These are 5th grade kids performing on buckets...inspired by Jared Choclatt Crawford....
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Break! show Drummer - Hittin' on the buckets
Break the Urban Funk Spectacular
A distinctive American art form with hazy African roots that run deep through the streets of inner cities, Hip Hop defies easy definition. Comprised of five elements - Dance, MC (or “rap”), DJ, Graffiti, and Fashion - each component is improvised and recombined in a myriad of rhythms and styles so that Hip Hop reinvents itself continually.
Though the exact origins of Hip Hop are unclear, dance elements hearken back to an African tradition, involving a variety of footwork patterns, spinning and gymnastic type moves, Hip Hop dancing has been heavily influenced by a number of sources. Some consider James Brown and his 1969 hit: "Get on the Good Foot", one of the starting points. Inspired by his energetic, almost acrobatic dance on stage, many people began dancing on the "Good Foot," often incorporating moves that involved dramatic drops and spins.
Martial-arts films, which were extremely popular in the 1970s, contributed some of the more spectacularly muscular and acrobatic elements to this burgeoning urban dance phenomena. The term, "Breakdancing" actually arose with the growing recognition of this art form by the media. The early 80's "battles" between dance crews, attracted the attention of the public and "Breaking" "B-Boy-ing" or "Breakdancing" became associated with other street dance styles such as "Locking" and "Popping".
BREAK! The Urban Funk Spectacular traces the history of Hip Hop Dancing over the last thirty years. It is a tribute to this American urban art form. Cast members are supremely talented artists from the world of "Breakdancing", "Locking", "Electric Boogaloo" or "Popping," Power Tumbling, as well as DJ-ing and Bucket Drumming. Many have been featured soloists in performances with such show-business legends as Madonna, Janet Jackson, B2K, 50 Cents, Ringo Star, Whitney Houston, Puff Daddy and Luther Vandross.
BREAK! - based in New York City - has received standing ovations across five continents for its sensational show.
http://www.breakshow.com/
A distinctive American art form with hazy African roots that run deep through the streets of inner cities, Hip Hop defies easy definition. Comprised of five elements - Dance, MC (or “rap”), DJ, Graffiti, and Fashion - each component is improvised and recombined in a myriad of rhythms and styles so that Hip Hop reinvents itself continually.
Though the exact origins of Hip Hop are unclear, dance elements hearken back to an African tradition, involving a variety of footwork patterns, spinning and gymnastic type moves, Hip Hop dancing has been heavily influenced by a number of sources. Some consider James Brown and his 1969 hit: "Get on the Good Foot", one of the starting points. Inspired by his energetic, almost acrobatic dance on stage, many people began dancing on the "Good Foot," often incorporating moves that involved dramatic drops and spins.
Martial-arts films, which were extremely popular in the 1970s, contributed some of the more spectacularly muscular and acrobatic elements to this burgeoning urban dance phenomena. The term, "Breakdancing" actually arose with the growing recognition of this art form by the media. The early 80's "battles" between dance crews, attracted the attention of the public and "Breaking" "B-Boy-ing" or "Breakdancing" became associated with other street dance styles such as "Locking" and "Popping".
BREAK! The Urban Funk Spectacular traces the history of Hip Hop Dancing over the last thirty years. It is a tribute to this American urban art form. Cast members are supremely talented artists from the world of "Breakdancing", "Locking", "Electric Boogaloo" or "Popping," Power Tumbling, as well as DJ-ing and Bucket Drumming. Many have been featured soloists in performances with such show-business legends as Madonna, Janet Jackson, B2K, 50 Cents, Ringo Star, Whitney Houston, Puff Daddy and Luther Vandross.
BREAK! - based in New York City - has received standing ovations across five continents for its sensational show.
http://www.breakshow.com/
Choclatt on the Buckets
Jared Crawford Choclatt Started playing Buckets in the Subway & streets of New York city. He has worked with Savion Glover, Lauryn Hill, Alicia Keys, Kelis, Amarie, and Beyonce. He is also one of the original cast member of 4 tony award winning musical Bring in da Noise Bring in da Funk & Creator of musical Hit IT . Enjoy
Essence of Bucket Drumming in Union Square
It has been a while since my last posts but here is a great Bucket Drummer. His name is Ray King and he plays at the Union Square, subway in NYC. Enjoy this great video. Its amazing what you can do with some plastic buckets.
