our old tympany player Tim on guitar.\u00a0 Tom took it a bit further and ended up playing with a Chicago themed band called Sunstone with guitarist Barry Seymour (no relation to Steve).\u00a0 Tom was eventually replaced with a drummer from Gwinn who I never got to know.\u00a0 Before Sunstone formed, I jammed once at Tom\u2019s house along with my old Twig bassist Mike Kesti.\u00a0 A couple of\u00a0 years later, Barry, Mike and I formed Sledgehammer when Sunstone disbanded.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Another drummer I knew from my class was Warren MacDonald whose father owned MacDonald\u2019s Music Store.\u00a0 Warren never played in the school band but from eighth grade on, he was in a couple of local bands.\u00a0 The first was The French Church with his older brother Gordon\u00a0 on bass.\u00a0 When Gordon joined The Stan and Jeff Band while attending Northern Michigan University, Warren joined up with an army vet named Al Robertson to form Fatty Arbuckle.\u00a0 Before The Twig was a gigging band, I had played Warren\u2019s kit at an outdoor \u2018festival\u2019 in Sundell under our pre-Twig name, The Bight.\u00a0 It was a windy day and we played first.\u00a0 Warren ended up laying down on the stage to hold down the cymbal stands that kept blowing over.\u00a0 From there he would give me an occasional thumbs up as if to say, \u201cYou are doing fine!\u201d\u00a0 As soon as we finished the first song, they pounded nails into the flatbed trailer and bent them around the cymbal stand legs to keep them in place.\u00a0 Mike, Gene, and I were later invited to jam with Fatty Arbuckle at Al\u2019s house which we felt gave the newly named Twig a little more street cred.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Bands see members come and go and new bands are often pieced together with members of bands that splintered for various reasons.\u00a0 Drummers are often one of the key pieces that move from group to group.\u00a0 When Mike McKelvy first formed the band that would back the legendary Cub Koda before it became Walrus, their first drummer was a classmate of my sisters.\u00a0 Les Ross, Jr had recently returned from the Army and he was on the drum throne the first time I saw this pre-Walrus line up at a school dance.\u00a0 Not long after, he was replaced with an excellent drummer from NMU\u2019s jazz band named Don Kuhli.\u00a0 The band East of Orange was probably the most popular dance band in Marquette from the late 1960s until they finally disbanded sometime in the 1980s. \u00a0 I never knew their first drummer\u2019s name, but he was excellent and also a good vocalist.\u00a0 I can not put dates on the exact timeline, but Les Ross, Jr ended up leading East of Orange for many years before they stopped playing together..\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I got to know Les better in the spring of 1980 when I was doing an internship in his office at the Marquette County Planning Commission (this was during the year I went back to school to finish my Master\u2019s degree).\u00a0 Les was a great guy and I was privileged to hear the inside story of how he came to form the Finnish-Reggae band Conga se Mene when East of Orange faded away. \u00a0 Sadly, Les passed away much too early but his last creation, Conga, is still out there carrying the banner of the Finnish-Reggae genre he helped put on the musical map in the Upper Peninsula.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The Twig were hired to play a couple of afternoon sets in the Wildcat Den at NMU sometime in 1970 or 1971.\u00a0 It was weird performing a daylight gig in front of college students as opposed to the frat parties we usually played at for that age group.\u00a0 I got a little nervous when Mike kicked off our first song, <\/span>Wine, Wine, Wine<\/span><\/i> at a pace so fast that the muscles in my forearms began to cramp up.\u00a0 I think he was a little nervous and the adrenaline must have kicked him into high gear.\u00a0 When we got into the groove a few songs later, I got nervous again when I saw Don Kuhli and Ted Thomas in the back of the room chit-chatting.\u00a0 When we were packing up, Ted wandered over and said, \u201cHey, Don and I were talking.\u00a0 He said he thinks you are a very good drummer.\u201d\u00a0 I often said, \u201cDon Kuhli can play more notes with one hand than I can with all four limbs,\u201d so it was a compliment that still makes me smile fifty years later.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When I finished college and my last Marquette band, Sledgehammer, went our separate ways, I had no idea when I would get to play in a band again.\u00a0 I did a couple of pick up gigs with Barry in a throw together group called The Gordon Coleman Trio (which was usually a four piece) but that was about it until the spring of 1976.\u00a0 When performing with other Ontonagon musicians at an athletic fundraiser organized by Mark Bobula and the high school athletic staff (called The Hootenanny) , I got to meet a legendary local singer and drummer.\u00a0 Donnie Hawkins was playing with Easy Money and there wasn\u2019t a better singer around who could handle old time rock songs like <\/span>Black Slacks<\/span><\/i> and his signature tune, <\/span>Mule Skinner Blues.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The second local drummer I met in Ontonagon was Kurt Giessau who played drums with The Copper Tones.\u00a0 I did not know Kurt well but he was always eager to talk about drums.\u00a0 After he passed away, his widow Stella contacted me and said she wished to donate Kurt\u2019s drum set to the school.\u00a0 I got to play this kit in a couple of community band concerts held at the Ontonagon Theater of Performing Arts.\u00a0 With two drum kits gathering dust in the Ontonagon Area Schools band room, we eventually donated Kurt\u2019s kit to the theater where it can still be played.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Sitting on the backstage steps with Donnie and a couple of members of Easy Money at my first Hootenanny, I think he figured out I was a little nervous.\u00a0 He offered me a nip out of his flask.\u00a0 I was taking a hearty swig from it when Principal Lou Gregory opened the door leading to the side of the stage.\u00a0 Lou simply said, \u201cOh, sorry,\u201d and then he closed the door.\u00a0 Donnie said, \u201cDon\u2019t worry, he is cool,\u201d as I am sure my facial expression radiated, \u201cOkay, I am going to get fired for this!\u201d\u00a0 I began subbing for Donnie in Easy Money when he was on shift work at the mill.\u00a0 Eventually I was asked to be a full time member but I had to make one thing clear.\u00a0 I said, \u201cI would love to, but there is no way I am going to be able to replace Donnie\u2019s voice.\u201d\u00a0 Over the years, I did my fair share of lead vocals with the band but was never asked to sing <\/span>Mule Skinner Blues.\u00a0 <\/span><\/i>Still, it was great fun when Donnie stopped by when we were playing around town.\u00a0 I would ask him if he wanted to play a few songs and watching Donnie play the drums and sing was great.\u00a0 Backing him up on songs like <\/span>Mule Skinner<\/span><\/i> was also a blast.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0There are some younger drummers who entered the picture after my time in Easy Money, but there isn\u2019t enough space left here to do them justice.\u00a0 Suffice to say Larry Stong, Sam Bennett, Steve Bobula, and Craig Burgess, et al will have to be another story for another day.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n Top Piece Video:\u00a0 My progress as a drummer took a big upswing in 1967 when the Jimi Hendrix Experience album Are You Experienced?\u00a0<\/em>was added to my turntable – drummer Mitch Mitchel was a great teacher.\u00a0 And no, I have no idea why the bass drum head shown says ‘Mick’!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In Part 1 of Drummers Past, I went all the way back to the beginning of my lifelong love affair with drums and drumming.\u00a0 The idea was to compile a listing of as many of the drummers I could remember playing with and\/or meeting since the drum bug hit me back in 1963.\u00a0 We […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,11,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bands-musicians","category-education","category-from-the-vaults"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3849","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3849"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3849\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3852,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3849\/revisions\/3852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/span>Unlike my less than enthusiastic approach to learning the piano, I was more than happy to spend part of each and every day practicing.\u00a0 Paying for the drums was just part of the gig.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n