My Heir and my Spare are back, and better’n ever, if you ask me. That’s a peppy song, and I used to make money covering it for various gaggles of inebriates back in the day. It was current then. To my children it’s an Al Jolson record.

If you just wandered in, my sons call themselves Unorganized Hancock, and perform live here in Maine from time to time, and write their name on the Intertunnel wall every week or two, over by the YouTube cutoff,. They’re homeschooled.

The big one is playing the electric and the acoustic guitar, and the bass, as well as conceiving and editing the videos, and the little one plays the drums and generally hangs around looking cute. He’s only ten years old, and I do believe he’s the greatest ten year old drummer in the world.

No brag, just fact. If he was doing anything to brag about, he wouldn’t be that good, if you ask me. So why is he the best ten year old drummer in the world? He can’t play a drum solo. Or more to the point, he has been taught that playing drum solos on YouTube isn’t making music, and has been instructed first, last, and always to make music with other people, for the entertainment of a real audience. Your job is not to show off. Your job is to accompany others to play songs that people want to hear. I could teach every kid in the public school to play like that, but it’s not allowed, or attempted, or whatever. And I was always a lousy musician, I just worked. Only the approach is important.

That’s why he’s the best ten year old drummer in the world — it’s by default. No one even attempts to do what he’s doing. He can’t do anything impressive. All he can do is play almost faultlessly for up to three hours in front of a real crowd of people in a real band. Hell, he’s never required more than one take to make each and every Unorganized Hancock video, including this one. If his older brother requires more than one take for anything, for instance to overdub things, which he must do because there’s only two of them, after all, then he never misses on any of the takes. According to YouTube, there’s nothing impressive about that. He’s supposed to play along with an Iron Maiden deep cut through headphones with four iPhones pointed at him at all times, I think.

The older one isn’t very impressive, either, I gather. After all, what sort of talent does it take to perform live for three hours at a stretch with only a ten year old to accompany you? Anyone could do that. And he doesn’t even know Freebird, mang.

I hear the public school kids are learning to play Frere Jacques on the flageolet this year while the teacher asks, “dormez vouz?”, over and over, to everyone in the back of the class — and means it. Good luck with that.

Nota Bene: Reader, commenter and friend Leslie painted the watercolors at the end. The Spare Heir demanded we include it in the video. It was in his performance rider, right after NO BROWN M&Ms. 

[Unorganized Hancock Tip Jar update: Update: It’s possible that Kathleen M. in Connecticut isn’t the nicest person in the world. But I doubt it]
[Update, but moreso: Dinah in Missouri is a peach]