1

A young Tommy Ardolino

2

Tommy Ardolino died earlier this month at the age of 56.

This happy new year darkened considerably on its first Friday as news spread across the Internet overnight: drummer Tommy Ardolino had died at age 56.

The Springfield-born, self-taught musician was best known as NRBQ's drummer of 30 years, but if you were a local record store employee (as this writer was), you also knew him as a huge music fan. And a regular.

Ardolino always wore a suit jacket, always had a shaggy mane of curly hair, always spoke softly and kindly, giving you his full attention. If he liked you, he might give you a "meow." (He loved cats.)

He'd quickly walk the aisles and scan the racks with an expert eye, tuned in to the music coming over the store speakers, mouthing drum noises to himself. He literally breathed music.

It was oft-told that Ardolino was already sitting on the floor listening to records at age 2.

"I belong on the floor," he told a TV interviewer (while sitting on the floor). "I just feel comfortable on the floor - nearer to the record player. Nearer to the cat."

Ardolino's unique, rollicking drumming changed the way I heard music, freeing me from MTV-age assumptions about what drummers were supposed to do.

I distinctly remember driving in my car, putting on the "NRBQ At Yankee Stadium" album for the first time. I had a portable CD player hooked up through the cigarette lighter and "Green Lights" came punching out of the sound system. Throughout the tune, Ardolino clicks a stick against a drum rim like a groovy time bomb waiting to blow. I was confused. "Why isn't he playing a hi-hat?" I wondered.

But eventually the rhythm exploded with a spastic drum fill and a crash on the cymbal. I couldn't stop listening to the song - on one hand, it seemed kind of bluesy and straightforward, yet none of the musical elements were doing anything typical.

Between that album and the live record "God Bless Us All," I was hooked forever: this was rock-and-roll joy. What a groove. And kicking it along was the smiling Ardolino behind the drums, effortlessly blowing minds.

Legendary drummer Earl Palmer once saw NRBQ play live on Conan O'Brien's show and marveled at the band's energy and Ardolino's style. He had a way of hanging a drumstick limply upside down between his index and middle fingers as he raised it, then sharply flipping it right-side-up into his grip and bringing the stick down against the snare with a massive whomp. I've sat and watched that clip in slow motion, as if trying to discover a magician's secret.

Likewise you could spend an entire afternoon studying the seems-simple song "Big Goodbyes," trying to figure out how Ardolino's drumming creates an aural illusion - is he playing a little behind the beat, making an almost imperceptible drag that feels so good? Or is he swinging only the hi-hat, or everything but the hi-hat?

Or take NRBQ's rocking swing numbers like "That's Neat, That's Nice" and their cover of "Music Goes Round and Around" ... the light skip in the cymbal, the wild and groovy fills around the kit, the snap in the snare that makes your backbone bounce - how can you not get up and dance to that soulful, timeless beat?

A favorite story about Ardolino involves him doing session work with guitarist Jim Chapdelaine for a driver's education documentary film soundtrack, which at one point required him to play on a heavy, "nu metal" kind of song. At first Ardolino said no (reportedly adding, "It would make me sad"), but drummed on it anyway, in his own swinging way. When the film's producer inquired about the odd result, Chapdelaine explained they'd made up a new genre called "Happy Metal." The filmmakers loved it.

It's beautiful proof that Ardolino's joyful musical spirit couldn't be tamped down, and luckily there's a stack of NRBQ records out there that captured him in full swing. (And someone made a fun video compilation of some of his TV appearances; search YouTube for "God Bless Tommy Ardolino.")

Though the drummer had retired from the road, opting not to join the latest NRBQ lineup, he does drum on two songs on their newest record and drew the colorful cover art: a smiling lion. The record is called "Keep This Love Goin'," and that's just what this Ardolino fan is going to do. His beat goes on. Thank you for the music, Tommy.