Places all drummers should visit

Places (that I've been to) that every drummer should visit if they can?

Drum Center of Portsmouth. Amazing. Mind boggling, the selection...and they have a pretty astounding museum section, too.

And while not specifically drum-related, if you get the chance to do the tour at Hitsville USA, the Motown Studios, by all means do so. Just staggering, being in the same studio where all that magic happened. And the drum kit is still there, so I suppose it ties in nicely

Canopus Drum store in Tokyo is fantastic. Of course, lots of Canopus drums, but they also have quite a few vintage drum kits and all kinds of cool stuff. It's a fantastic place. Zildjian factory tour is also amazing.

I checked one off my wishlist this fall, when we took a long delayed Washington DC/New York/Boston vacation. Now I've played in NYC many times, but rarely with nights off and never a Monday night off. And while I've never considered myself exclusively a jazz drummer (when I started out, we really did divide drummers up to that degree), but jazz, and particularly big bands, are a big chunk of my musical foundation. Bringing me to the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra, who while I was in college had a steady Monday night gig at the Village Vanguard jazz club. A hard gig to catch while living in Southern California. But they did it every Monday for years, then Thad Jones left for Europe - and they continued it under only Mel Lewis' name. Then Mel passed away.... And the band kept going, now called The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, continuing to play on Monday nights.... for around 50 years now.

So we scheduled our itinerary so we were free on a Monday night, got tickets, and I finally got to descend the extremely narrow staircase to this virtual jazz shrine. Scored a little table a couple of rows back from dead center of the band - and realized it had been decades that I'd sat in front of a big band period, let alone in a room like this. Lots of big flashbacks to scores of great musical memories.

Anyway the great John Riley drove this very well oiled, seasoned bus expertly through a big bundle of charts. My first opportunity to see John play live, which was a real treat, as was having the opportunity to meet him and chat briefly after the set.

Just a wonderful night of music - for any drummer in NYC on a Monday evening, I would highly recommend it.

BobC said:

I've heard about this place. The owner was a character, I've read. Can you tell us more?

Dale's Drum Shop in Harrisburg, PA is worth a stop. I've been shopping there now for a few years. Of course, DCP is a must. Would like to check out Fork's in Nashville, and Steve Maxwell's shop in Chicago.

My number one place to visit at this point has nothing to do with drums. I want to go to Italy and see Rome, and the southern part of the country, where my family came from. I also want to go to the Mississippi Delta and Memphis.

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I could tell many stories of the place. Bill R. (Faust was not his last name) and his family and my family did lots of stuff together in the 70's. His son (a drummer) was my introduction to playing and my first teacher. My brother also worked in the store probably in the early 70's. Our families lost touch with one another in the early 80's. The last time I saw any of the family was at Bill's funeral. From what I remember, Bill took the store over from his father and the store became quite successful in the early mid 60s due to the Beatles craze with Bill concentrating on drum sales/distribution.
For the time, the store was quite the drummer's treat. I remember you'd walk in the door, the glass counter was on the right, all the guitars hanging on wall behind that, and then there was the drum room on the left which was cordoned off with a big long stick. You dared not enter unless accompanied by Bill. I remember an extremely good representation of Ludwigs, Rogers, Slingerland, early Pearl and Sonor. Bill loved Sonor. I remember buying cymbals from Bill. You couldn't touch them or play them. HE "demonstrated" them to you and if he was in a good mood, he might let you tap it.
I did all my drum shopping there until the late 80's. Out of respect for Bill, I don't want to tell horror stories, there are some, but let's just say that shopping there just became too much to deal with. A purchase of a pair of sticks was a 45 minute affair with Bill going on about all manner of subjects not drum related. There were all kinds of stories about "secret" stashes of NOS Ludwigs, Slingys, Rogers, etc. that Bill had squirreled away in the basement of the place that no one was allowed to see and Bill had no problem adding to that folklore.
Ultimately, the store and its associated building fell into a state of disrepair and the stories of the treasure vault of drums didn't really turn out to be true.
The store is no longer there, the family sold the building, the area it's in, Bay View, (Milwaukee) has undergone a sort of renaissance so the real estate was very valuable. There's an apartment building in its place along with a slew of hipster bar/restaurants in the area.
Interesting piece of Milwaukee history Faust Music was.

ottog1979 said:

Bought my first drum set there (1977 Pearl fiberglass shells)! Made a T-shirt & picture in my drum room from this photo in an article about 10 years ago.

