What a Failed 2015 Trip to NYC Taught me About Drumming

5 years ago I ran out of cash in New York City and almost didn’t make it back. The funny thing was…this was on my honeymoon.

My wife and I decided to do somewhat of an East Coast road trip for a week after we got married, and our tightly budgeted trip included a day trip to NYC from Washington DC. I’d never been to New York, and now was the perfect time to finally make it there - even if it was just for an afternoon. I’ve always been really excited to go to a place I haven’t been to, and this was no exception. 

Now if you do the math on those drive times, you’ll find that we were easily going to spend more than 8 hours driving that day. I had carefully scheduled out our time in the city, planning every detail of what we’d see and do and when we’d do it. We’d get to the “Top of the Rock,” stroll Central Park, see the new One World Trade Center, walk the Brooklyn Bridge, stroll the High Line…literally do every possible free (or relatively inexpensive) thing we could. We were going to eat a New York style pizza and hit up an authentic Italian restaurant, too. The world was ours.

I thought I was prepared for this day trip. I planned it all out, and I had a pocket full of cash. 

That cash didn’t last long.

$40 in tolls later, we rolled into the traffic-packed streets of Manhattan. Some might say that driving there was the worse mistake we could have made. At least I can brag now that I’ve driven a Honda Accord through New York City. Not many humble Georgians can say that.

We made our way to the parking garage I’d planned to park at. It was the cheapest I could find, and it was the most conveniently located. 

But it was full.

We continued circling blocks and navigating the city grid until we found an open garage we could squeeze into. Another $40 later, we were parked.

By now we were way behind schedule after sitting in traffic in the Lincoln Tunnel and driving in circles for an hour trying to find parking. So we headed for the number one attraction on our list: a bathroom. Just kidding…but not really. It’s unbelievable how hard those are to find in Manhattan. Once we did finally find one, we headed for the Rockefeller Center and began our ambitious attempt to knock off everything on the to-do list.

We quickly realized we weren’t going to have time to find that pizza restaurant I’d planned on going to, so we hit up a hotdog stand instead. As we made our way downtown to see the One World Trade Center, I began to realize I had a problem bigger than a fading afternoon.

I was just about out of cash. I had brought well over a hundred bucks, and we’d blown through almost all of it. Between the tolls and the parking and the elevator ride, we had almost nothing left.

Stephen, why didn’t you use your credit card?? At the time I had one credit card, and it was one of those that most people didn’t accept at the time. Useful, right? Not to mention most places around NYC are cash only.

Sitting on a park bench, my wife and I slowly realized we were going to need another $40 for the tolls going home, plus we’d need food for dinner. Thus began our trek to find one of my bank’s ATM machines. 

Guess what? There were none in the state of New York. Then we remembered how at the grocery store, you could request “cash back” when paying with a credit card. All we had to do was find a store that accepted my credit card…AND offered cash back.

We tried a bookstore. Nope. We tried a convenience store. No-go. We tried a coffee shop. Nah, bro. Finally we landed in a bed & bathroom goods store where we could buy a $2 soda in the checkout lane and get cash back. Looks like we’d make it out alive, after all.

But now the sun was setting and we needed to hit the road. We had made it to two attractions on our list and hadn’t even made it to either restaurant we wanted to go to. We wasted an hour finding parking and a couple of hours finding cash, and we were tired and hungry. We didn’t make it to an authentic Italian restaurant, and instead we ate at a truck stop in New Jersey after I awkwardly tried to pump gas myself and realized an attendant does it for you up there. 

But this series of failures ended up being one of the funnest adventures with my wife. Would we do all of that the same way again? Nope. We’d fly or take a train or bring the right credit card next time.

The best way to learn is by doing. You can read all the books and watch all the videos, but until you hunker down and really do it…you often have no earthly clue what to expect. You can plan all the details and write out the schedule…but as soon as one thing goes wrong, the whole plan is messed up. You can visualize reaching your destination. You can do all the street-view viewing on Google maps…and still not find where you’re going. There comes a time to stop planning and start doing.

Become the drummer you want to become in 2021. Play the gig you’re scared of playing but you know you should do. Begin reaching your musical goals not by thinking about them but by doing something about them. You might fail. I did many times. I’ve played so many gigs where I look back knowing exactly what I could have done better. Those failures will either shut you down or drive you toward success. Choose to take action in your practicing or your gigging and to start taking those small, concrete steps toward your goals. Start right now by digging into some of the Non Glamorous playlists on the channel. You know which areas of your playing need work, so pick a topic. Whether it’s hand technique, coordination, ergonomics, hihat technique, building a practice routine…there’s something to guide you. You can also find 3 super helpful e-guides on the website geared to fast track you toward specific drumming goals. Check those out if you haven’t already.

And if you want to make some significant leaps in 2021 but aren’t sure you want to tackle it all on your own, I am opening several new slots for one-on-one lessons. If you’re interested in getting direct feedback on your playing and instruction tailored to your specific needs, shoot me an email! I’d love to get to know you and see if we might be a good fit for coaching. There’s truly no better way to grow than by someone pinpointing your weak areas and providing for you clear strategies for overcoming them. I’ve been working with many students all over the place this past year via Zoom, and online lessons actually work very well. Just shoot me an email with “Lessons” or “Coaching” in the subject line if you’re interested.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year! As always, Stay Non Glamorous. 

God Bless,

Stephen

P.S. - I did make it back to New York two years later. I didn’t drive that time. :)