Wednesday, March 20, 2013

I Ain't Goin'

I just learned that The Rascals, aka The Young Rascals are performing on Broadway.

I'm not going and I'll tell you why if you're interested.

Oh...you are?  Good.  Here goes...

I'm a musician and the first instrument I played was the drums (were the drums...?)

I loved Gene Krupa.  One of my teachers, in the 8th grade, saw Krupa play, live, and brought me an autographed picture.  It hung in my room for ever.

I got my first snare drum when I was about 12 and made a cymbal out of an old hub cap (they were metal then) with nails in it to give it that all important "sizzle."

I played in the school rock band and eventually had a full set...bass, mounted and floor toms, hi hat and ride.  I was cookin' in straight 2/4 time.

Then Dino Danelli showed up and my drumming life changed.  He could play syncopated!  Oh My God was he ever cool.

For the uneducated among you Dino Danelli was, and is, the drummer for The Young Rascals who later shortened their name to just The Rascals.  They were a powerhouse rock band in the mid to late sixties and early seventies.

One of their first hits, and my favorite rock song, even today, was  "Good Lovin'"

"One, Two, Three...Good Lovin'!!"

Felix Cavaliere, Eddie Brigati, Gene Cornish, Dino Danelli.  They were the greatest and had many wonderful hits.

"Ain't Gonna Eat Out My Heart Anymore"..."Groovin'"..."People Gotta Be Free"..."A Beautiful Morning."

They were terrific but what made them so for me was Dino Danelli.  He had a style that was explosive and precise.  He twirled his sticks and played complicated rhythms and used ALL of his drums not just the snare, hat and ride like so many other "drummers" of the sixties.  He was unbelievable.  I wanted to be just like him and except for the fact that he was older, Italian and REALLY good, I was.  In my head at least and, truth be told, I could play a few of his licks.

So my, over 40 year, love affair with The Rascals isn't over yet so I can't, in good conscience, go to their Broadway show.

They have reunited for this thing and it's produced by Steven Van Zandt.  I'm sure it will be great.

The theatre will be filled with all of their hits and with my contemporaries "Groovin'" to the songs that made up our young adulthoods.

A lot of memories and a lot of firsts go hand in hand with Rascals tunes.  I don't ever want those memories to fade or be tarnished by the hands of time.  I want the Rascals to always look the way they looked on The Ed Sullivan Show, not how they must look now.  Like me...older, fatter, shorter and slower.

No, for me, the Rascals will remain forever Young and I will always be moved by "Good Lovin'"

Thanks but, no thanks.  I'm good...





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