Charity Auction II

Happy Halloween!
We just played a show on Halloween night with Meat Loaf. What a blast! Everyone got dressed up for the encore. Meat was Elvis, Patti and CC were Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons, Paul was Barney Rubble, Randy was The Joker, Kasim was a Huge Bunny, Dave was Joe the Plumber, Mark was Mark...and I was a Pig (no wise cracks). I will be auctioning off a signed pair of drumsticks and the drum head we used that night for the next Charity Auction to benefit Compassion International.

I want to thank everyone who participated in last month's Charity Auction. Here's an update on the boy we were able to begin a sponsorship for with the proceeds. Jolien is 10 years old and lives in Haiti with his father, mother and 1 sibling. His parents sometimes work as farmers, and Jolien is responsible for carrying water, gathering firewood and caring for animals. In primary school, his performance is above average and he also regularly attends church activities and camp. He loves singing, art and bicycling. I've sent him a letter and am waiting to hear from him. Because of privacy issues, I'm not able to post his photo, but I'll keep you all updated with excerpts from his letters as I receive them. Thanks to your generosity, we can keep this sponsorship going!

Charity Auction Thanks

Today I was able to sponsor a 10-year-old boy, Jolien, from Haiti. I saw a picture of him and I wish I could see his face when he hears that he has a sponsor. I spoke with someone from Compassion International today and am finding out if I can post a picture of him on my site. Of course, they have certain security procedures that I do have to follow. I want to thank every one of you who took part in the Charity Auction. I promise to keep you all up-to-date on Jolien. It takes about 2 weeks to receive his info packet, and then we can send him a letter tomorrow and will await his answer. He writes a letter in Haitian, which will be translated and sent back to us.

Charity Auctions

A friend of ours turned us on to this charity, Compassion International, a few years ago. It's supported by a lot of musicians, and they do great work in impoverished countries around the world. They've helped over 1 million children in 24 countries.

We sponsor a child who we keep in contact with through letters. My kids also send gifts during the holiday season. We really see the difference in the child's life we've supported, and it's great to get a personal letter from her.

I'm going to be auctioning an item every month on eBay to raise money to support another child or hopefully, children, through Compassion International. Check out their website - they've just received their 7th consecutive 4-star rating by Charity Navigator. I'll share some of the letters we get from the children that we all can help. Each auction will feature a different item from various tours that I have been on.

This month I'll put up this drum head and a pair of drumsticks for auction. Go to my Charity Auctions page to click on the eBay link.

Blue Oyster Cult

I have been out on the road with Blue Oyster Cult these last few weeks and what a blast. Just filling in for a friend of mine who just had a beautiful baby boy. We are playing all their hits from Cities on Flame, Reaper, Godzilla , and Burning For You. The Band is Smokin. We just finished a few shows with Joan Jett, Peter Frampton and .38 Special. Everyone asks me about more cowbell well here it is. I don't think you can get more than this.


When I was getting ready to do sound check I got some really great advice from J.R., a security guard backstage. It's funny, what he is saying takes so many of us drummers so long to figure out.



Next month I will be out with Marya Roxx. Check out her new site or stop by her forum and leave a message.

Motley Crue Contest!

Here's a cool new competition. If you register at the link below you can then vote for Marya to be support for The Crue's 2009 tour.

Winding Down

Well this leg of the tour is winding down. We are out for three more shows then heading home. I want to thank all the Meat fans for such a great run.
When I get home I will be playing with Blue Oyster Cult for a few weeks, so I guess I will have to dust off my cowbell and Godzilla mask. I hope to see some of you at the shows. I will post the shows on my site. I will also be opening up a day teaching in NY in my new studio.

I have received a lot of emails regarding the monstrous sound of the drums this tour ,
I first have to thank George Wehrlin, our front of house engineer, and TC, our Monitor engineer. But also Earthworks.



This tour we have added Earthworks Live Drum Kit miking System .This system consists of two over head microphones and a Kick mic The Earthworks overheads added a clarity to my drum sound that I never had. It really brought my sound of 5 drums 10 cymbals and one cowbell to sound like one musical instrument. My monitor mix went from having 15 inputs for a drum mix, into just my two overhead microphones and a kick microphone, and never sounded better.
I can't wait to get home and try these in my studio.

Stonehenge Trip

We just finished our first couple of shows in the UK. We have gone from Liverpool, the home of the Beatles to beautiful Bath and then on to Nottingham. On our trip from Bath to Nottingham we passed right by Stonehenge and decided to stop. Here is a little video I put together from our trip.