Joe Parisi, who goes by the stage name Joe the Drummer, performs in the picturesque foothill community of Three Rivers, which is known for its eclectic collection of artists and free spirits. You’ll find him every Friday at dusk along the foothills highway.
Joe Parisi is crammed into an open, 10-by-15-foot trailer meant for snowmobiles, surrounded by dozens of drums, cymbals, horns and whistles.
Plugged into the custom-made, state-of-the-art trailer: nearly 5,000 watts of amperage; an iPod with more than 10,000 songs; and scores of multicolor lights synched to the music.
Most people would consider a motorcycle accident and a resulting six-month stretch in a full-body cast a bad thing. For Joe Parisi, it was the start of a passionate love affair with percussion.
The 1963 accident happened while Joe was riding on the back of his brother’s motorcycle in his hometown of Ann Arbor, Michigan. The active 12-year-old needed something to keep him entertained.
He began tapping on his plaster cast.
As he moved his body, the echo from the cast responded differently. His drumming career had begun.
In 1975, Parisi took a job as a carpenter, playing drums in a bar band at night. But he knew that if he wanted to make it big, he would have to leave Michigan.
The novice drummer tapped day and night. Freed at last from his plaster prison, he picked up a spoon and began clinking and clanking on pots and pans.
After six years of playing top-40 songs as a part of the bar band, Joe Parisi made his way to California.
In 2009 Joe Parisi transformed a trailer into his performance space at a cost of $20,000.
