My Sioux Falls Music Story

First of all, I received my first drumset right before my third birthday. I guess you could say Drums have been a big part of my life. I remember setting up in front of my parents turn table and trying to play along with songs by the Blackwood Brothers, Sha Na Na, Elvis, and even the Jesus Christ Superstar Album. I took piano lessons, but when I joined school band at the end of my 4th grade school year, my mother let me quit. I sorta regret that now. I remember sending away and getting the latest Ludwig, Yamaha, Sonor and Zildjian catalogs, and dreaming about my next kit, something I still do today.

I was blessed that in 5th grade when we started the school year, a new band director started with us. His name was Dan Hatfield and he was a drummer. I was playing my drums at home a lot, but he would guide me, and help me. He put me in the high school jazz band while I was in jr high. Not sure if this was intended but he had us play the evolution of jazz through our high school career. In first years we were playing Swing tunes and by our senior year we were playing more, pop/fusion jazz.

He also was in a band, Legal Tender, that would play wedding dances in the area. Being from a small town, my folks would take me to several of these and Mr Hatfield would have me sit in. At first just for a couple of songs, and then maybe a whole set.

I never made it to All State, but I did get to play in a couple of “all star” high school jazz camps at SDSU in Brookings, SD. This set me on a path as a drummer that I may write about soon, but I tell you all of this to show you how Drums and Music have been my focus for most of my life.

Sioux Falls Music opened in 1940. First Bob Niblick owned the store before Keith Newcomb took it over in the early 70s. In the early 90s he sold the business to his son Kevin. When Kevin passed away, ownership was passed on to his widow Barb. A few years later Barb married Don Saxton.

May 14, 2018 it was officially announced that Sioux Falls music would cease operations on June 23, 2018, and that a new chapter would start with Riff City Guitar and Music Company.

I used to stop in and check out drum gear when I was in high school and I was able to attend two Drum clinics at the 10th and Main Store, Ed Clift’s Paiste Cymbal Show, and our local Drum hero Mark Craney. Eventually, while playing drums for a benefit with the Kuper Family Band in Dell Rapids, SD, Jim Kuper, who by that point had been a long time Sioux Falls Music employee, along with his brother Steve, told me that Sioux Falls Music was looking to expand and have a DrumGuy. Up until that point Jim was handling all the drums and guitars. I applied and eventually landed an interview with Kevin Newcomb who had bought the store from his dad Keith. Kevin was fighting for his life during this time and eventually lost his voice. It took many, many months, maybe a year before I was actually hired. While I was waiting, they planned to move to 1209 W 41st, a building that used to be Baby Town.

Moving day came, so I volunteered to help them move to the new building. We used a big box truck from baby town and several private vehicles, including my Chevy S10 pick up with topper. April 15, 1994 was the day. Over 10” of snow fell that day making for some sloppy roads and a mess as we loaded and unloaded many vehicle loads through out that day.

After that day, I still had to go back to my other job. I really wanted to be the DrumGuy, so I volunteered to come in and set up the drum sets, I did this for a few months, and Kevin gave me a set of 13” Zildjian K/Z hi hats for my trouble.

In July of that year while we where celebrating my oldest sons 3rd Birthday, I received the call, finally offering me the job. I started my new job on a Monday and on the weekend before, Sioux Falls Jazz and Blues hosted Razzmatazz at the Caneries Baseball Stadium and the headliner was Miller/Craney/Miller -Mike Miller-guitar, Mark Craney-drums and Terry Miller-bass all local guys that went on to the world stage and became very respected musicians.

I went to my new job that Monday and was quickly learning about the music store. On that first Wednesday, Mark Craney walked in the door to check out the new store and came into my drum area. I immediately walked up to him and asked if he would come back to do a clinic in our store.

For those who don’t know about Mark, he grew up in Sioux Falls, started drumming at age 12, and then quickly rose the ranks and became a world class drummer. Local and regional band names like: the Vandals, Rushmore, Zero Ted, The Flippers, and the Chateaux Band soon became international artists like: Jean-Luc Ponty, Tommy Bolin, Gino Vannelli, Jethro Tull, Tower of Power and Eric Burdon.

That first year we were dealers for Ludwig, Tama, Yamaha, Zildjian, Sabian and Paiste. Soon we added Pearl, but I had my sights set to a new up and coming company, Drum Workshop. I started to negotiate a deal with them but I had to order 2 sets to become a dealer, and since it was new company those first two kits had to be pre-sold. Of course I already knew what I wanted so I just had to wait for another order. Thankfully Craig Spangler walked in the door with a request for a DW Drum kit. We were off and running.

My first Drum clinic was with Ed Clift of Paiste, he brought many cymbals and gongs and had quite the demo for all of those awesome sounds. I remember taking my toddler son to the store that next day to help Ed load out and he had my son Kenaniah strike the biggest gong that had this awesome low rubble. As soon as it started it startled “Niah” and he took off running to get away.

It was fun and quite the learning curve to be involved in the Music retail industry. I was finally getting to know and talk to guys and girls who had the same interests and desires as me, unlike my previous job.

Kevin supported me and insisted that I needed to have a lot of product in order to sell it. For instance sometimes it takes 4 17” Zildjian Crashes for the customer to buy the 1 that they love, he reasoned.

