JD: How did you start playing drums? HA: Both my brother and sister played instruments. I was the youngest, I loved music, and I had a feeling for drums. I grew up during the Depression, so it was very tough to get an instrument or to pay a teacher. In those days, music stores would come to the school and give demonstrations. Then they’d give you something to take home to your parents which allowed you to buy your instrument for two dollars a week. I was 13 or so, and in order to get the two dollars a week, I worked at a carousel in Coney Island for the summer. I was paid a dollar a day, plus tips. With that, and with the help of my father, I bought my first snare drum. We didn’t know anything about practice pads, so I wasn’t allowed to play anywhere except […]

March 1985 Issue