Tommy Lee wants to play drums?
Jamie Kohns on August 23rd, 2005
While running at the gym last night, I caught a bit of “Tommy Lee Goes To College” on one of the personal TV’s. Normally, I would have immediately shut the thing off- but this clip showed Tommy Lee playing tennors with the marching band drum line. This grabbed my attention- I wondered “could Tommy Lee actually cut it with a drum line?”. So I watched (and ran). The episode progressed to show Tommy trying out in front of band staff, being granted a provisional spot with the line, and finally being allowed to take the field during a game.
Tommy Lee is a drummer, but there are some HUGE differences between wailing away on a drum kit, and marching with a set of tennors. But, hell, any drummer that can keep up a monster solo while his kit is rotating upside-down should be able to ahndle walking and playing- right? The toughest part, I would imagine, would be learning to play the charts. Rudimental drumming is completely different that keeping a beat.
One thing I had to keep in mind about all this was that reality television is more like television than reality: what you see is not necessarily the way things happened. If a show says it took twelve hours to accomplish something, chances are it took two days. I have no doubt that the whole band gig was pre-aranged with the department of bands- probably a one-time arrangement (I really doubt if Tommy Lee would be able to keep up with the practice schedule for a full season). The footage from Tommy’s “audition” was pathetic. Had it actually been an audition, he would have been sent packing (unless Nebraska’s line is really hurting for tennor players). It also seemed that the tennor parts for Tommy’s show were “dumbed down”- written so that they’d be easier for him to be able to play. I also have no doubt that there were probably more than the one late-night instructional session with a real drummer that was shown in the episode.
I read that Nebraska administrators were afraid that the show would paint their school as a bunch of hicks. Rather, the show seems just to make fun of Tommy Lee. It just shows what kind of special treatment can be bought with a little fame (infamy) and some reality-TV cameras. The upside to all this is that maybe the exposure will boost enrollment in band programs, and percussion programs. But if everyone that wants to play tennors thinks they can get through an audition with a little tappity-tappity, well, they’ve got a sad surprise in store.
Now Listeneing to:
David Gray in the Live Lounge w/ Jo Whiley on BBC Radio1
(covering The Killers…. so cool)
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