This 15 year old kid happened to be Donny Osborne,
and he and I have been friends since ‘69. He invited me to
his house, and it was there that I saw a Buddy Rich set complete
with the BR monogram just like in the catalogue.
Better then that, there were drums all over the
basement and garage. His family was awesome. His mom was solid,
positive, and gracious. His brother, Tom was and still is a loyal
friend and always willing to listen and encourage. He is an awesome
trumpet player and showed great potential at piano. I still think
he could be a great jazz pianist. Their sister Peggy was a beautiful
kid and even then had a dry, caustic sense of humor. Today she is
a brilliant businessperson out west. The day I came over, Don, Sr
was on the road doing a clinic at a place called Mount Hood Community
College in Gresham Oregon, which is where Don, Jr. got his degree.
It was there that I learned that Donnie’s dad was sales manager
of Slingerland.
I have had some very surreal moments in my life;
most have involved the music business. One of these moments is related
to my first trip to Donny's home. I was there about a week after
Buddy stopped by to relax, visit, and watch Donnie play. Buddy was
impressed with the collection of drum equipment. Years later, in
Mel Torme's book about the life of Buddy Rich, Mel describes Buddy's
first trip to Osborne manor. When I read this some 32 years, later
it gave me chills to think that I was there the week after the visit
and was now reading about it.
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I graduated
in 1970 and jobs were tough to get. Employers were scared to take
a young man, train him and then lose him to the draft. One day
I mentioned this to Don, Sr. and he said, ”Why don't you
swing by the factory and get a gig?” Well that following
Monday morning I walked into the plant with my bag of peanut butter
and jelly sandwiches and a dream. Ok, maybe not a dream, but just
knowing I could make a couple of bucks was a good start. Later
I found out Don was only kidding and did not think I’d show
up. The truth is I did not want to work in a factory, but at least
I was working and in the music industry. I don't remember where
I started, but a few days into the job I got put on drilling shells
for hardware.
One spring day, in 1971, I got call from Donny.
It was brief and a little weird. He asked if I was going to be
around and said he wanted to stop by. About 45 minutes later the
Osborne family car pulled up packed to the roof with Donny’s
drums. I came out of the house as he and his brother, Tom pulled
the drums from the big black Cadillac. I asked him why he brought
his drums over if he was not planning on staying. He said that
his dad just brought home a new set for him and he wanted me to
have his old set. My dad came out when he heard this and asked
if he had checked with his dad. Donny's mom who drove the set
over answered, "We know Rich loves these drums and will never
afford a set like this. We want him to have them". My dad
and I thanked them and I brought the drums into the house. That's
the way the Osbornes were; they saw a need and filled it.
This was an awesome gesture and an incredibly
nice thing to do. There is another factor that is even cooler.
Prior to Donny, the drum set had another owner, Buddy Rich.
This was the first of many sets Buddy would take
for touring and recording. This set had a special purpose that
none of the other sets had, and that being that it was used in
the famous photo session for the 1968 Slingerland catalog!
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