MMR magazine (musical merchandise review) published a percussion market survey in their current november issue. various u.s. retailers are quoted in that article. one of them is jeremy hammons of auburn guitar shoppe in auburn, alabama. he says about the percussion market:

"This is a tough, highly competitive market that switches trends in an instant. It's increasingly difficult to stay ahead of what's cool for next year. It's nice to have companies like Mapex and Meinl that not only follow trends, but also set a standard of cool that customers want to be around and be a part of."

that's a strong statement! thank you jeremy for your recognition and acknowledgement of our efforts.

most of the staff working in our factory are music lovers. anytime an artist, of which our guys are fans of, visits our factory, they want his autograph written on the actual machine they are working on day by day. today benny greb hung out at the factory. thorsten, who is a great fan of benny, had him sign our ultra-sound-cleansing machine. thorsten works on that machine every day. and benny's cymbals (as well as almost all others) are being cleansed in it. other artists have signed other machines on which their cymbals are made on. that's a nice way to connect our workers with our cymbals and with our artists. our guys identify themselves even more with our cymbals. it's a great motivation for them and a nice gesture from the artists showing their respect.

i know that for a very long time now, benny has been working on his instructional dvd. long before any of the actual recordings have started, benny was thinking about the educational concepts, contents, and look of the dvd. we have had many conversations about it and benny filled me in on some of his ideas. already then it has sounded new and exciting to me. later on, benny began to speak with rob and paul from hudson music about all the other negotiations, financial issues, and a lot of other things.

all of a sudden the recordings for the dvd began. it seemed like as if things were going according to everyone's plan and everything got done quickly. everytime i spoke with him about the recordings, i had the feeling as if he was happy with the outcome. knowing benny and how picky he can be, i kind of already figured that the dvd will be very special.

times goes on - and benny did all the editing and mastering. at that time finally i was able to see some of pictures from the recordings. that was about two months ago.

then, i will never forget, benny and i hung out at the superdrumming festival in austria together with felix lehrmann at his hotelroom until five in the morning and benny showed us some finalized dvd-footage on his laptop. neither i, nor felix have seen anything like it before. benny's true and original humour is captured in many ways, the camera work is unique, and benny's lifelong practising and studying finds its peak on that dvd.

last week at pasic in austin, texas all of benny's main sponsors (namely meinl, sonor, promark, remo, and hudson) got together to discuss the promotion of benny and his dvd for 2009. a lot of brainstorming and ideas were shared and now it's our job to channel all our efforts in the right direction to get the most out of it. trust me, there will be a lot going on next year :-)

to begin with, here is the official dvd teaser. it gives you a nice little preview about how it is going to look like. a series of five sneak-preview video podcasts have also been produced. the first one will go live on december 01st. stay tuned for those.

on a personal note: due to the nature of my job, i own almost all instructional drum dvd's available. some of them are nice to watch. with some others, i have started to actually begin practicing again in order improve my own playing. so far i have always failed and stopped working with them. benny's upcoming dvd is titled "the language of drumming - a system of musical expression". it kind of shows you the "DNA" of drumming and how to use it musicaly. benny explained some of DNA concept that to me already and i promise that with that dvd i will get back into my practice space to further develop my own playing. benny and his concept is going to be extremely motivational and fits for players of all levels whether you are a beginner or pro. to me, benny is one of the most inspirational artists (not just drummers) in the world right now.

enjoy the teaser, and everything else that is going to come our way.

Hello out there,

I´m not the one who is blogging a lot but this time I have to let something hear from me. I had the extraordinary pleasure to do a clinic tour with Meinl cymbals artist Stef Broks of the Dutch metal band Textures. This was the first time ever, he did a Meinl clinic tour and I was really curious about what will come. . . Someone told me, if you don´t find the right words, use the words of someone else, who hit the spot. So, Marcus Hünd (Vanilla Music - Den Haag) said: "Stef is only inches away from being genius!" And this is true!

Stefs drumming was a new experience and he is a natural talented teacher what gave his clinic a down to earth atmosphere. The mixture of playing songs and explayning techniqes from easy patterns to pretty complex polyrhythems offered for all, youngsters as grown, drummers, something new, interesting or just entertaining. The way Stef explained his drumming did not leave any questions open and I took so much with me to practise my wrists wound ;-) For more info about Stef and Textures click here.

Thanks Stef!

And also thanks again to the nice people of:

> Rock a Music - Namur (Namen) B

> Drumstation - Eindhoven, NL

> Drumstudio 106 - Breda, NL -> by the way, Stefs hometown!

> and Vanilla Music - Den Haag, NL

I hope to see some of you the next time I have the pleasure to be on tour with Stef!

Check out some pics...

Thomas

Howdy,

Well, I returned home yesterday from another fine PASIC. This year's event was a lot fun. Derek Roddy and Johnny Rabb both gave outstanding performances that had audiences mesmerized and astounded at both artists' seemingly limitless musical abilities.

Austin was a lot fun and it seemed that the drumming community did its part in helping to keep it weird ("Keep Austin Weird" is the un-official town motto...).

I have posted some pics. Check 'em out...

Take care,

- Chris

Howdy,

Well Charlie Brown, another US election has come and gone, and I am here to say that I am currently living in what has been affirmed as of last night as a different America. Whether you the reader thinks that's a good or bad thing, I will leave to you to silently decide, however, I had to bring that up since it is the MAIN topic of discussion these days in the States.

...And I am sure it will be a main topic of discussion at PASIC 2008, the Percussive Arts Society International Convention happening November 05, 06, 07, and 08 in awesome Austin, Texas. PASIC is the Percussive Arts Society's annual shin-dig, where manufacturers get together on a trade show floor and display their products, while artists and educators give performances and work-shops for those interested in learning. It's always a great event. Shoot, any event where it's just drummers can't be a bad thing, right???

I leave tonight, flying from Nashville down to Austin and I can honestly say that I am looking forward to a few days worth of a hang with my peers, partners, co-workers and friends in the drumming industry. Out of all of the trade shows that I attend, I have come to enjoy PASIC the most.

Meinl Cymbals will help host clinics by Derek Roddy and Johnny Rabb. Meinl Percussion will help host clinics by Luis Conte, Take Hirano and Gilson de Assis. Meinl Cymbals and Percussion will be in booth #212, so please stop by if you happen to be at the convention, say hello and check out all we have to offer...which incidentally is all on sale at some awesome discounts.

Take care.

- Chris

Howdy,

Just an fyi to all of you drum aficionados out there...

Meinl Cymbal artist Derek Roddy has just released his book, "The Evolution of Blast Beats" through Hudson Music. You can check out a video infomercial about this extremely cool publication at meinlcymbals.com in the video section.

Derek's book, as explained in the video, is good not only for learning the ins and outs of blast beats, but also for balance and coordination, two essentials for any serious drummer. Trust me, Derek has those two attributes, among many others, down in spades! A very cool book by a very cool drummer. Check it out.

By the way, I can't resist to share this with somebody..anybody!!!... - as most of you have deduced by now, I am a fan of metal. I love pretty much all types of music, but metal was my first true love. That being said, I just wanted to share a great album with any of you who may care - Cavalera Conspiracy's debut album "Inflikted." If there is a better metal song than "Black Arc" right now, I want to know about it!!! Hope you enjoy.

- Chris