Sue Hadjopoulos

Hi All,

I just wanted to wish you all a Happy New Year and thank you for all your support during the year.

You can also check out my live percussion on the new CD from Joe Jackson called "Two Rainy Nights" which was recorded at the Seattle and Portland Concerts during last year's Night and Day II Tour. Log on to www.JoeJackson.com to hear the tracks. The CD will be available soon.

Regards,

Sue Hadjopoulos

Visit the home page of Sue Hadjopoulos

1/02

Leon Mobley

I'm here in Houston working on a production by the Kuumba House entitled Amasiko. It is a South African Dance story for the whole family. The shows take place on Dec. 21 + 22 at 8:00pm at the Cullen Theatre in the Wortham Center, 550 Prairie (713)-227-2787 in the downtown section of Houston. From here I go to NY to record a live album with Babatunde Olatunji at SOB'S (sound of Brazil) on the 26 + 27 of Dec. 8:00pm 204 Varick St. at W. Houston one block from the village. (212)-243-4940. After that I start the new album with Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals. We just recorded a song on the sound track for Sean Penn's new movie entitled "Sam I Am" and we also just recorded an album with Blackalicious, a rap group from SF. I can be heard on Macy Gray new album. I was nominated for best musical director for a stage play in LA entitled "The Love of Freedom". The play actually won for best costumes, best director and best play, 3 awards. I will be playing at the Agape Church, both services, in the house band on the 30th of Dec. The church is located on 5700 Buckingham Pkwy Culver City (310)-348-1250. Also the class for sat. are now on Mon. 7:00/9:00pm. We will also be playing at the DrumJamAmerica. org The date of the performance is April 27, 2002. I will also be at the NAMM show signing autographs one of those days I think it is Thurs. Also Da Lion, my personal group, is working on a new album to be released in the spring of 2002 along with the re-release of "Mandingo Drumming " feat. Abdoulaye Diakite and "Djimbe and Vocal" earlier recordings of Leon Mobley.

LeonMobley.com

12/01

Jim Greiner

It's been a year full of performing, clinics, drum circles and recording. Too much to go into all at once but here are some of the most recent projects:

- percussion clinics and drum circles for LP throughout North America including New York, New Jersey, California, Arizona, Nevada and Canada. I was just in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, Canada for a series of LP clinics and drum circles for Coast Music Distributors, the MusicStop chain of stores and the Nova Scotia Music Educators Association Conference. I also did one of my corporate team building drumming programs for the sales and office staff at the main MusicStop store in Halifax. I had a great time there; the people were hungry to drum and the folks at Coast and MusicStop were incredibly gracious and hospitable.

- I filmed a seried of percussion clinics for LP at their facility in New Jersey that has been turned into QuickTime video and is on their web site at lpmusic.com. I covered claves, shekere, tambourine and afuce/cabasa.

- a lot of performing with The Bill Hopkins Rockin' Orchestra at corporate parties and resorts throughout North America, Hawaii, Mexico and the Caribbean. We're an 11 piece show and dance band plus anywhere from 4 to 12 dancers, depending on the gig. Our last road trip was three days at the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas, then the next day in Palm Springs. We do a wide range of styles from Big Band and different types of jazz to rock, funk, R&B, Latin and pop, so I get to play a lot of different kinds of percussion.

- community and therapeutic drumming with my company, Hands-On! Drumming

Events have been booming: Corporations and their employees seem to need more team building, stress releasing and morale boosting than ever! (don't we all!) One of the companies in the midwest that I worked for last year to help create community spirit when they tripled their work force, rehired me recently to boost the morale and community spirit of the survivors of their latest downsizing. I hope the economy turns around soon, there are a lot of good people wanting to work who are struggling.

- It's been another busy year for my therapeutic drumming.

I get out to a lot of convalescent centers, retirement communities, at-risk youth and substance abuse programs, and even an ocassional prison. It works just about anywhere!

I recently developed a therapeutic drumming program for a stroke center that will be featured in an upcoming PBS special on "healing modalities" I'll let you know, as soon as I do, when it will be broadcast. I love this work; we all know how beneficial drumming is physically, mentally and emotionally, so it's enormously fulfilling to share it with others who have not yet discovered it.

- I've also been doing a lot of recording sessions in the San Francisco area. Mostly CDs, but a little film, TV and jingle work, as well. It's good to get back to recording; I wish I had the time to do more.

That's it for now. May 2002 bring an abundance of peace, health and good fortune to you all!

