Category Archives: Events

Events

NAMM Show: Day 3 and 4.

by Jesse Davidson

After a night of turning up at Red Robin, we had a bit of a late start to our Saturday. So late we didn’t end up eating breakfast till about 11am. Due to our late start, we encountered another NAMM tradition of braving the Saturday crowd. Understandably everyone and their mother will be turning out to the convention hall on the weekend. If you think you have seen a crowd on Friday, you’d be mistaken. We discovered this when we arrived at the Anaheim Gardenwalk parking lot and had to fight for a spot. Cuss words and horn honks flying everywhere. If you want to see what society breaking down looks like on a small scale with no serious repercussions, make people battle for parking spaces. After arriving at the Gardenwalk at 1:00, we finally made it to the Convention Center at 1:55.

 

Over the next day and a half, I wondered around the convention center. Strange moments kept happening repeatedly. One that stood out vividly occurred while waiting in line to see Shavo Odadjian of System of a Down. They’ve always been one of my favorite bands and didn’t want to pass up the opportunity to meet this member of the group. While waiting in line for Shavo, Al Jourgensen of Ministry was finishing a signing. I recognized him not just for who he is but my brief interaction with him the previous day. Due to the traffic in the main walkways, especially on Friday and Saturday, my friends and I decided to walk off the beaten path on walkways slightly less traveled on our way to Hall A; the Pro Audio section. As we made our way, we hit a lull in the wave of people exploring the convention. For a split second, no one was around us and it was quiet at our little four-way intersection. Then from the left, a man wearing all black covered in tattoos and piercings was leaning on and being guided his friends also all clad in black. As we walked straight toward pro-audio, we stopped for the posse in black. The man being propped up by his friend spits in my general direction but not directly at me. In his state at that moment, I’m not sure if he even noticed I was there. Immediately following his goth-loogie, unintelligible jabber spewed out of his mouth followed by what sounded like a long, “NOOOOOOOOO!” tagged on the end of it. Some of his friends laughed while one guided the group out of the convention.

 

It was only when he was laughing and drinking at the signing the next day that my hunch was confirmed it was him. As he was finishing up, he took a stack of promo pictures and heaved it at a small crowd talking a few feet in front of him. They stopped conversing and turned toward Al. The one that captured my attention was an attractive woman who looked most distraught by the heaving. “Ummm….okay” she says with a semi-frightened look on her face. Al cheers and was helped out by the man in charge of all the shows and appearances at the booth. My writing about Al’s actions might be considered gossip like. Until he threw a stack of pictures at a group of people in a crowded convention center, that may have been the case. However, it is not gossip, it’s the truth. I have nothing disparaging or positive to say about Mr. Jourgensen or his music. He is just another person to me so he’s subject to the truth as anyone is. A friend and mentor of mine once said that he believed in the freedom of rock n’ roll. For example, if you want to get fucked up, get fucked up. However, be prepared to accept and deal with the consequences. I’m paraphrasing but essentially it means, be free but be prepared to pay for it. I think many people have used rock n’ roll, jazz, or any other art form as an excuse to destroy themselves. I’m not sure if Mr. Jourgensen is taking that approach. All I know is what I experienced. Whether or not it is “cool” is all a matter of taste. After he left, Shavo came by and seemed like a humble and gracious dude. Throughout the day, I ran into friends of mine and met some cool new people. My interactions with these various individuals allowed me to really reflect on what all this NAMM business meant.

 

Day 4 or Sunday was the best day to do some reflecting, as it is the slowest day of the convention. The aisles are almost empty. Everyone can finally take a collective breath before either traveling home or packing up. During my walking around and reflecting at NAMM, I stumbled Etienne Mbappe, a session bass player. He was playing some jazz sounding stuff with another bassist. While getting down, someone who I can only assume was Mitch McConnell’s ugly cousin, was standing by the booth. He had a NAMM staff badge on and a decibel meter in his hand. His job was to make sure people like Etienne aren’t too loud, also known as the “sound cops”. I wish you, the reader, could have seen what I saw because this was the most un-musical man I’ve ever seen or felt in my presence. If Elvis were alive and preforming at NAMM, his hip shaking would still offend him. Thankfully, he moved on. I did the same shortly thereafter. My next plan of attack was to score as much free crap as I could before we left. I needed to experience the convention from as many angles as possible and this was definitely one of them. I was not alone in this pursuit as many companies had bowls of guitar picks, lanyards, jellybeans, calendars, wristbands, stickers, and occasionally free t-shirts if asked for nicely. In between grabbing free swag, bassist Darryl Williams gave me some playing advice and tips after asking him a few questions on his technique. Around 2pm, my friends and I grabbed lunch at the White Rabbit: Filipino Fusion food truck and proceeded to exit the convention.

