My 50th High School Reunion Gig In Ft Lauderdale is now a memory..New Videos added

[Dave H.]

Sounded great Dan! Break a leg Brother!!

The Slawmeister

 

[michaelocalypse]

That's a neat gig, not too far from me either. Very cool to see everyone is still at it.

My high school class wasn't very cohesive. I didn't go to our 10th. Been wanting to contact two guys and start a Metallica cover band. Maybe we'll get to play our 20th. LOL

 

[nylontip]

Nice groove brother! I really enjoyed watching your video. Danny would be proud of you. (I just heard that song yesterday and it still sounds awesome)
Funny how it comes off as a straight forward song, but when you listen a few times, it has a nice little combination of fills, straight 8th bass drum parts and accent cuts to give it
smooth and unique drum beat.
Great job and love the 2002's !!!

 

[bellbrass]

Nice playing, Dan.

 

[DanRH]

Thank you all. It was a special evening for sure. I’m not sure we’ll do it again so it important to document it.

 

[RogersLudwig]

Sorry to hear about the virus. Are you vaccinated? How are you feeling?

 

[DanRH]

Sorry to hear about the virus. Are you vaccinated? How are you feeling?

Yup, full Monty with vaxes and boosters. I don’t feel bad, just a little fatigued and upper chest congestion. May even go for a walk later (all masked up of course). I should know by tomorrow.

 

[cornelius]

Take it easy Dan - hope you don't get hit as hard as I just did.

 

[DanRH]

Just got my results. Negative

 

[RogersLudwig]

Just got my results. Negative

So glad to hear that. Will you get tested again if you still feel badly? Do you have some home tests?

 

[DanRH]

So glad to hear that. Will you get tested again if you still feel badly? Do you have some home tests?

Since my last post, my wife got her result - positive

 

[cornelius]

Since my last post, my wife got her result - positive

Did you guys do PCR tests?

 

[pedro navahas]

You probably have it, those tests are all over the board.

 

[rwm5]

Did you test the drums? They can quarantine with me…

 

[dcrigger]

Since my last post, my wife got her result - positive

Yeah and if this exposure was last weekend, you're still on the early side for your negative result meaning much of anything. Hopefully both of you and your lady's vaxes, etc. will do good by you. Probably... we'll just certainly hope so.

Glad you had a great time at your event - I know you were looking forward to it.

 

[NitroBro2]

Update: We’ll it looks like the Reunion was a spreader event. My Bass player’s wife got sick the next day and tested positive. Several reports from the reunion committee are coming in that others have tested positive. My wife and I are both sick and are awaiting results from PCR tests, even though we tested negative at home tests. I’ve subbed out my gigs for this weekend with both my bands. Even if I test negative, I’m still not going to risk my band mates…

I’m going to say, it was worth it!

Damn!

Original Post:
This was an event that was planned well over a year ago. My band, The World of Matter was very popular when I was going to school in Miami Springs (Class of 71). They were going to go with a DJ and one of the committee members contacted me in 2020 and inquired what it woulld take to have us play. They wanted it to be special! We were honored to have been asked. I gave them a tentative..Yes. Contacted all the guys (I was the farthest away in Northern California and one of the keyboard players lives in Atlanta) and we got it together. I hired a good sound and light company (most of our fee went to paying those guy's but it was worth it). They were very good.

After breaking up in 1974, the band started getting together since 2005 for about five small concerts in South Florida. Surprisingly, we have a following, still after all these years. Last time we played was 2014. I developed a song list of songs we played (and some we didn't but were period correct) Three rehearsals happened a couple weeks ago, with our percussionist sitting in for me on drums. They sent me a tape of the rehearsals, so I was prepared as I could be. We also invited an old band mate from marching band to fill in for us on trumpet, replacing our sax player who passed in 2017. Since most knew him from school, it was a win-win situation. The bass player and guitarist are pro's and bro's so that was a given. The other keyboardist (not the one from Atlanta who mainly played piano), is a very solid musician on the Hammond organ and synth's. We had a very good rhythm section. The singers? A bit rusty but hey, it was about memories for all and I was happy the way it turned out. Especially for no rehearsal time for me...

Set list consisted of songs from the late 60's - early 70's. There was a lot of buzz on social media and it sold out.

My wife and I arrived in Ft Lauderdale on Wednesday. I took my 4.5x14 Tama Erskine snare, my cymbals, My EAD10, three camera's and tripods and a MacBook loaded with Logic Pro to capture the performance from the sound companies Behringer X32R. I had Gary Posey ship my new Mahogany Summit kit (22/13/16) to the percussionist (where I store a few things (pedals and another kit) house, which we went and unboxed on Thursday and made sure I had all the necessary hardware.. I had a spare Ming snare for a back up. The pedal was a brand new Speed Cobra pedal I had forgotten that I had shipped there a few years as well. I knew this thing would eventually happen. It did. Also, I re-boxed the kit to ship back to Northern Cali on Sunday. Shipping was $450!!!!!

Set up early Saturday (we were staying at the hotel, Bahia Mar on Ft. Lauderdale beach) the whole time to make it easier. Again, it did. The reunion committee were awesome to work with. Everyone was excited we were playing. At the Friday reception, most people didn't know who I was until they found I was in World of Matter. Funny. It was so much fun catching up with everyone, even high school crushes (yes, there was one in particular that I pointed my wife out to). Man, she aged quite nicely but I digress…My wife said that it was funny and of course it was!

Played two sets where we had to cut some songs as I thought they would run out of time. They did.

We played Santana, Marvin Gaye, Stylistics, Joe Cocker, and even our one and only original.

Just a stellar night with an awesome crowd reaction. They loved it!

Below is a drum cam view of one song, Beginnings. Audio is from the camera.

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Great story!! I did something similar for our 35th reunion in 2007. Toying with the idea again for another milestone reunion. High school band was called Genuine Leather.

 

[DanRH]

Here's a couple videos I was able to piece together. More coming soon.
Rainy Night in Georgis

Memphis