Well, it goes back way too many years, but I'm from the Kenmore, NY area.   While riding my bike down Military Road in Kenmore I passed the Kent Drum Company (aka Drummer's Paradise).  That's how I got interested in drumming.  From there, lessons were pursued, school music groups were entered, and I guess you could say the rest is history.

As my parents realized my interest in drumming was not just a passing phase, they ponied up the money to buy me a nice set of Kent Drums, gold sparkle, 5-13-15-20.  I practiced them every day, learned the fundamentals, and eventually giged them out with a couple of my buddies in a jazz trio.

Then there was the infamous day in the early 60's, I was 14 years old, and my parents took me and my brother to see Gene Krupa at a local supper club!  My dad flipped the matri'd twenty bucks, and Gene sat down at our table between sets to have a couple scotches and talk to us about music, drumming, equipment, and his upcoming drumming school venture with Cozy Cole..  I will never forget his statement "I'd rather have a ketchup sandwich at home than the best steak at a restaurant on the road".  It wasn't until many decades later, after spending considerable time on the road, that I really understood that!  And how true it is!  At the time, he was a Slingerland endorser, and asked me what I had for drums, and I mentioned Kent.  He shrugged off the name, and remember telling him "oh, it's just a local company".  The memories!

My interest in drumming has continued for decades.  The old Kent set was put in storage somewhere, and I have since had the pleasure of obtaining and restoring a classic Ludwig Ringo set, and my current Niles Slingerland white pearl set.

This past year the original Kent set was found, and it brought back a LOT of memories.  So once I set it up as-found for old time sakes, I went to work restoring it.  The step-by-step of the Kent restoration can be seen here.

When finished, you got it, the missing link... what about the damaged and missing drum badges?  I took it upon myself to solve that problem.  THAT is what this site is all about!