This weeks’ guest is Dr. John Wooton. John is a lover of music as he performs, teaches, and listens to a variety of genres, but prefers a blend of jazz and several Caribbean styles. Known as a rudimental specialist, John actually gets more work as a singer and steel pan player. So, when he isn’t flipping sticks and playing ratamacues around the globe, you can find him dressed in linen playing at a casino, on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, or dressed in style playing at a jazz club in New Orleans. Otherwise you can find him on a basketball or tennis court trying to stay young. An 81% free throw shooter and 4.0 tennis player, recently bumped down from a 4.5…, proof that age is winning.

The past few years Dr. Throwdown has played paradiddles with stick tosses and hertas with “Hi Moms” as well as flam 5s and diminished scales on his steel pans, in places like Tenerife, The Forbidden City, Novi Sad, Ludz, Madrid, Bucaramanga, Biella, San Juan, Missoula, Rome, Pescara, General Roca, Xinxiang, Buenos Aires, Lima, Houston, Gdansk, Vienna, Cali, Ferrara, Tegucigalpa, Port of Spain, Dallas, London, Mayagüez, Dusseldorf, McAllen, and many others. No, the countries are not listed… do your homework. He is an international artist and clinician for several percussion companies, whole heartedly endorsing each one of them, not only for their wonderful products but for the support they all give to percussion education around the world. Those companies are Pearl Drums, Zildjian Cymbals, Remo, and Vic Firth. John also endorses Row Loff Productions, publisher for his books, solos and ensembles. Check out all their web sites, not only for wonderful products but also for their educational material.

John is in his 30th year of teaching at Southern Miss, close to where he grew up in Lafayette, Louisiana, so he gets to enjoy dat great Cajun cuisine and Miss’ippi bar-b-que. Doc, as his students call him, loves his job… making music with his students on various percussion instruments. Search Youtube for “Southern Miss Percussion” to enjoy some of the ensembles he teaches. He was educated in Lafayette, Lou., Denton, Texas and Iowa City, Iowa, receiving documents from all three places, but he was also educated by teachers such as Marty Hurley through the experience of drum and bugle corps, specifically one from Rockford, Illinois. He has won some prestigious trophies, including several national titles as a soloist, ensemble member, composer and teacher, along the way with these organizations but prefers to play music for the joy of the experience.

R.I.P.

Rest in peace to Joe Calato. Joe was 102 years old and invented the nylon tip for drumsticks. If you would like to read more about him, you can CLICK HERE.

Happy Birthday!

Happy birthday to 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.”

Happy birthday to Andy Moffatt! Andy is a lifelong Eagles fan living in Philly and come from a family of drummers. He was in the Indiana University of Pennsylvania Drumline in college which helped propel him into The Crossmen Drum & Bugle Corps. before he found out the Eagles were starting a Drumline, he worked at Zildjian Cymbals. After that, he auditioned and was lucky enough to grab a spot in the snareline with the team. A few short years later, he took over guiding the drumline mission. Their mission is to add to the incredible gameday atmosphere in Philly and engage with as many Eagles fans as possible!

Happy Birthday to Rebecca Kite! Rebecca is the author of a definitive biography of the world-famous Japanese marimba virtuoso, Keiko Abe – a work of scholarship that includes an exhaustively researched history of the concert marimba, accompanied by an illustrative music CD.

Kite's biography cum marimba history has been translated into Japanese, and will be translated into Spanish and published by the University of the Arts and Sciences in Chiapas, Mexico in 2013. A Chinese translation is planned, as well.

Kite was the first marimba teacher to record pieces traditionally played by beginning marimba students -- and so, for the first time, students could have the instructional benefit of hearing how these pieces ought to sound. On Kite's Prism recording, she played "Yellow After the Rain," the most popular marimba piece for beginners worldwide. She has created additional groundbreaking teaching materials, as well.

Kite holds several patents for innovative timpani designs that enable greater ease in moving the pedal, while improving the drum's overall sound. Early in Kite's musical career, she studied with such stars of the percussion world as Cloyd Duff, timpanist of the Cleveland Orchestra from 1942-1981, and George Gaber, Chair of the Percussion Department at the Indiana University School of Music in Bloomington, Indiana from 1960 to 1985. Much later in her continuing musical education, she studied with Keiko Abe, the
internationally known marimba virtuoso.

