Meeting My Heroes, Part 1
When Pop and Mom first played Benny Goodman's "Sing, Sing, Sing" for me when I was nine years old, Gene Krupa became my first drumming hero. But once I discovered Buddy Rich a few years later he became my all-time biggest drumming hero. It wasn't that I thought I could ever play like Buddy (I knew you had to be born with that kind of genius), but to this day I've always admired his complete and total mastery of the instrument. Hearing and seeing Buddy Rich play when I was a kid was absolutely astonishing; he always seemed to do things on the drums that were humanly impossible. Stories of famous drummers jostling with each other for a ringside seat at Buddy's live performances are legion, as are stories of those same famous drummers being brought to tears witnessing Buddy's sheer command behind the drumset. In the days long before YouTube made millions of great performances available 24/7 with just a couple of screen taps or mouse clicks, getting to see B