A SQUAD OF DRUMMERS DRUMMING

There is something about pounding on things with a stick that stirs our most primitive urges. And God knows, they need a good stir now and then.

In fact, I suspect we were drumming long before we were chanting or dancing around a fire - maybe, even before we had fire.

So, there would seem to be no better way to end this little series of stories than to indulge in a bit of lively percussion and no better person to lead us in that ritual than Rick "Shadrach" Lazar, one of Thunder Bay's favourite and (by anybody's definition) coolest of its many musical sons.

Rick got his earliest musical training in piano and woodwinds from his father. Then, in high school, he sat down to his first drum kit when he and Paul Shaffer formed a band. Even to this day, Paul fondly remembers Rick's enormous collection of DOWNBEAT magazines and his encyclopedic knowledge of music and the people who make it.

In later years, Rick would get a chance to meet and play with some of those folks: Bruce Cockburn, Jesse Cook, Moe Koffman, Barry White and even The Blues Brothers, to name just a few. In the '80s, he had two bands of his own (Coconut Groove and Montuno Police) and in the '90s began to teach as well as perform.

Then, around about the time the Millennium clock turned over, Rick began spending his Sunday afternoons with a number of people who simply loved percussion and wanted to learn from a master. And as their numbers grew (thanks to Rick's policy of taking in just about anyone who expressed a desire to bang on things with a stick), the group soon morphed into Samba Squad.

Within little more than a year (and under Rick's inspired direction), Samba Squad was busking and doing other small gigs and recording in a studio and ended up winning The Urban Music Association of Canada's Best World Recording of 2001 Award.

You might say that Rick has spent most of his life not only entertaining audiences around the world but also showing people they don't have to just sit and listen - not that anyone can sit for long when Rick gets drumming!

So, now, as the Holiday Season winds down and we've heard The Little Drummer Boy so many times we could scream, I'd like to suggest we drown out all memory of that timid little rat-a-tat-tatter with a good, sharp blast from Shadrach's whistle followed by some hot, hip-shaking Latin rhythms.

And let me wish you all a Happy and Useful 2010 the best way I know how: by sending you to www.sambasquad.com where we can watch the Squad perform and dance and drum our way into the New Year.

Over to you, Rick!

(Thanks so much for joining me for THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS. You can review all the days again just by scrolling down. And I'll be back with new entries on The Zipper Report in a day or two - once I've caught my breath.)