Cigar Aficionado

A couple weeks ago, I posted scans of an article in Cigar Aficionado magazine featuring our own Mr. Torres.  The article has been posted online, and can be seen here.

Some highlights:

Compact and muscular, with neatly sculpted (and graying) sideburns and soul patch, dressed all in black ("because I'm a musician, and from hanging out with Gary Player"), Torres slides into a seat near a window, offering smiles and "How are ya's?" to other members, who seem to take a certain protective pride in having a celebrity as a fellow regular at the club.

Torres orders an omelet with ham and onions, bacon on the side. "My son (six-year-old Hector) came to me the other day and said, 'Dad, you're famous,'" he says. "When I asked where he'd heard that, it turned out the neighbor's kids had told him. He had no idea. It's a little strange when your son notices."

Compact and muscular. What a perfect description.

"I don't mind being in the background," he says. "As the drummer, I get to watch the show and perform. I don't mind walking into a room where nobody knows who I am. There's a beauty to that. I started playing for the sheer joy and creativity of it."

I wonder if any of the other guys wish, when they're trying to have a nice, quiet dinner out for example, that they would go unnoticed? I mean, on some level, I'm sure the recognition does good things for their egos :) But there's gotta be that time (probably more than one) when they're saying "dammit, why can't I be invisible today?"

He's befriended several professional golfers and played rounds with many of the greats, including Tiger Woods. Asked if it was humbling to go tee-to-green with Woods, Torres doesn't miss a beat: "But he can't play drums."

That just made me laugh :)

[The tour] schedule would take its toll on any performer, but drummers take a particularly hard pounding, moving arms and legs almost nonstop for an entire show, which lasts two-and-a-half to three hours. To prepare for the physical rigors, Torres begins working out several weeks ahead of time, exercising on a Stairmaster and strengthening his core.

"It's about getting your heart and your lungs ready," he says. "Mainly, it's about getting my wind up. Doing a show is like boxing—your heart rate goes up and down. It takes a couple of weeks to feel like I'm in command physically."

On stage, Torres attacks his drums with ferocity from start to finish. One particularly noteworthy fan, Queen Elizabeth II, spoke up after Bon Jovi played in Liverpool. "Your arms must be so tired," she said with admiration, then quizzed Torres on his stamina and workout regimen. "That was special to me," Torres says.

"There's no one better behind the kit," says Jon Bon Jovi, via an e-mail interview. "He does things, without the use of technology, that would take a drummer and a percussionist to pull off live. And there's no one more loyal and loving than Tico."

A fabulous read about our favorite Cubano.

~ Hath