Sad to wake up to the news of Clem Burke’s passing. What a drummer! Most people know him as the drummer of Blondie, a onetime Ramones drummer (he was “Elvis” Ramone), but I mostly knew him as a guy who would show up around Los Angeles, playing with just about anybody. He would sit in with other bands, and the whole thing would jump up two or three levels. The band would start “floating,” and then you’d really get an idea of just how good the guy was. He was one of the greats.
I got to play with him once, at the NAMM show. I was walking around in incognito clothes, no hat on, looking like a Dad-rock refugee, and Dave Wolfe grabbed me and stuck me on a NAMM show trade booth stage playing a few Johnny Cash songs with Wolfe on bass, Danny B Harvey on guitar, and Clem on drums. I remember feeling embarrassed at how utterly unprepared I was to get on a stage that day. But of course now I’m grateful for the opportunity to have played with Clem. (photo by Steven Wolf)
RIP Clem Burke. If you don’t know who he is, do yourself a favor and take a deep dive on YouTube today to see just how great he was.
