Good to be King
By King Harris

“Don’t do it — you’ll never make it,” advised a boss I used to have. He owned a radio station in the Portland, Ore., area and I was supposed to be selling airtime.
I had just told him about my friend Bill Schwartz, a singer-songwriter who needed a drummer for a rock group he was putting together with plans to make it big in Los Angeles. Since I had the chops for such a gig, having drummed through college in a rock ‘n’ roll band, I decided, against any prevailing wisdom, to join up and head south.
“Okay,” my boss said, a little miffed — I think — because I was leaving, “but you aren’t going to make it.” He ended up being right, which miffed me a little bit. But it was hard to break into the musical scene in the early 1970s, despite some pretty decent recordings we made in Portland, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.
Besides, Bill, playing in a crude style similar to that of a more polished Elton John, wasn’t trying to sell the group as much as he was his songs. He had the contract with A & M Records, we didn’t, and consequently the band broke up.
I survived the ordeal by drumming for various groups, playing mostly in clubs and bars, where alcohol seemed to be the reigning customer. Think of Billy Joel’s “Piano Man” and you’ll get the idea. Bill Schwartz sold a few tunes and died trying.
The crazy L.A. rock scene put him in his youthful grave, and that’s when I decided to hang up my sticks, sell my drums, and get back into broadcasting.
I think of those years every time I drive by the Drum Circuit drum shop on Higuera Street in San Luis Obispo. Once in a while I get the urge to go into the place to check out what’s new in the drumming world, but I doubt I’ll ever see a trap set in my living room anytime soon. But who knows?
After talking with Steve Hilstein the other day, I might change my mind. Hilstein owned the Drum Circuit for nearly 20 years before he sold it to a friend not long ago. He still teaches his Drum School 101 there, however, and stays connected to the business.
What has always intrigued me about the Drum Circuit, certainly one of the more highly visible landmarks in San Luis, is how they have managed to stay in business. I mean, how many drummers are there on the Central Coast?
Enough to support two legendary drum shops, apparently, the other being in Santa Barbara. Steve credits his love of pounding the skins and teaching his students.
“I started playing many years ago when I was 10. I still have the record that inspired me. It was “Rock Around the Clock” by Bill Haley and the Comets. Whatever the drummer was doing, I was hooked! I remember making a drum set out of Quaker Oats cereal boxes when I was nine.” Then Hilstein got serious.
“I started playing for living when I was 18, and when I turned 25 and moved here, I made a decision in my life, and it was a turning point. Is this something I’m going to do as career, or should I get real job? Obviously I kept going and began studying seriously with an instructor. Later on I went to a percussion school in Hollywood called P.I.T., the Percussion Institute of Technology, the trade school for drummers.”
Hilstein says he learned a lot, and was now equipped with the skills to teach. On top of that, he got a resale license and opened up the Drum Circuit.
“I love to play drums and teach drums. I love the results I see in student’s lives. It’s something I can share with them because it turns their lives around.”
When he’s not teaching, Hilstein is busy with a novel approach to percussion he created called “The Bucket Busters.”
“We use anything we can beat on not made by manufacturers, like different sizes of metal trash cans, or 5-gallon plastic buckets, or various sizes of empty water bottles. Every Saturday 10 or 12 of us drummers will get together and produce an extraordinary sound. We play all over — in parades, Farmer’s Markets, and charitable events.”
Hilstein is also responsible for an annual highly successful drum competition, where every year 26 contestants in two different age categories get together to show off their individual skills.
“It has benefited the San Luis Obispo Child Abuse Prevention Council, so it’s a win-win event for everybody.”
Hilstein advises that if you enter, it pays to be more versatile. If you love all types of musical styles, he says, you can actually make a living playing drums. Short of that, follow your heart, even if you never drum the big time.