The first batch of King Of Drums cassettes sold shockingly fast. Since the album’s release, I’ve been amazed by the consistent on-going interest in the album. So here’s some good news: a second run of cassettes has been made and they’re ready to go. And here’s some extra-exciting news. Pre-sales for King Of Drums vinyl is happening now too. I’m very psyched about this. In many ways, King Of Drums is a tribute to old records, so pressing this album to vinyl is beautiful thing to me. It feels right! We’re keeping the run fairly small. 300 copies only. My hunch is that they might go pretty quick like the cassettes have. So jumping the pre-sale might not be a bad idea if you want to get in on the action. Here’s what you do: click here to shoot over to the Handsmade label website and get yours. And to all of y’all that ordered a cassette and/or a CD from the initial run, I hope you’ve received your copy in the mail by now. If not, you should be seeing it soon.
Since the release of King Of Drums, my creative focus has shifted back to my monk work with drum breaks that I described in the Building Blocks post several weeks ago. The intention is to keep my focus there until the work is done. I’m performing my ablutions. To that end, the archeology has been quite exciting in recent weeks. A few days ago, I finally found a copy of a very rare record I had been looking for since the 90s. It’s a 45 from 1973 by Milly & Silly called “I’m A Xmas Tree”. On the b-side is a song called “Getting Down For Xmas” that opens with an ungodly drum break. I can’t believe I finally have it. And a few weeks ago, I found a copy of the #1 record on my ‘want list’: a very obscure Canadian library record. Top secret.
In other news, my baseball season has been a weird one so far. My team started very strong. We picked up a bunch of great players over the winter. But after our first handful of games, we were bit hard by the injury bug. We lost our best hitters. We lost some pitching. We’re currently on a 4-game losing streak. It’s a bummer. But on the plus side, my pitching has remained strong. I haven’t given up a hit all season! No hits! I’m feeling very confident with it right now. For every batter I face, I feel like I have a pitch to strike him out. I like knowing that there are situations where I can be counted on to help my team.
Talkin’ Honky Blues post coming tomorrow. Be on the lookout. Until then…