In My Own Words - Kwame

I 've always been a drummer. Even before I 'd seen a set of drums. My mother could attest to that. She would often scold me for playing rhythms on her furniture. When I was about four, mom and dad bought me a tom-tom and I played it until it was worn out. When Christmas came round I was in the hospital for man surgery and when I came home I had a brand new toy drum set. I was so excited. It was so beautiful. Even though it was poorly made, I couldn't have been happier. I think the drum heads were made out of thick paper and the shells out of cardboard. Needless to say, that set didn't last very long. But for a short period of time I experienced drumming nirvana.

When asked, what inspired you to play drums? I recall the afternoon, I was sitting on my front porch at 5900 South Princeton, which was right down the street from Englewood High School. In the distance I could hear the Englewood marching band's drummers playing and I could hardly wait to see them. As they got closer, the percussive sounds echoing between the houses got louder and louder. It was an incredibly stimulating experience. It triggered an innate knowing about drumming in me and I began to visualize what it would be like when I'd become a drummer.

As I got older, sometimes my mom and dad would let me stay up to watch the Johnny Carson show, if Sammy Davis Jr. or Lionel Hampton were on. It meant a lot to us to see Sammy Davis Jr. on TV. Back then you didn't see Black folk on TV much at all. Especially someone who seemed so talented and respected. Lionel Hampton led his own big band, played the vibes and soloed on drum-set. I really liked the way he twirled his sticks and played drums at the same time. Yeah! I wanted to do all that and be on tv too!

Around age nine, baseball became my passion. For the next few years, I wasn't focused on music. But during that time I'd visit my friends, LT and Clarence Smith who had uncles that worked on cars in the garage behind their house. In the evenings after they closed up shop, they'd bring out their guitars and sing the blues. At home we listened to music, but no one in my family played an instrument, so I spent a lot of time at LT and Clarence's house. We learned about Muddy Waters, Junior Wells, Koco Taylor, Sam Cook, Otis Redding, James Brown, Wilson Pickett, Robert Johnson, B.B. King and Lucille. Soon I was drawn back to music and I was experiencing the culture and life style of some Africans still very connected to the south. Their house was always open and Mrs. Smith always cooked in big pots. So I could always eat if I wanted to.

We youngsters were trying to play the blues, too. I thought at that time I might play guitar. I learned a few songs and I can still play Jimmy Reed's "Hide Away" whenever I need to show off my blues chops on guitar. LT, Clarence and I started a band with other guys in the neighborhood. Only thing was, everybody in the band played guitar. We didn't even have a bass player among us. Clarence got this plastic snare drum for christmas and I got a Tiger Guitar. I felt there were enough guitarists in the group and after watching Clarence play snare, I thought I could do a better job than he. But Clarence owned the drum and I didn't. I tried to convince him to let me be the drummer in the band but he wasn't trying to hear that. We eventually had a drum off, which I won. Even though he was a little disappointed, Clarence played better guitar than everyone in the band beside LT, so he still had juice. He was even big enough to let me use his drum.

By this time we were all attending Westcott Elementary School, where they had a music teacher come in to give drum lessons. My folks let me enroll and with that, I got my own sticks and a snare drum I could take home for practice. Now I had a real snare to play. We played at yard parties around the neighborhood and auditioned for local talent shows.

By this time, my folks could see I was pretty serious about playing, so my big brother and my mom bought me my first real drum set. You may recall the Motown television special, when the Temptations and the Supremes performed together? Well, that made such an impression on the band that we reorganized ourselves, adding my sisters, Debra and Stephanie, and a friend name Vickie, as our background singers. We called the group "The Montells.'

We rehearsed everyday for weeks getting ready for the Regal Theater talent show audition. The auditioned was at the Burning Spear lounge. The song we chose was Wilson Pickett's "In the Midnight Hour." We performed well enough to qualify for the talent contest. I was very proud, cocky even. We went to Robert Hall on 63rd and Lowe, where the Taste Entertainment Center is currently located, to buy our stage outfits. We found these off-white waist-length jackets with black trim and buttons. There were only enough in stock to accommodate the members in the band and we took this as a sign. We also bought white pants, socks and shoes and the ladies found these white Supremes- style dresses. Then we knew we'd be CLEANER THAN THE BOARD OF HEALTH!

We had two weeks to put the finishing touches on our act before the date of the show. We worked on every aspect of our presentation to make sure we were tight. The day of the show we arrived backstage well before our call time. All of us, except LT, watched the groups that went on before us. This seemed to help us cool out. We could see we were much better prepared than they were. And we looked good too. We felt confident we could win.

Finally we were up. Pervis Spann may have been the MC who introduced us, saying "Ladies and Gentlemen, put your hands together for the MONTELLS!" When the audience saw our outfits, they went wild, applauding and screaming. It was LT's responsibility to count the tune off and set the tempo, but he seem hypnotized by all the noise and excitement. We all called to him underneath our breath, play LT, play! And when he did, he exploded out the blocks, playing so fast that we couldn't get in or keep up with him. Our performance was quickly over.

It was a total disaster. We stood there shocked and there was nothing but silence. We turned and slowly walked off the stage. Disappointed, we left for home with little to say to one another. LT's case of nerves was one for the books and it took a while for us to recover from that one.

To Be Continued........................