(dictated but not read)

Jeff Ocheltree Custom Antique Bronze 8x14 Snare Drum ($2,999.00)

Jeff Ocheltree Custom Antique Bronze 7x13 Snare Drum

• Jeff Ocheltree is arguably the most famous drum tech in the world.
• He essentially taught John Bonham how to tune drums and has worked with countless famous drummers in his career.
• This drum costs roughly $2,700.00
• do want

Here’s the kit with the late 80’s Ludwig Black & White Badge snare drum I was gifted last week.

Over the summer I inherited a 26 inch Ludwig Stainless Steel John Bonham (Blue/Olive Badge) Bass Drum from my uncle. It is huge and badass.

After months of checking ebay every day, I finally found and purchased two matching toms. A 9x13 rack tom and a 16x16 floor tom will be here next Wednesday and I’m super excited to finally own a full matching kit.

And to put the icing on the cake, I did some pro-bono promotional photographs for my friends’ band BREATHING BLUE the other day, and I mentioned buying the drums. Well, it just so happened that they picked up a late 80’s chrome-over-aluminum Ludwig (Black and White Badge) snare drum while they were out on tour, and they gifted it to me. I put some new heads on it, tuned it up, and it sounds pretty beefy. Now my entire set matches and I’m stoked to take it out on tour at the end of February with Pizza Face.

Just finished reading Stephen Davis’ book LZ-‘75 about Led Zeppelin’s 1975 North American Tour.

• The story behind the book is that Davis went on the tour to write an article for The Aquarian, a monthly magazine trying to appeal to a younger crowd. Later, when he was writing his NY Times Best-selling biography about Led Zeppelin, Hammer of the Gods, he thought that the 1975 tour deserved it’s own book. However, he lost the notebooks containing all his notes from the tour, only to re-discover them in 2005 after moving, and finally wrote the book.
• This is the same tour Cameron Crowe would go on, basing his film Almost Famous on his experiences covering Led Zeppelin for Rolling Stone.
• In the above picture of Robert Plant, he stepped out onto the balcony (post-interview with Davis), declaring to Davis “I am a Golden God.” Apparently he did this many times on the tour, with many people.
• This book made me slightly dislike John Bonham. I am a drummer. Part of my drumset is a blue/olive badge stainless steel bass drum, John Bonham signature series from the late 70’s. But Davis writes about how his bandmates referred to him behind his back as “the beast” because of his alcoholism and the violent/agressive state it would leave him in.