Bum-ba-bum-BOOM.  The drumbeat from “Be My Baby” by the Ronnettes.  The greatest drummer ever, Hal Blaine, died this week.  The unique drumbeat...he missed the snare on 2 so he only played the rhythm beat on 4 for the entire song.

Be My Baby

90, not bad Hal! 

I had the pleasure of meeting him on 2 separate occasions at a Beach Boy convention in San Diego. The history and the great stories he told were first class. RIP Hal as your music will live on forever...

A quote from Neil Peart, drummer for Rush:
"When I was growing up, I played along to the radio, so I played along to Simon & Garfunkel, The Beach Boys, The Association, and The Byrds, and I was really playing along to Hal Blaine. He played on all of those records and so many more. There was another drummer who said that he was shattered to find out that his six favorite drummers were all Hal Blaine!"