 

Maybe it was eating burrito filled with fried pork and egg while soul music filled the courtyard that made me think. Or it could have been a burrito filled with soul music while fried pork filled the air. They were about as equally great and interchangeable at that moment. As my senses became consumed in food and music, it hit me that I did everything I wanted to do at NAMM. I met musicians I’ve always wanted to meet, heard bass players I really enjoy and got to ask some of them about they’re technique, met and networked with people I didn’t know, met up with friends and colleagues of mine, had drinks with these friends and colleagues, managed to score some cool swag, and eat some delicious food. Ultimately, my goal was to have a great time and I did that. I truly had an unforgettable experience. But that isn’t enough. Something greater hit me as I left the convention. It will never be enough. There are many people that go for the experience. To dress up, party, and look like rock-stars. To show off in hopes of getting an endorsement deal. On the opposite end of the spectrum, there are people who are some of the greatest musicians in the world walking right next to you and you don’t even know it. They walk in plain sight living behind a veil of knowledge. Propelled by their own confidence, they approach they world with a quiet cool all because they know. By the same token, they realize that they still don’t know or don’t know enough. Once you realize this, it’s humbling to say the least. So a fun weekend is never enough. One weekend full of experience is never enough. It takes a lifetime of weekends.

It’s work. That’s the bottom line.

 

It’s work.

 

And I need to get to it.

 

 

Events

NAMM Show: Day 2 (Friday)

by Jesse Davidson

1/23/15

Day 2 (Friday): We all woke up a bit late from the previous day. I was the last one to get ready and was yelled at for not wearing pants yet (thanks Jeff). The first item on my agenda was to meet Henrik Linder, the bass player from Dirty Loops. He was doing a signing at the EBS booth at 1pm. At 12:50, I had already arrived and was waiting to catch the signing. An aisle over, I had heard some jazzy sounding bass playing noticed a big crowd had gathered around the Fodera bass booth to the point where they blocked the entire aisle way. I figured it was probably someone big like Victor Wooten. Well turns out it was Vic. He was doing a signing/product demo and has caused a stir with everyone in the immediate area. I wanted to watch him play and thought it was cool to see him but I encountered a weird feeling. As I searched for a place to stand to watch Victor play, I became kind of turned off by the whole thing. Part of it had to do with wanting to see him play at 4:30 later in the convention. Largely, it was due to the size of the crowd trying to see him. For the time that I was over here, some of the humanity of the situation has been lost. So many people were surrounding him and taking pictures that it was weird to watch. Victor quickly saw this happening, quickly pulled out his phone, and took a quick video of everyone. That made me laugh but then I wandered back over to the EBS booth.

By this point, Henrik had shown up. There was already a decent crowd surrounding him and more people trickled in as they walked by. This was a totally different feeling then standing at the other bass booth. Henrik signed autographs, played a little bit and then opened things up for questions. He signed more autographs and then when there was a lull in the crowd, I asked him about his practice routine. “Do you want me to show you some stuff?” He replied. Of course yes, Henrik. All damn day, yes. He expressed the importance of being a melodic player and practicing things like modes. More than that, he talked about ways of practicing locking in with a drummer to develop feel. Taking a two bar groove and running it for 30 minutes straight. It was amazing. Without hesitation, he picked up a bass and showed me some tips on practicing. It felt like a genuine human moment. I was really excited that a world-class bass player was giving me tips but at the end of the day, he was just a musician I respect who was willing to talk to me about his craft. Totally cool. Victor probably would have been the same way based what I could see. The crowd was just so massive that was really hard to connect with that.

