Image from stewartcopeland.net
Last night I took Milo to see Stewart Copeland entertain a sold-out Kessler with stories starting with his childhood in Beirut through his recruiting of Sting to be in The Police, to meeting Andy Summers and Summers inviting himself to join, creating the band we’ve all known and loved since 1978’s Outlandos d’Amour. I was introduced to The Police by my babysitter in the early 80s. He thought they were the best band in the world. I was skeptical. At first.
You can’t be a drummer and not like Stewart Copeland’s playing.
Even if you’re not a drummer, if you’re of a certain age, the beginning of this video is chef’s kiss
Milo was bored, despite the f-bombs thrown about, and I was in pain, so we left at intermission. He also had to be up early for his band camp performance this morning at the Meyerson.
You can see a tiny part of his blonde head sticking out above a music stand in the back
Milo made the 2nd-best band at camp, with mostly kids older than him. He complained loudly before camp and for the first two days, but we made him go. By Wednesday he stopped complaining and started talking about it after being picked up from Booker T.
Our last child to attend this band camp, which is unusual for a public school system and attracts professional musicians to teach and conduct, was Penn. I had forgotten one of the most delightful aspects of this performance: the bands get better and better, from what you might expect from a middle school band, to what you might expect from a professional or semi-professional ensemble in a relatively large city. I was proud of Milo for making the level he did, and even though he didn’t get to play snare on any of the songs, he learned timpani for the first time. He wasn’t excited about that at first, but I tried to convince him the best, coolest band percussionists play timpani.
This morning I received an email from Vanessa Peters (she sang on God from Form) announcing Rip Rowan’s latest production effort, Fabrizio Guidotti’s Musica per Organo. My dad is an organist, and used to frequently play after dinner, so organ music has a special place in my heart. Rip engineered most of my records. And if you haven’t heard his own 1974 yet, well, you’re welcome.
Last night while watching Stewart hold court, I was continuously struck by how similar he and Rip are in speech patterns and mannerisms. And of course they are both brilliant drummers who love musical adventures, especially in a recording studio. Brothers from a different mother.