#291 David Rivera- Drummer, Singer, Songwriter, Bandleader, Educator and More!
This episode is sponsored by Dream Cymbals. Check out some of their hand crash cymbals and gongs!
This week’s guest is David Rivera. David sprang from Puerto Rico as a recording artist, composer and arranger with roots in Latin, Jazz, Gospel, Rock and Pop. Over ten years of professional music experience focused on teaching, arranging, composing, and performing various music styles – including Jazz, Latin, Gospel, Rock and Pop. In 2004 Rivera won the BEST Scholarship to attend the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston. Since then, he has been actively partaking in numerous live concerts and studio sessions with various artists. Some of those include legendary Gospel Singer, Ron Kenoly; Grammy Award Winner, John Benitez; Latin Grammy Nominee, Gonzalo Grau; Pedro Capo, Miguel Zenon, Tito Nieves, Jerry Rivera, Chucho Valdes, William Cepeda; Oscar Stagnaro; and Eguie Castrillo’s "Mambo King" Big Band and Latin Jazz Band. For the past seven years he’s been working full time with Alex Alvear and Mango Blue. He also performs as a guest drum set player with numerous bands, trios, and quartets. Furthermore, Rivera recently completed his Master’s degree in Music Education and is a faculty member at the Berklee College of Music City Music Program and in various summer programs such as The Berklee Day Sessions Summer Program and The Berklee Five Week Program. In 2017, he founded the podcast show “AKULKUL.”
Help!
Jeremy from Q Drums needs our help! Here is the GoFundMe Link.
Happy Birthday!
Happy Birthday to Brian Blade. He has a new album coming out in September, featuring: Joshua Redman, Brad Mehldau, and Christian McBride.
Happy Birthday to Tim Greene. Tim is currently in his sixth year as the Assistant Band Director/Percussion Director for Cypress Ranch High School out of Cypress Texas, in West Houston. During his tenure at Cypress Ranch High School the percussion section and band have become highly competitive in both indoor and outdoor arenas. Most notable awards include; Area Finalist in the UIL State Marching band contest 2018, Earning Sweepstakes with 1st division ratings across the board for Marching and Concert ensembles 2017-2018, Best percussion at multiple marching band contest, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 earning first place in Scholastic A division TCGC Championships indoor percussion contest in 2015.
Mr. Greene served as a Graduate Teaching Assistant at Auburn University in Auburn Alabama from 2013 – 2015, where he studied under Dr. Doug Rosener while teaching and writing music for the Auburn University Marching Bands Percussion Section.
Mr. Greene has served as a general Music Teacher for Orangeburg Consolidated School District Three, as well as the Marching Percussion Director for South Carolina State University from 2007 – 2013.
Since aging out of the co-world champion Cadets in 2000, Mr. Greene has taught at several notable programs across the country including; Percussion Caption Head for Crossmen Drum and Bugle Corp 2013-2014, Blue Stars as Battery Coordinator in 2012, Boston Crusaders Jr. Drum and Bugle Corp 2001, 2006, King Phillip Regional High-School 2001, Bushwackers Senior Drum and Bugle Corp 2004, 2007, Brooklyn Steppers and Black Fire Percussion 2002 - 2007. During his tenure with the Brooklyn Steppers Mr. Greene also lead the Drumline for the New York Knicks, New Jersey Nets (now Brooklyn Nets) and Hot 97 radio station.
Mr. Greene currently holds a Masters in Music Education from Auburn University, and a Bachelors of Science in Music Education from South Carolina State University, graduating Cum-Laudi. Prior to completing the undergraduate degree Mr. Greene also studied percussion under Michael Lipsey at Queens College Aaron Copeland School of music in Long Island City NY, as well as Robert Romeo at Jersey City University in Jersey City NJ.
Mr. Greene has conducted percussion clinics and workshops in the Atlanta-Metro, New York, Alabama, Texas South East areas as an education artist for Remo, Zildjian, and Vic Firth. Mr. Greene has adjudicated the solo and ensemble marching categories at PASIC, he has also adjudicated some indoor contest and other local circuits in the Alabama, and Georgia area.
