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sales pitch

one or two of you may recognise the name, vinnie colaiuta. he is generally reckoned to be probably the best technically capable session drummer in the world, certainly the finest at reading extremely technical parts; colaiuta is one of the few drummers in existence who could navigate their way through frank zappa's the black page #1, so-called because the density of notes all but obscured the parchment on which it was written. i first came across his drumming on the joni mitchell song, 'wild things run fast' and tried in vain to master the drum-fill that features in the song's middle section.

a vhs video (yes, that long ago) of the buddy rich big band with steve gadd, dave weckl and vinnie had them all playing yamaha drumsets, a situation that continues to be the case for all but colaiuta. he shifted his endorsement from the japanese drum company to that of gretsch, but only for a year or two before upping sticks and moving over to ludwig. this latter move was made all the more notable within the drumming community when he also left the zildjian cymbal company for whom he'd been an endorser for many a long year and joined switzerland's paiste. the ludwig endorsement lasted a remarkably short time.

the majority of top drummers are keen to garner endorsements with major dum companies because it means that not only do they often pick-up occasionally lucrative clinic tours, but are provided with suitable drumsets all across the world wherever they might be playing, saving a considerable amount of money on airfreighting often substantial-sized kits to far flung corners of the world.

after leaving ludwig, for a while, colaiuta played a set handmade by an american drum builder before recently announcing that he had returned to gretsch. i confess that, if i was gretsch's man at the top, i'd have told him precisely where he could put his pair of drumsticks, but commercial considerations often contradict knee-jerk reactions. vinnie has been welcomed back with an embarrassingly twee video demonstrating the unboxing of vinnie's new, larger and bright blue drumset.

but these endorsements, particularly in cases such as the above, often seem utterly pointless and ultimately valueless. former weather report drummer, peter erskine also left yamaha a few years back for america's drum workshop. then only a matter of months ago, he shifted to japan's tama drums claiming it had nothing to do with money, but everything to do with sound. quite why these drummers think that the majority of us will place any faith in their subsequent platitudes about how [insert current brand here] drums are the very best they've ever played, i really cannot fathom.

professional cyclists occupy an altogether different situation. in the case of those sitting on world tour saddles, it is most often the manufacturers who are responsible for making any claims of brand superiority. after his unexpected win in this year's giro d'italia, specialized ran a full page ad in the cycling monthlies showing a victorious vincenzo nibali aboard his specialized bicycle, accompanied by the caption 'inconceivable'. though i do not follow post race commentary as closely as perhaps i ought to, i have not seen any quotes from nibali attesting to the make of bicycle on which he rode as at being least partially responsible for providing him with a pink jersey.

that is mostly because professional bike riders rarely, if ever, have any say on which brand of bicycle they challenge for victory. to place this in perspective, nibali could likely have won the giro aboard one of halford's finest. the majority of us are aware of this, the manufacturers know that we know and the riders, by and large, could care less, yet marketing budgets worth millions are still spent on persuading us that if it's good enough for vincenzo, it's good enough for you and me. in reality, that is undoubtedly true, but the same is also true of pinarello, colnago, canyon or pretty much any world tour, pro-continental or continental bicycle you care to mention.

the same goes for clothing. it would be hard to deny that the information gained by the world's top cycle clothiers by sponsoring the world's top teams, has not benefitted the great unwashed, but do not believe that geraint thomas or ian stannard wear rapha out of choice. next year, that choice will be removed, at least in the competitive realm.

marketing has always occupied a space remarkably close to that of statistics in that they often feature "lies, damn lies and..." well, i'm sure you can figure out the rest.

sadly, i never thought to ask which make of bicycle vinnie rides.

saturday 18 june 2016

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