(Taken from the Santa Monica Blvd. exit of the 101 freeway)

Hey everybody! Had a fun gig tonight w/ Jennifer Hasty and band over at the M-Bar in Hollywood. Cool room and a great crowd. I'm doing a few gigs a month w/ Jennifer so make sure to check my schedule for the next one. The super cool part about the club is that the salsa club El Floridita is right next door so as I was loading out I was listening to a killer charanga band!


I also just got a call from my friends Craig and Mary Durst from the smooth jazz group 2azz1 and I will now be performing with them April 19 at Spaghettini's in Seal Beach. Spaghettini's is the new "hip" smooth jazz spot so I'm sure it will be fun. I will also be w/ the group at the club on May 28 celebrating the release of their new album. I'm doing a handful of other gigs w/ them as well the next many months so check out my calendar for those. Craig and Mary put on a great show and play some pretty groovin' tunes. You can visit their website at www.2azz1.com

Thursday night was pretty killer as well. I went to hear a student of mine play at a local high school and stuck around at the end to hear the a local all-star big band that the high school's director had put together. To my surprise my first drum teacher Ron Schrock was playing! Ron is a great drummer and an amazing person. It was really cool to hear parts of my playing in my student and then hear Ron play and see where a lot of my playing came from! Ron to me is one of those great teachers that is more than a mentor but a life long friend. Every time I run into him I am always excited to "brag" a little bit about what I've been up to in hopes to make him proud. Through Ron I learned that the best teacher will work as hard if not harder than the student. It's taking that effort that can turn someones dream into a life based upon it. The trust and respect I have for him goes way beyond drumming and I am forever indebted that he made the time to make sure some kid who wanted to play the drums not only grew as a player but also kept his head on straight. Thanks Ron! I've been lucky to have studied w/ some of the absolute best in the world and I can 100% say that through every one of them I have gained a wealth of knowledge and was able to find more and more of my voice as a musician each lesson. Moral of the story: there is nothing more important than a good teacher and when you find that teacher study humbly, respectively and most of all don't ever forget to say thank you everytime you see them. It's the least anyone of us lifelong students can do.

I'm off to get my Pearl Jam tickets for the Los Angeles show on July 9th w/ my buddy Mason in the morning and then I'm off to Temecula to play w/ my bro Blake White. Check out our new record together at www.MySpace.com/WhiteWilsonBennett. Hannah's allergies have been real bad so I'm gonna go try to be the "good boyfriend" now and keep her company. Until next time...

- MB