The new fun job also had quite a bit of tragedy. Shortly after starting there, I was a pallbearer for Julie Newcomb. Julie was Kevin’s mother and Keith’s wife, she worked at the store as bookkeeper. At that time the Staff included, Kevin Newcomb, Steve Kuper, Jim Kuper, Brian Juel, Brian’s wife Pati was transitioning into the bookkeeper role, Sheila Graves and myself.

For about a year straight Steve and I would go to lunch together everyday. Our spot was Taco Johns. We went so often that they would give us free Chicken Sierras, or Choco Tacos. We were even presented with a box of fruit as a Christmas Gift.

In June of 1995, I believe the 14th, my brand new custom ordered Drum Workshop Collectors Series Drumset (All Maple, Black Cherry Satin Oil, with Brass Hardware) Came in. Well that’s a story all by it’s self.

I had decided on a red stain before Craig Spangler walked in to inquire about ordering his dream set. When we originally talked, I believe he was leaning towards something blue, but when he finalized the order he decided on Black Cherry Lacquer with Chrome Hardware.......my color. This made me modify my order to a Satin Oil Finish with the Brass Hardware. The delivery of my set coincided with the clinic I was planning with Mark Craney. By that point Mark was an official endorser of DW Drums and Hardware. I had a back up plan if for some reason they didn’t make it.

I had ordered a large kit: 18x22 Bass Drum, 16x20 Bass Drum, 7x8 Tom, 8x10 Tom, 9x12 Tom, 10x13 Tom, 11x14 Tom, 13x16 Tom, 5x14 Snare Drum and a Collarlock Drum Rack. Well that day, June 14, 1995, 1 day before Mark’s clinic, my drums were delivered, but only part of the kit showed up. The smaller 20” bass drum, and 8,10,12,14 toms and the snare were delivered. I would set them up left handed for Mark, and like the pro that he was he only made a few miner adjustments to them and then used them for his clinic. But First, since they were mine, I took them home overnight so I could mess with my new drums.

When I opened that first box I remember pulling the first drum out, and saying out loud, “this isn’t what I ordered”, and within the next second “wow”. The drums were more of a burgundy color and not the red I was thinking, but I fell in love with them right there. Still love them today, 3 decades later, oh and they sound fantastic!

So after messing with them at home, they were loaded up and I took them back to the store for Mark’s Clinic, his first in Sioux Falls since 1985, and since his Kidney transplant and stroke he had suffered in the late 80s.

Mark showed up for the clinic with his legendary wit and a walking cast (boot) on his right foot, and was supported by a cane. In the front row was his special guest, his mother, who was celebrating her 80th Birthday. He opened with a great solo, on my new drums, and then chatted about life as a pro drummer. I was really becoming a fan. He was very complimentary about our new serious Drum department. One of the clinic attendees whispered in my ear telling me that Mark was only 50% of the drummer that night as he had been in his heyday. I thought he was awesome, and that he had some very unique things that he did. John Richardson, drummer for Hot Rod Chevy Kevy and who would go on to play with country star Trace Adkins won the DW pedal give away.

One week later, I was subbing for the country band, No Trespassing, who’s drummer had gotten sick. That gig was at the Grain Bin. During the first set of my first night, Mark and his friend Mike Hurley walked in and sat right up front to check us out. The pressure was on. At break I went and sat with them and chatted for a while. He said “you can play 2&4”. I wasn’t sure how to take it. From them on he became my friend and mentor.

SFM had been a Ludwig Dealer for pretty much the whole time they had been in business, until one day the road rep tried to play hardball with me. I went to Kevin and told him what was going on and he asked me what I thought of them.

I said that there were other brands that were starting to do drums in the new fusion sizes, and that Ludwig was not keeping up with the times. He said to tell the rep that were not interested any more. So Ludwig went away, and we soon signed on Pearl.

As time went on, we signed up a new company, Mapex, and eventually we became dealers of Sonor, in addition to Drum Workshop, Tama, Yamaha, and Pearl. We even carried Legend Drums, Gretsch Drums, PDP Drums and still did some Ludwig. When I look back we had just about had every brand that was worth anything.

Speaking of Yamaha, one of our early Drum clinics featured and east coast drummer named Tony Verderosa. He had a very interesting one man band concept using triggers and pads that played samples of bass, guitars, and keyboards. It was quite impressive, and I still don’t believe how awesome that sounded. I did think it was a little arrogant of him to tell the audience, that if you aren’t into this, your are gonna be left behind.

Clinics really started to be a big deal. Each time we booked one, the crowd would get bigger and more excited. We had Chuck Silverman, who played Latin percussion instruments while playing drumset. Talk about independence.

One guy who wrote the book on jazz independence, Jim Chapin, came to town a couple of times. One time for The PAS Day of Percussion that Craig Spangler put together at Augustana, and one that we hosted at the store. For the store clinic, we even had a jazz combo booked to accompany him. So after he taught us about the Moller Technique, and telling stories about, Kenny Aronoff and Simon Phillips, the store magically turned into a jazz club as they played about a half dozen tunes to finish off the night.

I noticed that it was getting easier to get the bigger names to consider coming to Sioux Falls. I figured that Craney was probably telling his friends, “It’s cool, go to Sioux Falls”.