Monday, September 1, 2008
Bucketman Takes It To The Streets
Chris Harris, aka The Bucketman, often plays under the Morgan Street overpass near the St. Pete Times Forum. On June 12, he played for people leaving the Pearl Jam concert.
DOWNTOWN - On any given night, music lovers leaving the St. Pete Times Forum seem to continue the party on the way to their cars.
Sitting under the overpass on Morgan Street, Chris Harris, aka The Bucketman, stops them in their tracks with his fast-paced rhythms beat out on plastic pickle buckets.
The street performer makes his living this way (supporting a wife and three children), playing after every hockey game and most concerts at the Forum, as well as after Tampa Bay Rays games at Tropicana Field. He also travels the Southeast playing at concerts and festivals including Gasparilla, New Orleans' Mardi Gras and Savannah's St. Patrick's Day celebration.
Harris, 36, had private drum lessons while growing up in St. Petersburg, and by the time he was a Dixie Hollins High School senior, he was helping teach percussion at nearby Boca Ciega High School. He trained with Drum Corps International, a national, competitive youth marching band.
Harris earned a business degree from the University of South Florida and taught percussion in Pinellas County schools. In the mid-1990s, he played buckets on Seventh Avenue in Ybor City before hitting the road.
Q. Why buckets?
A. When I was a kid I saw the buckets in a television commercial and thought it was the neatest thing. Then, in 1995, some bucket players came to Tampa from New York City and I saw the opportunity they had and knew I could do it. I knew the training I received in the drum corps would convert to buckets, but it was like starting over because it was so different.
Q. How do buckets differ from drums?
A. Buckets don't return energy like a regular drum does. The bucket absorbs a lot of the energy.
Q. Do you play other instruments?
A. I play bass guitar, and I'm a full percussionist.
Q. Your performances seem to demand the energy of a full-contact sport. How do you stay in shape?
A. What I do to keep my body in shape is the martial art of aikido, a Japanese defensive art. The physical training is part of my lifestyle and I constantly try to apply the principal of ki spirit or life energy to my playing. ... When I play, all my muscles are relaxed.
Q. What do you enjoy about performing?
A. I fell into street performing and fell in love with being able to share my talent unconditionally. You can watch my show and walk away. You can watch my show and give me a $100 bill. ... When I'm done playing, I'm on an emotional high. I feel great about what I've done. When you have 1,000 people screaming at you because of what you do, it's really great.
Q. What was your biggest tip and the most memorable?
A. A guy saw me playing in Clearwater and he gave me his drum set, which was worth $1,400. In Savannah on St. Patrick's Day, I made $2,400 in one eight-hour day of the festival. That was the most in one day. At Gasparilla one year, a guy with his head wrapped completely in paper towels gave me a $100 bill. You never know what people will do.
Q. What do you hope people get from your music?
A. My job is to take them out of their life for 15 minutes and leave them walking away with a smile on their face and an impression that hard work pays off.
BUCKET MANIA
For information on Chris Harris, go to www.bucketdrummer.com.
DOWNTOWN - On any given night, music lovers leaving the St. Pete Times Forum seem to continue the party on the way to their cars.
Sitting under the overpass on Morgan Street, Chris Harris, aka The Bucketman, stops them in their tracks with his fast-paced rhythms beat out on plastic pickle buckets.
The street performer makes his living this way (supporting a wife and three children), playing after every hockey game and most concerts at the Forum, as well as after Tampa Bay Rays games at Tropicana Field. He also travels the Southeast playing at concerts and festivals including Gasparilla, New Orleans' Mardi Gras and Savannah's St. Patrick's Day celebration.
Harris, 36, had private drum lessons while growing up in St. Petersburg, and by the time he was a Dixie Hollins High School senior, he was helping teach percussion at nearby Boca Ciega High School. He trained with Drum Corps International, a national, competitive youth marching band.
Harris earned a business degree from the University of South Florida and taught percussion in Pinellas County schools. In the mid-1990s, he played buckets on Seventh Avenue in Ybor City before hitting the road.
