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Rush drummer Neil Peart and his elaborate drum kit.Beating the Drummer Stereotype
Led Zeppelin's late drummer John Bonham was notorious for his booze intake and fist fights. The Who's Keith Moon once drove a Rolls Royce into a swimming pool. But drummers can also be the steady foundation of any band. Today, a debate on whether drummers deserve all that bashing. Also: the incredible story of Priscilla, a talented 9 year-old rapper, as told in the new documentary P-Star Rising.
Drummers: Heart of the Band...Or Butt of the Joke?
The drum kit has its fair share of esteemed idols: Neil Peart of Rush, Dave Grohl of Nirvana, ?uestlove of the Roots and many more. Yet drummers have always had a reputation for being unreliable and misanthropic. On today’s Soundcheck Smackdown, we debate whether the skin-bashers of the world deserve all that bashing. Guests include Janet Weiss, former drummer of Sleater-Kinney and currently of Quasi and Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks; and Will Layman, an NPR contributor and jazz critic for PopMatters.com.
P-Star Rising
When she was nine years old, Priscilla Star Diaz became P-Star. At night, she rapped in lower Manhattan nightclubs. During the day, she napped in the one-room shelter in Harlem she shared with her father and sister while longing for her crack-addicted mother. Filmmaker Gabriel Noble followed her dreams and dramas for four years to make the documentary P-Star Rising. Noble and Priscilla join us to talk about the film.
View the film trailer and more at the P-Star Rising web site
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