Update Archives - March, 2007

March 21, 2007
I'm back in the groove after an exhausting trip to the OTWC. I usually have great luck flying from place to place - in fact, I haven't had a flight cancelled since traveling with my family many, many years ago. But my record was broken last Friday as I attempted to catch the flight for my Saturday show with the James Mabry Band.

I was at the airport, bags checked and ready to roll, and called Jeff (my manager) to check on the weather conditions at BWI. It was starting to get a bit slushy, he said, but didn't look as though it was too bad. The second I hung up the phone, an announcement was made that the flight had been cancelled! The poor folks at Southwest were absolutely overrun, and suggested we call their 800 number to re-book our flights. I was second in line to the counter, and overheard the gate agent tell the gentleman in front of me that the earliest flight he could get on Saturday would arrive at BWI around 9:00 PM. This wasn't going to work for a gig that started at 9:30!

I called Southwest as I left the gate to fetch my bags, and was on hold for nearly 25 minutes before I gave up and decided on finding another option. I mean, I walked from the gate to baggage claim, collected my luggage, then walked to my car and drove about 2/3 of the way home! Anyway, the 'other option' turned out to be renting a car and driving. Even that decision was not without its problems, as my preferred rental company (Enterprise) closes its offices at 6:00 PM. Frantic phone calls were made, and I was prepared to beg my way into a car. Luckily, I didn't have to. Traffic cooperated and the nearest location happened to have the perfect car for the trip. Still, I got to the counter at 10 minutes to 6, and was sweating it until the moment the keys were in my hand.

You may ask: why not simply cancel the gig? You see, in addition to the show, I had lessons scheduled that couldn't be re-scheduled on a trip in the near future. Plus, I've always felt that when you tell someone you'll be somewhere (especially for a gig), and you have a way to get there, you get there.

After all that craziness, the drive itself was a rather uneventful. I spent the time listening to Coast to Coast AM with George Noory, something I rarely get to do anymore since I'm not usually up all night these days. (If you're a night person and you don't know about Coast To Coast AM, you should check it out. You can visit their website by clicking here.) I was on the back end of the storm that was sweeping up the east coast, so there was very little traffic. Plus the road crews had cleared everything by the time I got there.

The show itself turned out to be one of the best, I think. The band was really sounding great (it was nice to have Jay Turner back on bass - we hadn't made the same show in some time), Linwood Taylor was ripping it up and James was better than ever. The crowd was wonderful (as you always are at the OTWC!), and I saw some old and dear friends who made it out over the course of the night. And the St. Patrick's Day craziness seemed to miss the OTWC this year. I did happen to cut my hand on the hi-hat during a solo, but Katherine patched me up and I'm almost good as new!

Thanks to everyone for their tremendous support, especially Ron Diehm (for the room), Jeff Kushner (for everything he does), and the staff at the OTWC (for their attention). Finally, a huge thanks to all of you who make it out to cheer us on! Without you, there would be no gig to go to.

The adventure continues next month - Saturday, April 28. Mark your calendars, make your reservations, and I'll plan on seeing you there...

T.

March 12, 2007
So far, it looks as though there are no problems with our latest design changes. That's a load off of my mind. I get a bit stressed whenever we update the site in a major way, but this one hasn't been nearly as bad as it could have been. Please let us know if you happen to find something that's not working! You can either send me an e-mail directly, or contact the webmaster by clicking here.

As you may know, I'll be at the Outta The Way Cafe in Derwood, MD with the James Mabry Band this Saturday, March 17 - St. Patrick's Day. Get there early, grab a good seat, have some food, and listen to some good blues. Call OTWC at 301-963-6895 or visit their website: www.outta.com for more info.

In response to several e-mails, I will have a few CD copies of the B/D², Conversations, and Drums! projects with me at the gig. If you'd like to pre-order, send an e-mail to sales by clicking here. CD's are $10.00 each. You can pay when you pick it up at the show, saving the $2.00 shipping/handling charge.

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Until later...

Timm

March 1, 2007
It's been a busy month in website land! Now that there are 3 projects available for sale, it seemed like the time to set up a Shop here at TB.com to centralize things and make it easier to purchase music. This was a relatively easy thing to do, but it did require altering the overall structure of the website to some degree. And since we were going to be doing that, the decision was made to clean up a little of the "behind the scenes" stuff as well.

If you've been a regular visitor to the website, I imagine you have your button clicks pretty much memorized. For the most part, things shouldn't change much (if at all) for you. However, you will find the navigation menu is a bit different. The main changes are the addition of a link to The Shop and the deletion of the Biography link. Believe it or not, the Bio was one of the least visited pages of the site (I guess most folks know enough about me already!), so it seemed logical to trade that for a link to The Shop. You can still check out my Bio, Discography, and Jeff's famous "Testimonials" page by clicking the link that's now on the Home page. And speaking of the discography, I'll be racking my brain to provide a more exhaustive version of that in the coming months. The goal is to include sessions I've been involved with as a producer and engineer, along with as many drumming sessions as I can remember. Believe it or not, I find out about sessions I'd forgotten all the time.

There's also been a change in access to the Updates Archives. With a years' worth of updates now archived, the links were taking up quite a bit of space at the bottom of the Updates page. To make things a little cleaner, we've installed a drop-down menu (aka "jump menu"). You'll find it at the bottom of the Updates page every month from here on out. Note that the archived pages used to open in a new browser window (tab) and this is no longer the case - they now open in the same window the website is in. To return to the Updates page from the archives, you can either use your browser's 'back' button, or you can use the button at the bottom of each page in the archives to go back one page (saves you from having to use all that energy to move the mouse from the bottom of the page up to browser's back button).