Q. Why buckets?
A. When I was a kid I saw the buckets in a television commercial and thought it was the neatest thing. Then, in 1995, some bucket players came to Tampa from New York City and I saw the opportunity they had and knew I could do it. I knew the training I received in the drum corps would convert to buckets, but it was like starting over because it was so different.
Q. How do buckets differ from drums?
A. Buckets don't return energy like a regular drum does. The bucket absorbs a lot of the energy.
Q. Do you play other instruments?
A. I play bass guitar, and I'm a full percussionist.
Q. Your performances seem to demand the energy of a full-contact sport. How do you stay in shape?
A. What I do to keep my body in shape is the martial art of aikido, a Japanese defensive art. The physical training is part of my lifestyle and I constantly try to apply the principal of ki spirit or life energy to my playing. ... When I play, all my muscles are relaxed.
Q. What do you enjoy about performing?
A. I fell into street performing and fell in love with being able to share my talent unconditionally. You can watch my show and walk away. You can watch my show and give me a $100 bill. ... When I'm done playing, I'm on an emotional high. I feel great about what I've done. When you have 1,000 people screaming at you because of what you do, it's really great.
Q. What was your biggest tip and the most memorable?
A. A guy saw me playing in Clearwater and he gave me his drum set, which was worth $1,400. In Savannah on St. Patrick's Day, I made $2,400 in one eight-hour day of the festival. That was the most in one day. At Gasparilla one year, a guy with his head wrapped completely in paper towels gave me a $100 bill. You never know what people will do.
Q. What do you hope people get from your music?
A. My job is to take them out of their life for 15 minutes and leave them walking away with a smile on their face and an impression that hard work pays off.
BUCKET MANIA
For information on Chris Harris, go to www.bucketdrummer.com.
DOWNTOWN - On any given night, music lovers leaving the St. Pete Times Forum seem to continue the party on the way to their cars.
Sitting under the overpass on Morgan Street, Chris Harris, aka The Bucketman, stops them in their tracks with his fast-paced rhythms beat out on plastic pickle buckets.
The street performer makes his living this way (supporting a wife and three children), playing after every hockey game and most concerts at the Forum, as well as after Tampa Bay Rays games at Tropicana Field. He also travels the Southeast playing at concerts and festivals including Gasparilla, New Orleans' Mardi Gras and Savannah's St. Patrick's Day celebration.
Harris, 36, had private drum lessons while growing up in St. Petersburg, and by the time he was a Dixie Hollins High School senior, he was helping teach percussion at nearby Boca Ciega High School. He trained with Drum Corps International, a national, competitive youth marching band.
Harris earned a business degree from the University of South Florida and taught percussion in Pinellas County schools. In the mid-1990s, he played buckets on Seventh Avenue in Ybor City before hitting the road.
Q. Why buckets?
A. When I was a kid I saw the buckets in a television commercial and thought it was the neatest thing. Then, in 1995, some bucket players came to Tampa from New York City and I saw the opportunity they had and knew I could do it. I knew the training I received in the drum corps would convert to buckets, but it was like starting over because it was so different.
Q. How do buckets differ from drums?
A. Buckets don't return energy like a regular drum does. The bucket absorbs a lot of the energy.
Q. Do you play other instruments?
A. I play bass guitar, and I'm a full percussionist.
Q. Your performances seem to demand the energy of a full-contact sport. How do you stay in shape?
A. What I do to keep my body in shape is the martial art of aikido, a Japanese defensive art. The physical training is part of my lifestyle and I constantly try to apply the principal of ki spirit or life energy to my playing. ... When I play, all my muscles are relaxed.
Q. What do you enjoy about performing?
A. I fell into street performing and fell in love with being able to share my talent unconditionally. You can watch my show and walk away. You can watch my show and give me a $100 bill. ... When I'm done playing, I'm on an emotional high. I feel great about what I've done. When you have 1,000 people screaming at you because of what you do, it's really great.
Q. What was your biggest tip and the most memorable?
A. A guy saw me playing in Clearwater and he gave me his drum set, which was worth $1,400. In Savannah on St. Patrick's Day, I made $2,400 in one eight-hour day of the festival. That was the most in one day. At Gasparilla one year, a guy with his head wrapped completely in paper towels gave me a $100 bill. You never know what people will do.
Q. What do you hope people get from your music?
A. My job is to take them out of their life for 15 minutes and leave them walking away with a smile on their face and an impression that hard work pays off.
