A belated critique of drummer's night...

The Drummer's Night series of shows just celebrated it's fourth installment recently at the Cock and Bull pub, and I couldn't have been more uninterested.  Let's just say I went to the first two and decided I had gone to one too many.  Here's the problem with them: every single jam inevitably winds up being the same general beat played at the same general tempo.  It seems like all the drummers are either looking around trying to read everybody else's playing, or lost in their own 80 minute solo.  The really insecure drummers hit their skins harder and harder, and the modest, soft-spoken drummers are content to waste their evening away pretending to enjoy their instrument. And then the creator of the event, who I'll comment on shortly, seems to think that with 96 drummers playing in an open-air venue that four guitarists are going to have a chance to play some licks that will be discernible and audible to anyone but themselves.  It sucks for the drummers and it sucks for the guitarists and I have to imagine it sucks for people who show up thinking it's gonna be a life-altering experience (intoxicated people aside).  Let me tell you the only person I can say with absolute certainty that it doesn't suck for:  John Lichtenstein.

John Lichtenstein is a gentleman who appears to have done a lot for local music.  The key word here is appears.  For someone who has the reputation of a selfless and tireless promoter of original, local music he sure does thrust himself into the spotlight at his events.  Everyone at any given moment knows where John is when he's at his events as he spends countless calories walking around from stage to stage to soapbox to stage with his utility headlamp, ineffective mega-horn, and unnecessary announcements.  When he's not walking around promoting and commentating the event that everyone is already at, he's punishing listeners with his unique brand of amateurish, droney, unmusical bass guitar "playing" and kick drum I-don't-know-what.  Let's face it people, the "experimental music" label in many cases is just a really polite way of saying "this music is affecting my life in a negative way and I wish it didn't exist/wasn't happening so near to my ears."  Still, because of his tenacious leg-work in the marketing process and his established clout as a big time local production machine, he manages to get up to 200 people to a musical event that lacks music.  Furthermore, he gets to collect all of the indie-social points that come with these large scale events.  

But to show that I'm not a completely heartless, lifeless, tireless asshole I will say this:  John's end of the daikdjfiaowejijaf whatevers do impress me, albeit slightly, in their ability to sound more like music.  Probably because there are more musicians... zing!  I think the concept behind Drummer's Night needs to be reevaluated.  I think the dial tone stuff is getting somewhere.  I think John might secretly be putting on all of these events to stroke his own deceivingly large ego... ?  

Godspeed,

Daedalus