On October 22nd, the local percussion community lost a special friend, business owner and overall champion for drums and percussion throughout the entire tri-state area. Sam D’Amico passed away last week and in so doing, left all of us with a tremendous void in our hearts for his special combination of humor and business dealings with our entire percussion community. Sam had recently closed his South Philly business after proudly serving all drummers for over 33 years. Through good times and bad, Sam would always open his shop every day with a smile and plenty of time to give to his community of drummers…famous, or not.

A recent news article in the South Philly Review details some of the reason why Sam was so special to so many people.

All of us who had the pleasure of knowing Sam will dearly miss him and will certainly keep his entire family in our thoughts and prayers. Thank you Sam, for being devoted to your family…tens of thousands of customers included.

Pearl Drums has introduced a new line of drum sets that replace their long time drum set staple, the Export Series. The new Pearl Vision Series Drum Sets from Pearl kicks up the features and benefits that has made Pearl the best selling drum set in the beginner to intermediate price point for the past decade. Pearl has four levels of Vision Series drum sets, all of which feature something new and improved over the Export Series which started it’s life in 1982 and like the McDonalds hamburger, sold in the millions.

The Vision VX Series has six colors, three of which even have black hardware, and come complete with 5 drums and a full set of hardware (including 2 cymbal stands) all for under $750.00. The Vision VSX Series has six Ultra Exotic covering finishes…talk about some cool looks! The shells are the same in these two lines but the cool coverings may be worth the few extra bucks for the VSX. The third level is the Vision VBX Series which features a 100% all Birch shell and five awesome colors (of which the Concord Fade has Black hardware for a look that screams “I spent a ton of money on this kit” when you really didn’t). The highest level of Vision Series is the VMX 100% all Maple Shell kit. These kits are sold as shell packs and include no cymbal stands, snare stands, etc, so the player can add whatever hardware they want to turn the VMX line into the level drum set that is perfect for any style player. Five Lacquered finishes make this line a great value for the dollar spent.

It must have been a very tough decision for Pearl to discontinue the Export line, something that put them on the drum set map. But with Vision taking the place of the Export, Pearl seems to have managed to continue their tradition of giving drumming customers excellent quality products at a tremendous price.