BUCKET MANIA
For information on Chris Harris, go to www.bucketdrummer.com.
DOWNTOWN - On any given night, music lovers leaving the St. Pete Times Forum seem to continue the party on the way to their cars.
Sitting under the overpass on Morgan Street, Chris Harris, aka The Bucketman, stops them in their tracks with his fast-paced rhythms beat out on plastic pickle buckets.
The street performer makes his living this way (supporting a wife and three children), playing after every hockey game and most concerts at the Forum, as well as after Tampa Bay Rays games at Tropicana Field. He also travels the Southeast playing at concerts and festivals including Gasparilla, New Orleans' Mardi Gras and Savannah's St. Patrick's Day celebration.
Harris, 36, had private drum lessons while growing up in St. Petersburg, and by the time he was a Dixie Hollins High School senior, he was helping teach percussion at nearby Boca Ciega High School. He trained with Drum Corps International, a national, competitive youth marching band.
Harris earned a business degree from the University of South Florida and taught percussion in Pinellas County schools. In the mid-1990s, he played buckets on Seventh Avenue in Ybor City before hitting the road.
Q. Why buckets?
A. When I was a kid I saw the buckets in a television commercial and thought it was the neatest thing. Then, in 1995, some bucket players came to Tampa from New York City and I saw the opportunity they had and knew I could do it. I knew the training I received in the drum corps would convert to buckets, but it was like starting over because it was so different.
Q. How do buckets differ from drums?
A. Buckets don't return energy like a regular drum does. The bucket absorbs a lot of the energy.
Q. Do you play other instruments?
A. I play bass guitar, and I'm a full percussionist.
Q. Your performances seem to demand the energy of a full-contact sport. How do you stay in shape?
A. What I do to keep my body in shape is the martial art of aikido, a Japanese defensive art. The physical training is part of my lifestyle and I constantly try to apply the principal of ki spirit or life energy to my playing. ... When I play, all my muscles are relaxed.
Q. What do you enjoy about performing?
A. I fell into street performing and fell in love with being able to share my talent unconditionally. You can watch my show and walk away. You can watch my show and give me a $100 bill. ... When I'm done playing, I'm on an emotional high. I feel great about what I've done. When you have 1,000 people screaming at you because of what you do, it's really great.
Q. What was your biggest tip and the most memorable?
A. A guy saw me playing in Clearwater and he gave me his drum set, which was worth $1,400. In Savannah on St. Patrick's Day, I made $2,400 in one eight-hour day of the festival. That was the most in one day. At Gasparilla one year, a guy with his head wrapped completely in paper towels gave me a $100 bill. You never know what people will do.
Q. What do you hope people get from your music?
A. My job is to take them out of their life for 15 minutes and leave them walking away with a smile on their face and an impression that hard work pays off.
BUCKET MANIA
For information on Chris Harris, go to www.bucketdrummer.com.
Bucket Drumming Contest
http://www.bucketdrummingcontest.com
How Do I Enter this Awesome Contest?
1. First, make your video (must be between :30 seconds and 5 minutes) that demonstrates your creative Sto bucket drumming skills.
2. Register on www.youtube.com (and agree to YouTube’s Terms of Use) with the group “Sto Bucket Drumming Contest” and upload your video by clicking on the yellow “Upload” button.
3. Video files must be named in the following fashion: “StoCorp_bucketdrumming_your name_your category”
a. You will need to specify into which category you will be submitting the video.
b. If you wish to enter your video in more than one category, just enter the video a second time with the new category listed in the title of the clip.
Note: Limit one (1) Video Submission per category in this contest per registered user
c. Maximum entry file size: 80MB
d. Video formats: YouTube accepts video files from most digital cameras, camcorders, and cell phones in the .WMV, .AVI, .MOV, and .MPG file formats
e. Language: English
How Do I Enter this Awesome Contest?
1. First, make your video (must be between :30 seconds and 5 minutes) that demonstrates your creative Sto bucket drumming skills.
2. Register on www.youtube.com (and agree to YouTube’s Terms of Use) with the group “Sto Bucket Drumming Contest” and upload your video by clicking on the yellow “Upload” button.
