I’m not talented enough to have been in his band. But were I, I doubt I’d stand for this.
2 thoughts on “Buddy Rich, First Class Asshole”
Comments are closed.
A place of politics, culture, and discourse
A place of politics, culture, and discourse
Comments are closed.
I was lucky enough to see him before he died. He was playing the Des Moines Civic Center in Iowa and I was a budding 11 year old drummer. There was some goofball in the audience who, everytime Buddy would start going into a solo, started screaming things like, “Yeah, baby!” or “Go, Daddy!” After a few of these solo interruptions, Rich leans into his microphone, mid-solo, doesn’t miss a beat and tells the guy to “Shut the hell up.” So yeah, I can see that, if Rich were able to do that to a paying customer, he surely could do worse to his band.
As an aside, I left that concert as depressed and discouraged as a boy could be. I knew that no matter the amount of time and energy devoted, I could never be that good. Or maybe I realized that, to even try would be an all-consuming venture and one I had no interest in pursuing. Yeah, I wanted to be that good, but not at that price.
Neil Peart did the same thing to me. Just made me feel that someone had climbed as high as could be climbed. Everything that came after would be imitation. And probably not good imitation.Report
Man, I heard this about 10 years ago, and have meant to track it down. It’s insane.Report