I had my first airplane trip, when the the store sent Jim and I to Hartford CT, to tour the Kaman Corporation. We were able to visit the Ovation Guitar and Hamer Guitar Factory, the Adamas String Factory, and the Legend Drum “factory” that was an area in the string factory. Basically it was an area were they assemble the drums. I forget the gentleman’s name, but when he found out where we were from, he asked us questions about the Pomp Room. Apparently he used to travel in a band and had played in Sioux Fall’s legendary club.

1996 was a tough year. Kevin Newcomb’s cancer was winning and they were in Houston fighting for his life when his best friend Brian Juel, Pati’s Husband had a crash on the way home from a service call. Brian was a drummer, and at the store he went out and did Church installs and such. The crash left one person dead and Brian was in a coma for a long time. Both Kevin and Brian passed that year, and we had to find a way to keep the store open.

Barb, Kevin’s wife, had to assume the role as owner of the store, and Pati who was already doing the books, assumed the role of office manager. Steve Kuper ended up leaving.

I met a guitar player that my wife worked with at Citibank. His name is Chris Beyer. He used to play solo at the various coffee houses, and my wife and I would go listen and I would always request the song Little Wing. Well, we finally got him to come to Sioux Falls Music where he eventually became the Guitar Guy. Chris really knew about guitars, pedals and amps, and soon had people coming to him for advice. Oh and we started playing music together.

I received a very cool phone call one day. Famous Drum Maker/Tech to the stars, Jeff Ocheltree called to see if we could book a Steve Smith and Vital Information show. Jeff used to Drum tech for, Billy Cobham, John Bonham, Mark Craney and was now working with Steve Smith. If you are reading this and you don’t already know, Steve Smith has been my favorite drummer since I first heard and read about him in 1983, so this was a big deal.

I called Mark right after I hung up with Jeff. He told me I should really try to hammer out the details with Steve himself. I worked up the courage to ask Jeff for Steve’s number, and to my surprise he gave it to me. I called Mr. Smith’s number but got an answer machine.

On a Monday night my wife and son came to the store to pick me up so we could go out for dinner. When they came in I was on the phone in the back room and I could hear my son ask where his Dad was. They guys up front said, he’s in the back room talking to Steve Smith. My son, Niah, said yeah right and came back there to see. Steve and I were trying to figure out how to get his band Vital Information on the Jazz Fest Schedule, but we were turned down by the Sioux Falls Jazz and Blues Society because they said they were not a big enough name. It took many more years before we would get Steve Smith to Sioux Falls.

We soon hired many new employees, the main ones, Dave Livermore, Chris Beyer, Ryan Burtis, and Keith Main found ways to find their selves and how they fit in. Business was good, and many fun times were had.

1998 was a big year. I tragically lost my father to cancer in January after a very short time of knowing he even had it. In just a couple of weeks following the funeral, my wife Kim and I flew to Los Angeles with Jim and his wife Jill to attend my first NAMM show.

NAMM is the music industry’s international convention. It is typically held late January in Anaheim, CA but for a couple of years it was held in Los Angeles at the Staples Center. That first year we stayed at the famous Bonaventure Hotel.

Practically every music related manufacturer has a display there and they bring in all the top artists for promo work. Meet and greets, autographs, and product demonstrations by the guys that we all listen to on the radio are part of the program. It is really a cool and inspiring way to see what’s new and how it can be used.

As a “buyer” for the store (that’s what my name tag said),I would have appointments set up with many of our suppliers and they would show me the new products and tell me how their program worked. They were long days, but very exciting. At night many of the companies sponsor concerts and we would be able to go see all my hero’s play, usually in very intimate setting.

We made plans to meet up with Mark Craney at the DW booth at 4:30 on that Friday. We were hoping to just say hi to him at one of the booths. Earlier that day I saw one of my favorite drummer’s, Louie Weaver from the Christian rock band Petra at the Paiste Cymbals Booth.  I wanted to say hi, and tell him how much he had inspired me. As we were chatting he kept looking over towards a group of guys huddled around Mark.  Louie said, “ there’s one of my favorite drummers of all time”, I asked “Mark Craney?” Oh, we are going to hang with him today. We made our way over to the Drum Workshop Booth to chat with Mark. At 5:00 they announced that the show floor would be closing and that we would have to go. Mark told us to turn our badges over and to hang.

By this time Mark’s health had been deteriorating, and the who’s who of the music business would come over and say hi to him, and check on him. For me it was like the pages of Modern Drummer Magazine, a magazine I have been reading since high school, were coming to life. Mark was so cool, as soon as one would come over to talk to him, he would say, “ Have you met my friend Al and his wife Kim?” As they would walk away I would tell Kim, oh he played with Michael Jackson, oh he played on Steve Winwood’s Higher Love and so on.

We met John JR Robinson for the first time, Jonathan Moffet, Doane Perry, and several of the infamous Woodland Hills Drum Club.

We ended the evening by going back to our hotel, The Bonaventure, because Mark said Gregg Bissonette (who used to rent a room from Mark) was playing there with Keith Emerson and was reading the gig ( no rehearsal). This evening is when I finally realized what a big deal Mark was and how connected he was to all of the music industry. Carmine Appice said hi and even one time Motley Crue singer John Corabi stopped to say hi. We sat with Mark at the show watching the Rudess-Morgenstein Project and then the Keith Emerson Band.

