The first photo here is the group performing this past November on the porch of Ox College (as this building is referred to) at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. This was the second gig that I went on with them. Thankfully, the weather was mild that night. I wasn't very familiar with the rhythms yet so I felt kinda lost. I did do a pretty good job on the bass drums later for one tune.

Larry Sherman is the person who took these photos and he's also the person who has the long gourd in the picture. Besides, playing djembe drums, the group plays on the gourds that Larry has grown. He's got an amazing collection of gourd instruments. Larry and Pete Carels, who is sitting on the far left of the picture, founded the Ogade group about 10 years ago. If you're interested in reading more about the group, visit Larry's website on Ogade. If you click on that link, you'll see that Ogade stands for Oxford Gourd and Drum Ensemble.

I have to credit my friend Mary with getting me in touch with this group. She had told me about getting into the group a couple of years ago. Over the past year, I've gone with Mary to The Zen Center for their drum circle held once a month in downtown Hamilton and found out that I really loved the intensity of drumming. Loved the way it made me want to move, too. I met Pete at those Zen Center sessions. He encouraged me to join his group and finally I decided that I was going to do it this year. I'm glad I did. They are a bunch of good people and I am enjoying getting to know them.

What's funny is that now my hubby is joining in, too. He went with me to the last couple of gigs. At the Miami Tavern he was attracted to the balophone (a wooden xylophone) and started playing it with us during the session. He had a Wednesday night off a couple of weeks ago and I invited him to go to the drum barn 'cause I felt he had an itching to play the balophone again. So he went and instead of the balophone he got into playing the bass drums (dun duns) and had a rocking good time. On the way home, I told him that they were thinking of changing the practice nights to Monday to accommodate some of the members' college schedule better. Bill doesn't have to teach on Mondays, except for one night a month. He said that if that was the case that he would like to join in the group giving the excuse that "...since I have to drive you there anyway." Whatever the reason, I was so happy that he wanted to come along. Bill has a musical talent that needed an outlet, I say.