Do Drums Float?

Many years ago, in a land far, far away. I had a gig on a certain tourist ship that cruised a fairly large lake in New England. Now, let me say that this was one of the WORST bands and WORST gigs that I have EVER done, and I have done my fair share of "bad" gigs in my life. What is really sad is that I stuck this gig out for four long years before I "jumped ship"! And believe me there were many nights that I almost did jump ship!

The drummer on this gig was a stitch, an old timer, and really a good "hang" but his time keeping left a little to be desired. I was part of a trio-drums, organ/keyboard bass, and yours truly! The organist also had a drum sequencer that she liked to use along with the drummer. I had the lovely task of setting up between the two while trying to decide which time keeper to go with-the "real" drummer or the drum sequencer. I lost that battle every time.

Now, I always try to find a positive in any gig. This was a tough one. We wore sequined green mirror glass vests with green top hats while playing on the upper deck of this ship (which was not one of the most stable rides I have ever been on). What I did GET from this gig was the ability to transpose on sight in any key. I would open up the book to a song in Eb and in 4/4. The leader would then say "oh we do this in F# and in 3/4. She would then count off the tune and we were off and running. Understand that the first two or three weeks on this gig for me were not pretty! But after about a month of this torture, I could have done any tune backwards and upside down while still dressed in my sporty green vest and hat!

Now for the truly funny part. The load in for this gig was pure hell to say the least. You had to do it while the ship was docked and before they started to board folks for the next dinner cruise. You had to back your car down a very narrow driveway with the lake on one side and a solid brick wall on the other. Once you backed in, you were stuck there because there were two other bands playing on the ship as well. It was gridlock at its finest!

You then carried your gear up to the dock and then up a VERY steep gangplank onto the ship. Not too bad for the sax player but an accident waiting to happen for my favorite drummer. Also understand that the dock was a good twenty feet up from the lake! So here he goes, all the drums loaded onto one of those hotel baggage carts, and might I also add, WITHOUT drum cases! Yep, Over they go! Twenty feet down and into the lake!

Fishing them out was a true hoot with all crew members involved. And.. I found out that the bass drum does indeed sink! You should have seen them trying to get that off the bottom of the lake. The best part of all was that I thought his drums actually sounded BETTER! And all this as we opened our gig like we did every night with "The Love Boat" theme song. Gotta love that!!

Happy Gigging!

rp