This American Life . Great weekly podcast where the incredible host Ira Glass picks a topic and contributors provide real life stories around said topic . They range from the bizarre Inmates at a prison reenacting Shakespeare to camping out an violent inner city schools . Stuff you didn ' t think interesting , made interesting . Stay with us . <| sep |> Fantastic info here . Thanks so much ! I ' ve gone off the wagon a bit since I got to korea . <| sep |> Sure , i ' ll help out . Would like to see how this progresses <| sep |> Cone and the barbarian <| sep |> Mapex drums are good , and almost any new drum is manufactured better than more expensive drums of a generation ago . For instance , I got some new Yamaha entry level drums in the mid 90 ' s that were $ 1500 USD , but the same quality now would cost me a third of that . You could always upgrade drum heads for a better sound later on , and cymbals can be a lifelong quest for the right ones . All that said ? I ' d agree with the other posters here and look for used . The same money could get you a step up in quality and be a better overall value .