wasn't sure where to put this.... so I hope it is no harm to put it here

pretty cool story of what happened to me this morning .... thought a few of you may enjoy

I have a family friend who I have know my entire life.

I have also known my entire life that from the early 1960s into the 1980s he worked for Buddy Rich .... he to this day works in the music industry

this particular gentleman has been very instrumental in my music career and has introduced me to many people around NYC who have kept my career moving at times in many ways and found me work during the slow times and made sure that I could provide for my family.

I knew we were going to be in his area this morning so my daughter, my wife and I stopped by his house to bring he and his wife a bottle of wine.... they are very into certain wines.

after a short visit catching up and chewing the fat I mentioned to him.... hey you should show Andrean ( my wife) your Buddy Rich room .

he has a room in his beautiful finished basement dedicated to Buddy Rich ... who was his childhood idol and boss for many many years.

he says.... oh absolutely ... we go down .

and wow.... I had not been down there in maybe 10 years and it was more beautiful than I remembered it .

wall to wall Buddy memorabilia ..... some equipment... some clothing.... shoes...

you name it he had it .

everything from drums to cigarette packs and cigarette butts

he had one very funny line when my wife asked ... "wow so you worked for Buddy ?"

he replied with his very dry humor....

"oh no no no ... I was fired by Buddy twice a month for nearly 30 years ."

anyway.... we looked around his mini museum of Rich and admired his stuff for a few minutes.

I never ever ask him to sell because to me that is just tacky .... but I have thought about it believe me .... some of the items are very attractive to me .

my wife walks over to this one trap case .... she is a restorer of vintage furniture and interior designer so I know where her mind is going....

she says to him.... "this piece is really beautiful, you should put it up in your house as decor ."

he replies ..."you like that .... take it"

we both laugh as if he was joking and he says ..."no no seriously.... I can't take all of this with me and I know it would be going to a nice home... take it !"

he then gives us the back story of that particular piece which was interesting to me

after coming off a long tour in 1969 Buddy said to my friend ... take all this stuff over to Mannys....

Mannys Music was a famous music shop in NYC where Buddy sometimes would apparently store some of his things at the time .

... so my friend and another fellow packed up the stuff and took it to Mannys...

Henry who was Mannys son and who took over the shop when Manny passed away in 1968 called Buddy and said.... I don't have room for this stuff you have to take it back .... to which Buddy replied.... then sell it!!!!!

well ... when my friend heard this he took most of it for himself and this trap case was part of that lot and was used extensively on that 1969 tour.

he also gave me a few other small items .... but here pictured is the trap case

pretty cool to me to own a piece of history like this ... I hope some of you dig

enjoy

[IMG]http://s16.postimg.org/aja47ac85/Buddy_1.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://s1.postimg.org/ryzzmf7tb/BUddy_2.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://s30.postimg.org/gxarwagk1/BUddy_3.jpg[/IMG]