NRBQ's TOM ARDOLINO Rest in Peace.

          I was saddened today to learn that one of my favorite musicians, Tom Ardolino passed away January 6^th. Tom was the drummer for my favorite rock ‘n’ roll band NRBQ (they tie with The Beatles as my favorite.)

          Tom’s drumming had a real snap to it – one critic called it “A happy thwack”. He often drummed with four drumsticks at once – two taped together in each hand. One of the regular highlights of their shows was when NRBQ would play a ferocious rave-up (playing harder and faster, harder and faster, harder and faster) whipping their audience into a frenzy akin to that of a roller coaster ride – their power became almost tangible –  and it was probably Tom who generated the most energy.

           It wasn’t just about being loud and wild, though. With Tom, and all the other NRBQ members, it was first and foremost about excellent musicianship and musical creativity. The first time I saw them play live, they played Sun – Ras’ “Rocket #9”. The other band members would play the song’s ten note melody, then Tom would play a two measure drum fill. They probably did this over and over ten times, each time, Tom quickly contributing a different improvised drum fill. What a great way to show off your drummer without having to stoop to a lengthy drum solo.

           In each live show, Tom would be coaxed from his drummer’s stool to sing a lead vocal. His repertoire included, “There’s A Kind of Hush”, “1,2,3”, “Oh Babe, What Would You Say” and dozens more. On one occasion, he and band mate Terry Adams got out their look – alike ventriloquist dummies and performed a duet on “Mellow Yellow”. The double CD of live rarities, “Froggy’s Favorites” includes Tom singing “Ue O Muite Aruku” – a song in Japanese! I once saw a live NRBQ video in which Terry played drums and Tom played a perfect rendition of “Sleepwalk” on steel guitar!

           When he was 17, he home recorded an amazing 49 song experimental album called “Unknown Brain”. (I’m listening to it as I type this.) On it, he played drums, guitar and clavinet, plus “other cheap instruments”. The thing is astonishing, considering its primitive recording conditions, and Ardolino’s insistence he didn’t know how to play any of the instruments other than the drums.

           I once saw him do an entire show wearing a lampshade on his head.

           According to the New York Times;

Tom Ardolino Dies at 56; Drummer for NRBQ for Three Decades

By PETER KEEPNEWS

Published: January 13, 2012

Tom Ardolino, a self-taught drummer who for 30 years provided the impassioned but steady pulse for NRBQ, one of the longest-lasting and most beloved rock groups never to have a Top 40 single, died on Jan. 6 in Springfield, Mass. He was 56.

His death was confirmed by an NRBQ spokeswoman. She did not specify a cause, but Mr. Ardolino had been in poor health for some time.

NRBQ (the initials stand for New Rhythm and Blues Quartet, although it was a quintet early in its existence) was known and critically praised for its freewheeling, genre-bending approach, which could embrace rockabilly one minute and avant-garde jazz the next.

The energy and eccentric humor of its live shows also helped it acquire a following that, while not huge by rock standards, was star-studded: among its fans are Paul McCartney, Elvis Costello and Bonnie Raitt. From 1974 until the band went on hiatus in 2004, Mr. Ardolino’s unorthodox, loose-limbed style, a mix of driving power and subtle musicality, was a key part of its appeal.

Born in Springfield on Jan. 12, 1955, Mr. Ardolino was a fan of NRBQ before he became a member at 19, five years after the group had released its first album. He replaced Tom Staley, the group’s original drummer. Mr. Ardolino later said that except for part of a day spent bagging groceries, playing drums was the only job he ever had.

It was not, however, his only noteworthy musical activity. He also produced several well-received compilations of song-poems, the strange vanity records on which amateur lyricists, for a fee, have their words set to music and recorded by professionals. Through his efforts and those of a few others, these vinyl oddities, few if any of which had ever been sold in stores, found an eager audience among aficionados of outsider art and other connoisseurs of the bizarre.

Explaining his fascination with song-poems to The New York Times in 2003, Mr. Ardolino said that while he liked their “craziness,” he also liked the fact that their often awkward lyrics were “really what people felt.”

Mr. Ardolino is survived by his wife, Keiko, from whom he was separated; a stepdaughter, Emiko; a stepson, Liku; and a brother, Richard.

NRBQ stopped performing in 2004 when the keyboardist Terry Adams, a founding member, became ill. For a while Mr. Ardolino and the other two members, the brothers Joey and Johnny Spampinato, toured under the name Baby Macaroni.

Mr. Adams introduced a new NRBQ last year with himself as the only holdover. Mr. Ardolino, no longer well enough to tour, played on two tracks of the group’s album “Keep This Love Goin’ ” and drew the cover art.