Picto Diary -08 to 10 August 2024 - Cooper Lewis

Above: Mountain View Village, Riverton, UT. 01 August 2024.
Out of date sequence.
Image: Post performance of Caleb Chapman's Crescent Super Band. Bishop, Drums, TIMDT, FeeBee.

This will be my last Caleb Chapman concert attended where Drums is a participant. In a week Drums is off to university at North Texas University (NTU)'s very selective music school. TIMDT will attend a Drums concert next week in Saratoga Springs, but I have another obligation.

Drums started playing the drums when he was four years old. At home, I would seat the little kid on my knee and bounce him to the music of rock videos playing: The Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, Jerry Lee Lewis etc. He was mesmerized as he looked at the 80-inch screen and listened to the theater quality speaker system and sub-woofer boom out bass and beat in our great room. His mom guided his development, setting up lessons and encouraging his participation in music school ensembles. His hard-working dad was supportive of the effort and was a regular attendee and volunteer at Drum's performances when he wasn't out flying for Delta. Dad and Mom would take Drums to his music lessons and events and when they couldn't TIMDT and Mwah (sic) gladly provided back-up assistance.

It was nine years ago when TIMDT and Mwah (sic) took nine-year-old Drums to Caleb Chapman Sound House in American Fork, UT to audition. Chapman had garnered a national reputation as an able trainer of young musicians who wanted to play jazz or popular music. Chapman had sixteen bands and accepted kids from the age of nine to senior in high school.

Caleb Chapman's Soundhouse (ccsoundhouse.com)

After arrival at Caleb Chapman Sound House in American Fork, UT, TIMDT and Mwah (sic) were ushered into the studio and told to sit down and wait for someone to come tell us next steps. We seemed to be waiting a bit too long. There was activity in the studio. A group of young musicians was rehearsing on the stage. A few others were holding a conversation by the mixing apparatus at the back of the studio. After about five minutes, a man (it turned out to be Caleb Chapman) walked over and asked, "does he want to audition?" "Yes," I replied. Chapman: "Well young man, take your sticks, go up on the stage, sit at the drum kit and join the group that is practicing up there now." TIMDT and Mwah (sic) were flummoxed. How would Drums, only nine, perform in his first, serious, audition? The audition process seemed so cavalier. How would Drums know what to do? Confidently, sans trepidation, Drums walked up to the kit, sat down and started beating out a rhythm with the small ensemble (guitar, bass and keyboard). We were relieved AND blown away. He was self-assured. He appeared to be enjoying himself, and as far as we could tell, he didn't miss a beat. At Drums' subsequent performances month over month, year over year, we were astounded at how proficient he was becoming. At any given concert I would look at Drums' dad and ask, "where did he learn to do that?" B1b would just grin and shake his head.

After the hasty audition, Chapman told Drums to step off the stage and rejoin his grandparents. With Drums by our side, we sat there for another five minutes or so not knowing what was going on. I stood and walked over to Caleb Chapman who was standing by the mixing area. Politely, I got Caleb's attention and asked, "well, what do we do now?" "Oh sorry," Caleb answered, "I should have told you. He's good. He can join the program. We'll email you the sign-up information." That was it. Nine years later, Drums was one of the two drummers in Caleb Chapman's signature band, Crescent Super Band.

In the early years, when Drum's parents were tied up, TIMDT and Mwah (sic) would take Drums to American Fork on practice day. American Fork is fifty miles distant from Park City. A one-hundred-mile round trip for music practice is not nothing! We'd usually add a meal to the front end of the visit. We liked to eat at Jims, In 'n Out, Ganesh, and Olive Garden. Chapman didn't want family members watching the rehearsals, so while Drums was rehearsing, we'd go into Starbucks to read or do computer work. The trips to and from American Fork were fun experiences where we got to know our grandson. In more recent years, Drums, with a driver's license, made the American Fork trip on his own.

While we couldn't watch the rehearsals, we would revel in attending Drums' concerts. In addition to frequent concerts at the American Fork studio, at the Eccles Center in Salt Lake City, at Scera in Orem and at various community centers and parks along the Wasatch Front, we went to hear Chapman bands play at the Telluride Jazz Festival, at the Puerto Vallarta Jazz Festival, at the San Francisco Pier, and at Campus Jax in Newport Beach, CA. We're sorry we couldn't join him in Normandy this summer when his band, Vicious Beat, #1 ranked high school rock band in the US by Downbeat Magazine, was one of three bands representing the United States at the 80th Anniversary D-Day celebration.

I don't know if Drums will continue to develop his drumming skills or not. He's enrolled in a new Commercial Music program at NTU oriented towards the business aspects of music. NTU is one of top jazz schools in the country with graduates who include Pat Boone, Roy Orbison and Don Henley. In 2024 NTU graduate artists scored a dozen Grammys. We are grateful for the experience we have had with Drums and his music over the last nine years. We are excited to see what the future brings for him. I write this piece on 12 August 2024, about an hour after he called me from Texas to wish me happy birthday. He assured me he would continue to develop his drumming skills whatever avocation he selected. He's a good kid. TIMDT and Mwah (sic) wish him nothing but the best. For the last nine years, he has brought the best to us.

Above: Markagaunt Plateau, Garfield County, UT. 08 August 2024.

TIMDT and Bishop pay a visit to Survival and Hippo at their fantastic property on the heights of the Markagaunt Plateau, in sight of the red rocks near Bryce Canyon National Park on the Pansagaunt Plateau. Both of us couples live above 7K feet where only 5% of the world's population lives. High school classmates and best friends talked about altitude effect on health and other by products of aging. Hippo has been down and out for a couple of months, but he's on the mend and looking forward to his gazillionth deer hunt in the fall.

Image: Mammoth Creek, in Survival/Hippo back yard, is swollen as a result of recent thunderstorms upstream.

Hippo and Survival are justifiably proud of their grandson Cooper Lewis who has accepted a full ride scholarship plus NIL money at perennial college basketball power St. Mary's (thirteen visits to "the dance" and co-powerhouse, with Gonzaga, in the West Coast Conference). Cooper is also academically inclined. He was offered a full ride basketball scholarship at Harvard and Yale among numerous other schools. But St. Mary's has an excellent academic program plus, unlike Harvard or Yale, it offer's Cooper a great opportunity to play college basketball at the highest levels.

Note: Hippo was shooting guard, and I was center on Provo High School's basketball team (62/63 season). Hippo thinks he was a better player than I was. Feeling empathetic, I don't contest his claim, notwithstanding my knowledge of the truth.

Above: Lehi’s Cooper Lewis (1) holds the trophy as the team celebrates their win over Corner Canyon in the 6A state championship game in Salt Lake City on Friday, March 1, 2024. Lehi won 78-67. Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News

Above: Pine Valley, Washington, County, UT. 10 August 2024.
Out and about in the Sprinter.
Daily Walk. TIMDT and Freddie.

Above: Arkansas flag flies over Mountain Meadows, Washington County, UT. 10 August 2024.
Out and about in the Sprinter.
One several off-beat Utah destinations I return to occasionally. Others: Gilgal Garden in SLC; Yost Cemetery, Box Elder County; Wyoming SW corner monument; Uinta County, WY; Browse ranger cabin, Washington County; Bamberger Monument, Carbon County.

Above: Roy and friend. Boise Whitewater Park. Boise, ID. 10 August 2024.
Image by Koessler.

Above: Portland and Koessler. Boise Whitewater Park. Boise, ID. 10 August 2024.