Gig Alerts

The iHeart Music Festival is happening in Las Vegas, NV from September 22-23rd. It also includes an immersive mixed reality experience. -Article

The Monterey Jazz Festival is happening in Monterey, CA from Sept 22nd-24th.

The Global Citizen Festival is happening in Central Park in NYC on Sept 23rd.

Farm Aid is happening in Noblesville, IN on Sept 23rd.

The University of Southern Mississippi Symphony Orchestra performs the “South American Rhythms concert on October 3rd. Dr. John Wooton, joins the Orchestra performing Bembe My Way, and Amigos de Borinquen, two works he composed and arranged by Southern Miss alum Bill Murphy arranged for Orchestra.

Educational Spotlight

John will be performing at PASIC again this year, on Saturday November 11th at noon in room 109.

Iconic Recording

John picks the iconic recording and talks about the significance of the song to him and his son. It is “Acidhead” by John Scofield from the ‘Überjam’ album featuring: saxophonist Karl Denson, guitarist Avi Bortnick, keyboardist John Medeski and drummer Adam Deitch.

Music News

The Rolling Stones announce “Hackney Diamonds,” their first studio album of new material in 18 years, with details to be unveiled in a live-streamed interview with Jimmy Fallon on September 6. -Article

Torrential rain and severe flooding have left one person dead and thousands stranded at the Burning Man 2023 Nevada desert site. Despite challenges, organizers intend to proceed with the festival’s finale ‘burn’ on Monday.

Torrential rains turned roads and grounds into mud, leaving thousands stranded at the Burning Man 2023 festival. Participants, known for their ‘radical self-sufficiency,’ faced unexpected challenges, including food and water conservation. Revelers navigated through mud, some barefoot or using plastic bags as makeshift footwear. A no-driving order was issued when the rain started on Friday, with over half an inch of rain falling overnight. -Article

Live Nation has announced a multi-year partnership with FUZE Technology’s mobile phone charging platform chargeFUZE, making charging kiosks available across 30 Live Nation music festivals and 45 venues nationwide this year to reach over 25 million concertgoers. The deal includes an equity investment and a goal of providing kiosks at more than 300 Live Nation venues and festivals in the next few years. -Article

Award-winning producer, songwriter, and artist Timbaland drops his first single in over eight years, reuniting with Justin Timberlake and Nelly Furtado for “Keep Going Up.” The track is Timbaland’s artist debut under the partnership between his Mosley Music Group and Def Jam Recordings.

Jeremy Bosch released a new single called “Nuestras Manos” with friends of the show and friends in real life.

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Dr. John Wooton Interview

The song leading into the interview is “Amigos de Borinquen”

John talks about the spelling of his name and Wootton Town. His dad’s family is from the Isle of Wight. His mom is French Canadian, settling in Louisiana in Cajun country. He mentions the persecution of the Acadians.

John grew up in Lafayette, LA and Damon brings up Marc Broussard.

John grew up with traditional Cajun music.

Shout-out to Mr. Hicks, John’s first drum teacher. Mr. Hicks introduced him to Louis Jouett. Louis played vibraphone and drums as well as building clocks and violins.

John also studied with Marty Hurley thanks to Ron Nethercutt.

John went to Southeastern Louisiana University on a jazz scholarship.

Then he transferred to the University of Louisiana, Lafayette because his dad taught there.

John talks about winning the drumline competition at PASIC and also mentions marching at Phantom Regiment.

John also attended North Texas University.

Shout-out to Matt Chamberlain and Mike Dillon.

John studied with Randy Drake and Henry Okstel before Ed Soph arrived at UNT.

Shout-out to Dave Weckl and friend of the show Joel Rosenblatt.

John was introduced to the steel pan via the late Ellie Mannette.

John got his doctoratte at the University of Iowa. He studied with Tom Davis.

After his doctorate, John got the job teaching at Southern Mississippi University and has been there for 31 years.

John was a beta tester for Finale and helped with the percussion notation.

Friend of the show, Tony Lymon studied with John.

John talks about how he got into the steel pan. Shout-out to Bob Ledbetter.

Shout-out to Alan Coyle and his steel pans.

John talks about getting into singing. R.I.P. to Jimmy Buffett.

John talks about how he got his nickname Dr. Throwdown from the Row-Loff guys.

Damon brings up all the stuff you can get on John’s website from merch, to signing up for lessons, sheet music and compositions he’s written, and even the practice pad he invented.