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Today is the Birthday of Peter Edward Baker...


T&C

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Pressed rat and warthog have closed down their shop
They didn't want to; 'twas all they had got
Selling atonal apples, amplified heat
And pressed rat's collection of doglegs and feet

Sadly, they left, telling no one goodbye
Pressed rat wore red jodhpurs, warthog a striped tie
Between them, they carried a three-legged sack
Went straight round the corner and never came back

Pressed rat and warthog have closed down their shop
The bad captain madman had told them to stop
Selling atonal apples, amplified heat
And pressed rat's collection of doglegs and feet

The bad captain madman had ordered their fate
He laughed and stomped off with a nautical gate
The gate turned into a deroga tree
And his peg leg got woodworm and broke into three

Pressed rat and warthog have closed down their shop
They didn't want to; 'twas all they had got
Selling atonal apples, amplified heat
And pressed rat's collection of doglegs and feet 

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46 minutes ago, T&C said:

Have you ever watched this? Beware of Mr. Baker

 

Yes.  That documentary is a big part of why I suggest he is a POS human.

 

He has spent a lifetime reinventing himself and running from his past, going from location to location...and treated his own son like ****.

 

He's kind of a sad figure actually, especially given the huge amount of natural talent he was born with.

 

There's a great clip on Youtube from the '60s where an interviewer is asking him if he ever practices playing the drums.  Ginger kind of laughs and says "No" but that he used to practice all the time.

 

It's like he didn't realize how hard it was do what he did easily.

 

 

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13 minutes ago, Fadingpain said:

Yes.  That documentary is a big part of why I suggest he is a POS human.

 

He has spent a lifetime reinventing himself and running from his past, going from location to location...and treated his own son like ****.

 

He's kind of a sad figure actually, especially given the huge amount of natural talent he was born with.

 

There's a great clip on Youtube from the '60s where an interviewer is asking him if he ever practices playing the drums.  Ginger kind of laughs and says "No" but that he used to practice all the time.

 

It's like he didn't realize how hard it was do what he did easily.

 

 

 

I'm not sure I'd consider him a POS human.  Drugs, alcohol and mental illness do strange things to people.  That and he's a drummer.  The only musicians weirder than drummers are bass players.  Us drummers can only aspire to be as weird as bass players. And I firmly believe that drummers are made not born. I'm a pretty decent drummer but I never remembering learning how to play. I just sat at at set and went to town. 

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7 minutes ago, Fadingpain said:

Yes.  That documentary is a big part of why I suggest he is a POS human.

 

He has spent a lifetime reinventing himself and running from his past, going from location to location...and treated his own son like ****.

 

He's kind of a sad figure actually, especially given the huge amount of natural talent he was born with.

 

There's a great clip on Youtube from the '60s where an interviewer is asking him if he ever practices playing the drums.  Ginger kind of laughs and says "No" but that he used to practice all the time.

 

It's like he didn't realize how hard it was do what he did easily.

 

 

That was in this film too...and yeah, he's crusty for sure.

 

A 60's music/culture/etc. group I'm in on facebook was talking about him/BD yesterday. His oldest daughter has a book out now and she posted to the group. I mentioned something like "holy crap, I guess I'm hanging with the wrong people if we have his daughter posting here/looking in"... and lo and behold Ginger Baker (or who ever posts for him) liked the post and made a comment that "you'll really love it". Probably his daughter but pretty cool nonetheless.

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On 8/19/2018 at 5:00 PM, Fadingpain said:

One hell of a good drummer.

 

But kind of a POS human being.

 

GingerBaker.jpg

Key words... I am glad you qualitatively digged deeper in what POS human CAN mean.

 

"Kind of" "can be"... We can all be.  I think with Ginger, lots just misunderstood.  So many other things affected him.  Rough around the edges, blunt, pugnacious... But wears his heart on his sleeve.  Intense like his drumming...

 

...Being a baby during The Blitz with bombs going off can kinda do that to that.  Glad those bombs were channeled into Art.  The world's a better place!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3 hours ago, T&C said:

Have you ever watched this? Beware of Mr. Baker

 

Great documentary!

3 hours ago, Fadingpain said:

Yes.  That documentary is a big part of why I suggest he is a POS human.

 

He has spent a lifetime reinventing himself and running from his past, going from location to location...and treated his own son like ****.

 

He's kind of a sad figure actually, especially given the huge amount of natural talent he was born with.

 

There's a great clip on Youtube from the '60s where an interviewer is asking him if he ever practices playing the drums.  Ginger kind of laughs and says "No" but that he used to practice all the time.

 

It's like he didn't realize how hard it was do what he did easily.

 

 

I think he did realize how hard it is.  He just was unabashed of his God given talent.  He knew it.

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20 hours ago, Chef Jim said:

 

I'm not sure I'd consider him a POS human.  Drugs, alcohol and mental illness do strange things to people.  That and he's a drummer.   

 

The crazy thing is, the most perfect technical drummer ever is Neil Peart and they all never really partied at all. (You Buddy Rich fans are also not wrong but Neil wins this battle for me).

 

Dave Grohl, Keith Moon and John Bohnam, on the other hand...........

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4 minutes ago, Seasons1992 said:

 

The crazy thing is, the most perfect technical drummer ever is Neil Peart and they all never really partied at all. (You Buddy Rich fans are also not wrong but Neil wins this battle for me).

 

Dave Grohl, Keith Moon and John Bohnam, on the other hand...........

I dont think Grohl partied as much as you would think, or more then anyone else. Now it's even less, considering his biggest problem is the amount of coffee he drinks....

 

I think all 3 of the members of Rush are some of the best technical musicians at their instruments. Neil has had some issues that I believe stated after his wife died, he spent alot of time alone after that.

