PASIC 2009 - Day 2

Well folks, lots to report after day two at my inaugural PASIC festival here in Indianapolis.

Here are the highlights of my day:

- Maria Martinez gave a great clinic this morning on applying rudimental flam exercises on the drum set and using them in a Latin/Brazilian context. Some little kid got up to work with Maria and he smoked !!! I'm sure he'll be presenting at next years PASIC...

- The Spectrum Trio, a great ensemble of young percussionists from Wisconsin, performed original arrangements inspired from the African diaspora and such other groups as Africa West and Talking Drums.

- Bob Breithaupt and Garwood Whaley offered an informative and business orientated panel discussion on how to pursue a career as a percussionist.

- A back-to-basics clinic on applications of the rudiments on the drum set from Berklee professor Sergio Bellotti. He sure likes those "40 Essential Rudiments" posters that Vic Firth is giving away.... : ) Very entertaining and informative.

- I enjoyed playing and testing out the K Constantinople ride cymbals that Zildjian had on display at their booth in the exhibition hall. In particular, the Kenny Washington prototypes were really nice and I hope to hear more artist collaboration cymbals like this in the future. The KW's had a great sound and were surprisingly bright compared to what I had expected. Quite a noticeable difference and contrast from the other K Con's that I've played/owned/heard. Too many nice cymbals to choose from. I had to restrain myself from buying another one !

- Drum set artists Zoro and Daniel Glass offered a very informative and entertaining clinic about the early roots of rock'n roll and early R&B music. These guys grooved their butts off !!! Certainly a theme of "the past is the future" resonated throughout. I especially enjoyed the drum duet. Daniel Glass sounds like a modern, groovy Gene Krupa and Zoro laid it down and, even as he soloed, still respected the groove and expressed himself with a great sound, deep pocket and musicality. Thank you for this you guys !

- The evening concert featuring the Ju Percussion Group from Taiwan was outstanding. The program featured their Taiwanese/Chinese roots and I was overall very impressed with their musicality, especially on the marimba/mallets pieces. I also enjoyed their repetoire. It was very nice to hear some beautiful melodies played by an entertaining group of musicians who were clearly enjoying themselves. This group also wins the prize for the best printed program of the conference. Great presentation ! Who's your publicist ???

- Some smokin' Salsa and Afro-Cuban grooves at the late night set featuring the Lalo Davila and Friends Salsa Band at the Westin this evening. However, what's up with the $7 dollar beers ???


And now....

THE FOUR ON THE FLOOR PASIC 2009 MVP AWARDS

Thursday, November 12th - 2009



Today's outstanding group (in my humble opinion) was the University of North Texas Gamelan orchestra which hit the gig HARD at 9 am this morning. I was blown away with pretty much everything this group had to offer. The music was outstanding in all facets. I don't really know much about this style of music but this well rehearsed group clearly had their act together. I was blown away and have never seen anything quite like this before. Complex EVERYTHING and not a piece of written music in sight. Thank you ! I think it's time for me to check out some Indonesian Gamelan music....


....and get some sleep !