My daughter wants a drum kit but they take up space and cost a pretty penny. We told her that she could take lessons and hit books configured to imitate a kit but we wouldn't buy a set until we were sure she'd stick to it. The girl likes music and with multiple musical interests (she also plays the piano and violin) we aren't sure how to support her instrumental whims. She called our drum bluff with the "we'll get you a kit if you stick to it" refrain after she hit the six-month mark of paradiddles everywhere. We'll have to get her the drums.* Besides, how can she get in the pocket groove without a kit?

We've begun the process of determining what would be appropriate for our little drummer girl. After lengthy discussions with instructors at Allegro and multiple Google searches, we came up with the following tips for providing all budding musicians solid instruments that inspire and support their efforts.

There are two kinds of trade credit keepers: the spenders and the hoarders. I’m a bit of both. When I get small amounts of trade credit, say under $15 or $20, I use it as coffee money in our cafe. If I sell something for a lot of trade, I stash it in my lockbox and hold out for a big purchase. This is where the music and electronics departments tend to come in.

We’ve teamed up with Chicks with Picks, a great organization that helps female musicians get involved in the community and music industry while exploring and improving their talent. Betsy Ganz from Chicks with Picks took time out of her busy schedule to bring her gorgeous guitar to Bookmans Phoenix, and held a blues class designed for youths between the ages of 10-14. Blues is an iconic part of the musical history and everyone should experience its roots and elements at some point in their lives, so why not start young? The class covered the history of blues, major blues artists of the past and present, blues song structure and lyric structure and the kids had the opportunity to write their own songs.

When I was 13, I was only vaguely familiar with the work of Tool. When I was 14, my aunt took me to see them at UNLV. I was exhilarated, I was captivated, I was in love. To date, that concert was the single greatest experience of my life. I left that stadium a lifelong fan of Tool and Maynard James Keenan.

The Avett Brothers stopped by Bookmans Grant on Thursday, May 7th for an intimate three-song set, part of KXCI's first-ever Live at 5 broadcast on location. Host Cathy Rivers introduced Scott and Seth Avett, Joe Crawford, and touring member Joe Kwon to a crowd that packed the Music section of the store and spilled back into Fiction. Rivers quizzed the band on old bands and their current listening habits between performances of two Avetts classics - "Bella Donna" and "Paranoia in B Flat Major" - and "Laundry Room," a stunning track from their upcoming Rick Rubin-produced album, out in August.

The set-up on stage was impressive, housing four percussionists, both string and brass sections, an acoustic guitar, a piano, and a mammoth harp. Dressed to the nines in tuxedos, the band opened with a spirited version of Ravel's Bolero that was deemed illegal in France, according to pianist and band leader Tom Lauderdale. Why? Pink Martini puts their own spin on the classic song. (Apparently that kind of creative freedom is frowned upon across the pond.) Once that performance grabbed everyone by the collar and drew them in, charming front woman China Forbes sauntered out to center stage.

I once spent my student loan funds - an allotment meant to last an entire semester - on music. I picked up the check at the office, cashed it, then walked straight to Hillsborough Street (the strip adjacent to North Carolina State University) and dropped nearly all of it in record stores. There's nothing quite so humbling as calling your parents to beg for macaroni and cheese and meat because you ran out of Ramen. To this day, they remain ignorant to the reasons behind that desperate phone call, though I felt pangs of guilt every time they made a joke about the solid wall of CDs and records that had taken over my room.

For almost twenty years now, Sonic Youth's Daydream Nation has been one of my all-time favorite albums. I finally picked up the deluxe 2-Disc expanded and remastered edition and it's like discovering the whole record again. If you are unfamiliar with Sonic Youth and/or Daydream Nation, there's a whole world of new discoveries waiting for you.

Sonic Youth are a New York avant-rock band that has always had one foot planted in classic pop/rock and the other foot planted in avant-garde guitar noise/feedback experimental music. They blend the two with an ironic sense of humor about the world of celebrity culture in which we live and in which they exist, although very much on the fringe of it.

Lamb Of God, Slipknot, Sepultura. What do these bands have in common? None of these upstarts have outdone Slayer, the undisputed titans of metal. For over 20 years, Slayer has provided the framework to the cutting edge of metal. Their contemporaries have either softened with age (Metallica) or fallen by the wayside into obscurity (Exodus, Venom, etc). The band still has the same lineup as when they started, not counting the few year hiatus of the completely indespensable drummer, Dave Lombardo. Dave, Kerry King, Tom Araya and Jeff Hannamen are still giving the kids what they want.