My name is Roger Acree, I'm 46 and these are my drums. I started playing in my early teens on my mother's pots and pans and whatever I could find to make noise with, and went from there. Finally, with much begging and pleading and the realization of her dishes becoming nothing more than bent up pieces of scrap metal, she helped me buy my first set of drums, Ludwig of course, and I will never part with them! They were supposed to have been a maple five piece sparkle blue kit when I ordered them, but somehow the order got screwed up and they came in sparkle red. But I didn't care once they got delivered, I was in heaven, needless to say, my mother thought she was in hell. Good ole' MOM!







Then I met a few musicians within a couple of months after I got my kit and we began to jam, there was nothing like it, even though we probably sounded like crap! But I kept on playing and eventually I actually began to get in touch with a thing called rhythm, WOW, amazing! Then I got wind of a band called Led Zeppelin and I went crazy over the drummer, who didn't! John Henry Bonham, what an amazing human being, he did things that I couldn't even imagine doing with 4 arms and 4 legs, let alone 2 arms and 2 legs! But I kept on listening to his drumming over and over, and after no sleep for about 2 months I finally got to where I could keep up with him a little bit, and I was the MAN!!





I used the same old sparkle red set I got from my mother for years, changing the color of them several times, probably about 6 coats of paint by now, man they got heavy! Then I came across a set of what they called Ludwig Concert Vistalites in white. I new for sure I was in heaven then, they were so much louder and the sound was just mind blowing! They were and still are the BOMB!! I will never part with that set either. Then I found a set of black ones just like my white kit and mixed them together and OH MY GOD!!




The kit now consists of 17 Vistalite drums, and of course a Ludwig Supra-Phonic snare and just for TOM, 2, yes 2 Ludwig Speedking Pedals and 3 roto toms all mixed in with each other with various other types of brasses and bells and chimes and wood blocks and whatever else gets in the way! I call them my Whack-Blite set up, it's only appropriate, after all, they are definitely Whack! The neighbor's used to call me the Neighborhood Nuisance, Now they call me the Neighborhood Nightmare! And I wouldn't have it any other way!








One of these days my son will take over where I left off and hopefully he has as much fun as I have had and will keep these old Luddy Vistas ROCKIN!! He's only 9 years old right now, but I will make sure he knows what kind of drums these are and hopefully he will never get rid of them either. If he does I will haunt him from my grave! And that's my story and I'm stickin' to it! So, to all my drumming comrades in this big ole' world of who knows what will happen next, keep on drumming until you wake the dead! They will appreciate it one day! Rock On Vistas, Rock On!!

Roger

















Thanks for taking the time to get us some great pictures Roger and the history of your kit makes for a Vistalicious tale.

Ken