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40 minutes ago, Seasons1992 said:

 

The crazy thing is, the most perfect technical drummer ever is Neil Peart and they all never really partied at all. (You Buddy Rich fans are also not wrong but Neil wins this battle for me).

 

Dave Grohl, Keith Moon and John Bohnam, on the other hand...........

Yeah... But isn't that like singing the blues without ever living them?

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Not sure there is enough there to say Baker suffers from "mental illness".  

 

The situation with his father definitely screwed him up in some sense, but that was a part of his development and I don't think it reaches an illness threshold.  

 

I don't find him to be a sympathetic character in the slightest.

 

I have really enjoyed his drumming however.  

 

If Zeppelin had ever toured after the London 02 gig, and if for some reason they didn't use Jason Bonham, I always thought Ginger would have been a great stand in, as old as he is.  Totally different style to Bonzo but he is one of the few guys around who has the raw talent to stand in for a guy like Bonzo in a bad like Led Zeppelin.

 

As it is, Robert Plant was a party pooper, the tour never happened, it ain't ever gonna happen, and that's that.

 

 

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2 hours ago, Seasons1992 said:

 

The crazy thing is, the most perfect technical drummer ever is Neil Peart and they all never really partied at all. (You Buddy Rich fans are also not wrong but Neil wins this battle for me).

 

Dave Grohl, Keith Moon and John Bohnam, on the other hand...........

You aren't wrong, but you aren't right either. I've been in a lot of these kinds of discussions on various boards and in real life and I have found that no one is ever right. Its all just what your ears and mind like.

 

I personally think that Frank Zappa is the greatest guitar player I've ever seen or listened to... but, I'm not right... only to me or someone else that thinks the same. There are too many through time that aren't in the big 20 or whatever on any given instrument.

 

Heck, any version of Return to Forever blows the windows out of some of these so called greats. But again, I think that but no one can really say who is the "greatest". Apple pie, cherry pie, key lime pie... 

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2 hours ago, Seasons1992 said:

 

The crazy thing is, the most perfect technical drummer ever is Neil Peart and they all never really partied at all. (You Buddy Rich fans are also not wrong but Neil wins this battle for me).

 

Dave Grohl, Keith Moon and John Bohnam, on the other hand...........

 

Neil copied what those who paved the way for him did and then added to it.

 

 

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11 minutes ago, The Real Buffalo Joe said:

Doesn't that literally describe every great artist, in every medium, in the history of the world?

Not really. Gene Krupa designed the first "modern" drum kit that is still used today. He is the captain of the ship for the drumming world as we still know it.

 

Dali developed his own techniques that were not used by anyone before him.

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2 hours ago, T&C said:

Dali developed his own techniques that were not used by anyone before him.

Yeah, techniques... So did others... But who first took it out of "focus"... Blurred the lines... The impressionist.

 

I assume you are talking about Salvador Dali and his art.  With out impressionism, cubism, dada/surrealism doesn't spring forth.

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4 hours ago, ExiledInIllinois said:

Yeah... But isn't that like singing the blues without ever living them?

Not really, they weren't a band that wrote songs and sang about partying. They wrote about a beach in St Catharines they used to visit in the spring as a kid, living in suburbia and Tom Sawyer.

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16 minutes ago, ExiledInIllinois said:

Yeah, techniques... So did others... But who first took it out of "focus"... Blurred the lines... The impressionist.

 

I assume you are talking about Salvador Dali and his art.  With out impressionism, cubism, dada/surrealism doesn't spring forth.

That Dali for sure. I live 12 miles from the museum as the crow flies. He is a one of a kind IMO... he did things that no one before him had done. One example, imbedding an actual fly in a painting. My favorite painter but I'm not right on that, only for me.

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1 hour ago, apuszczalowski said:

Not really, they weren't a band that wrote songs and sang about partying. They wrote about a beach in St Catharines they used to visit in the spring as a kid, living in suburbia and Tom Sawyer.

So they were Nickleback before Nickleback? ?

1 hour ago, T&C said:

That Dali for sure. I live 12 miles from the museum as the crow flies. He is a one of a kind IMO... he did things that no one before him had done. One example, imbedding an actual fly in a painting. My favorite painter but I'm not right on that, only for me.

Did he do that before Jackson Pollock dropped his match (Convergence, 1951)?  ??

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Couldn't say... he has too many to even begin to remember. I love his work but I'm not an expert by any means. Some can't stand his work... I for one like it quite a bit.

 

Kind of like musicians... some like their stuff, some don't... and who really is to argue. No winners.

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8 hours ago, Seasons1992 said:

 

The crazy thing is, the most perfect technical drummer ever is Neil Peart and they all never really partied at all. (You Buddy Rich fans are also not wrong but Neil wins this battle for me).

 

Dave Grohl, Keith Moon and John Bohnam, on the other hand...........

 

And it’s time for me to catch **** but I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again Peart is top ten (or lower) overrated drummers of all time. 

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16 hours ago, Chef Jim said:

 

And it’s time for me to catch **** but I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again Peart is top ten (or lower) overrated drummers of all time. 

 

That's the beauty of music and discussion about it! You have yours, I have mine. I have an open mind to hearing other's opinions. Good on ya for being honest.

 

 

 

 

 

You're WRONG, but I can appreciate it!

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2 hours ago, Seasons1992 said:

 

That's the beauty of music and discussion about it! You have yours, I have mine. I have an open mind to hearing other's opinions. Good on ya for being honest.

 

 

 

 

 

You're WRONG, but I can appreciate it!

 

No I'm absolutely right.  I can play a lot of Peart's stuff.  If I can play it he's overrated.  Surrounded by 6,000 pieces of percussion does not a great drummer make.  

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