"CHRISTMAS DRUMMING"

Above is the first result when I typed in "Christmas Drumming" into Lord Google. Merry Christmas America! If Jesus can walk on water we should all at least be able to do four different time signatures at once.

I spent the day writing cards with a sharpie and now I am floating in an orange ocean of espresso and Sly-level highs!! Kisses and hugs chocolate, Red and Green Gideons Bibles, flotation-devices and eternal unconditional love.

Best wishes and blessings to my fabulous readers!!

xoxo,

David Hurlin

EMBARK: A DRUM DUET

I am ECSTATIC!! I recorded this over a year ago on my Blackberry while I was walking down a lovely shaded lane in Venice Beach. I was playing a water bottle and my solo turned into an incredible duet. I truly am beaming with pride! I totally forgot about this. This is better than finding a wad of cash in old jeans which ALSO happened to me today!! Sweet blizzard in a nativity scene I'm happy :)

Blackberry photo in Venice :)

AFRICA INDIA ECSTASY

I am excited to be working and learning with Arthur Lee Land. He has extensive experience with the art of live looping. He is teaching me about congas, bongos, djembes, talking drums, cowbells, shakers; the works.

One of his more exquisite loops is drenched with that African sunlight and the moving sidewalk on a moving sidewalk feeling that Elvin Jones is known for. I am now completely in love with implying 6 over 4 and we get lost for hours and hours in the continually expanding and contracting movements.

We have a show on new years at the new Cafe Paradiso and I'm gonna be playing tablas and djembe. For future shows my kit will look more like the picture above but Congas and a Djembe will be added.

My heart is pounding for Africa and India and the Shaman-healer-priest-wild man-nut bucket-asteroid lasso-Santa-triplet-whip-crack against-the-moon aesthetic is blossoming like the birth of a rose colored planet. I'm excited and honored to be getting an education and making music for a living simultaneously.

PS Jupiter left its phase of debilitation and I always and especially feel escalating gratitude for my tabla teacher Pandit Anup Ghoshji. Big love, namaste, and happy holidays to all!

THINKING ABOUT REPLACING MY RIDE CYMBAL WITH THIS...

BARE BONES

I'm a big believer in the walk-the-walk, practice-what-you-preach type of mentality. Yesterday I wrote about constraint being an opportunity to approach the drum set from a different perspective. So I spent the morning tweaking around with my MacBook and getting a recording of the one arm approach to grooving. It's a great exercise in developing consistency and endurance with the left foot. Also with one arm now free you can be creative :)

I remember watching an incredible singer Jacob Lutrell at the Thursday night jam at Teddy's in Hollywood. At one point in the night he requested that the drummer cut back all the way to just Kick and snare (on the rim). The most minimal hip-hop aesthetic possible. This is hard for a drummer who is used to leaning on the hi-hat for rhythmic support.

This exercise has made me realize that the foundation of the groove is KICK AND SNARE. Playing in this way really makes you own up and focus on to the most fundamental components of the groove.

PS sorry Youtube cut off my hi-hat but at least you can hear it :)

CONSTRAINT IS THE SPARK PLUG OF INNOVATION AND POSSIBLY ETERNAL LIFE IN FREEDOM :)

Do to a complicated vacuuming accident my fellow blogger and drummer Sheldon can't use his right arm for awhile. Obviously there is the one armed drummer from Def Leppard... but deeper than his personal victory is the principle that made Twitter virtually explode on to the scene.

When restrictive parameters are laid out with absolute clarity the conditions are ripe for wild experimental creativity and growth.

Limits are opportunities to test drive and/or implement new perspectives.

Take the book STICK CONTROL: do 8th notes with the hi-hat using only the foot. R=Kick. L=Snare. You will learn by opening and expanding through times of constraint rather than contracting into victimhood and the pillaged village of excuses and reasons. haha :)

ACCIDENTAL RHYTHM, AVANT-GARDNER TONY OXLEY, AND A DAY AS BEAUTIFUL AS THE CHANCE ENCOUNTER OF A SEWING MACHINE AND AN UMBRELLA ON A DISSECTING TABLE

There is the intentional and then there is serendipity, joyful accidents, chance, bald eagle mating rituals, and Tony Oxley's toaster-oven-in-the-bathtub drumming style....my favorite :)

The rapture of ubiquity, god-as-child anything goes snowball fight in the howling void; automatic avant-gardner turning on the sprinkler at midnight, and that glorious alpha cowbell of the underworld stolen out of Picasso's backyard! (check the video below)

Today was an exalted day for me. Not only did I walk to Wal-Mart to buy nothing but I had a magical chance encounter with Mr. Sheldon Kreger, a truly fantastic human being/drummer/physicist and MD PHD hopeful. We talked about particle accelerators, John Hagelin, snowboarding, black holes, open source software and DRUMS!!

He has a fantastic drum blog called MODERN INSTINCT and in the Christmas spirit, in the sanctity of a full on drum geek-out session he gave me some incredible recordings of Peter Erskine, Antonio Sanchez, Paul Motian, and Steve Smith to name a few of the many I am excited about!

Thank you Sheldon and let the 365 days of Christmas begin!