3. Video files must be named in the following fashion: “StoCorp_bucketdrumming_your name_your category”
a. You will need to specify into which category you will be submitting the video.
b. If you wish to enter your video in more than one category, just enter the video a second time with the new category listed in the title of the clip.
Note: Limit one (1) Video Submission per category in this contest per registered user
c. Maximum entry file size: 80MB
d. Video formats: YouTube accepts video files from most digital cameras, camcorders, and cell phones in the .WMV, .AVI, .MOV, and .MPG file formats
e. Language: English
Bucket Drumming Makes Big Noise At Construction Industry Trade Shows
The latest guerrilla marketing campaign for Sto Corp, a maker of coatings and paints for the construction industry, features "Ben the Bucket Drummer," a YouTube video submission contest and, of course, Sto paint buckets.
Atlanta (PRWEB) August 8, 2008 -- He wears a white jumpsuit, wields a pair of drumsticks and whales on a yellow bucket like a New Orleans street performer. But Ben Leathers isn't on some boozy, bluesy corner in the French Quarter, playing for loose change. No, this is something different.
This is musical marketing.
A long-haired kid from Lilburn, GA, who's already made a name for himself in the famed indie rock scene of nearby Athens, Ben's latest gig is making a lot of noise at construction industry trade shows across the country. Literally.
Ben is the beatmaker behind a "guerrilla marketing" campaign for Sto Corp, a manufacturer of exterior wall coatings and claddings. And he's drumming up plenty of attention with YouTube videos of his incredible performances, as well as spearheading a contest that invites participants to submit footage of their own "Stomp"-like skills.
But just who is Ben the Bucket Drummer?
Introduced to drumming at a very young age, Ben's first foray into rhythmic expression didn't exactly last very long. In fact, his earliest set of snares met a messy, mangled fate.
"At the age of four," he said, "I got a little drum set that I loved, but ended up dropping down the stairs."
Whoops. When he reached middle school, however, he got a new kit -- one he had to share with his older brother Chad. This one, luckily, remained intact.
"By my 8th grade year," Ben said, "I started taking lessons from a drummer named John LaMattina. I joined the jazz band at our middle school, and was playing in my church's youth band."
Entering high school, the burgeoning beatmaker had to make a big choice, one that would either have him pursuing gridiron glory, or another kind of stardom -- on the sidelines.
"My 9th grade year came," he said, "and it was between football and drum line, so I went with drum line."
Off the field, he hooked up with some neighborhood buddies to form the rock band Verity. And instead of pursuing drum line in college, he opted instead to keep ties with them, "even though we were pretty much all going to different colleges," he said.
"That only lasted through freshman year," he added. "Then we broke up."
But the demise of Verity didn't sour Ben's interest in making music -- not by a long shot. Over the next few years, the ambitious percussionist allied himself with several influential figures in the Athens music scene, and eventually began to become one himself.
Then, the ad men came calling. Ben received word that Billy Mitchell, founder of MLT Creative and the father of one of his high school pals, was seeking a talented drummer to take part in an innovative ad campaign for Sto Corp, using that company's most iconic image -- a signature yellow bucket, often seen at construction sites -- as a musical instrument in a series of viral videos supporting the slogan "For the world's best walls, Sto beats all."
"It was just when I was getting back into playing a lot," Ben said, "so I was excited. I went to Atlanta for a couple of meetings, got some buckets, and made a couple of demo videos. They liked them, so I got the job."
Pretty soon, Ben's talent was taking him to cities like Las Vegas and San Francisco, where his mad musical skills are always the talk of the trade show.
For more information about Ben or the Sto 2008 Bucket Drumming Video Contest, visit http://www.bucketdrummingcontest.com.
Atlanta (PRWEB) August 8, 2008 -- He wears a white jumpsuit, wields a pair of drumsticks and whales on a yellow bucket like a New Orleans street performer. But Ben Leathers isn't on some boozy, bluesy corner in the French Quarter, playing for loose change. No, this is something different.
This is musical marketing.
A long-haired kid from Lilburn, GA, who's already made a name for himself in the famed indie rock scene of nearby Athens, Ben's latest gig is making a lot of noise at construction industry trade shows across the country. Literally.
Ben is the beatmaker behind a "guerrilla marketing" campaign for Sto Corp, a manufacturer of exterior wall coatings and claddings. And he's drumming up plenty of attention with YouTube videos of his incredible performances, as well as spearheading a contest that invites participants to submit footage of their own "Stomp"-like skills.
