Bill the Drummer

I started playing drums in 1968, badly. I started making a living at it in 1971, playing mostly at top-forty clubs. In the seventies, a "top-forty" club was where the band imitated whatever was hot on the radio. Generally, my bands dressed in outfits that would make a pimp blush. The poster on the left is from a gig we played in 1975 at the Holiday Inn in Reno. Six nights a week, five hours a night. Free drinks, free rooms (the ones they couldn't rent out), and half-off on restaurant meals. Typical. At the end of the gig, they were putting in new signs, so the manager graciously gave me the old one, which now hangs on my wall.

I played in country-western bands, show bands, salsa bands, funk bands... whatever.

In '77 I burned out and went back to school. But I paid my way through college, at first, by playing weekend gigs. Later, I found I could make more money by programming in COBOL, BASIC, or even, God help me, RPG II. So the drumset gathered dust.

After starting work as a Computer Nerd, I gradually started to play again. I still do. I'll add more to this page, including a detailed and colorful history, after I overcome an attack of laziness.