Rhythm Night Kicks Hard With Minnemann, Garibaldi, and Pridgen

• By Radim McCue, Photography by Robert Downs and Mike Tkacheff
• Published August 15, 2010

The Rhythm Night concert in San Jose, California on Friday was designed to be a benefit for Richie Hayward. After his death the day before it turned into a benefit for his family and a celebration of his life and drumming.

Dave Garibaldi

Dave Garibaldi and Tower of Power kicked things off with a rhythm session clinic featuring Rocco Prestia on bass, Roger Smith on organ and James Cortez on guitar. Each artist explained his role in the groove and how learning an energetic but minimalist approach was crucial to the success of the band.

Dave Garibaldi explains the Tower Of Power approach to rhythm.

"More than anything, the funk is based on James Brown.".

The rhythm section: Garibaldi, Prestia, Roger Smith, and James Cortez. Rocco (below)

Garibaldi himself attributed their greatest influence to James Brown and the quartet demonstrated James' signature groove ("Papa's Got A Brand New Bag"). Later, the band jammed over several different grooves featuring organ and guitar as well as drums.

Thomas Pridgen

Next up was Thomas Pridgen who killed the crowd with a series of solos played over his instrumental tracks. And, he followed it with hilarious Q&A session in which he gave serious and not so serious advice to the crowd. Best Thomas Tip: Keep your cymbals low so the audience can see you.

Marco Minnemann

Marco Minnemann, Germany's gift to extreme drumming, started his set with a tribute to Richie Hayward, who had visited him at a gig just weeks before. He built that into a classic Minnemann solo, which uses four-way independence and polyrhythms to create wild and soulful one-man percussive symphony.

This was followed by a duet between Pridgen and Minnemann that had the audience screaming for more.

Raffle Winners

The benefit portion of the evening went great with thousands of raffle tickets sold. Seventeen different prizes were raffled off, culminating in DW Collectors Exotic Kit with Zildjian Custom A Cymbals won by Peter Salas. Visitors to the show came from as far as Lake Tahoe, Nevada, and Washington to pay respects to Richie and dig the jams.

You did not have to be present to win and three prizes are unclaimed currently. If you are holding one of the winning numbers email us today to receive your prize.

PRIZE AND TICKET NUMBERS
• Vic Firth sticks (5A pink) : 563008
• Vic Firth sticks (5A black) : 563377
• Vic Firth sticks (5A Hickory) : 511827T
• Zildjian Medium Thin Crash : 562941
• Sabian Ozone cymbal : 512728
• Sabian 21” Ride : 512749
• Puresound snare wires : 563589
• Puresound snare wires : 562710
• Puresound snare wires : 563299 (prize unclaimed — not advance purchase)
• Puresound snare wires : 563947
• Vic Firth sticks (natural) : 511821K
• Remo drum heads : 563790
• Remo drum heads : 511858T
• Remo drum heads : 563984
• Dunnett snare drum : 562900
• Pro-Mark Richie Hayward signature sticks : 563576
• DW collector series drum set with Zildjian custom cymbals : 562951
• Lifetime DRUM! Subscription : 563481

Special Thanks

DRUM! would like to thank all of the following organizations for their support of the Richie Hayward benefit: DW Drums, Zildjian, San Jose Jazz Fest, Evans, Pro-Mark, Remo, Sabian, Vic Firth, Yamaha Drums, KFOG, Dunnett, Lemmon Percussion, Audix, Hollywooddrum.com, San Jose Taiko, Drum Wallet, Capricious Skin Care, Drummerworld.com, Jamjaw.net, San Jose Pro Drum, Mikedolbear.com, TigerBill.com, Onlinedrummer.com