Mike and I, along with Kevin Beel and Larry Williams (good friends of the MRB and fellow drummers) took a road trip Sunday morning, April 17, 2005 to Drum Daze, a drumming event sponsored by Columbus Percussion. What a great event and how thrilling it was to see my little brother open the show that included Billy Kilson, Giovanni Hidalgo, Simon Phillips, and the great Steve Gadd!!! I think I might have been more nervous than Dave.

Dave did a great job, setting the tone for a great show. We witnessed some great performances and we also got to see some cool stuff that the co-sponsors (e.g. Pearl, Roland, Zildjian, Vic Firth, and many others) had on display in the foyer of the venue. Kevin talked me into trying out a set of Roland electronic drums. I've always been sort of a snob about electronic drums; however, these things were unbelievable. I just might have to get myself a set of these some day.

Besides seeing my brother perform, my next favorite was, of course, hearing Steve Gadd. Everyone was anticipating his performance, waiting patiently for him to come out and close the show. So, he comes out, says a few words of gratitude and then sits down and sings "Bye, Bye, Blackbird" while playing brushes....with the awesome feel for which he is so reknowned! It was terrific!

We had a fun trip with lots of laughs and Dave seemed truly happy to see us there. Here are a few pictures and one video from our day. The pictures and video of Dave are from a short presentation he was making as a Pearl Drums endorser in the foyer. Unfortunately, I didn't get any of his performance on stage. Enjoy.

			Dave Demonstrating Pearl's New Reference Series Drums