learning to play Roxanne while sleeping

[johnd]

Stewart:
I just found this site, and I'm not sure if you read these posts, but this story might be of interest to you. I just read the issue of MD where you were featured, and the part about mental air drumming reminded me of how I learned to play Roxanne on drums.
When I was 17, or so, I had been playing drums for a few years and was desparately trying to learn your style (or at least bits of it). I was playing along to The Cars, The Go Go's, The Clash, etc. but had a hard time faking along to the Police. I started trying to learn Roxanne every day over the course of several weeks, but just couldn't pull it off. Frustrated, I just gave up.
A few months later, while sleeping at night, I had a dream. In the dream, there was this over-weight, bearded guy sitting behind a 4 piece kit, with about 5 cymbals. He was in a square, white room with nothing else but his drumset. Somehow I had a view into the room, though I wasn't there. He then played Roxanne from start to finish (just once) and I watched and listened intently. When it was over, the dream ended.
The next day, I played the dream over and over again in my mind. After school, I went down to the basement and played Roxanne on drums. Suddenly I had enough feel. I could make the bass drum beat drop where it was suppose to. I could get the reggae effect on hi-hats. I couldn't believe it. I played it several times because I couldn't believe that, as a result of this dream, I was now able to play Roxanne on drums.
When I was about 26, I went with a few friends to a pub in a town just north of Toronto. We walked in and the band was playing a Police cover tune (quite well actually). As we walked through the bar I got a look at the drummer. It was the guy who played Roxanne in my dream that night, a decade earlier. No shit.
Anyway, thanks for letting me share my story, and thanks for all the great music and drumming you've produced over the years. You might also be interested to know that your KK album really made the rounds in my small home town of Sault Ste Marie in Northern Ontario back in the day. It would be great if you brought one of your bands to the Montreal-Ottawa-Toronto corridor. I just picked up Oysterhead - I love it. So does my 5 year old.
John