THE BLAINE IN THE PLANE STAYED MAINLY IN THE...POCKET

STICK MAN

i play drums. not too badly either...i can do an excellent Mod-era Keith Moon, a convincing Charlie Watts and a better-than-expected-for-a-whiteboy Al Jackson, too. i grew up in Clevo listening to AM radio, and realized early i was a drummer. the problem was that after badgering my parents for a drum set (Slingerland with calf heads and a stoopid rare confetti wrap), it was pretty evident that i sucked. i would bang along with the radio, just butchering every tune the DJ played. but one day, KYW played He's A Rebel, and i matched the drummer's boom-ba-boom-blap perfectly. epiphany! then a few weeks later, i won a dance contest at middle school doing some spastic shambling movement to Surfer's Stomp. my prize was a Beach Boys Surfin' Safari LP.

what these things all have in common is that the drummer on all these tunes (and the album) was the same guy - Hal Blaine of the amazing Wrecking Crew. now flash forward to last Tuesday - i just got on a plane leaving LA and there's this geezer in my friggin' seat. "28A?" "No, man 28C." no problem, we work it out...and when we introduce ourselves - it's Hal Blaine. i get four hours of anecdotes and dirty jokes, and among other things learned that:

- the session musicians nicknamed Sonny Bono "Sonny Bonehead"
- playing on all the Rat Pack recordings was one big party (i'm shocked)
- John Denver was everyone's favorite gig 'cause he was a genine nice guy
- Brian Wilson's Smile was "less than genius...shit, actually"

you wuddah been proud of me - i never asked him which model sticks he uses.

NP: "Da Doo Ron Ron"

PEEVE DE JOUR: 50 cycle hum in all my audio signal paths...