Jim Greiner

Hands-On! Drumming® Events

http://www.handsondrum.com

12/01

Bermuda Schwartz

2001 has been a much-needed year off for Weird Al & the band. Despite the lack of touring & recording, I've been busy with my web design business, traveling with wife Leslie and on my own, taking care of household projects, and generally relaxing in-between.

I've also finally undertaken a rather massive project: archiving all of my recorded work to CD. These tapes include most of my recording sessions, live performances, living room rehearsals of my first band from 1971, and of course nearly everything I've ever done with Al including rehearsals, demos, studio outtakes, and more than 300 live performances! I'm also saving Al's original 4-track masters to digital, some dating back more than 20 years, just in case those are ever needed for reissue. Most of the recordings are one-of-a-kind, saved on cassettes which are gradually deteriorating. Unless I preserve them now, they'll soon be gone forever.

There are hundreds of hours of tape, and as of mid-December I've transferred over 1,300 tracks to more than 70 CDs, logging each title, date, audio source, and other pertinent info into a database.

I still practice every day, and have been gigging around L.A. with Rip Masters. We should be back in the studio with Al early in 2002, and are hoping for a new album and tour for the summer.

Take care and best wishes for the Holidays,

Bermuda Schwartz

12/01

Cougar Estrada

Hi Everyone, I've been really busy this year 2001 recording on the Los Super Seven CD "Canto" which will have a follow up DVD/Video, aired on PBS sometime in January 2002.

2001 also had me busy recording with Country Artist Rick Trevino's Latin Debut CD "Mi Son," Raul Malo's (The Mavericks) solo debut CD entitled "Today." In fact I just got back from a 3 week Tour with Raul Malo promoting the CD around the states. I hear maybe European Tour in March 2002.

Look out for the latest Los Lobos record in 2002. I shared the drum/percussion throne thanks to my good friend Louie Perez (drummer for Los Lobos) who gave me the opportunity to work on the record.

The thing I'm most excited about is my debut CD Conga Punks I produced in 2000 and my latest production at Cougar Records I just released in mid-Nov. 2001. Which I dedicate to people that have passed away from cancer, especially my Mom who passed away from breast cancer on Sept. 16 2000. So far its totally dominating the charts of mp3.com for the passed 3 weeks # 1-17 on Regional Mexicado Chart. No other artist has ever done that. The cool thing is there is only 17 songs on the CD. I hope it lasts. I know my Mom would be proud.

Thank you friends and Have A Merry Christmas and A Safe New Year for the year 2002.

Cougar Estrada

12/01

Marco Minnemann

Heyyyy!

It´s Marco Minnemann. Just wanted to send a quick hello. I just finished a one month clinic US tour which was reaally great. Hope to see you again soon, and hope this mail gets through to you....keep up your amazing work.

Best
Marco

12/01

Walfredo Reyes Jr

Hi Everyone!!

Since my last newsletter in Feb. 2001, a lot has happen this year. The biggest challenge has been to find the balance between my musical career & my personal life. I had to deal with many new personal, health, & family changes.

On the musical side, aside from staying closer to LA this year more than previous ones, I worked on many sessions for TV, commercials, artists & my own personal songs & demos. I want to share some great highlights:

In February my Father Walfredo Reyes, Sr., my brother Danny Reyes & I, performed a national Carl's Jr. TV commercial for US Hispanic TV & Radio stations. We played percussion & sang on it. It was a great experience except for having to bite & spit about 20 cheeseburgers to get the right camera shot!

In March, I performed with the Freddie Ravel Group for Bossendorfer Pianos at the Frankfurt Music Messe Show, Germany. I now know what a Stradivarius piano is! Then I went to Holland to do some concerts & an instructional video for a great percussionist & friend Martin Verdonk. Check out his web. www.martinverdonk.com

In April I found myself in Rotterdam, Holland, again, playing for the Heineken Night Life Show, a three night concert filmed for Dutch TV. This year I had the pleasure to work with Donna Summer, En Vogue, Steve Winwood, Son By 4, & Los Del Rio (Macarena), & a wonderful all star band from UK & Holland. A lot of Dance Grooves, R&B & Divas!

In May I had the pleasure to work with my good friend percussionist Alex Acuna & some incredible musicians on a Verve Records Xmas Album produced by Lee Ritenour & Dave Grusin. I did not want the session to end! I also did a recording session & a great concert in Ohai, CA with Oscar Castro Neves, performing the music of Carlos Jobim.

