Welcome to Ga-Lun-La-Ti Observatory! I'm glad you found your way to my strange part of the universe. Click the links above or on the left to see more of the site.

Music

I have been playing drums since I was 5.  I think I learned to talk , then walk and then right after that I started playing the drums :-)  I started playing live with groups when I was 6 and 40 years later I'm still at it except I just play at home now.  When I met Laura I was glad to find out she played clarinet and keyboards and now we play together just for fun.

I guess I'm getting kind of old to be bashing away on my drums but I still practice a couple of times a week for stress relief and cause I can't quite give it up.  I read somewhere that rock drummers burn as many calories as athletes and I definitely need all the help I can get in that category.  Hopefully one or more of the boys will be interested in learning and I've already seen Niko keep basic time and do simple runs so I'm sure they can if they want to.  Anyway, here are a few shots of the kids bashing away and my hybrid set.

 
Here is rocker Niko when he was about one and a half or two.  I have newer pics of him playing but none are as cute as these.


And here is Niko playing Laura's Korg and singing twinkle twinkle little star at the top of his lungs.  The more we laughed, the louder he sang.  Notice the spider man sleepware.


I have been playing for almost 40 years but I have only owned 3 drumsets.  When I was playing with groups, my sets got drug a million miles.  Even then, they last along time if you take care of them.  My current set started life as a normal 5 piece accoustic set of Pearls.  A while later I got a set of Roland electric drums.  I liked the flexibility of the electrics but I liked the feel and size of the accoustics.  The cymbal pads on the electric set were so hard that I think I fractured my right hand practicing and played in pain for a couple of years.  I started looking for a better way.

 
I pulled the brain from the electric set and sold the pads and stands on EBAY.  I used the money to buy better electric symbals (visulites) and mesh heads and triggers for all my accoustic drums.  I pulled the normal accoustic heads off and put my Zildjian cymbals in storage.  I now have an electric set that looks and plays like an accoustic set but has all the flexibility and power of a set of Rolands.

 
If I ever need to switch back to accoustic, I just swap heads and cymbals and I'm ready to go.