Needless to say, with all the little tweaks that have been going on around here recently, it may turn out that something that used to work doesn't - or that something we wanted to work isn't yet. If that happens during your visit, please send an e-mail tothe webmaster by clicking here so we can get it fixed ASAP. Thanks for your help.

Finally, I want to take a moment to wish a very Happy Birthday to my sister Pam!!

Here's what else is happening...

Visit The Shop
There's finally a place in the website with everything that's available for purchase. No more multiple clicks involved to get to the music you want - it's all in The Shop. Along with links to hear the music, you'll find detailed info about purchasing downloads and CD's. Check it out and let us know what you think...

Spring Teaching Trip(s)
The March teaching trip to Washington, D.C. filled up quickly, so we've added a second trip at the end of April. If you're interested in getting a slot (there are only 2 more available), head over to the Education section for more details...

March Gig at OTWC
I'll be appearing at the Outta The Way Cafe in Derwood, MD. with the James Mabry Band on March 17. St. Patrick's Day at the OTWC - what a treat! I imagine it will be a crazy night, so make your reservations now to insure a good seat. Call 301-963-6895 or visit their website: www.outta.com for more info...

"Serious Hands™" Update
Things are progressing nicely toward the completion of "Serious Hands™". The final section is really starting to come together, and I've gotten a lot of positive feedback on the material that's already completed. I've got a meeting set up with my teaching guru Steve Larrance during this upcoming trip to D.C. to play through the Exercises section, and I'm hoping that will bring me several steps closer to completion. I'll keep you posted.

In the meantime, previews from "Serious Hands™" are available for download in .pdf and .MUS (Finale®) formats in the Education section. You can also download instructions for practicing the examples in .pdf format, and there's a link to download the latest version of Finale NotePad® as well ( so you can get a feel for how the book will work with Finale's programs). You can reach the Book Previews by visiting the Education section of the web site, or by clicking here. Keep in mind, these are just a few examples of what the book covers. This is not your ordinary book on the rudiments...

"Drums!" Now Available
The " Drums!" project was released a couple weeks ago. This project is a collection of pieces for solo drum set designed to showcase the musicality of the drums. But there's plenty of crazy TB drumming in there, too! You can purchase this record on CD or as an .mp3 download by visiting The Shop. You can hear excerpts from "Drums!" in the Music section.

If you're planning to make it to the OTWC on the 17th, I should have a few copies of each album available for sale at the gig...

News From The Barn / Upcoming Releases
Now that "Drums!" is completed, I can focus on getting "Touch" mastered for release. I worked on this record off and on for nearly 10 years and as a result, some of it sounds a bit dated. I toyed with the idea of leaving it alone on several occasions (hence the long delay in completion), but kept coming back to it. The legal issues regarding its release were resolved long ago, so there's no excuse for it to sit in the can. Now that I'm revisiting it during the mastering process, I find that I still really enjoy this record. And though some of the ideas weren't realized in exactly the way I intended, the overall picture doesn't suffer as a result.

My original goal was to have it available in early March, but it's looking more like April/May before it's completed. I'll keep you posted on my progress. You can learn more about the Touch project and hear some of the music by clicking here...

Studio sessions with guitarist Murray Fentress (from the band J.R. Booker) should be starting soon; the Internet sessions with Peace Machine (featuring West Coast fusion guitarist Rob Howell) are moving forward...

I'm also in the studio recording sections of the book for the accompanying CD...

Session Information
Internet sessions are an inexpensive way to get high quality drum tracks on your upcoming project. Booking me for your next session is easy! Visit sessions.timmbiery.com, our sub-site devoted to everything you need to know about the Internet recording session process. It includes a look at my studio, a listing of the drum inventory, and other information to get you started. E-mail inquiries about Internet sessions by clicking here...

If you're interested in booking a session at your location, please contact Jeff Kushner Management @ 240.418.8137, or via e-mail by clicking here.

You can visit sessions.timmbiery.com by clicking here. Note: the site will open in a new window (tab). You do not have to click the "Main Website" link to return to timmbiery.com - just close the new window...

Modern Drummer Update
Prior to starting the Nils Lofgren Band 2006 tour, I spoke with Robyn Flans of Modern Drummer magazine. This interview was condensed into an "Update" in the October issue, and is still floating around out there in cyber-space. If you'd like to check out the interview online, you can click here, then scroll down the page...

Read About Recording and Touring with the NLB
If you haven't seen them yet, you can still access my diaries from the recording of Nils Lofgren's "Sacred Weapon" album and the first leg of the Nils Lofgren band's 2006 Tour. Note that the diaries will open in new windows (tabs).

Read the sessions diary by clicking here...
Read the tour diary by clicking here...

Sign up for the free TB.com RSS Feed
Well over 1,000 people subscribe to the TB.com RSS Feed! Subscribers receive notice of updates the moment they go live on the website and gain access to special promotions, including downloads. To subscribe, just click this icon or the RSS logo in your browser's address bar. Most newer browsers (Opera, Firefox, Avant, etc.) have RSS ability, and the latest version of Internet Explorer has finally added an integrated RSS reader. You can also click on these links to add the TB.com RSS feed to your Google, Yahoo, MSN, or AOL homepage.

You can learn more about RSS and the feed, visit the RSS Info page by clicking here...

Mailing List
If you're not on the TB.com e-mailing list, you can sign up by clicking here. Because the web site is frequently updated, we only send occasional e-mailings. I promise you won't be inundated with spam...

Update Archives
You can read other past updates in the Archives by using the menu located on the current Updates page...

You can reach me with drumming questions, comments, or just to say hello by clicking here...

Cheers!!

Timm