Well, here I am in Queensland (the Sunshine State), and three quarters of the state have been declared a disaster area. The recent floods are the worst natural disaster in Australia's history (in extent, not in terms of loss of life fortunately).

Queensland is a large state. To give you an idea how large, take Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana. All together, they are not quite as large as Queensland. You need to add Massachusetts and Connecticut to make up the difference. Or, if you want to put it differently, Queensland is has almost exactly 20% of the land area of the entire United States. Three quarters of that are flooded or severely affected by flood.

Queensland has experienced very serious losses of crops and livestock. Infrastructure is seriously damaged everywhere. Roads, bridges, water supply, electricity, communications, etc. It is difficult to ensure supply of essential goods to many areas that are cut off by the floods. Supermarkets are low or empty...

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winter also means more splits in my fungers.

i try to refrain from playing lead during a dance class warmup so i can get my hands and body warmed up too.

I've never blogged. To be totally honest, I'm not sure I'm comfortable writing a diary on the 'net, but thought I'd give it a shot. We'll see where it goes.

I'd never heard of a djembe 6 weeks ago. My journey began with a present for a friend, and in the few hours between when I purchased the drum and gave the present, I got hooked.

I've now got two instructors, a quickly growing MP3, CD, and DVD library of Western African music. Oh, and a beautiful lengke drum that sometimes makes amazing sounds (when my technique allows), and always makes me smile.

Right now I'm struggling with rhythms. My western ears and brain really struggle to make sense of the rhythms. The challenge started, however, with making the right noises.

My first challenge was the slap. Bass and tones were pretty easy, but I just couldn't get my fingertips to sting the way they should. Then I hit one. Then another after many failed attempts. Now I'm slapping with ease, but not liking the sound of my tones....

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winter means rain here on the central coast of cali.

rain means humidity.

humidity means my drums go down.

i hate tuning drums when it's soggy outside.

I'm just now seeing the posts you guys had about my bags form 2009... thanks for the comments and view points. i need that bit of info on how you think the bags where done. Good, Bad, alright, GREAT!... what ever, the point is there's always room for improvement.
I'm working on the new line now. I've decided to do a "student Level" & a "Pro Level". I'm really trying to change the game in terms of the weight, style, durability, on the bags keeping in mind the craftsmanship in what Tony Lagrutta was going after in a higher quality (Instrument) djembe bag/case. Not commenting on what happened with Tony, but more importantly keep in mind that this is a CLASSICAL INSTRUMENT and it should be treated as such from the HISTORICAL value with its place in history and that its an instrument that's made up of natural raw materials.
Who wants a bag that weigh's half of the weight of there drum? I'm really trying not to put to much hard ware on the case but at the same time...

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