S.S. Professor Drum Kit Tour
Close encounter with Neil's drums - Page 5
Lorne looked different than I expected (I'd seen him throughout the Vapor Trails and 30th Anniversary Tours). Maybe it was the hat. Maybe it was the sunglasses.
He was professional and succinct. He talked about everything you wanted to know about Neil's kit (but were afraid to ask), including the DW drums, the hardware (including the electronics), how he tunes the drums, Neil's in-ear monitoring system, and a few other things. Then he took questions from the audience.
As you can imagine, there were some oddball questions, but there were many thoughtful ones.
The most surprising thing that he brought up was that many of the same drum heads were still on the kit that were on it during the 30th Anniversary Tour. Lorne attributed this to Neil's studying with Freddie Gruber, that he doesn't "play through the drum" anymore. If you've watched Neil's DVD, you know what Lorne is talking about. Neil's motion is more circular, less linear.
Lorne also told us that the R30 DVD is coming out in October (although it's been reported as November elsewhere), Neil's new book Roadworks is scheduled to come out in January 2006, and Anatomy of a Drum Solo DVD is also scheduled to come out in January 2006.
After Lorne spoke, they had a raffle, run by Bill Morgan. Bill had said earlier they'd raised $4000 so far, not including the Hollywood stop. For the raffle, they were giving away Feedback CDs, a Pro-Mark CD with various artists, Pro-Mark shirts, Sabian cymbal cleaner, a Pro-Mark certificate for personalized drumsticks, a complete set of heads for Neil's kit that were never put on, a DW 9000 bass drum pedal, and a Neil Peart-signed cymbal. They also gave away cool Neil postcards. At the end, they had the drawing for 30 or so people to buy S.S. Professor drumsticks (only 900 of these were made).
I ended up winning a grab bag prize, including a Feedback CD, and also was able to purchase the S.S. Professor sticks.
The really funny thing is one guy put down $400 for raffle tickets and won about seven times, including the DW pedal and the signed cymbal. You could tell the crowd was a little miffed every time he won something, but the guy did shell out $400!
After the event was over, they let a few of us get on the stage and take a picture next to the drum set. I had a stranger take mine, and then I returned the favor. Unfortunately, mine came out blurry.
It was when I was on the stage next to those drums I realized that, no, Neil hadn't shown up, despite all the prognostications. The mystery motorcycle man was still there, but he was hanging out with all the other Rush crew folks. The film crew was putting away their cameras. The sun was setting.
I went inside, got my friend Brian, and we went out into the LA night to get some chow.
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