Travis Barker (and DJ AM), get well soon

DJ AM and Travis

In 2004, I got the opportunity to see Blink-182 perform live under the stars at the Maui Arts and Cultural Center. The concert, which was amazing, left me in awe of Travis Barker. Not only is he one of the best drummers ever, right up there with Neil Peart of Rush, Ginger Baker from Cream, and Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann of the Dead, but Travis Barker did the unbelievable. The guy played with a broken foot. I had brought binoculars (much to the embarrassment of my then teenaged-nephew Andrew who is also quite the fine drummer himself), and I watched him bang away, mesmerized by how damn good he was, cast and all. Once Andrew decided that it wasn't too dorky to check out the show through the binoculars, he was pretty amazed himself that Travis had learned to play the bass drum with his left foot due to the cast. You'd never have guessed. He was smoking good.

Today on the news it was just announced that Travis is in critical condition at a burn unit in Augusta, Georgia after the Learjet he was on crashed and burned on takeoff last night in South Carolina. Of the six on board, he and DJ AM with whom he'd played a show last night were the only survivors. Perry Farrell also played the show, I just hope he wasn't on the plane too.

Get well soon Travis, so we can continue to enjoy you banging on those skins again soon. Here's a clip of him and DJ AM doing a show recently in Chicago. Good stuff.