But just who is Ben the Bucket Drummer?
Introduced to drumming at a very young age, Ben's first foray into rhythmic expression didn't exactly last very long. In fact, his earliest set of snares met a messy, mangled fate.
"At the age of four," he said, "I got a little drum set that I loved, but ended up dropping down the stairs."
Whoops. When he reached middle school, however, he got a new kit -- one he had to share with his older brother Chad. This one, luckily, remained intact.
"By my 8th grade year," Ben said, "I started taking lessons from a drummer named John LaMattina. I joined the jazz band at our middle school, and was playing in my church's youth band."
Entering high school, the burgeoning beatmaker had to make a big choice, one that would either have him pursuing gridiron glory, or another kind of stardom -- on the sidelines.
"My 9th grade year came," he said, "and it was between football and drum line, so I went with drum line."
Off the field, he hooked up with some neighborhood buddies to form the rock band Verity. And instead of pursuing drum line in college, he opted instead to keep ties with them, "even though we were pretty much all going to different colleges," he said.
"That only lasted through freshman year," he added. "Then we broke up."
But the demise of Verity didn't sour Ben's interest in making music -- not by a long shot. Over the next few years, the ambitious percussionist allied himself with several influential figures in the Athens music scene, and eventually began to become one himself.
Then, the ad men came calling. Ben received word that Billy Mitchell, founder of MLT Creative and the father of one of his high school pals, was seeking a talented drummer to take part in an innovative ad campaign for Sto Corp, using that company's most iconic image -- a signature yellow bucket, often seen at construction sites -- as a musical instrument in a series of viral videos supporting the slogan "For the world's best walls, Sto beats all."
"It was just when I was getting back into playing a lot," Ben said, "so I was excited. I went to Atlanta for a couple of meetings, got some buckets, and made a couple of demo videos. They liked them, so I got the job."
Pretty soon, Ben's talent was taking him to cities like Las Vegas and San Francisco, where his mad musical skills are always the talk of the trade show.
For more information about Ben or the Sto 2008 Bucket Drumming Video Contest, visit http://www.bucketdrummingcontest.com.
Larry Wright
Drumming on a plastic compound bucket, fifteen year old Larry Wright creates unique fusions of rock, jazz, Latin, hip hop and African rhythms unlike anything heard before.
In LARRY WRIGHT, his mother shares her hope for Larry to escape their rough neighborhood, and her pride at his acceptance into New York's prestigious High School for the Performing Arts. Soon after this documentary, Larry was chosen to appear in the hit feature GREEN CARD and in t.v. ads for Levi's jeans.
Driven by his unrelenting beat, LARRY WRIGHT chronicles the life of a very special young musician as he amazes crowds around New York City.
"Larry Wright gets more music out from a five-gallon plastic bucket than some drummers get from a real kit - especially at age 15... You see joy on Larry's face when he plays and you feel joy when you watch and listen to him. Recommended."—Library Journal
"This is an inspiring film sure to interest older children and young adults... imaginatively showcases an incredible talent and personal triumph."—Voice of Youth Advocates
"This film suggests one of the most astonishing things about talent is that it can come, seemingly, out of nowhere; or perhaps what we in our ignorance and complacency dismiss as nowhere."—Los Angeles Times
In LARRY WRIGHT, his mother shares her hope for Larry to escape their rough neighborhood, and her pride at his acceptance into New York's prestigious High School for the Performing Arts. Soon after this documentary, Larry was chosen to appear in the hit feature GREEN CARD and in t.v. ads for Levi's jeans.
Driven by his unrelenting beat, LARRY WRIGHT chronicles the life of a very special young musician as he amazes crowds around New York City.
"Larry Wright gets more music out from a five-gallon plastic bucket than some drummers get from a real kit - especially at age 15... You see joy on Larry's face when he plays and you feel joy when you watch and listen to him. Recommended."—Library Journal
"This is an inspiring film sure to interest older children and young adults... imaginatively showcases an incredible talent and personal triumph."—Voice of Youth Advocates
"This film suggests one of the most astonishing things about talent is that it can come, seemingly, out of nowhere; or perhaps what we in our ignorance and complacency dismiss as nowhere."—Los Angeles Times
Keep Bangin
By PETER MARKS
Published: September 24, 1999, Friday
In the hands of the bucket drummers of ''Keep Bangin','' drumsticks are automatic weapons. Streams of rhythm erupt like gunfire from the floors, pipes, bottles, chairs, suitcases and drums they pound, so much so that it feels as if the reverberations might show up in the results of a spectator's electrocardiogram.