Afterward, I called up a friend of mine working at the show. He told me to meet him in the pro audio hall and I made my way over there. Unless you know pathways less traveled by attendees, making your way anywhere in NAMM is difficult. Its good to assume on Friday and probably Saturday everything will just take longer and be more congested. Eventually I fought through the hair metal people, rappers, and the occasional business persona and made my way to pro audio. As I find our meeting point and begin to wait, humanity is being interesting and is messed with in really subtle ways if you pay attention. It’s prime people watching territory.   Waiting by a booth in NAMM for a friend is one of the best street corners you could ever stand on. More crazy dreadlocked dudes walk by. A punker kid covered patches walks by. He has a sign pinned to his backpack that reads, “I play bass and drums 🙂

” drawn in red Sharpie. A minute later some businessman is angry and mumbling to himself, cursing out someone in the world, calling him or her a fucking asshole and so forth. Not even 30 seconds later, Steven Slate, the Steve Jobs of the pro audio world, is walking by discussing something with a different businessperson that looked less angry. Slate says what’s up to a friend walking by. My friend finally arrives and we chat about the convention and where we want to go next.

As we’re leaving, we see Stevie Wonder and his entourage. He travels with a giant posse of people. Some are security, some I have no clue. “Ay yo man, that’s him” my friend exclaimed. He’s an exclaimer. Does that quite frequently. He had just finished telling me a story about running into him earlier in the day. “Man they said ‘Please no pictures’ and was like ‘Why? He’s not gonna know’” As bad as it sounds, it wasn’t the worst Stevie Wonder joke I heard all day. Regardless, it was timed just right and had me laughing. Some people call it politically incorrect; I call it spending time with dear friends of mine. I included a picture of his entourage in the article. You can’t see Stevie in it. I encountered a strange feeling as he walked by. When I looked at Stevie Wonder, I felt nothing. I literally had no feeling whatsoever. This is odd because when I have seen famous people or musicians, there is some feeling of excitement inside. Externally, I play it cool. Internally, I have a feeling of “Wow! That’s that dude from that band! That’s pretty cool.” For example, on the first day after talking to William DuVall from Alice in Chains, Devin Townsend was standing only a few feet away from me. I’m not even a Devin Townsend fan but I respect him as a musician. Even though I could only name one or two songs of his, internally, I still had an “oh shit” moment. With Stevie, nothing. This is no slight to him at all. Some of the funkiest and most well written tunes I’ve ever heard and played have been Stevie Wonder tunes. His band is an impeccable music-making machine. When I saw him walking by, none of that mattered. When he travels with a giant slew of people around him, it feels like Stevie Wonder on display. It almost doesn’t feel human anymore. A few hours later, we ran into Sinbad. He called my friend “little brotha” which was about as real as it gets. Also, moments where professional musicians would show me stuff or let me play their instruments were amazing experiences. No BS, just two musicians talking. So the day balanced out.

The same thing happened trying watch Victor Wooten and Dirty Loops play later in the day. It was so crowded; you had no chance unless you got there early. With a convention that large, it is to be expected. I reflected on this more eating a giant hotdog from “The Viking Truck” parked outside the convention center. While eating, I had the pleasure of watching George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic sound check. I got excited to see George and the band even from hundreds of feet away. A concert to me is designed for that many people. Walking around the convention, it can get a little weird. Having as many people that show up at NAMM is what makes it great and a drag simultaneously. On the plus side, there are so many people to meet, talk to, network with, and run into, its absolutely fantastic. All the products and presentations you can be apart of and try is great thing. Also, being in the drum hall and hearing everyone playing something different at once at once is an incredible sound. However, moments like having to make way for Stevie, being ridiculously packed, and seeing how many musicians and companies are there, can make you feel like you’re lost in the shuffle of things. If this is the center of the music industry and these are my peers, I have a lot of work to do. That being said, I can’t wait to return and see what Saturday has in store for me.

 

Red Robin is the best spot to turn up.

 

 

 

Events

NAMM Show: Day 1

 

by Jesse Davidson

Few experiences in life are ones you’ve dreamed, thought, and fake planned about years before they actually happen. As a musician maybe it’s playing a venue you’ve seen your favorite bands play a thousand times and always imagined it was you. Sometimes it’s just succeeding in where others couldn’t. I’ll leave that to you to figure out what that means. An event that certainly has inspired this in young musicians in particular I think is the NAMM Show. If anyone is unfamiliar, the NAMM Show (National Association of Music Merchants) is one of the music industry’s largest trade shows for musical products. Over a hundred thousand people from distributors, musicians, and attendees flock to Anaheim, California every January to pitch, buy, or oogle at any piece of music equipment imaginable from any company imaginable. It’s the music store of your dreams on steroids.

And I am currently in the middle of it. This is my account of one of the strangest people watching experiences and largest music events in the world.