On an extra day off in LA, Kim and I traveled up to Oxnard and we toured the DW factory for the first time. John Good gave us a very private tour, he showed us how they were starting to make their own shells. He was excited about their new press that they could make their own plywood. He even showed us his new exotic wood desk top.

On the way to Oxnard, we went past an exit that I recognized as Craney’s address, so on the way back I decided to drop in on him and say hi. We visited for a while, and Mark and I played double drums in his garage, the Woodland Hills Drum Club headquarters. My wife later told me that she had never seen that nervous. Mark and I would trade 4s. His fills were so cool and unconventional, and mine felt like I was just picked up the sticks for the first time. After a few minutes, he got up and said “well, you can play 2&4”.  Still, I don’t quite know how to take that.

He told us to attend a benefit at Cafe Cordial that night, Los Angeles’ A listers were performing and were attending. Still one of the musical high lights of my life. We hooked up with Brian Wheeler and Bret Ferguson who were there as part of their store, Music Go Round. Others in the crowd: Gene Simons, Steve Lukather, Katie Segal, Tata Vega, Many, many ,many drummers all were supporting Moon and June Calhoun.

In 1999 we went back to NAMM for the second year in a row. This time we were able to see Steve Smith live for the first time. Vital Information was playing at the Key Club opening for Niacin with Dennis Chambers. I had been given tickets so Kim and I ventured up to the Key Club in Hollywood. We sat in the front row. Excitement was high, Journey had just reunited with a new release and Steve was a big deal (still is). The show was awesome. Mark told us to find him, and I kept looking for him but couldn’t find him.

The next day Mark called me and asked where I had been because he was waiting for me in the green room after the show. You know, with Steve Smith, Dennis Chambers, Dave Weckl, and Freddie Gruber (Steve, Dave, and Neil Peart’s teacher)

I was bummed, but the show was so awesome that that was enough, but I was bummed that I didn’t get to meet Steve.

That year, the Sioux Falls Music Drum Department really started to grow, especially with the addition of Chuck Case as our in house drum instructor. Now we had a steady stream of students coming in and I was able to supply them with everything that they would need to get going and to continue to keep their drumming dreams coming true.

Chuck and I used to partake in a drum dual at the end of the day. We would each just sit down at a couple of show room kits and egg each other on and try things out. I would always wish afterwards, that I would have studied deeper drumming concepts. He always challenged me, and still does to this day.

Around this time, I joined one of the local/regional bands. Search for George was in need of a drummer and Mike Vermillion asked me if I was interested to record with them and play in their band. sFg, led by Mark Dahm, was one of the bands playing original music that played places like the Pomp Room, Phil’s Pub and Skelly’s. The mid to late 90’s saw quite a few local bands doing their own music and releasing CDs. Janitor Bob, Violet, Kory and The Fireflies, Spooncat and many, many more all where part of that creative time period.

For me, that put me more in the drumming spot light in Sioux Falls. Prior to that I was mostly playing in bands either in smaller clubs or in churches. I had already been in Dakota Road, but we mostly played out of state at the time, and frankly we didn’t play music that the “in” musicians would go listen to.

I remember being very nervous when I first played Skelly’s with sFg and the place was packed. There were a lot of my drumming customers in the crowd that night. I would name all of them that were there, but I don’t want to leave anybody out, and besides I believe it was a way bigger deal to me than to them. I just hoped they would all see how serious I was about this drum thing.

The next Drum clinic was former Frank Zappa drummer Chad Wackerman. I picked him up the night before and took him out for a nice dinner and tried to get to know him a bit, you know since he was gonna be playing my DWs the next day at the clinic. Chad strikes me as very introverted, so it was hard to get to know him, but he was such a nice guy. The next day he tuned up my kit and showed everyone what good technique was and how to work on it. I believe our attendance beat out all of the other clinics, in big cities, on his tour. Ed Clift had a big part in making a lot of these clinics happen. He was known as the Paiste Cymbals Guy, and even if he wasn’t there he had a lot to do with making sure his artists were taken care of.

Drum Clinics were not the only clinics that we were having. Early on, Bob Adler, from the Kaman Company, brought in Electric Guitarist Neil Zara and his band to demo the Hamer Duo Tone Guitar. This was a great band, kind of like what Joe Satriani does. I though it was so cool how he would play an acoustic guitar lick and would use a a/b rocker pedal to send that into a Marshall and end that lick as full on rock and roll.

We also had several Taylor Guitar clinics that featured fingerstyle champion guitarists, like Doyle Dykes, and Steven King. There was always a good turn out but the Drum clinics pulled in the most attendees.

My job wasn’t just bringing in my hero’s for DrumClinics. I had to figure out what drummer’s liked and try to stock as much of it as I could. I’ve had so many cool customers, and for a long time, even if I couldn’t remember a name, I could probably tell you what drum set they bought.

One such customer that I really need to share is my friend Todd Hauge. There are so many stories that involve Todd, that would be a book on its own. The first time that he made an lasting impression on me, was one day he bought an add on cymbal holder. After he paid for it, he started to slide it up the sleeve of his coat. I asked him what he was doing and why. He informed me that he was trying to make sure he could sneak it into the house with out his wife knowing.

