These are questions pulled from my e-mail. Many were asked by several of you. I am personally replying to all of you, but it takes time because there's more of you than I ever expected.

Thanks.

Will we tour again with a new album?

Yes. But it doesn't look like much activity in 2000. We'll let everyone shoot their Millenium wad and then cruise through in the magical year of 2001,

How's my new album going?

I'm in good shape on the new record. I let it slide for a while when summer kicked in. It's tough for me to not be at the beach when the weather is sooo nice. I love going surfing, and the idea of spending that time in the studio doesn't make it. However, it is in good shape and i'm closing in on it. Thanks to everyone for asking.

For your information:

I've just signed up with Liquid Audio, in my mind the best internet music service, to make more of my music available to more people. So, you can go there, sample some stuff, and see what you think. I'll be releasing more music than just the 2 albums available now. I'll be able to release things as I finish them. Pretty cool from my point of view. I write and work on things all the time, and not necessarily just for The Glendale River. I have some recordings that are just Scott Gorham and me that are really cool. So, to me this is a great outlet to keep the stuff moving.

who are my favorite drummers?

levon helm (the band), b.j. wilson (procol harum), art blakey, sandy nelson, jim capaldi (traffic), freddie staehle (dr. john's gumbo), all pretty earthy guys. there are a couple of other guys i dig, but not enough to add to the list.

what drums do i use, and how do i make them sound that way?

We spend a lot of time to make them sound that way. First, you have to have good sounding drums acoustically. If they don't sound good with no mikes, they won't sound good with mikes. I played ludwig drums my whole career because i thought they were the best, and i had a great relationship with bill ludwig the 3rd. Several years ago selmer bought ludwig, and the care went out of the product. I also feel they mistreated bill and his father. When we went into the studio to record this recent record, i called upon an old friend in los angeles to hook me up with his best kit. His name is ross garfield, and he is known as the drum doctor. A service for hire. He looks after first class drummers and their equipment around the studio scene in los angeles. When we began he brought in what he considered to be his "A" kit and they were gretsch. I loved them, rick loved them, and the engineer loved them. To go on tour i had gretsch make me a custom kit, unfinished. The drum doctor finished them for me and off we went. my snare drum is still an old ludwig that i have played since 1977. It's a deep chrome super-sensitive. Thin clear head on the bottom and ludwig ensemble coated on top. I tend to lean towards larger drums using a 24" bass drum, on the last tour. From '74-'79 i used a 26" bass drum. In '83 i used a 24". I went to smaller sizes in '85 and '88, and although i thought they sounded good, i didn't really dig it. It's hard to say how i get them to sound that way because it's in the ear and in the tuning. We work on them until we them to sound the way we want them. My cymbals are a mix of zildjian and paiste, but i tend to prefer zildjian. I lean towards larger cymbals as well. My main ride is a 22", main crash is a 20". I go to music stores and look through the old used ones. I haven't bought a "new" cymbal in years. I use regal tip 2B sticks, wooden tip, so that's also putting a lot of wood on the drum. I should also mention that i've worked with great engineers, both live and in the studio. I'm pretty demanding with my drum techs, and have been fortunate to work with some great guys. So, all in all, it's a team effort, and when it works, it works.