In August my son Joseph & I spent a week at KOSA Percussion Camp where I taught in the beautiful mountains of Vermont. What a memorable experience for teachers & students!! A rare opportunity to share quality time with my son & with world percussion & drumset greats like Dom Famularo, Richie Garcia, Marco Minneman, Johnny Rabb, Ed Shaughnessy, Zoro, Glen Velez, Arnie Lang, Aldo Mazza, Gordon Gotlieb & many many other great musicians.... Check out this website, www.kosamusic.com. I hope to see you there next year!! I also found myself collaborating & writing with piano greats, Don Grusin, Ron Feuer & Larry Cohn. New compositions for the near future...

On September 10th I did a Latin Grammy star-studded tribute to Julio Iglesias, with musical director Arturo Sandoval & an LA All Star Band. Some of the performers I got to work with were Celia Cruz, Alejandro Sanz, Laura Paussini, Jon Secada, Phil Ramone (producer). It was a great night.... & then I woke up September 11!!! Unfortunately, you know the rest...

On September 14th, against all odds, with high tension in the air, I made my way through airports, security, armed soldiers, baggage checks, etc. to perform a 7 week Mapex Deep Forest Drum Workshop Tour in Germany, Holland, Luxembourg, Spain, UK, France & Canada. I have to say music & rhythms were an incredibly powerful source of communication through out & the tour was a success with high attendance everywhere. Thanks all of you who participated & attended.

November was a session month, working on albums for Lou Del Gatto "You, the Night & the Music", Clare Fischer's clarinet ensemble CD, Japanese artist T-Square, Larry Cohn's upcoming CD, & my own upcoming drum & percussion CD as well "Crudo". I also got to play with Sheila E.& her Dad Pete Escovedo w/ Freddie Ravel on the Namaste Award Humanitarian Ceremony given to the LA Police & Fire Departments traveling to help at the Trade Center tragedy. An uplifting & spiritual event! Also, I had a great pleasure playing with Brazilian guitarist great Jose Neto & his band! Intense & Dynamic!

In Dec. I had the pleasure of joining a great world music ensemble to accompany master oud & violin player Simon Shaheen & Tunisian singer Amina in a memorable concert that broke the political barriers into a night of Peace through Music! Check my web for pictures.

I ended the year with the annual benefit The Y Spirit Concert that my friend & great drummer Eddie Tuduri organizes every year for the specially gifted children with disabilities. A night of great performances, sharing & reunion with friends - Kevyn Latteu & Mike Shapiro, Airto & Flora, Joe Porcaro, Ndugu, Tommy Aldridge, my Dad Walfredo Sr., Vinnie Colaiutta, Ralph Humphrey & many many others.

That's about it for now! May the New Year bring you & your families lots of Health, Peace & Happiness,

God Bless you, Please stay in Touch,
Walfredo

www.WalfredoReyesJr.com

12/01

Steve Smith

Greetings Vital Fans,

So much has happened since my last newsletter, I don't know where to start!!

OK, I'll start in the summer. In July after some drum clinics in sunny Puerto Rico, Vital Information played on the US West Coast (LA and San Diego) and then went directly to London for a great week at the legendary jazz club Ronnie Scott's. We then traveled to Edinburgh, Scotland for their Jazz Festival -- what a beautiful city. In November we flew to Beijing, China and spent an incredible week there. We played a sold-out concert for 1,200 Chinese jazz fans at the Beijing Jazz Festival. I did an afternoon clinic in a jazz club (only the third drum clinic ever in Beijing) and then we spent a few days seeing the sights which included the Great Wall and the Forbidden City. Looks like we'll return sometime in 2002 to play for a week in a Beijing jazz club. If this happens it will be a first for jazz in China -- they have not yet had jazz players in residence for a week in one club.

In August and September I toured the US with Indian tabla player Sandip Burman and East Meets Jazz, which included Howard Levy, Jerry Goodman, Victor Bailey and Randy Brecker. We were in the middle of a great tour when the Sept. 11 tragedy occurred. The final two weeks of the tour were canceled and it's unlikely that we'll ever put the band back together to complete the tour.

In October and early November I did an extensive clinic tour of Europe and the UK, which helped me to fine tune some of my teaching concepts. I will be documenting my new ideas and techniques on an upcoming DVD for Hudson Music that I'll be filming in February 2002!

Also in November, Frank Gambale, Ric Fierabracci and I played a week of high energy fusion trio gigs in the UK and Italy. (This trio may be playing at the Key Club in Hollywood on Jan. 18th, during NAMM, we're unconfirmed at this point -- check the website for confirmation) During the last few months I also found time to squeeze in a few one-off gigs with the Yo Miles! Band, the Mickey Hart Band, the Steve Smith / Mike Zilber Quartet and Son Of Bitches Brew, all were great fun. The new Vinnie Moore CD, Defying Gravity, and the new Tony Macalpine recording, Chromaticity, were recently released and I had the pleasure of playing drums on both albums.