When my father passed away in 1998, he had sent a card, and I remember being shocked that he knew or cared.

I used to call him A.V.H., short for Alex Van Halen. Others called him Teako.  At the time he had a Yamaha Stage Custom Drum Set that he wanted to set up so the drums could be a lot lower. He kept asking for Remo Roto Toms. I kept asking if he meant like the Van Halen Jump video. Eventually we decided that that wasn’t quite what he was looking for.  After many years and an Emerald Green Satin Oil DW Set, and then a very cool Tequillia Sunrise DW lacquer Kit, he finally ended up with a DW short stack Broken Glass Finish Ply Kit. The short stack sizes really helped him achieve his goal of having those toms set as low as they could go. The Broken Glass Color was the color of my kit at the time.

The teasing wasn’t just me to him. I became the drummer for Kory and the Fireflies in the summer of 2002 replacing the departing Andy Yost who had been the drummer for the previous seven years. At my first Ribfest show with the band in 2003, we were filming our first concert DVD. In the crowd were my family and several friends, and then I seem him....with a fairly obnoxious green T-shirt the read “Where’s Andy?” Not sure if the band thought it was humorous but I did. A few years later, at Ribfest again, he showed up wearing a black t-shirt with my face covering the whole front. He had lifted the picture from the inside of our CD artwork. He assured me that it was the only one, but that shirt must have multiplied because I have seen several others, so that joke had some life.

As mentioned earlier, Craig Spangler, would host the South Dakota Percussive Arts Society’s Day of Percussion at Augustana College, now Augustana University.

The next clinic that we did was held in Kresge Auditorium (2000)and we co-sponsored Gregg Bissonette with Mapex Drums, Zildjian Cymbals and Vic Firth Sticks. He was so fun. His plane was late, so we had to change the days schedule to accommodate this inconvenience. I picked him and his father Bud up at the airport, and when we got to the venue, there was already a crowd waiting, close to 300 people. Being the good sport that he is, he said that the set up was now part of the clinic. He played with Craig’s Percussion Ensemble and played some great music off of his CD including a Drum solo that quoted every famous Drum Groove. He did a great Rodney Dangerfield impersonation and professed his love of Ringo Star and the Beatles, which was cool because his is now Ringo’s tour drummer.

The best part of doing clinics for me has been hanging with these guys after the clinic when we take them out for some food and a night cap. With Gregg we had a huge group at Spezias and he and his Dad were the life of the party. Gregg even tried to call Mark and get him on speaker but Mark didn’t answer.

The next year we had another Drum Workshop Artist come do a clinic. This time it was former Lenny Kravitz drummer, Zoro. Zoro is an awesome groove drummer who has played with all kinds of artists, from Kravitz to Frankie Valli to New Edition and Bobby Brown. The co-sponsor’s were Sabian, Evans and Vic Firth. I really had to learn the ins and outs of getting the manufactures to support these clinics, with give always, discounts on some of the gear used and hopefully some money to help pay the Artists Fees.

At T.G.I.Fridays after the clinic I got into a conversation with Zoro about our favorite drummers and he was telling me how he and Steve Smith were sharing rare videos of Steve Gadd with each other. This was long before YouTube. I said how I would love to see some video footage of Steve Smith. By then Steve had released a couple of instructional videos but I wanted to see some old Journey footage. Zoro encouraged me to ask Steve if he had any thing.

I worked up the courage and sent Smith an email. A couple of days later I received a reply. He was wondering what I had in mind and I told him I wanted to see rare Journey and Vital Information concerts. I few weeks later I received 2 full video cassettes full of the kind of footage I asked for. I still can’t believe that I got that from my hero.

2003 was a big year for clinics. In January we helped host hand percussionist Glen Velez. It was another Day of Percussion that Spangler had put together, this time it was held at the Belbas Theater in the Washington Pavilion. I just remember him playing a tambourine by hand and making it sound like a full drum kit.....very cool grooves.

Then it finally happened. Sioux Falls Music, along with Sonor Drums, Zildjian Cymbals, Vic Firth Sticks, DW pedals and Hudson Drum DVDs co-sponsored Steve Smith in clinic at our store on April 15.

We had worked a co-op with a college in Moorhead, MN to split travel costs and I supplied a Sonor Delite kit for him to use at their clinic/concert the day before ours. I traveled up there that day to catch his concert appearance with their student jazz band and also the faculty played a set with him. From the intermission on I was able to watch from the wings of the stage on the floor tom side with out the crowd seeing me. Steve does this thing I call “reverse heckling”. You know before he plays something that will blow your mind, he looks at you to make sure your paying attention. He did this to me all night. After the show, I packed up the drums and loaded them into my van. I was invited to tag along to Bennigan’s for an after show get together. I got to hang that night with Steve and three faculty members and close the bar down just talking about music. It was a cool night. The next morning I picked Steve up at the hotel and drove home to Sioux Falls for our clinic that night.

That 4 hour drive was quite something, chatting with my hero, listening to music, and finding out that he is just a real person like all of us. He played me some of his new unreleased music and we listened to some of my discs of fusion music. Part of the drive he had to attend to some business on his phone. When we arrived at the store we quickly put together the stage with two Sonor drum sets, one was a 7pc fusion kit and the other was a 4pc Jungle kit.

