Welcome, Blogophiles!


Welcome, Blogophiles!

Or is that Bloginators, or Blogostines? And why am I doing this?
Heck if I know. But, I'm an artist of sorts, and LOTS of artists have their own Blogs, so why not me? I get to talk about myself and show some of my occasional (and I do mean Occasional) train art. I'm also gigging regularly with a great tribute band called Close to You, which covers the Carpenters. Thanks for visiting, fellow Blogians!

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Train Wreck (the band)

I joined this band about 5 months ago. This has been a fun “gig” for me, and as I mentioned, the band's name is pure coincidence! Train Wreck has an established group of locales where it plays in the Sacramento area up towards El Dorado Hills and Auburn. We play a lot of classic rock, as well as the occasional tune from this century. The Train Wreckers are a good bunch of guys, and I think we're starting to sound pretty tight. Since it's been about 15 years (yikes!) since my last band, I really look forward to playing these gigs.

Playing the drums is pretty physical, and perhaps a little like running a marathon in respect to endurance. I may practice an hour 2-3 times a week, but that hasn't prepared me for playing a 4 hour gig! That's something you have to work up to, just like running distances. I've had cramps in both forearms AND my kick drum leg at various times during gigs--usually in the 3rd set. (Very difficult to play one-armed!) Perhaps this is why you don't see too many overweight drummers: it's a good workout.

Shown here is a poster I put together using an image of a French train that perhaps had an inattentive brakeman (this image is in the public domain, BTW).