Feb 19 2013 February 19, 2013 February 19, 2013 5Comments by ben

drummer dad taxi driver musician bloke

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The other day I took a cab journey.

‘Do you like music?’ barked the driver.

‘Yeah,’ I replied warily.

‘What kind?’

‘Hip hop, old seventies rock, Led Zeppelin, that sort of thing. Got any of that?’

‘What about alternative, indie? You like any of that?’

‘I suppose. What have you got in mind?’

‘Can I just play you something? My son’s the drummer in a band, and their album was iTunes album of the year in the US last year and they’ve been on Jay Leno and Letterman. They’re called We Are Augustines and they’ve done a cover of Saint Behind The Glass by Los Lobos and I can’t stop playing it.’

‘Cool, yeah, let’s hear it.’

(Can’t find the WAA cover. Here’s the lovely original):

So he played it and I bought the album while sitting in the cab (gotta love technology). Then he told us how he used to be a drummer and he encouraged his son to drum from an early age and got him Andrew Lloyd Webber’s drummer as a teacher and started taking the kid to blues gigs when he was about 12. So we reached our destination and my wife told the guy he was a great dad and the whole journey was rather wonderful (especially as we were on our way home from hearing Peter Tatchell give a workshop on How To Change The World at The School of Life).

Then my wife looked up the drummer and he seems to be a lovely bloke too. It turns out he came close to quitting lots of times but finally made it big. Lesson: never, ever give up. Other lesson: encourage your children to follow their dreams.

Anyway, that was one of the best cab journeys I’ve ever taken, and now, dear reader, I pass the good vibes on to you.