After a break for Steve, we started to find room for the 285 people that came, including a guy from Salt Lake City, to see this legend. We had moved all the product off of the show room floor and set up 250 chairs in kind of a horse shoe shape around the stage. Many people stood at the back.

I awkwardly introduced Steve Smith, and he came out and started his clinic playing a snare drum solo with a pair of brushes. I looked around the crowd to see how the rockers that new him only as Journey’s Drummer were reacting. Pretty much everyone was floored, Steve combines his superb musicality, with quite a bit of showmanship, and somehow connects with every one in the audience, making sure they are “ getting it”. If I correctly counted it is the only clinic that we held that had 5 standing ovations. After the clinic he hung out and graciously signed items for every one and took many pictures.

After the clinic, we ended the night closing down Granite City. Steve and I joined Chris, Don and Barb for drinks and appetizers and had more great conversations about music, and I being the biggest Journey fan, never asked about that at all. He would talk openly about things, but mostly it was very insightful talk of being a musician.

Towards the end of the night a drummer who attended the clinic and his girlfriend asked if they could join us as the bar was emptying out. We said yes. Steve was really nice but then this drummer asked a strange question. He said , “What do you think of Lars Ulrich as a drummer?” Steve’s reply shocked him. Steve said “ Lars? He’s a shitty drummer”. Apparently Steve and Lars were neighbors and had spent some time together with Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead at a club talking about Jamming and Lars didn’t understand... they kept asking him how Metallica came up with songs but apparently, jamming was a foreign concept to Lars.

The very next day, I received the tech rider for our next drum set clinic. Drum Workshop was sending Terry Bozzio to our store to do his solo Drum performance/clinic. Terry is another iconic drummer, who played for Frank Zappa, Jeff Beck, the Brecker Brothers, and founded the band Missing Persons with his then wife. Terry uses a rather large drum set with more than a dozen Toms, around 50 cymbals, and plays them like they are all tuned like an orchestra. His rider was full of lists of gear that we would need to produce his show.

Before Terry’s clinic happened, we hosted a clinic by another percussionist by the name Kalani. Kalani was sponsored by Toca Percussion, and his clinic was set up as a Drum circle. We literally set the chairs up in a circle and every one attending was handed a percussion instrument to play. It was really interesting and interactive, I enjoyed the community building aspect of it and I really think we should get back into doing something like that again.

June 10, 2003 (our wedding anniversary) we set up the store for Terry’s performance that night. We knew how big his kit was and we were getting worried about if there would be enough time for him to set up. He finally showed up with his tech in a vehicle pulling a trailer in the late afternoon. The two of them along with our staff quickly unloaded his cases and helped assemble his massive tuned kit. I believe we had it all ready to go within 45 minutes. While we were waiting for the time to open the doors to let the crowd in that had lined up at the door, I thought I would see if Terry would like to use our only restroom before we opened the doors.

I found him behind his kit with a trap case that was loaded with plastic containers full of nuts and bolts. He was sorting them, so I asked if he needed me to do that for him while he quickly used the restroom. Turns out that was a sort of meditation that he does.

The 265 attendees watched in amazement as he proceeded to play his compositions. Terry attacks the drums, but also plays with the care of a symphonic percussionist. I felt like he finally really connected with the crowd during the question and answer section and I do believe everyone thoroughly enjoyed his presentation. We had another awesome dinner after the clinic, and his eccentric personality really warmed up. Terry is a very cool, warm individual who has the heart of an artist.

A little mare than a year later we co-hosted, with Ed Clift of Paiste Cymbals, another clinic by Chad Wackerman, This time he brought a band including Allan Holdsworth on guitar, Jimmy Johnson on bass, and his beautiful Kurillion Birch DW double bass drum set.

The night started with Chad giving us a clinic, talking about hand technique and his studies with Murray Spivak. Then he invited, Jimmy and Allan out and performed an awesome concert.

This event was held at Augustana College and I remember Ed having to smuggle some Heineken in for Allan before he played.

We held a drawing for a very cool DW snare drum that Don Cooper (Glory Holes/ Cartwright Brothers) ended up winning.

After the clinic I was responsible for shipping Chad’s Drum set back to Drum Workshop in Oxnard California, it needed to get there by the next Friday for a video shoot planned with Terry Bozzio. So for one weekend, Chad’s Drums were in a trailer at my house. The shipping company had no idea it needed to be there in 5 days so I had to change the shipping arrangements to guarantee the delivery. I have a copy of the DVD from that shoot (D2) so it must have made it. 

The next clinic was April of 2005 and it was another PAS Day of Percussion. SDSU’s Steve Tobin hosted the Day in Brookings and we along with Yamaha, Zildjian and Vic Firth co-sponsored Peter Erskine. I was able to catch USD’s Darin Wadley’s Percussion clinic before helping Peter get ready for his clinic. Luckily Jay Hardy was there because he ended up taking Peter to get some food, it seems certain details were left out of organizing the day.

Peter’s clinic was awesome. If you don’t know about Peter, he may be most famous for playing in the fusion group Weather Report with bass Icon Jaco Pastorius and Steps Ahead, and Stan Kenton, and Steely Dan, well you get the picture.... he’s another big deal.