''Keep Bangin','' which opened last night at the Players Theater in Greenwich Village, is an attempt to add new thrills to the speed and crispness of the drum solo, to harness the power of African, Latin American and Caribbean drumbeats and express their variety in a kind of United Nations of percussion. The brainchild of the prodigiously talented Jared Crawford, who was half the rat-a-tat-tat act with pots and pans that was one of the high points of ''Bring In da Noise, Bring In da Funk,'' this new show squeezes another symphony out of an incessant clash of sticks and surfaces.
Mr. Crawford and the half-dozen drummers who share the stage with him are agile and laid-back; they perform like blissed-out surfers, hanging 10 off the sound waves. No question, it makes for a jolting, lively hour. No doubt, either, it should be so much better. Devised essentially as a showcase for one performer, Mr. Crawford, ''Keep Bangin' '' is lackadaisically assembled, with numbers sensibly arranged and others making little sense at all. What Mr. Crawford and his director, Savion Glover, a Tony winner for ''Bring In da Noise, Bring In da Funk,'' have come up with here is a loose club act.
''Stomp,'' the long-running first cousin to ''Keep Bangin','' established that an act of theatricality can be committed by dragging brooms, tapping on matchboxes and strapping garbage cans to one's feet. That show is not only technically clever, but there is wit and even a kind of logical progression in the household objects the dancers manipulate. ''Keep Bangin' '' lacks the feel of a similarly finished and well-thought-out product. The lighting dims and flashes incongruously, and having nothing to do, the other performers hang around the edge of the stage distractingly during Mr. Crawford's frequent solos. On the night I attended, the star's headset faded in and out, making it sound at times as if he were singing into a cell phone.
The intermissionless show is broken up into 12 numbers, each with a distinct musical flavor or object to bang on. Some work. Others need work. In the pleasurable ''Drunken Beats,'' the members of the all-male cast turn bottles into syncopated chimes. In a goofy concoction called ''Sticks,'' they peel off trench coats to reveal prison uniforms, in which they perform a percussive martial-arts number with poles. The arc of each segment is about the same, beginning with a solitary bang and progressing to a muscular cacophony of taps, bangs, booms and drum rolls.
This cycle is executed most exhilaratingly in a demonstration by Mr. Crawford, along with Larry Wright, of the technique perfected by Mr. Crawford and others on the streets of New York of drumming on empty floor-wax buckets. It was a thrilling part of ''Bring In da Noise, Bring In da Funk,'' and it is no less of a thrill here.
The production begins to lose focus, however, as Mr. Crawford moves from banging to singing. A monotonous reggae number wanders in from nowhere, followed shortly by Mr. Crawford's impersonation of the great soul vocalist Al Green. Perhaps this is an effort to assert a link in the traditions of black music, from African drums to bucket drums, from jazz to soul, but it's all so indifferently stuck together. With the glue showing, the meaning is obscured.
The evening concludes with an invitation to audience members to come to the stage to do a little solo bangin' for the crowd. The volunteers had guts following the pros. As for Mr. Crawford and Mr. Glover: if they are intent on delivering a tight theater piece, they'll have to keep tryin'.
KEEP BANGIN'
Conceived and created by Jared Crawford; directed by Savion Glover; Mr. Crawford, co-director; lighting and sets by Shelly Sabel; costume design by Donna Holland; costume styling by Virgina Webster; musical director, Lafayette Harris Jr.; sound by Andrew Sherman; production supervisor, Micil Ryan; general manager, Diana A. Brown; associate producer, Ashish Jaiswal. Presented by Keep Bangin' Entertainment, Maniactin Productions, Romeo Joven and Ian Rand. At Players Theater, 115 Macdougal Street, Greenwich Village.
WITH: Jared Crawford, Larry Wright, Darrell Dove Jr., David Dove, Dennis J. Dove, Marc Durham, Raymond King, Christopher Little and Darryl Warner.
