For many, Bob Denver’s portrayal of Maynard G. Krebs was their first introduction to the world of bongo-beating, freeform poetry-reading, goateed beatnik types. Bob and his wife, Dreama, have kept the memory of those days alive at their Web site, bobdenver.com (Photo used by permission)
Did you ever want to make the sound that Dino on The Flintstones made when he ran away and his legs turned into blurry circles running place? Or maybe you just wanted to accompany that new Latin CD you bought without calling into play an empty coffee can or oatmeal box. What you need to make your dreams come true is a set of bongo drums.

My first experience with the bongos was on The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis television show of the late 1950s and early 1960s. This situation comedy featured a bongo player named Maynard G. Krebs, played by Bob Denver, the future star of the television show Gilligan’s Island. Maynard’s beatnik attire, speaking style, and musicianship—especially on the bongos—affected me more than any situation comedy character of the era. I wanted to have that effect on people, but to do so I knew I would have to have a set of bongo drums.

And yet, what would I do with bongos once I had them? Follow me then on the journey to find out all about the proper care and feeding of the bongo drums.

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