Old School

As an aimless explorer sort of person, I first wandered up to Faust Music late one afternoon in early 2010. The store’s lights were on, but the door was locked. This was during one of the long…

www.milwaukeemag.com

Former Faust Music hosts instrument liquidation sale

The former Faust Music, located at 2204 S. Kinnickinnic Ave., is hosting a one-day inventory liquidation sale on Saturday, Nov. 6. The sale runs from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. All transactions are cash only and final.

onmilwaukee.com

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Thanks for the pics! I think I have pics of the site after the demolition of the building. I'll have to check.

taiko said:

Canopus Drum store in Tokyo is fantastic. Of course, lots of Canopus drums, but they also have quite a few vintage drum kits and all kinds of cool stuff. It's a fantastic place. Zildjian factory tour is also amazing.

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Now that is a store I'd love to see. Trying to talk my wife into us visiting Japan.

Havana and/or Matanzas, Cuba.

John B said:

Now that is a store I'd love to see. Trying to talk my wife into us visiting Japan.

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Japan is fantastic. I've spent a total of about five years there and am in the process of building a house there for retirement.

John B said:

Well. The old Faust Music in Milwaukee was always a treat...

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Bill Faust was a character! He was pretty rough around the edges, but if you were among the 10% of customers that he liked, it was always a good experience. I feel privileged to have always been welcomed in his shop and bought more than a few things over the years.

Here's me buying a cymbal, what a surprise!

bermuda said:

Bill Faust was a character! He was pretty rough around the edges, but if you were among the 10% of customers that he liked, it was always a good experience. I feel privileged to have always been welcomed in his shop and bought more than a few things over the years.

Here's me buying a cymbal, what a surprise!

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Looks like a Faustian pact being made

We have a place like Faust's here in NJ called Robbie's Music, on Route 46 in Wayne. It was run by Charlie "Robbie". Originally, they had four stores, run by four brothers or family members, including one in downtown Newark. The Wayne store was/is a dusty old place, and Charlie was a real character who charged high prices. He passed away several years ago, and his daughter ran the place for a while, and got rid of all the high end instruments, preferring to stock pretty much nothing but low end merch. Robbie's always had a great selection of used gear. At one point, Charlie found a bunch of rare, unsold NOS electric guitars in his warehouse, and sold them all at a premium. He and I always got long just fine. In the end, he developed dementia.

One of the brother's was name Robert, so that's probably where the name Robbie's came about. I used to see Robert shuffling around in the Wayne store. He always looked disheveled and dirty. The family name was actually Ciarfella.

The daughter wants to sell the land and building. She also owns two or three lots around the store, so while Robbie's is technically still there, I don't think she's open very much. Places like Robbie's and Faust are a vanishing breed; the cruddy old music store run by an oddball.

Lots of great suggestion! I definitely plan to make it to DCP some day. The most likely places I could visit next would be in Nashville. A Zildjian tour would be awesome though!

Son of Vistalite Black said:

It would be great to see the Neil Peart Pavilion at Lakeside Park in his hometown of St. Catherines. A statue is in the works.

Neil Peart Memorial

Neil Peart Memorial at Lakeside Park Neil Peart Commemorative Task Force Port Dalhousie Lakeside Park Morgan MacDonald of The Newfoundland Bronze Foundry (Morgan Sculpture Inc.)

www.stcatharines.ca

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well, I know where am going on vacay this year!

I luckily got to visit Preservation Hall in NOLA 25 years ago, which to me, is sort of the birthplace of the drum set

got an unofficial tour of the Zildjian factory in 98 when we stopped by on a Saturday afternoon, and some of the workers were outside on smoke break. I rolled up and asked if they gave tours on weekends, and explained that I was leaving that night. One of the guys said, "come awn in" in a thick Boston accent, and he showed us the hammering and lathing areas - which is what they were doing that weekend; showed us the forge area, and the ingot room. He had been working there for 20 something years, and sort of told us his story in the factory. It wasn't the official tour, but I felt like I got a better one!!