I experienced a thrilling musical high when I recently recorded with the incredible tabla master Zakir Hussain! Zakir played on and produced the new album for tenor sax player George Brooks. George wrote some very interesting and challenging music using a combination of Western and Indian composition techniques. We also had Kai Eckhardt on bass and Fareed Haque on guitar, so the chemistry was strong. The band played so well that we nailed most of the tunes on the first or second take, finishing the whole record in two days. This record will come out sometime in 2002 on Zakir's label, Moment Records. Once this recording is released we'll be playing a few live dates with this lineup!

Last week I played at Sculler's in Boston with my old friends Steve Marcus and Larry Coryell -- Count's Jam Band (with Greg Jones on bass). We had a ball playing the music from our Tone Center recording, Count's Jam Band -- Reunion. I got to visit with some of my hometown family members, my buddies from Zildjian and Vic Firth and one of my mentors and teachers, Gary Chaffee. (Count's Jam Band will be appearing at the NAMM show on evening of Jan 19th, and will possibly be at The Key Club in Hollywood on Jan 18th -- check the website later for confirmation and details.)

Vital Information has a busy 2002 coming up which will include a US tour in March and April, (starting on the West Coast and then playing the East Coast and Midwest) a week at the Blue Note Jazz Club in Las Vegas, a week of teaching and playing at the Berklee College of Music in June and traveling to Costa Rica in August...

Also coming in 2002 are San Francisco Bay Area gigs with the Steve Smith / Mike Zilber Quartet in January/Feb, a week at Ronnie Scott's in London with Buddy's Buddies, more clinics in the UK, and a week of teaching in July at the Martoberdorf Percussion Camp in Germany. Intuition is currently negotiating with US labels for the US release of the Vital Info CD "Show 'Em Where You Live." I'll keep you all posted on the results.

Be sure to check out our website, www.vitalinformation.com for the latest postings and updates, my man Wayne Saroyan has been hard at work. I've added a few things to the "Drumtalk" page: a detailed description of my setup, an article on "Drums Du Jour," a list of some of my favorite books, and an interview I did for the UK drum magazine, Rhythm. Another new addition to the website is my complete discography, or at least I thought it was. After the discography was posted I got some emails about a few recordings I had completely forgotten about, so it's about 99% correct! We'll also be posting some recent pictures from life on the road in the next few weeks.

One last thing, the new VH1 Journey Behind The Music -- Directors Cut -- is a 100% improvement over the original debacle. Producer Doug Rittenhouse has included an extra half hour of interview footage and now I'm in it for more than the original 3 seconds. He did a much better job of telling the Journey story this time around. Journey has a new Columbia release just in time for Christmas, The Essential Journey, a double CD with all the greatest hits plus many other good songs, a great gift for the true Journey fan!

Have a great holiday season, Steve

www.vitalinformation.com

Click here for some of my confirmed upcoming gigs in 2002

12/01

Sean O'Rourke

Hi Pam,

Just a quick note. I have been out with Derek Trucks for the last month as Yon Rico Scott recooperates from a hospital stay. It's been great. Mike Stern opened up for us in Buffalo. He had Richie Morales and Lincoln Goines with him. Stern and the guys stayed for our show. Half way through the show Stern got up and played with us.

I will be with them in Sanfrancisco on New Years eve. We will be playing with Phil Lesch and friends.

Hope all is well.

Sean O'Rourke

12/01

Jim Greiner

Hi Pam,

Great site as usual! I hope you are well. I know life in NYC is no longer "normal" in the same way as it was, but my prayers go to all of you that you may have peace of mind and body and joy in your lives as well.

I've been well. A lot of playing, recording, clinics and corporate and community drumming. My family is thriving and I get to spend a lot of time with them when I'm not on the road. I often think of the LP NAMM JAMM that you set up for me to do while you were at LP. What a great idea and a great time! I still hear from people who participated and hold it as a great memory...

I look forward to hearing from you. See you at NAMM!

All the best,
Jim

Jim Greiner's Hands-On! Drumming® Events

http://www.handsondrum.com

12/01

Wally Gator Watson

Hey, this is Wally Gator Watson of the Lionel Hampton Orchestra. I wanted to say thanks for the emails and calls of concern for my safety that I have recieved from around the world. I am doing fine and want you all to know that you have touched my heart. I have just returned from my clinic tour in British Columbia, and P.A.S.I.C., where I had wonderful times. Thanks for the birthday wishes and cards. You guys are the best.

I would like you all to go to my website, www.wallygator.net, for my latest goings on. God Bless and I hope to see you soon.
Gator

12/01