A couple of months ago, I posted about the "Drum Your Way to Hollywood Contest" that Dixon Drums was sponsoring. Well, Dixon announced the winner about a week ago and I wanted to be sure to mention it here. The winner of a Dixon Demon drum kit and a trip to Hollywood, CA to play live Westlake Studios in front of an A&R panel is Lou Mars. Here's a video of Lou's winning performance at Herried Music in California:

Congratulation Lou on a job well done.

How would you like to get together with several thousand of your fellow drummers across the US to try and set a world record? You'll have your opportunity on November 2nd if you participate in The Big Beat.

Five-Star Drum Shops across the country are gathering drummers to set the world record for the most drummers playing the same beat simultaneously. The following Five-Star stores are participating and taking registrations for this event:

• Donn Bennett Drum Studio, Bellevue, WA - bennettdrums.com
• Buffalo Drum Outlet, Buffalo, NY - buffalodrumoutlet.com
• Columbus Percussion, Columbus, OH - columbuspercussion.com
• Resurrection Drums, Hollywood, FL - rezdrums.com
• The Percussion Center, Houston, TX - percussiononline.com
• Memphis Drum Shop, Memphis, TN - memphisdrumshop.com
• Just Drums, Toronto, ON - justdrums.com
• Drum World, Tulsa, OK - drumdaytulsa.com
• Stebal Drums, Willowick, OH - stebaldrums.com

Please be aware that, based on my visits to each of these sites, each location is managing their local event differently.

If you want to participate, your should register early to ensure that you get your bag-o-goodies. All participating drummers will have the opportunity to win cool prizes from some top drum manufacturers and one lucky winner will get a Ringo Starr autographed drumhead. So, if you live in one of the nine of the cities above, get out and register for The Big Beat today. If I did, I would.

I'll be playing with Lake 32 this coming Sunday, October 12th in support of a great charity event, Feed the Need. This event was organized by a local Pizza Hut restaurant to raise money in the battle against world hunger, a cause all of us in Lake 32 are proud to support.

This will be a full day of live music and fun (this event is family friendly, so please feel free to bring kids along). Here is the schedule for the day:

12:00 Noon: Oh, Falco!
1:00 PM: Sunday but Summer
2:00 PM: Becca Harper
3:00 PM: Fight! Fight! Fight!
4:00 PM: Darrel
5:00 PM: BAMF!
6:00 PM: Lake 32
7:00 PM: Cake Eater

The address for the venue is:

Elks Lodge
1163 Tom GinneverAve
O'Fallon, MO 63366

Map

Admission to the concert is free, but Feed the Need will be taking donations, so please consider making one to this very worthwhile organization.

See on Sunday!

I've mentioned before that I actually play drums for two local bands here in St. Louis: The Meteor Pilots and Lake 32. These two projects have always existed pretty much mutually exclusive from each other.

That will change this Saturday, August 23rd when both bands play back-to-back at the Race for the Rivers charity festival. This event features a canoe and kayak race down the Missouri River. All proceeds from the race and the festival go to the Greenway Network's clean water education, restoration and recreation projects to promote the conservation of the delicate river ecosystem.

Several local bands will be playing on the main stage in Frontier Park throughout the day. The music schedule for this Saturday is:

12:00 noon: Cake Eater

1:00 PM: Watching Judas

2:00 PM: Dancing Cadavers

3:00 PM: Marlow Honey

4:00 PM: Race for the Rivers Award Ceremony

5:00 PM: Meteor Pilots

6:00 PM: Lake 32

7:00 PM: Ken Kase Group

For a map and directions to Frontier Park in classic "old town" St. Charles, Missouri, click here.

There will also be local musicians playing acoustic sets in between the acts on the main stage.This will be a great day of local St. Louis music and a terrific opportunity to contribute to a great charity event as well. If you're in the area Saturday afternoon, be sure to come by and enjoy the festival.