He told a story of the flight attendant finding out that he was a musician and she asked what group he played for. When he mentioned the above list, he said she had a complete blank look so he asked her if she had seen the Austin Powers movies. Of course she had, he explained that he played on the movies soundtrack. He thought it was quite interesting that all of the studying and advanced techniques and grooves that are required for the above bands did nothing for her but the cheesy 60’s grooves of that movie are the connection. Seems like a lesson right there.

Peter played a set of big band music with the SDSD jazz band. My real lesson is going to the bar afterwards to listen to all of the clinicians Jam. I was even asked to sit in, but I chickened out since Jim Mckinny (vibes that night) asked me to get up there right after Peter played. I noticed Peter played incredibly in the pocket and musically appropriate. Another clinician from out of town (I will not name names) got up there and basically was hot dogging. Basically shoving his way through the song so he could show off his “chops” at the expense of the band. Peter for the Win!

Also that fall I received word that Craney was coming back to do the inaugural recording session at the Aberdeen Recording Studio in Aberdeen, SD. I decided to call and offer one of my new DW drum sets for his session. I had just gotten a Tobacco Burst Lacquer 7pc Kit and he had told me how he loved Ludwig 5x14 Acrolites. I offered my newly acquired mint condition 1967 Acrolite and that DW kit for him to use for the week of recording. I delivered it up there an hung out for the first day, helping him set it up and basically wanting to hang with my friend.

I got there before he did (he was at dialysis) and loaded in and started setting up the kit for his left handed set up. When he arrived I was shocked at how frail he had become even walking down the hall way with a walker. He was in his early 50’s but seemed like he was pushing his upper 80’s. As we were setting up we would chat, and then he would play. The session was your basic country rock grooves, but it was cool when he would do one of his slightly displaced funky beats, the crowd in the control room would just nod and smile in approval. The phrase “there’s Mark” was spoken a few times.

I went home for the rest of the week and then Mark called and told me to come up with a price because he wanted to sell my kit to the studio. He was planning to return periodically to be their session drummer, problem was they wanted my Prized Acrolite.

I came up at the end of the week, collected my check, which I promptly took to the bank to deposit, and sat and talked about life (deep conversations) and his struggles. We talked about how it works being a drummer for hire. He gave me a pair of his Gretsch Sticks and when we said good bye I had no idea it would be our last face to face meeting. 

In November of that year Mark was called in for his second kidney transplant of his life after waiting a full decade, things were looking up. I had a few conversations with him during this time. He told of how his friend, Jethro Tull drummer Doane Perry, brought a friend over to visit him in the hospital. That friend was drumming legend Neil Peart. Mark and a student of his were visiting when Doane and Neil walked in. Mark’s student’s jaw dropping to the floor as they walked in. He said Neal walked right over to the student and shook his hand while introducing himself. Mark thought that that was quite precious. Neil and Mark reminisced about playing shows together back in the 70s. Neil was quite aware of Mark’s drumming, even mentioning his influence a couple of years later in Modern Drummer magazine. 

In August of 2005, Mark was scheduled for a return trip to Aberdeen for another recording session. The day before, he suffered a major stroke and never made that flight. I remember it well, I was preparing to play a Fireflies gig in Marshall, MN, when the phone call came. 

Mark hung in there even seemingly getting better but the weekend of Thanksgiving he passed. In December, hundreds were able to say good bye at a ceremony in California, but I thought we should hold a memorial service in Sioux Falls.

In March 2006, I was able to pull together many of Mark’s friends, to pay tribute to him and be able to say good bye. Kirby Schultz graciously donated his time and creative eye to build a shadow box display of artifacts out of my “ Mark Craney Archive”. Josh Timothy and Corey Holm helped me put together a multi-media presentation, and I was able to get many of Mark’s closest friends to get up and talk about our fallen hero. Mike Miller couldn’t attend in person so he sent me a video tribute and I was able to use one from Jeff Ocheltree also. Dan Donahoe, Doug Rezak, Tim Anderson, Shannon Collins, Mark’s sisters, Annie and Jeanie and myself all spoke of Mark and we then unveiled Kirby’s work of art.

Mark’s LA friends made it possible for me to secure one of Mark’s beloved kits to be on display in Sioux Falls, the same set he played when we played together in his garage all those years earlier. The set they sent me was his DW kit minus one crucial drum. The missing drum, an 8x10 tom, was used as the vessel for his ashes, and is buried in his grave site in California. Scott Garrison of Drum Workshop sent me a whole set of hardware so that we could set up and display the kit.

People have asked if I own that kit and I’ve been told to play it. I believe all the friends of Mark Craney own that kit and that I have been entrusted with the job of curator of his set. I have not and will not play those drums. He has been inducted in the South Dakota Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame, and it really should be on permanent display there. He is definitely worthy of the recognition and his artistry should not be allowed to be forgotten. 

In his honor we also held a drumming competition, ages 11-22. We had many outstanding participants over two nights. The panel of Judges were myself, Drum Teacher Bob Gripp, Drum Teacher Chuck Case, and Guitar Teacher Dan Donahoe. We were looking for a drummer who embodied the creative spirit that Mark had and who was definitely one of a kind. We had a tough time trying to decide who the winner was, all the participants were great. We did pick a winner though and he definitely had his own thing going on. We picked Chris Hill. If you had ever seen him play, I think you would have come to the same conclusion.