Published: September 24, 1999, Friday
In the hands of the bucket drummers of ''Keep Bangin','' drumsticks are automatic weapons. Streams of rhythm erupt like gunfire from the floors, pipes, bottles, chairs, suitcases and drums they pound, so much so that it feels as if the reverberations might show up in the results of a spectator's electrocardiogram.
''Keep Bangin','' which opened last night at the Players Theater in Greenwich Village, is an attempt to add new thrills to the speed and crispness of the drum solo, to harness the power of African, Latin American and Caribbean drumbeats and express their variety in a kind of United Nations of percussion. The brainchild of the prodigiously talented Jared Crawford, who was half the rat-a-tat-tat act with pots and pans that was one of the high points of ''Bring In da Noise, Bring In da Funk,'' this new show squeezes another symphony out of an incessant clash of sticks and surfaces.
Mr. Crawford and the half-dozen drummers who share the stage with him are agile and laid-back; they perform like blissed-out surfers, hanging 10 off the sound waves. No question, it makes for a jolting, lively hour. No doubt, either, it should be so much better. Devised essentially as a showcase for one performer, Mr. Crawford, ''Keep Bangin' '' is lackadaisically assembled, with numbers sensibly arranged and others making little sense at all. What Mr. Crawford and his director, Savion Glover, a Tony winner for ''Bring In da Noise, Bring In da Funk,'' have come up with here is a loose club act.
''Stomp,'' the long-running first cousin to ''Keep Bangin','' established that an act of theatricality can be committed by dragging brooms, tapping on matchboxes and strapping garbage cans to one's feet. That show is not only technically clever, but there is wit and even a kind of logical progression in the household objects the dancers manipulate. ''Keep Bangin' '' lacks the feel of a similarly finished and well-thought-out product. The lighting dims and flashes incongruously, and having nothing to do, the other performers hang around the edge of the stage distractingly during Mr. Crawford's frequent solos. On the night I attended, the star's headset faded in and out, making it sound at times as if he were singing into a cell phone.
The intermissionless show is broken up into 12 numbers, each with a distinct musical flavor or object to bang on. Some work. Others need work. In the pleasurable ''Drunken Beats,'' the members of the all-male cast turn bottles into syncopated chimes. In a goofy concoction called ''Sticks,'' they peel off trench coats to reveal prison uniforms, in which they perform a percussive martial-arts number with poles. The arc of each segment is about the same, beginning with a solitary bang and progressing to a muscular cacophony of taps, bangs, booms and drum rolls.
This cycle is executed most exhilaratingly in a demonstration by Mr. Crawford, along with Larry Wright, of the technique perfected by Mr. Crawford and others on the streets of New York of drumming on empty floor-wax buckets. It was a thrilling part of ''Bring In da Noise, Bring In da Funk,'' and it is no less of a thrill here.
The production begins to lose focus, however, as Mr. Crawford moves from banging to singing. A monotonous reggae number wanders in from nowhere, followed shortly by Mr. Crawford's impersonation of the great soul vocalist Al Green. Perhaps this is an effort to assert a link in the traditions of black music, from African drums to bucket drums, from jazz to soul, but it's all so indifferently stuck together. With the glue showing, the meaning is obscured.
The evening concludes with an invitation to audience members to come to the stage to do a little solo bangin' for the crowd. The volunteers had guts following the pros. As for Mr. Crawford and Mr. Glover: if they are intent on delivering a tight theater piece, they'll have to keep tryin'.
KEEP BANGIN'
Conceived and created by Jared Crawford; directed by Savion Glover; Mr. Crawford, co-director; lighting and sets by Shelly Sabel; costume design by Donna Holland; costume styling by Virgina Webster; musical director, Lafayette Harris Jr.; sound by Andrew Sherman; production supervisor, Micil Ryan; general manager, Diana A. Brown; associate producer, Ashish Jaiswal. Presented by Keep Bangin' Entertainment, Maniactin Productions, Romeo Joven and Ian Rand. At Players Theater, 115 Macdougal Street, Greenwich Village.
WITH: Jared Crawford, Larry Wright, Darrell Dove Jr., David Dove, Dennis J. Dove, Marc Durham, Raymond King, Christopher Little and Darryl Warner.
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