Hey there, Modern Drummer readers, Jayson Brinkworth here again from Canada. Things have been crazy busy up here with Aaron Pritchett and One More Girl gigs, as well as many sessions.

In June we celebrated the tenth year in business of our school, Music in the House. Year eleven for teaching gets underway in September, and we’re all very excited. We have so many very talented young musicians in this area, it’s extremely inspiring.

I’ve also been working for seven years now to build Saskatchewan on the global drumming map. It started with bringing in clinicians for single events, including Chris Sutherland, Billy Ward, Kenny Aronoff, Dom Famularo, and others. In 2011, it escalated to the full two-day Regina Drum Festival, with Ronn Dunnett, Chris McHugh, Shawn Pelton, DrumHang, and many others. The event was amazing and the response was out of this world. Video footage can be found on youtube.com.

Our Year 2 Festival is coming up on September 14 and 15, and this event will be over the top. Our lineup includes Mike Michalkow, Gorden Campbell, Ronn Dunnett, Scott Pellegrom, Paul Leim, Gregg Bissonette, and others. It’s still a two-day event, and it’s jam packed with clinics, master classes, a trade show, and much more. All info is at jaysonbrinkworth.com. Advertisement

Also this past July, we presented our first annual Stickman Drum Experience camp at Cedar Lodge on Black Strap Lake. It was an amazing four-day event of lessons, clinics, jams, information sharing, and so much more. Our staff for 2012 included Rich Redmond, Vito Rezza, Chester Thompson, Billy Ward, Tim Smith, and others. The event was bigger than we could have imagined—and we’ve booked the venue for two more years! Check out video of the camp at jaysonbrinkworth.com. You can also go to stickmandrumexperience.com  to register or for more information for the 2013 event.

So keep an eye and ear open for these two annual events happening in Saskatchewan. They’re as world-class as it gets, and should draw from all of western Canada, as well as from the midwestern and western U.S.

Thanks so much to all of the staff at Modern Drummer for the amazing support and inspiration.