Mr. Greene currently resides in Cypress Texas with his wife Krystal, their four children Kayden age 5, four year old twins; Timothy Jr. and Kaylee, 8 month old Kaycee and their dog Patches, a very friendly miniature Dachshund.
Mr. Greene is the founder and owner of TAG percussion, a web based video lesson platform. He is also the author and creator of the children’s books series; The Daddy Duty Book Series. A book series that is dedicated to providing an inside look into the role of the active parenting dad. Mr. Greene is a part of the founding body of the Southern Percussion Ensemble an Indoor competition ensemble that features HBCU instrumentation and influences.
Happy Birthday to Rich Redmond. Rich is a top call recording drummer/percussionist based in Nashville and Los Angeles.
Rich began playing drums at age 8 and eventually played in the prestigious 1:00 Lab Band at The University of North Texas. Receiving his Master's Degree in Music Education, Rich now combines his classical training and 'street smarts' musicianship to bring his passion filled drumming to the world.
Rich’s versatile, dynamic, and rock solid drumming is the sound behind many of today's top talents.
Rich has toured/recorded/performed with: Jason Aldean, Ludacris, Kelly Clarkson, Bryan Adams, Bob Seger, Joe Perry, Jewel, Miranda Lambert, Luke Bryan, Thompson Square, Steel Magnolia, The Pointer Sisters, John Eddie, Pam Tillis, Susan Ashton, Deana Carter, Montgomery Gentry, Alabama, John Anderson, Trace Adkins, Keith Urban, Emily West, Lauren Alaina, and many others. Rich has played drums and percussion on
19 #1 singles .
Rich has appeared on the trail of television shows such as The Voice, American Idol, The Grammy Awards, The Tonight Show (with Leno, O’Brien and Fallon), The Today Show, Conan O' Brien, Jimmy Kimmel, Craig Ferguson, Good Morning America, Ellen, The CMA Awards, ACM Awards, CMT Awards, ACA Awards, as well as being prominently featured in 18 music popular music videos .
Gig Alerts
Damon will be speaking at the DIY Musician Conference in Austin, TX from August 26-28 (Damon’s birthday is the 28th). Other friends of the show that will be there include: Chris Robley, Cheryl B. Englehardt, Suz Paulinski, and Ari Herstand.
If you would like a preview of that conference, head over to the DIY Musician Podcast, episode 307.
If you want to bring a friend, you can do so FOR FREE by entering the coupon code: DIYCONFRIEND22 at checkout from now until August 12.
Joni Mitchell performed at the Newport Folk Fest and you can catch a couple clips of her performing below!
Educational Spotlight
More artists have been announced for this upcoming PASIC.
Damon will be giving a clinic on Saturday November 12th at 10am in room 109. Here’s a sneak peek of what he will be demonstrating…..
Iconic Recording
The iconic recording was chosen by David. The song he chose is “A La I Ole” by Batacumbele from the album, ‘Con Un Poco De Songo’.
Music News
Buy a copy of The Essential Pandeiro Method between now and August 3rd for a chance to win a special MEINL pandeiro created to celebrate the release of my book. You must be in the U.S. and purchase the book directly from me to be eligible for the giveaway.
The winner will be announced on Scott Kettner’s Instagram and Facebook on Saturday, August 6th. Connect with me there, and follow these hashtags to stay up to date: #essentialpandeiro, #pandeirobook, #rrlrrlrl, #meinlpandeiro
Best of luck to all who enter!
Instagram says all videos shorter than 15 minutes will now be uploaded and shared as Reels.
Videos posted to the platform prior to this change will remain the same. Meta began testing this change with both Instagram and videos uploaded to Facebook. The change is part of adapting Instagram to be more like its chief competitor, TikTok. All videos and Reels will be under one tab on Instagram users’ profile page. -Article
Ticketmaster’s ‘dynamic pricing’ algorithms quickly pushed Bruce Springsteen ticket prices into the $5,000 range — even for ‘okay’ seats.
