I know Buddy parked his sweat towel on the other floor tom but not sure about coffee mugs.TommyP would likely know the answer to this one.Wayne
... and the REAL STORY is:
Buddy DID in fact USE his 2nd 16X16 quite a bit in the "early" going. Right on through his Rogers endorsement actually. At around his Trixon/Vox and then Fibes period in 1967, he started putting his sticks and brushes on the back floor tom. ( still no towel though! ) Placing his towel on the back floor tom started with regularity around his Slingerland endorsement in 1968, for whatever reason. From then on, the back 16X16 just about NEVER got played, as it was holding his towel! This stayed in place right on 'till he passed in 1987. So... a lot of guys think that the back 16X16 was ALWAYS a towel holder, but no!... that wasn't always the case. Buddy rarely, if ever, placed his water or coffee mugs on the back floor tom.. but .. I once saw him put a "bulb horn" on the back floor tom, you know, like you would find on a vintage bicycle. Funny thing is, during that particular concert, he honked it!
Tommyp