I have a Drum
"Millions of fingers! Millions of thumbs! Millions of monkeys, Drumming
on drums!"
- Dr. Seuss, Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb
I have a drum, and it is good.
It's a Remo 12" key-tuned Djembe in "Earth" color.
Much thanks to
Time in
helping me pick it out. I wanted an organic.. for all the obvious
reasons.. being more natural. But I was sufficiently convinced that
it would require an unreasonable amount of care. I read of a bunch
popping after a little rain, and saw bad reactions to the idea of taking
an organic drum camping. And what good is a drum if I can't bring it
with me into the woods ? Key tuned because I believe it's the easiest.
I picked a Remo probably mostly because of popularity. The size and
color were completely whim (as I believe it should be).
The process of buying the drum turned out to
be much more of an adventure than I had hoped.
Jack's Drum Shop was the first
that I talked to that carried Remo Djembes. They had the 10", 14", and
16" in stock, but not the 12" I believed I wanted. They also carried
Dumbeks, which I was interested in trying. The closest store was
Daddy's Junky Music (which admittedly
I put off looking into because of the name) in Cambridge. Daddy's had
two ~12" Remo Djembes on their show floor, one on the color I wanted
(earth). I was tempted to go to both, so I could try them all out and
get the one I liked best. I ended up deciding just to go to Daddy's.
Once I got there, I couldn't find it. I called them up again, and
discovered that that shop had actually moved someplace far away.
And Jack's was going to be closed before I could get there. I was PISSED.
Then it occurred to me that there was another Daddy's in Boston,
so I called them to see if I could reasonably get there, and it turned
out they could, and that this was actually the shop I had been talking
to, possibly because I wrote the number down wrong, I don't know. So I
got off the subway stop that Daddy's recommended, and promptly managed
to get lost. Then I noticed a big neon sign saying something like "We
love drums.", but the store's name was obscured by snow. So of course,
I went in, mumbling "Remo Djembe". The guy asked if I'd called earlier.
I said "I might have, what's the name of this place?" "Jack's Drums."
"Yes, yes I did." So I got to play the 10", 14", and 16" drums, which
I am very happy about. I was happily even more convinced that I wanted
a 12". The salesman tried to convince me anything under 14" was too small
for proper hand placement. He failed. He said they would probably get
more in about a week. I said I'd call, thanked him for his assistance,
and wandered outside. Being completely lost (on very major roads), I
called Daddy's yet again. He graciously guided me the less than 3 blocks.
I met the guy at Daddy's I'd been talking to all day just after I
walked in. We knew who each other were as soon as I mentioned Remo
Djembes, and he showed me to them. His name is Rubin. Right away,
I saw the drum I wanted, and was very happy about it. Being paranoid
or something, I wanted some verification that this was, in fact, a 12",
and not my hallucination. He pulled out a 12" drum head, and verified
they were the same size. I said I wanted it. He got me an unopened box.
I paid, thanked him again, stated that I should've done this long ago,
and went on my way.
It came in a well padded box, which was quite bulky, and a pain to
take home via two subways and a bus, but very worth it.
So I have a drum, straddled between my knees. Now all I need is some
warm weather, fire, dancers, and a few more drummers.
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