NAMM January 05
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January 20, day one

This first day was a busy one indeed, with some nice touches provided by the organizers of the trade show.

On entering the large convention building at 10am, we were greeted with a marching band playing the Star Spangled Banner, then marching through the halls playing 76 Trombones.
Later, at 5pm, near the end of the day, there was a touching tribute to the well known music retail industry people who had died in the last year - the short film of their photos was accompanied by a bagpipe band playing Amazing Grace.

In between those short events was one hectic day!

The Ernie Ball/ Music Man booth is where I'm usually stationed, and it's always elaborately decorated in some new theme, with outfits to match for all the Music Man salespeople.

The theme this time: bikers.

           

                     

(I wonder if some of their customers were a tad intimidated by those outfits... well, I didn't ask.)


Here are some of the friends I ran into:

Bass designer Ned Steinberger  

  Bass maker Stuart Spector

Woodstock guitarist Joe Beesmer  

Woodstock's Charlie Ferrante and guitarist Jimmy Eppert

Guitar maker Joe Veillett  

pianist Dave Lebolt

drummer Chester Thompson  
  drummer Steve Ferrone

bassist Oteil Burbridge  

  bassist Leland Sklar

bassist Dave LaRou  

  pianist Jordan Rudess

guitarist Fuzbee Morse and drummer Jerry Marotta

guitarist Lou Volpe

singer Koko Watanabe and guitarist Kazumi Watanabe  

Sterling Ball and guitarist John Petrucci

stickist Greg Howard  

guitarist Skunk Baxter

Jerry Marotta and stickist Tom Greisgraber  

drummer Jacob Armen and pianist Patrick Moraz

Bobby Martin (who plays everything!)

stickists Randy Clere and Emmett Chapman


Okay, you get the idea - lots of musicians around!

Meanwhile crowds were growing...

           

and back at the Music Man booth, I was noticing the extroardinary vintage Indian motorcycle that was part of the setup... hey, they should give those to their endorsees!



What you haven't seen yet is the equipment and instruments that the show is all about. I'll aim at getting more of that in the next few days - I didn't even make it into all of the halls today. More soon.

January 21, day two

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