Drummer not blind to life's happy beat

Blindness isn't a handicap for Eric ``Ricky' McKinnie _ it's just a disability and it doesn't stop him doing what he loves.
The Blind Boys of Alabama drummer said that was his theory and it had enabled him to travel the world with the Grammy Award-winning group, with Tauranga the latest stop on his list.
"People need to know that a disability doesn't need to be a handicap," he said.
The Blind Boys of Alabama are the highlight of this year's National Jazz Festival and performed a sold-out show last night and will perform again tonight.
The band have won five Grammys and created 60 albums since they first formed in 1939 at the Alabama Institute for the Negro Blind.
Seventy years later, all but one of the founding members of the group have died and the one who is still alive has retired from the group.
These days, four of the seven members are blind _ the three lead vocalists and McKinnie.
It was the first time McKinnie had been to Tauranga.
"I think the people are great _ everywhere we go we have a great time," he said.
The group flew in at 2am Sunday and had an exhausting tour schedule, but McKinnie said they were okay with that because they were here to do what they loved.
"Once we get out here and hear the audience, we're energised automatically," he said.
"We came all this way just to have a good time, so we're going to have a good time tonight."
McKinnie's perpetual optimism is infectious and, as the band did a sound check before last night's show, members laughed and joked around as he instructed on volume levels and tuning.
"If you come to a Blind Boys show and you feel bad, we're going to make you feel glad before you leave," he quipped.
"It's always a good time when the boys are back in town."