Don't Do Drugs

My boy has been asked to play his first real music gig.  And so it begins...  

The kind people at The JAM recommended him as a replacement drummer for a local teen band.   The kids will be playing a five song set at a local restaurant on April 10.  When the hubby got the call, the woman organizing the band seemed shocked to learn that the little guy was only ten.  

Just between you and me, I am a little anxious to see how this whole thing goes.

One of the songs that the boy has to learn for the gig is Jimi Hendrix's "Fire." While the boy still has plenty of room to grow as a musician, one of his strengths is his ability to hold a beat.  The little fellow is rock-solid.  You would be surprised by how many drummers struggle in this area.  

As the boy was playing along with a recording of "Fire" last night, he began to get frustrated by the drummers floating tempo.  Exasperated, he told the hubby, "Why did that drummer have to do drugs?!  He's playing crazy!  Stupid druggies."  (He had learned all about Jimi's untimely death when we visited the Experience Music Project in Seattle.)

I could tell that the boy was still stressed out about learning the song this morning.  When I asked him about it, he said, "The guys tempo is all over the map.  Why did he have to go and do drugs.  It makes people hate your music."

And with that, a new anti-drug slogan was born.  Forget Nancy Regan's "Just Say No" campaign.  That's so 1982.  What the world needs is a little tidbit of wisdom given by a ten-year-old boy from Tennessee.  

Don't do drugs.  

It makes people hate your music.

Well, it may not make them hate your music, but it will frustrate the snot out of them when they try to learn to play your song.