Counting Crows' drummer surprises boy with new drum set

By: RAAM WONG - For the North County Times | Monday, December 26, 2005 8:47 PM PST ∞

FALLBROOK ---- Fourteen-year-old Mark Delmege was starting to wonder if his mom was developing an unhealthy obsession with a rock 'n' roll drummer.

One night at the dinner table, his mother Amy Delmege began asking about Jim Bogios, the earring-wearing, blond drummer for the rock group Counting Crows.

Soon, Amy Delmege ---- a country music fan --- was frequenting the rocker's Web site and grooving to his music, raising the suspicions of her skeptical son.

"I was trying to figure out where she was getting this," said Mark, a Fallbrook High School freshman. "She's not that hip. She was born in the '60s or something. Or like, in 2000 B.C. I was wondering, does dad know about this?"

But becoming a groupie was not Delmege's plan; surprising Mark, a budding drummer, was.

When Mark came home from school last week, he found Bogios sitting in the living room behind a shiny set of professional drums, a present for Mark.

"I can't believe Jim Bogios is sitting in my living room," Mark recalled saying as he entered the room.

Today, Mark's red drum kit ---- the "Rolls-Royce of drums," he says ---- takes up half of his bedroom. The room looks like that of many adolescents: "Harry Potter" books fill a shelf across from a skull-and-crossbones flag on the wall and stickers that proclaim, "I Love Hooters."

But Mark isn't like most young men. He was born with Epidermolysis Bullosa, a rare disease characterized by chronic, painful blistering. The hereditary condition, which is not contagious, requires Delmege to tend to and bandage Mark's wounds every day.

The idea of giving Mark a new set of drums was dreamed up by Sergio Quilici, a counselor at a summer camp established by the Children's Skin Disease Foundation. Mark and other children with serious or fatal skin diseases attend the camp each June.

Quilici and his father, a drummer in a band, got in touch with Bogios, who was able to land the professional set of drums.

Mark's disease has often kept him from his drumming and his other hobbies, such as skateboarding and bike riding. He has spent more time in the hospital than his mom would like to think about.

But in most ways, Mark ---- with his punk-rock clothes, worship of the bands Metallica and Blink 182, and frequent wisecracks ---- is no different from other adolescents.

When he recently required surgery to expand his esophagus, which had become blocked by scar tissue as a result of the disease, Mark joked that he wished the surgeon could make his throat especially wide so that he could swallow whole apples in one gulp.

"I'd get all my fruit for the day," Mark said.

Because the disease has left Mark's hands blistered, with parts of his fingers missing, his dad, Mark Delmege Sr., made special gloves that attach with Velcro to the drumsticks, making it easier for him to grip.

Mark's routine over the holiday break involves snoozing until noon, rolling out of bed and over to the set, and drumming the rest of the day away.

"This is the only thing I look forward to getting out of bed for," said Mark, fiddling with his drumsticks.

Overhearing this from the doorway, his mom asked, "Not school?"

"Well, and school. School and family," Mark responded half-mockingly, sounding not unlike Tiny Tim. Mark started up again, pounding the drums and smashing the cymbals.

"Luckily, we have a great neighbor," his mom said later.

More than a week after Bogios surprised him, Mark has been perfecting what the drummer taught him ---- that it doesn't matter how fast you can play the drums; rhythm is everything.

Wrapping his blistered hands around the sticks again, Mark began practicing the second lesson of mastering the drums: "Keep practicing, because when you're not, someone else is."

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