Jeff Salt knows the healing power of rhythms.
"It has brought me out of the depths of hell," said Salt, the former owner of the now defunct Cosmic Aeroplane. "It has been instrumental in putting my life back together again."Salt is the promoter for the Planet Drum concert, which will be Oct. 9 in the Cottonwood High School auditorium.
He is also spearheading a free public-invited drum circle, featuring Mickey Hart and world music percussionist Arthur Hull. That event will take place in the Salt Palace ballroom on Thursday, Oct. 8, at 8 p.m.
"The drum circle is actually an educational clinic that is used to draw the community together," Salt said.
Hull, a drum circle facilitator and president of the Village Music Circle, based in Santa Cruz, Calif., agreed to take part after being contacted by Salt.
Born in Ogden and raised in Clearfield, Hull says he started drumming while still a baby - literally. "My mother said I started pounding things when she was still in her third trimester with me," he explained during a telephone interview from Santa Cruz.
"But I returned to Utah for the first time in many years in 1992, or something like that, for a Day In the Park Celebration, hosted by KRCL radio."
Since then, Hull has come back for workshops with children and other community projects. "I think of myself as a community builder. I use the drum to bring people together. Through the rhythms, they work together. They create music together.
"And there's nothing like standing back and watching business people gathered in a circle pounding drums and listening to each other together."
Hull worked with communities all over the world, with everyone from the very conservative to the extremely liberal. He's even worked with Fortune 500 companies around the world. "The American Medical Association and Granite Construction are a couple of companies I've done workshops with. I've also been a keynote speaker at Microsoft conventions and Apple Computer gatherings.
"But I'm not giving a drum class. I'm using the drum to get people together. It's not a bunch of hippies thunder drumming. It's a gathering of people who want to work together but don't know how. So the drum is used to break down those barriers and the rhythms are used to get people to work together."
Hull said in his world, there is no such thing as a "rhythm dork."
"Everyone can find a rhythm," he said. "People all over the world use rhythms. But our nation in our history has lost the use of the drum for bringing unity. So I've dedicated the last 30 years of my life to help people get in tune with their rhythms."
Hull has worked with autistic adults and children and severely mentally challenged individuals throughout his career.
"The interesting thing I've seen is the rhythms bypass the circuitries that aren't functioning as they should and find the ones that are," Hull said. "Many parents and caretakers of autistic individuals tell me all the time how they are amazed that we got their loved ones to come `out' into the world and interact with other people who are drumming.
"The power of drumming and rhythms go far beyond keeping beats in music. That power is the fundamental basis of life and communication."