The History of DrummerCafe.com

The Drummer Café™ is an independent, grassroots establishment which is owned, operated and funded by drummer and percussionist, Bart Elliott. As chef de cuisine, Bart handles all of the Drummer Café’s web graphic design, IT coding programming, as well as creating/editing all of the original content that appears on the site, including audio, video, photos and image artwork; he's editor, publisher, writer, photographer, videographer, and creative director. Not associated or directly affiliated with any other company or manufacturer, the Drummer Café™ relies solely on the generous support and donations of its patrons, sponsors and readers, as well as revenue generated from advertisers and fee-based services.

The main course on the Drummer Cafe menu is the Premium Resources — an "all-you-can-eat" subscription based feature with 24/7 access to unique drum/percussion video lessons including supplemental audio and PDF downloads, play-along tracks, drum charts and transcriptions, featured articles and exclusive video/audio recordings. The bulk of this "top-shelf" inventory is created and/or provided by Bart Elliott, although more recently the Drummer Cafe™ has included lesson and article contributions from several of its professional members (aka chef de partie). And if that wasn't enough, each subscription comes with a lifetime VIP Membership to the drum and percussion industry's longest-running online community, the Drummer Cafe Community Forum. The VIP status, which never expires, gives the member full-access to Drummer Cafe forum, and an open door to obtaining direct advice and counsel from Drummer Cafe pro experts.

Menu items served at the Drummer Cafe™, in addition to its premier entrées such as Drummer Cafe TV, The PRess Roll, and Community Forum, includes drum news, product reviews, educational articles and lessons, percussion glossary, event calendar, an industry directory and more!

On December 21, 1996, while living in Dallas, Texas, Bart Elliott began a web-based organization for professional drummers and percussionists called the Drum Ring International. This was the first and only such organization of its kind at that time. The heart of the site was a webring which connected all of its members and their websites into a collective. Membership for the Drum Ring was free, but had two prerequisites: first, you had to show that you were a working professional drummer or percussionist (performer, educator, etc.), and second, you had to have a personal website which showcased you as a working pro.

Sample list of past Drum Ring International members include:

The Drum Ring International served its members by promoting their websites, as well as reviewing and selling their products (e.g. books, CDs, videos, etc.). At this time in the life of the internet, e-commerce was fairly new and rather expensive to operate on your own. There was no PayPal, so many of our members took advantage of Drum Ring’s services.

In 1999, the Drum Ring International expanded its public offerings to include a free discussion list which was available to anyone, not just Drum Ring International members. The discussion list proved to be a positive way for drummers and percussionists from around the world to communicate and ask questions of our professional members. The Drum Ring would share the latest news and “goings on” of our pro members to the masses via the discussion list and website.

It was in the early part of 2001 that the Drum Ring International added a bulletin board (aka message board or forum) to its site. This forum was called … the Drummer Café. Later that same year, on December 21, 2001, Bart Elliott made the decision to position all of the services and features offered by the Drum Ring International under one name, the Drummer Café™ (www.drummercafe.com). It wasn't until some time later, August 1, 2003, that the Drum Ring International was phased out completely, directing all of its web traffic and services to the Drummer Cafe.

In August 2002, Bart relocated to Nashville, Tennessee, where he (and the Drummer Cafe headquarters) resides to this day.

In the years that followed, the Drummer Café™ has grown and expanded along with the changes and evolution of the Internet, not to mention the needs of its users. Drum and percussion industry news, reviews, interviews, articles, lessons, and a first-class community forum have been staples of the Drummer Café™ for many years now.

Although video content for lessons, news, reviews and interviews has always been a part of the Drummer Cafe, Bart Elliott launched Drummer Café TV™ in January 2008 as a supplement to the main Drummer Cafe website. Drummer Cafe TV™ features unique, video content that Bart Elliott has personally created, and on special occasions, broadcasts live from remote locations as well as the Drummer Cafe studio.

Another addition to the Drummer Café™ network was in January 2009, when Bart gave a permanent home for the Cafe's newsletters; The PRess Roll™. This free, weekly newsletter (eZine) from the Drummer Café™ is delivered to scores of drummers and percussionists from around the globe. After four full years of weekly newsletters, Bart Elliott changed the delivery times for the newsletter to periodic in 2013; once or twice a month, rather than every week.

In 2010, Bart added the Drummer Cafe calendar which features dates for upcoming percussion and drum clinics, master classes, workshops, camps, festivals, conventions, trade shows, and drumming events, as well as celebrity drummer / percussionist birthdays. To date, the calendar is the most comprehensive and accurate drum/percussion calendar in the world.

Bart Elliott's Drummer Cafe continues to lead the drum and percussion industry with new resources and endeavors — paving the way through ingenuity, creativity and service.

Bart Elliott has been working as a professional drummer and percussionist, playing live gigs, studio sessions and teaching privately since 1979. His formal education includes a Bachelor of Music in Music-Performance from West Texas State University (Canyon, TX), and post-graduate work in Music-Performance at Southwest Texas State University (San Marcos, TX). Bart has also studied privately with some of the top performers and educators in the world; several of his mentors include legendary jazz drummer and educator, Alan Dawson, and John Kasica of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra.

Bart has worked as an adjunct faculty member at several colleges and universities, as well as maintaining a private teaching studio throughout his career. From 1989-1992, Bart owned and operated Bart Elliott’s Studio Drum Shop in Amarillo, Texas.

His studio work includes numerous commercial jingles, demos, soundtracks, music videos, and over 100 albums to his credit. Bart is also an active producer, arranger, creative consultant, and ASCAP composer.

With respect to the countless hours it takes to run the Drummer Cafe™ website, Bart confesses, "I’m still doing everything I’ve always done. I continue to work as a professional drummer / percussionist, performing in all genres of music, both live and in the studio. Although I do go on the road from time to time, over the the last few years I’ve chosen to stick closer to home to focus on my family and devote more time to the Drummer Café".

For more information about Bart and his music career spanning over four decades, visit his personal website, bartelliott.com.