'Drumming Grandma' Wild Rock Solo Goes Viral: 'I Was Having A Lot of Fun,' She Says (VIDEO)
"Drumming Grandma," a video posted by a drum shop in La Crosse, Wisc. went viral, garnering over 3.5 million hits in less than a week. The video features an elderly woman rocking a drum set at the store, complete with stick-twirling antics to boot.
The drumming Grandma is actually 63-year-old Mary Hvizda of Onalaska, Wisc., who decided to stop by The Coalition Drum Shop to satisfy her urge to play. Management for the store didn't know it when the white-haired woman strolled in, but she knows how to play drums, and had no problem playing The Surfari's famous "Wipeout" drum solo.
"We have no idea where this lady came from, what her name is, or where she went but she rocked our faces off!" the store said when the video was posted on YouTube.
Hvizdia first picked up drumsticks at the age of 15 after being inspired by her older brother's playing and was once a member of an all-girls band, The Chantells, she told WKBT. She played for 25 years in various bands, but in 1990, she retired from a life of drumming.
"I couldn't find no other bands to play with, and then I did quit," she said. The 63-year-old also sold her drum set.
However, she still sometimes gets the urge to play, which is why she entered The Coalition Drum Shop that day.
"I still kind of like to go to the music store and play a drum set, and then that's it," said Hvizda. "My music urge has been satisfied."
She doesn't own a computer and didn't know what YouTube was until a few days ago, but seemed satisfied that people thought she is still "somewhat good." Hvizda also isn't a grandmother, as she has no children and has never been married. But she will always have drumming, now— the drum shop gave her a brand new set of electric drums Monday.
"I was having a lot of fun. I really was," said Hvizda.
