Email Jason or David for more info.

Here’s Dave’s drum solo – O Baterista (Lite). Enjoy! Comments are definitely welcome.

For those of you who have been around for a while, you know that, every band I’ve been in since I’ve had kids, I always make sure we take Thanksgiving through the first of the year off from gigs. This is family time, and the overhead from gigs just takes too much of a toll on me.

But heading towards the end of this year really sucked; the last two gigs were canceled so we ended up starting the break way earlier than intended. But for me, it turned out to be a much needed break.

I’ve had soreness in my forearms for as long as I can remember, just part of playing drums. But it got much worse this last August. My family doctor kept telling me it was lateral epicondylitis, or tennis-elbow, and I needed to let it rest.

For those of you who, like me until recently, don’t really know what tennis-elbow is, it is repetitive stress injury from overuse of the forearm muscles. There are small tears in the fibers of the tendon that attach the forearm muscle to the bone. Drummers are naturally quite susceptible to this injury, and in my case, by continuing to play, I made it much worse, to the point that I went to see an orthopedist in November. His conclusion was that the tennis-elbow had so inflamed the forearm muscle that it had caused the muscle to seize on the radial-nerve in my forearm (radial tunnel syndrome), and thus the pain had gotten much worse. My first thought was surgery, but fortunately he suggested we try physical therapy. So I went 3-times a week for a couple weeks and had someone torture me by rubbing my forearm right where the nerve was compressed (yes, it hurt like hell, but I had vicodin to take before each session). During this time, I was not to play the drums, and I did not.

In early December I went back to the orthopedist and he was able to determine that the physical therapy had worked and the muscle had released the nerve, so the pain now was from the tennis-elbow. He gave me an injection directly into the elbow-joint to help the heal the tears in the tendon. This, my friends, was one of the worst things I have ever had done to me on purpose!!! And I am still off the drums for at least another 3-weeks, when I will re-visit the orthopedist for an update, just after the first of the year.

I am really looking forward to the new year and my return to playing the drums. I always say that there are few things I enjoy more than playing the drums and I explained this to the doctors and that it was very important to me to be able to play pain-free. I am hopeful that all will work out in the end.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

David

P.S. One of the things I am often asked about my drumkit is, “…how much did all that cost???” So I am going back through all of my receipts and putting together a price list for my kit…I’ll try to get it out before Christmas so that it can help with some last minute gift ideas…

The stars finally aligned last weekend (Saturday, November 21st) when a friend of mine convinced me it was time to make the pilgrimage to San Antonio to see Texas’ most recent homage to our Canadian gods, ‘Exit Stage Left’. Not just another Rush tribute, in my eyes, as the band features the mad-scientist of metal, Ron Jarzombek on guitar.

For the uninitiated, Ron is best known for his work with Austin-based jazz metal pioneers WatchTower in the early 90’s. Over the past 15 years Ron’s many projects, including Spastic Ink and Blotted Science, have continued to produce mind-boggling metal; clearly informing the music of other technical bands, such as Cynic, Spiral Architect, and Necrophagist.

We arrived at the venue well before show time. Conversation on the trip there included a far-fetched scenario in which I would “run into” Ron before the show, introduce myself, and (naturally) get invited to sing with his band that night. *lol*

Upon entering, I immediately caught a glimpse of Ron onstage, along with bass player Pete Perez (who played on both of Ron’s ‘Spastic Ink’ releases), and drummer Roli Garcia (who I would find later in the evening to be a phenomenal player in his own right). We found a comfortable spot to sit (down in front, of course) and watched the respective players tweak knobs and get tuned up for the show. Shortly thereafter Ron set aside his custom-painted blue and yellow spattered guitar and drifted out onto the floor of the club. He was momentarily engaged by another audience member across the aisle. When they finished talking, I seized my opportunity: (Despite the joking above, I really had no agenda here…)

Me: “Hi Ron. My name is Jason. I sing for a Rush tribute in Dallas called ‘Anthem’. My friend and I just drove 5 hours to see you guys play tonight.”

Ron: “You said you sing for a Rush tribute?… Do you want to get up and do a song with us?”

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I actually managed to keep my cool. A few song titles were thrown around; first “Freewill”, then “Subdivisions”. Ron paused then said he wanted to go talk to his singer first, to make sure it was O.K. with her.

Amanda Ruiz, singer for Exit Stage Left, is an impressive performer. This woman has stage presence to burn. As it turned out E.S.L. is not purely a Rush tribute. After talking with the band, I found out that they found it difficult to find gigs *only* playing Rush songs and decided to pepper their set list with a heavy mix of metal favorites. Surprisingly Amanda could sing Pantera, Tool, and Rage Against The Machine with just as much muscle and conviction as she did some of the more melodic Rush selections, such as “Mission” and “Marathon”. (-Both surprising, but great, picks)

Ron came back from talking with her and asked if “Circumstances” would be O.K. with me. –Not only is that one of my all-time favorite Rush songs, but it’s also one I feel very comfortable singing. Perfect. (-Also, it occurred to me later that the title alone seemed apropos to the… well… circumstances.)

I was actually invited on stage moments later to soundcheck with the band. Ron said they hadn’t rehearsed “Circumstances” in a while, but we ran through it like a well-oiled machine. That experience alone was thrilling for me; getting to perform on stage with a man who is considered a legend among prog-metal geeks like me. However, I got to do it again “for real” two hours later when Ron invited me back on stage and introduced me to the audience. How did I do? After almost two months of hay-fever (and nearly losing my voice at our last 2 gigs), I sounded great! =D (Phew!…-sigh of relief-)

As a bonus that night, Chris Salinas (Power Of Omens, Zero Hour, and Mindcrime- Queensryche tribute) was there. He joined Exit Stage Left on stage for a killer rendering of “The Lady Wore Black”.

Needless to say I’ve been buzzing all week over my experience. However, in hindsight I must say how much fun the entire night was. This is a killer band playing a great mix of music. Artists they covered that night included Ozzy, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden and Van Halen (a rendition of “Hot For Teacher” that absolutely scorched!), in addition to groups mentioned above. Rush songs they performed included:

• Freewill
• Marathon
• Closer To The Heart
• Passage To Bangkok
• By-Tor & The Snowdog
• 2112 (Overture & Temples)
• Red Barchetta
• Limelight
• Tom Sawyer
• Spirit Of Radio
• Circumstances (!)
• Trees
• Anthem
• Mission

At the end of the night, I thanked Ron and told him the show was well worth the 5 hour drive. His response was, “30 minutes… maybe.” =D Regardless of his modesty, make the drive to San Antonio to see Exit Stage Left. It’s totally worth it.

Jason

AN EVENING WITH ANTHEM
A Tribute to Rush

SAT OCTOBER 10
DINO’S BAR & GRILL

2707 Race St
Fort Worth, TX 76111-2418
(817) 222-2608
www.myspace.com/dinoslive

Show starts at 9:30 pm
No opening act!

www.anthemonline.net
www.myspace.com/anthem2112
Twitter: @AnthemTX

Brought to you by the good makers of Tamiflu…

http://www.harderbeat.com/html/from_the_editor.html

Thanks Linda for 16 years of great support and for being an advocate for so many of us in the Dallas scene. HB will be missed!