I think you're right.
There are a lot of players today that can go hard and fast.
What impresses me about Ondrej is his endurance and his consistency.

I haven't seen many players who can play that style so effortlessly and with such astonishing accuracy for an hour or more, or who take the time to create actual compositions rather than doing mostly improvisational playing.

I don't think that he is the be-all and end-all of didgeridoo playing - honestly, a little of that style goes a long way for me - but I do think he deserves some recognition for his technical musicianship, which is quite extraordinary.

Hey Todd, I love seeing that you put up Jake Duncans name there. That kid is pretty young (18 or 19) and has only been playing seriously for under two years and is already incredible. He did learn alot of his skills from study with Tyler Spencer and this summer when Ondrej was here Jake spent alot of time with him. He's done his best to copy exactly the works of his heros as a skills base and then his own influences will bring him to develop his own style off of that. Finding a base for your creative work is a good model to follow, because you gotta start somewhere, and if you can start by copying either of those two I mentioned you're a force to be reckoned with. Jake has been around didj for a long time, he was one of the kids that would run around in a pack at In-Didj-In-Us every year sword fighting. The kids seem to create a gathering of their own that has little to nothing to do with what their parents are there for, and I suppose that's a great thing, like a leadership camp for kids without adult direction. But like I said, he never got into didge seriously until about a year and a half ago. He missed the In-DidjIn-Us with the Doonooch Dance Troupe choosing to ge to a rock concert instead, or he may have ended up a master of trad style instead of the beats he's rockin' now. Jake is very proud of his new CD 'Sound Triggers Memory' which is a collection of 10 didge solos. I think he does most of his didj networking through myspace (his tag there is albanydidjeridu) though I can't access it because I'm not a myspacer. I looked him up on youtube and immediately one of my goals was to get him to take those off and replace them with better recordings in better settings, one is shot in his bathroom with overflowing garbage can and a toilet in the foreground ('nuf said). Jake is eager to grow and prosper as a performer and I wanna du whatever I can to help promote him. He's already booked to perform this year at In-Didj-In-Us and since he's a local guy (to me) I'm gonna try to get him to do sound samples of my sticks on my website once I figure out how I wanna add those. Another thing I want to do with Jake and with other aspiring young players is to pass them good sticks at little to no cost so they can feel supported in their efforts. If anyone here is aware of any other young players that are chock full of talent and could use some support let me know, this whole didj scene is something that we grow together, and it's okay for growth to recieve guidance and support.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right?
If you put out a "Clobber the Dog" track, I will personally buy you a drink, next time I see ya! :-)
That's freakin' hysterical.

And yes, I agree with the inverted pyramid metaphor.
Well said.