Me Playing My Drums
This particular drum set is made by Taye, and actually sounds better than my Slingerland 1960s pearl set I had a few years back. The 5-piece stage set has a 14″ snare, 12″, 13″, and 16″ toms, and a 24″ bass drum, all fitted with Aquarian heads. The heads made by Aquarian are more suited to tuning the set down one octave than are standard heads, therefore better for classical rock and Celtic music. The 5-piece set is complemented by a Sabien cymbal set which includes a 14″ hi-hat, a 20″ ride cymbal, 16″ and 13″ crash cymbals, a 18″ crash-ride combo, 10″ splash cymbal, and an 18″ China cymbal. There is also a set of roto-toms and a studio bar chime.
The equipment rack in the background, on the right, houses the audio system. The power amps are two OmegaStar 260 EX solid state units engineered and built by Frank VanAlstine just for moi. The preamp, an OmegaStar EC was also made by VanAlstine. The tuner is a Japan Radio Corp model NRD-545, which is excellent for picking up distant FM stations since I live in the middle of nowhere. The CD read/write unit is a Denon CDR-W 1500. To better reproduce a live performance, the system also has a DBX 3BX dynamic range and impact restoration unit and a a DBX 120A Subharmonic Synthesizer. For playing vinyl, the Bang and Olufsen turntable on top of the rack still does an awesome job. The speakers, one of which is barely visible in the background below the roto-toms, were built by moi, and are a modified version of a system designed by Dr. Marshall Leach, professor of Electrical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology. These are both the 15 inch 3-way and 10 inch 3-way systems.
And what do I use all this for? Playing 70s rock and Celtic music of course !!!
My Music Hall of Fame Awards
Favorite Artist Today: Peter Frampton
Previous Favorite Artist Awards by Moi: Celtic Women, Fleetwood Mac, Enya, Rebecca St. James, Character Defects, Karen Matheson (for Rithill Aill), Carlos Santana, Carol King, Jimmy Buffett, Chrissie Hynde (for Brass in Pocket), Fionnuala Gill, Joni Mitchell, A1A, Carly Simon, Selena, Suzi Quatro, Nancy and Ann Wilson (Heart).
Singer: Laoise Ní Cheallaigh
Song: Oíche Chiúin
Bass: Gary Ward
Keyboard: Bob Mayo
Drummer : Kelly Bennett
Saxophone : Vance Kelly
