Listen:
Sometimes you just have to notice what sparks your intuition and follow it. I learned that lesson – or at least encountered the idea – last week when I was going back and forth on whether to buy a set of used drum shells. I’ve been thinking for a long time about getting a “van” kit together. That’s a kit that can stand up to the road grind and, if it gets damaged or lost, won’t break your heart (or bank). Now seems like a strange time to be looking at road drums, but a kit popped up on my radar last week that fit the bill at the right price point.
What to do?
I don’t need a new kit. There’s no touring right now and for me may never be again. It seemed an unnecessary expenditure but someone wise got me thinking about the situation from another angle. She said, “Why not just lean into what presents itself?” I hadn’t really thought like that before. Something about these drums caught my attention among all of the used drums that I see in my travels. The instruction was to just follow that attention without reservations or judgments and see where it went. I think that’s a compelling and very simple way to live, and I talked a bit about it on this episode.
Also on the episode I talk about last year’s food poisoning episode on the road (which happened exactly one year ago this week); the music of Neil Young, W.E.T., Wolfie Van Halen, and Chuck Mangione; and Tibor Fischer’s excellent novel The Collector Collector. I also spent a few minutes talking about a live video I discovered of thrash metal legends Believer just tearing it up nearly 30 years after their touring heyday (see below). What an incredible band they are and were.
A final note for the week: the John Huff Podcast Referenced On The Pod playlist wasn’t properly made public, but is accessible now if you’re interested. It includes most of the music we’ve talked about on the show over the past six months – an eclectic list and a quick reference if you’re interested in hearing whatever it is I’m on about. You can find it here.
Enjoy!
And for a little technical brilliance and brutality, here’s Believer:
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