Artefacts
#011: Photo of Stan Demeski and practice pad

Today is Luna’s former drummer Stanley Demeski’s birthday, so today’s artefact is a photo of Stan with his practice pad that Dean sent me a few months back.

Stanley drove into town, and we jammed together in the basement of Byron’s apartment… We played “Slash Your Tires” one of the songs we had been playing with Byron. All of a sudden we sounded ten times better. We were no longer an underpowered train, struggling to climb a hill. Stanley was like a judicious metronome, a machine.
Dean Wareham in Black Postcards

Every afternoon Stanley pulled out his practice pad, a special brown rubberized pad that strapped around his leg, so that he could run through his exercises with his drumsticks, exercises he said were necessary for him to stay in that metronomic shape.

This became a fun item for the rest of us to bitch about. Sometimes the pad came out in the dressing room. Other days it was in the van itself. But he never failed to do the exercises. Rat-a-tat-tat, a-rat-a-tat-tat. Rat-a-tat-tat, a-rat-a-tat-tat. Rat-a-tat-tat, a-rat-a-tat-tat.
Dean Wareham in Black Postcards

Here’s Stan with Luna playing California (All The Way) on MTV

Luna - California (All The Way) (MTV, 1994) (play on YouTube)

And here’s Stan with The Feelies playing Egyptian Reggae in a hotel room

The Feelies - Egyptian Reggae (play on YouTube)

Have a great day Stan!

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I thought I’d just go through some of the stuff I’ve acquired over the years and post about it here… how interesting the posts (and artefacts) are will undoubtedly vary!