I AM NOT A DRUMMER, ER, NUMBER If you're like me, you can't live without a spam filter to ensure that genuine emails are quarantined so that an undiluted stream of Nigerian money transfer scams and male enhancement technologies can flow freely into your inbox. So I was surprised and delighted last week when an email from local musician Dale Ockerman slipped through the spam filter bearing the subject heading: "Patrick McGoohan plays the drums! Yeah!" The message was a simple link to a YouTube clip showing my personal role model McGoohan (cult hero/star of The Prisoner, Secret Agent Man and, of course, The Three Lives of Thomasina) kicking out the jams with a '50s jazz band. It's a great clip with the British actor in classic Secret Agent mode: his smirk barely suppressed and eyebrows arching even as he beats out a mean tattoo and appears to be actually playing. After the song is over, the scene cuts to a Prisoner-worthy thunder-cloud-filled sky which is abruptly cut short by the familiar YouTube screen inviting you to play it again or email it to a friend. The clip, which I'd never seen before, is from a film I'd only heard about, a '50s remake of Othello in which McGoohan plays a nefarious drug dealer. Fellow fans are advised to check out the clip while bearing in mind that McGoohan isn't really that good a role model.

SPEAKING OF DALE OCKERMAN I would of course be remiss in not mentioning that the White Album Ensemble jack of all trades is finally having a release party for the Dale Ockerman Project's A Peace of My Mind, an album that actually came out some time ago. Dale insists that it's not because he's operating on Santa Cruz time--although we all know he is--and that it just took this long to get all the players on it together for one show. Joining him at the July 14 Kuumbwa gig will be Richard Bryant, Tammi Brown and Will Russ on vocals, David Tucker on drums, Paul Olguin on bass. Donny Caruth on guitar and Jim Greiner on percussion. But that's not all, folks. He'll also have a horn section consisting of Tom Dilbeck, E3 Playhouse maven Wes Anthony and Tim Harris from Estradasphere. Dale will, of course, play everything.

THIS JUST IN The White Album Ensemble will be performing Rubber Soul and Revolver, complete with string quartet, for free this Thursday, July 6, from 5:45 to 8:45pm in San Jose at Cesar Chavez Plaza park, located in front of the Fairmont Hotel at Market and San Carlos. From Michelle to Eleanor Rigby, Paperback Writer to Taxman, there's really no better way to experience the Beatles' mid-'60s growth spurt! See you there!

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