After reading your "About Me" above, it sounds like you were able to live out my high school dream for me. A man with your drumming experience would seem to be a very great asset to this site, I'm sure everyone here could learn something from you. Being physically disabled myself; I know where you're coming from though my disability caused no great loss to the music world as yours did. Sorry I can't help you with selecting a trap set as the last set I purchased was in the mid-sixties. Oh how I wish I still had them, a 1963 Gretsch Be-Bop set. I bought them in Chicago at Drums Unlimited on Wabash Avenue, Bill Crowden’s place. Barrett Deems was “working” there and picked out the drums and A. Zildjian cymbals for me. A full set of drums, cymbals, drum throne and fiber cases for $550 cash. I put them in the car, went straight to the gig and played them that night. You like baseball, huh?

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Okay, now I can reply albeit months later.."About Me"

Thank you for your complement re; my wonderful career, that is a very nice gesture. I hope that you are still playing and that your disabilty does not ' Steal your Deams '. Don't let anyone ever steal your dreams, not even yourself.  I did get my new Dream Set recently from Yamaha, and special Remo Custom Fiberskyn Heads for all of them after spending a few calls to Jim at Remo, he understood the sound that I wanted and they were ordered to replace the stock heads that come with the set. I was hooked on becoming a drummer in the 2nd grade in Boston when a man walked into the classroom and the teacher said that he was there to offer classroom lessons so to form a Drum and Bugle Corp at school.  When I reflect back to that, I remember him taking a pair of drumsticks and playing some rhythm on the wood desktop. My heart started to 'burn' as I call the love of playing, and after asking my parents if I could take up on the offer, they said yes. All I had to do is pay 5 cents for a pair of sticks, start his lessons, and within a few weeks for whatever reason he asked to see my folks, and told them he felt I was a naturally gifted youngster and perhaps I should take private lessons. My folks found a great Drummer/teacher in Boston named Charles Alden, and after talking with him and finding that an hour lesson was $5.00, my folks said that with 3 kids just after WW 2 was ending, they could only give me a lesson every 2 weeks. That was okay because they also instilled in their sons that it's the quality time that you put into learning, not necessarily quantity.. My Dad came from Russia at the age of 11yrs. to Ellis Island and worked hard to raise his boys to have a good life here in the USA. He did and all 3 sons became very successful in  different careers, and my Dad and Mom gave all their time working so hard and keeping us off the streets to accomplish their wishes. God Bless them in Heaven ! Charlie Alden, my teacher was great insofar that I did NOT play on a Drum for over 1 1/2 years, only on a practice pad, and I had to say out loud every rhythm on the Carl Gardner's 4 Drum books that I learned from.  I you can't say it, you can't play it !  How true that is, and that was my first Solfeggio. Every note had to be articulated verbally and loud while I practiced and played, and all the years that I taught beginner/advanced players, I demanded the same.I also started to buy 78rpm records(you remember them) and lift the needle of my little webcor record player, and transcribe every note, rythm, that the Drummer was playing, and Man I don't mind telling you that I scratched alot of records, but I brought them to my lesson, I played along with the record as he looked at my transcription, and he took mine for that week, and gave it to some other student, and I got one that another student did. It was and is great, and Harvery Simon in his studio up in Boston has all of these transcriptions saved origally to cassette, but now on Disc ! How cool is that? That was High Tech back then. Okay, my first trap set was bought in 2 installments because that's how Charlie wanted it done. I got a Slingeland White Mother of Pearl Buddy Rich setup. First a snare and Bass Drum with hi-hat and 1 ride cymbal ( Zildjian), and months later 1 8x19 tom mounted and a floor 16x18 tom, also adding another Cymbal, and of course there was not thousands of Cymbals like years later and today. Man it's unreal just how many cymbals there are out there, unreal. Also drum sets. Give me a break, who needs allthat crap? I respect the young drummers of today and know many of them quite well, but just go to Google or Yahoo Videos and ask for Buddy, Louie, Blakey, Shelly Manne, Max, Ed Shaugnessy, Joe Morello, and on and on, and let some of the young dudes see what these cats did without 10 drums and 10 Cymbals in a cage!! Check ouit Buddy's BD foot licks. I still get the 'burning chills' when I watch on my desktop in full screen. I know as other top Pros that What Speed and control Buddy had with his chops is 'impossible', but He did it.. His control of the entir dynamic range at all speeds was unreal and a sfar as I'm concerned, Baby Traps as he was called in vaudville was A gift from the Heavens. I was 16 years old when I got full scholarship at the New England Consevatory of Music, and my teacher and still a very close friend was and is Vic Firth. I also got full scholarship to Tanglewood Summer Center for performing Arts for 2 years in the Berkshire Mts. of Massachusetts.

I could go on and on about all that I was fortunate to do with my Percussion/Tympani/Mallet playing all Genres with Great Conductors of Symphony/Opera/B'Way Shows/Tv Soundtracks/Jingles, and I still would go on, but FORGIVE me. I am a very humble Man and truly feel awkward talking about where, who I worked with, who I met, but I was based in N.Y.City for 35 years, and Birdland was 2 Blocks from the Met., so I met virtually everyone playing there. All the other clubs as well, including Buddy Rich's on the Eat Side of Manhattan. I was also a Vibe Player which I also styarted with Charlie Alden and was giging playing Jazz Vibes, so I met my idols like, Milt 'Bags' Jackson(who had a photographic memory man, and he looked at a chart once and that was all) and he was set for life. Terry Gibbs, and on and on, but for now I'll wrap up this monster of a letter, and answer your question - Do I like Baseball ?  I Love my Boston Red  Sox and am a member of Red Sox Nation, and my Wife and I get the Direct TV package of every game.I Hate the Yankees! Man do I hate the Yankees, and I wish my Dad could have lived long enough to see 2004 and now 2007, as he lived with one lung in his older age and loved to listen and watch the few games on TV. I took him a couple of times to Fenway Park and he was like a child in the candy store.. I also Love my Patriots which isn't easy because my Wife went to Penn. State, a true Nittany Lion and a Steeler Fan, who knows more about college and Pro Football than any 10 Navy longshoremen in the Brooklyn Navy Yard ! True, and we get the Football package as well, and now, now, the Boston Celtics win the NBA Championship and will be celebrated at Red Sox/Cardinal game which is on the air in an hour from now. By the way, My Conservatory of Music (NEC) is a 10 minute walk from Fenway Park and I wish I had a dollar for all the games I and friends went to in Boston, when it was not costly.. Hey there ~ I hope you are well and get to see a long postponed reply to your letter to a fellow Drummer ~ Me   Until later from this 69 year young Drummer Kid, I'll say goodbye for now ! Make every tomorrow your Masterpiece !