Take a break from politics and enjoy

[mick063]

A recent tour of Canada. So proud of these kids.

&sns=em

[Warpy]

1. I miss steel bands

There were several that used to play on the street in Boston when I lived there.

There is absolutely no street life in this town. It sucks.

It sucks almost enough for me to face those Boston winters again and go home.

Almost.

[mick063]

2. Their traditional Trinidad stuff really gets you moving.

Can't do it justice unless you hear it live and get the proper acoustics.

[Warpy]

3. Oh, they got people moving in Boston

and they weren't playing shiny steel drums, these were beaters you knew had once held oil or other nasty things until the guy playing them had cleaned it out, sawed it in half, and started to hammer and tune multiple flat spots in the closed end. Most of them still had the notes written on them in Sharpie.

There were buskers from all over the world back there and yes, I always contributed.

[mick063]

4. The drums in this video were built by a man from Trinidad.

The set cost $35,000. The man who built them is considered one of the pioneers of both playing and constructing steel drums.

He grew up in the streets, poor, using old empty drums "borrowed" from a nearby Navy depot in the 1940's. He is in his eighties now.

This band also has a more traditional, "beat up" set, but only to demonstrate the difference in sound quality.


Edit: I hope he isn't considered too harshly. Half the world was destroyed in the 1940's. Not much more harm in a few empty drums considering the bigger scheme of things.

[Warpy]

5. Oh, I think turning detritus into a musical instrument is genius

The drums he liberated from the Navy would likely have been sunk offshore or just tossed in a garbage dump. Music is a far better fate than anyone could have imagined for them. I think history will treat him very well.

Other people have thought in more traditional terms: