Travis Barker Surprises 9-Year-Old Blind Drummer With Drumsticks, Donation and Impromptu Jam Session

21 August, 2023

Travis Barker made a young fan’s dreams come true on Friday when the Blink-182 drummer made a surprise visit to 9-year-old blind drummer Grayson Roberts’ lemonade stand and left behind some unforgettable memories.

The special moment took place at the Dream Factory space in Los Angeles and footage of it blew up over the weekend after social media influencer Charlie Rocket shared it to his Instagram, noting that business at Roberts’ stand had been super slow earlier in the week.

In the video, Rocket showed Barker walking up the stand with two pair of drum sticks in his hand and introducing himself to Roberts. The budding entrepreneur, focused on his biz, asked Barker if he wanted a cup of lemonade as the drummer offered up much more. “I brought you some drumsticks and I also brought some donations, I brought some money,” Barker said, stuffing some bills into the donation jar and handing over the sticks.

“I saw a video of you playing drums and singing,” Barker added.

After Barker said he’d love some lemonade, Roberts asked if it would be possible for them to sing and play together. “I would love to,” a smiling Barker replied. “No way!” Roberts said in disbelief as he pointed to the spot where his kit was set up. “You want to sing or play drums?” Barker asked.

With Roberts on the mic, Barker quickly learned the beat to Adam Jensen’s 2017 anthem “Street Fight,” as an adoring audience clapped, cheered and shouted Grayson’s name afterwards.

“@travisbarker came to help @graysons_view drum up some business at his lemonade stand!!!” wrote Rocket. “Lol what a great soul Travis barker is. Thank you to @katietua @mikeytua @lukismac @sweetyhigh for helping make this happen !!!” In a previous post, Rocket described rolling up on Roberts’ stand — which explained that he was born blind and that he is determined not to let that stop him from doing “everything you can do” — and asking the community to come together to help the young man reach his dream of traveling the world.

Roberts also shared a video of the encounter, writing, “THANK YOU travis for taking a break while filming your music video to come by my Lemonade stand and allowing me to perform with you!! It was SO amazing And thank you for letting me choose the color of sprinkles because who doesn’t love sprinkles?!”

Blink wrapped the first leg of their 2023 world tour on July 16 with a show at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena. The band will pick things up again on Sept. 1 with a gig at the OVO Hydro in Glasgow, Scotland for a European swing that will keep them on the road through an Oct. 16 gig in Manchester at the AO Arena; after that they will swing into Las Vegas in late Oct. for the When We Were Young Festival before moving on to Australian and New Zealand in Feb. and March 2024.

Check out footage of Barker’s jam session below.