Chad Wackerman came back to town for a third time (second time playing my drums) this time with Mike Miller, our Sioux Falls Guitar hero who has played with Gino Vanelli, Chick Corea, Boz Skaggs and many others. The concert featured Chad on drums, Jimmy Johnson on bass, Walt Fowler on trumpet, and Albert Wing on saxophones and they all played on Mike’s CD release. Mike did a guitar master class in the afternoon and Dan Heier had been able to talk Chad into doing a drum lesson right there on the Orpheum stage before the doors opened . When talking to Chad about Mike, Chad said “there is jazz music, there is rock music, and then there is Mike Miller Music.” 

The next drummer in was Steve Smith. This time we brought his band Vital Information (Tom Coster on keyboards, Baron Brown on bass, and Vinny Valentino on guitar) to the Orpheum for a concert. I considered it part 2 of his clinic we had before. We still couldn’t get any help from the jazz and blues society. Out of 688 seats we only sold 180 tickets, but the band was on fire and they loved the energy of our small but mighty crowd. Don Saxton called it the best concert that most of Sioux Falls never saw.

Business was changing dramatically, customer’s shopping habits were changing. I used to be the guy you would go to for everything, now customers were shopping elsewhere. First it was eBay, then all of the other internet based companies. With the declining sales, we had to cut back on the amount off product we could carry. Many Drum companies had to be dropped completely. The clinic program took a hit and it was harder to book the guys I wanted.

Luckily we had been a flagship DW Dealer for years. The next clinic was the 2007 Day of Percussion. This one was back at Augustana. Sioux Falls Music, Drum Workshop Drums and Hardware, and Zildjian Cymbals co-Sponsored Marco Minnemann. Marco was great, he even played along with the dialogue of a Monty Python movie scene, but I observed a change in the “spirit of the day”.

In the past it seemed all the attendees and participants generally supported every performance and attendance was strong at every performance and clinic . Now that was shifting and while one group or school was performing, the others were in rehearsal at a different location. So in turn there were not many to perform for. It seemed like the community aspect of it was now gone. That would be the last time Sioux Falls Music co-sponsored a PAS Day of Percussion. 

The next few years, were a struggle, the economy tanked, and along with the change in buying habits we had to cut back immensely on the product we could offer. I had many conversations with manufacturers saying well we can’t get any worse. Then the next year it was worse.

Employees were starting to leave

We had a drum set that we decided to raffle off since it didn’t seem to be going anywhere. When it was nearing the end of the raffle, I asked Drum Workshop if there were any drummers available to do a clinic. And we were able to book John “JR” Robinson. John had switched from Yamaha to DW the year before and from Zildjian to Paiste.

If you haven’t heard of John you definitely have heard him. He may be the most recorded drummer of all time. He has recorded with every one from Barbara Streisand to Michael Jackson, Chaka Kahn to Eric Clapton, We Are the World to many movies and etc....

His clinic was a great example of how to play for the song and not you ego. John was another great guy who happened to grow up in Iowa, went to Berklee and then ended in LA and on everyone stereos. In fact he even reached out to me when it was announced that Sioux Falls Music would be no more. 

Eventually Chris Beyer and Ryan Burtis left.

Business was still somewhat stable but declining if you know what I mean. Sioux Falls Music ended up selling the building and then leasing back a little more than half of it. 

Thanksgiving weekend of 2015 we held our last drum clinic on a Saturday afternoon (during business hours). It was a great clinic with David Northrup. David, a Nashville pro who used to play with Travis Tritt, was in town with the Oak Ridge Boys for a Christmas Concert that night. He played our Gretsch kit and a lot of really cool Zildjian cymbals. He played to some tracks and told stories about being a pro. What a great guy! He even gave me 4 tickets to the show, so Kim and I took our mothers out to the concert.

The store decided to cut back on electric guitars and concentrated more on acoustic guitars and I kept pushing for Drum orders. Several more kits were sold.

A SDSU Alumni wanted to get a couple of Drum sets for the School. He ended up buying a couple of DW sets, one Jazz Series Collectors and one Collectors Graphics kit. Those are two of the coolest kits to go through here.  Drum Workshop even featured the SDSU Jackrabbit graphics kit on their social media platforms.

On May14, 2018, It was announced that Sioux Falls Music will close the doors by June 23 that same year, and then the location would become Riff City Guitar. We had a heck of a sale at the end and moved a lot of drum sets,  I tried to take a picture of each customer and their new kit as the final weeks were winding down.  Bill Hoffman picked up the last DW kit from Sioux Falls Music.  This was really the end of an era.

For a brief moment Riff City came in and remodeled the store and really excited the local guitar community with their massive selection of guitars.  They kept most of us remaining Sioux Falls Music Employees but for me, it proved to be very hard if not impossible to get the new Riff City Drum Department to catch on.  I will not go into details, but the “Riff City Experiment”, as I like to refer to it, ended up only lasting 8 months before they closed the doors, eventually closing their entire Riff City business 

Sioux Fall Music was in business from 1940-2018, 78 years.  I was blessed to be part of that team for 24 years.  

-Al Berven