@dcrigger 's story reminded me that I got to eat and see a show at Birdland in NYC 2 years ago. That was pretty cool, and I can't believe how easy it was to get the reso. Village Vanguard would be next...

and with DCI finals being in Indy all the time, I hit the Percussive Arts Society Museum as well on some of the trips

I would like to visit some of the famous drum shops as well...

bermuda said:

Bill Faust was a character! He was pretty rough around the edges, but if you were among the 10% of customers that he liked, it was always a good experience. I feel privileged to have always been welcomed in his shop and bought more than a few things over the years.

Here's me buying a cymbal, what a surprise!

View attachment 154352

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Wow! Thanks for that! Brings back memories of Bill.

If we are adding things like jazz clubs, there was a spot I went to close to where I usually stay in Japan. It was called Basie and it was very far out into the countryside in the northern part of Japan's main island of Honshu. Fantastic little club that got some great musicians in. These pictures are me with the owner of Basie, who was an interesting character and check out who signed the wall of the club in the other photo.

dcrigger said:

I checked one off my wishlist this fall, when we took a long delayed Washington DC/New York/Boston vacation. Now I've played in NYC many times, but rarely with nights off and never a Monday night off. And while I've never considered myself exclusively a jazz drummer (when I started out, we really did divide drummers up to that degree), but jazz, and particularly big bands, are a big chunk of my musical foundation. Bringing me to the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra, who while I was in college had a steady Monday night gig at the Village Vanguard jazz club. A hard gig to catch while living in Southern California. But they did it every Monday for years, then Thad Jones left for Europe - and they continued it under only Mel Lewis' name. Then Mel passed away.... And the band kept going, now called The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, continuing to play on Monday nights.... for around 50 years now.

So we scheduled our itinerary so we were free on a Monday night, got tickets, and I finally got to descend the extremely narrow staircase to this virtual jazz shrine. Scored a little table a couple of rows back from dead center of the band - and realized it had been decades that I'd sat in front of a big band period, let alone in a room like this. Lots of big flashbacks to scores of great musical memories.

Anyway the great John Riley drove this very well oiled, seasoned bus expertly through a big bundle of charts. My first opportunity to see John play live, which was a real treat, as was having the opportunity to meet him and chat briefly after the set.

Just a wonderful night of music - for any drummer in NYC on a Monday evening, I would highly recommend it.

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Very cool. This is a place I have yet to get to.

Redditch, Worcestershire, U.K., for the John Bonham Memorial statue. Amazing likeness, right?

taiko said:

Very cool. This is a place I have yet to get to.

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I've been to The Vanguard a bunch of times over the years. Tony Williams. Christian McBride. Chris Potter. More recently, last year, I took my 21 year old son to see Chris Potter. I have been taking him to clubs many time before. Blue Note. Iridium. But never The Vanguard. And the music I always took him to see was fusion. This was Chris Potter's band. I actually had not been fully conversant with his music or his ability before this but was totally blown away by him. I put him right up there with Brecker. What did my son think? "It was good but it was a little too avant garde for me." I had to laugh. That was exactly what I LIKED about it. The difference between me and my son is my first drum lessons were jazz. I was introduced to Buddy Rich, Charlie Persip (my teacher's mentor), Count Basie, etc. My son did connect with a local jazz bassist that I found for him for lessons and he really got a lot out of those lessons. But he never really had the jazz foundation I did. My fault. I was too fusion oriented. I guess I still have more work to do. May be too late.

Any 5 Star Drum shop. Used and vintage shops are also pretty fun.

The Rock'n Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. Pro Tip, touring acts get in FREE with your touring credentials...

I also highly recommend taking tours of factories and offices whenever available. Growing up in a guitar repair shop have me a taste for seeing how the sausage is made.

If you're ever in Montreux, Switzerland... The Queen Studio Experience at the Casino there is really cool (especially if you like Queen). But they have a room with an interactive mixing board that Roger Taylor introduces in a short video by explaining the drums should be the loudest instrument. You can then remix one or two of Freddie's last recordings and make the drums as loud as you like!