Fans are outraged to find tickets for Bruce Springsteen’s 2023 arena tour selling for as high as $5,000 on the opening day of sales. It was a rude introduction for many to Ticketmaster’s “dynamic pricing” platform, where “platinum tickets” fluctuate in price in response to ongoing demand. -Article
In a rare move, Ticketmaster has responded to the Springsteen ticket fiasco, downplaying the number of controversial “platinum” tickets sold.
Amid the outrage over “dynamic pricing” for Bruce Springsteen’s tour, Ticketmaster released some statistics relating to costs and percentages for the dates that went on sale last week. Ticketmaster downplayed the number of controversial “platinum” tickets whose variable prices reached as high as $5,000 a piece during the first day of sales, saying those account for only 11.2% of the total tickets sold.
According to Ticketmaster, more than 88% of the tickets sold at fixed prices ranging from $59.50 to $399 — before added service fees, of course. The ticketing service says the average cost of all tickets sold thus far is $262, and 56% have sold for under $200 at face value. -Article
Spotify collects data about your listening activity and playlist history, of course. But it also collects more personal data about yourself.
According to Spotify’s own privacy policy, some of the data it collects includes your name, email address, phone number, date of birth, gender, address, GPS location, login info, billing info, IP address, and device information. Some of the device information that Spotify collects include your operating system (iOS, Android), phone model, browser, and WiFi network-connected devices. -Article
David Rivera Interview
The song leading into the interview is “Chevere” by David Rivera.
Damon catches up with David in between classes at the Berklee Summer Music Program he is teaching at.
David talks about teaching and being able to asses the ensemble.
David attended Berklee College of Music and talks about some of the percussionists he was in school with. Many of them are friends of the show.
David participated in the Berklee in Puerto Rico before attending the school. He was playing Christian music in Puerto Rico and the percussion community at Berklee helped him expand his knowledge of other styles and genres.
David’s degree from Berklee was Music Education and Performance. He also can sing and play the guitar.
Before Berklee, David was studying Law at the University of Puerto Rico. He started taking drum lessons at age 18. His teacher Marcos Rivera, studied with the great Hector “Tito” Matos.
David talks about being a left handed drummer.
David talks about the adventure of applying to and auditioning for Berklee.
David got out of school and was teaching music at Berklee and in the Boston Public School system.
While he was teaching, he started to get more gigs, especially with singing.
He also got his masters from Boston Conservatory.
He drove to L.A. and was having some success, then the pandemic shut everything down. He spent some time during the pandemic learning guitar and boleros.
David makes a reference to him sharing songs with his friends to a family guy clip.
David enjoys the collaborative aspect in his songwriting.
Shout-out to the current members of David’s band and on this tour. Marcos Torres, Danny Torres, Andres Echeverry, Anibal Cruz César, Barba Blanca, Antoinette Rodriguez, Pedrito Ruiz, and Kalani Trinidad.
David has been tour managing and booking this tour himself in addition to being the musical director. He talks about the process of making this tour happen.
David’s most recent video at Congahead will be out soon!
Shout-out to Martin Cohen and Javier Raez.
David talks about preparing his singles, videos and album release. He has been batching content to be released at a later date.
Damon talks about playlisting and Charles Alexander.
David and Damon talk about building grassroots fans vs. “paying” for them.
Damon talks about dates and deadlines for submitting to the Grammys.
David hosted the A Kul Kul Podcast. There are episodes up on Spotify.
David chooses the iconic recording for the week (see above). He also mentions Osain Del Monte’s “La Negra” and Ruben Blades (Y Seis Del Solar)’s “Las Cuentas Del Alma”
Shout-out to the late Bob Gullotti.
David uses Zildjian Cymbals, Vic Firth Sticks, Gruv Gear, Latin Percussion, and Cogs Drums.
You can follow David on Facebook and Instagram.
The song leading out of the interview is “Enemigos” by David Rivera.
