Buddy Rich, First Class Asshole

Jon Rowe

Jon Rowe is a full Professor of Business at Mercer County Community College, where he teaches business, law, and legal issues relating to politics. Of course, his views do not necessarily represent those of his employer.

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2 Responses

  1. mark boggs says:

    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

  2. Jonathan says:

    Man, I heard this about 10 years ago, and have meant to track it down. It’s insane.Report