 

 

Day 1: After a two-hour car ride filled with talk of flopping wieners, my friends and I finally arrived in Anaheim. From driving to the parking structure to being shuttled to the convention, something strikes me right off the bat. The freaks have spilled on to the street. Executives in suits are forced to share the sidewalk with longhaired ragamuffins as they make their way to the same location. Good. Let The Man be in touch with the people who use his products every day.

 

As we turn right into the convention, a wave of weird hits me. This is something I’ve always wanted to do. Thought about it. Imagined what it was like. Had a fake plan to meet players I’ve always respected. Now suddenly it would be come very real in just a few minutes. Making our way to the badge line added to it. I already start to feel a little bit of sensory overload. Suits. Squares. Hipsters. Artists. Journalists. Religious protestors. Metal-heads. Douchebags. Cool people. Everyone is here. It’s like the DMV. When I start to feel overwhelmed it hits me, I’m here too. I’m here just as much as them. Everyone else is a person just like me. If you keep that in mind, especially if you’ve never been to NAMM before, you’ll be fine and won’t be anymore overwhelmed than you already are. I begin to relax just in time for the line to move again. The whole process of waiting in line and printing my badge only took a few minutes, which was a nice surprise. Seems the folks at NAMM have things down to a science. From leaving the badge point till about 6pm at the end of the day, I started get really spacey. This wasn’t caused by any substances but by NAMM itself. If you’ve never been there or any convention for that matter, its sensory overload. There’s a band playing on the main stage, food truck, booths, a thousand people around you, protestors waving signs telling me I’m going to hell. And that’s all before you’ve even walked through the doors.

 

Once you walk into a main hall, you’re done. Might as well be on Mars walking around in a space suit. There’s literally so much going on, it’s insane. Plus when you realize there are three more floors to take in along with the main hall, it’s baffling to say the least. My three friends and I began to wander. All of them have been to NAMM before except me. So they had more of a solid footing than I did. Wandering, I stumbled across magazine stands. Nothing notable about this except all of them were free. Major publications like Revolver, Guitar World, etc. I felt one of those schmucks who gets excited and takes all the little soaps and shampoos in hotel rooms as I filled my backpack with about half the magazines on display. In the midst of my pilfering, I noticed a man browsing the trombones that looked very familiar, Trombone Shorty. I got excited and wanted to tell him what great job he did at the Foo Fighters show a few weeks ago. However, he looked busy and I didn’t want to bother him. About a minute later I had decided to talk to him anyway. When I walked back to where he was, I encountered another NAMM phenomenon. I tried to find him and he disappeared. This was a phenomenon that I encountered all day. The best example was when I saw Joe Walsh wandering around. My friend and I we’re one aisle over when we saw him walking fast to get to his destination. He turned the corner and vanished. Between the aisles in NAMM is a sea of people that is constantly flowing. Once someone melds back into the sea, its like trying to find a needle in a seastack. Horrible analogy but bottom line, its really hard to find people.

 

In the midst of my wandering to find Trombone Shorty, I met a man named Tim Waddell of Kalium Strings (formerly Circle K). He was playing a very obscure djenty looking instrument. After a brief conversation with him, I checked out their booth and found all sorts of uber-metal looking guitars. Along with that, there was Jinmo, a featured artist who attached some sort of electrodes to his brain. As he played guitar, the electrodes would stimulate his brain causing some interesting playing to happen. I didn’t actually see this although I wish I had once it was described to me. At their booth, I met Chris Cardone, a representative of Kalium. He was energetic guy with an impressive mustache. So impressive, he had giant one recreated on the side of his amp rig. He explained the process of how their strings are made and the state of the art machinery that is used to make them. Chris even let me play one of these crazy metal contraptions. Not a bad start to the day for only being there for a few hours.

 

The rest of the day was a blur. It was an odd experience to see people in suits drinking and conducting business transactions just mere feet away from some longhaired dreadlocked dude browsing the Orange amp booth. The best way to describe NAMM is during the middle of the day, I had stumbled on William Duvall of Alice and Chains playing at the Framus booth. Only about three people were watching him. I asked him about his practice routine and he chuckled and said he didn’t really have one. The best way he thought to improve was to practice along with records and to play with other musicians. During our conversation, I realized Devin Townsend was only about five feet away from me the whole time and didn’t even recognize him. Then Guy Pratt and Scott Reeder from Kyuss showed up out of nowhere and a signing took place. It didn’t matter though because we were all still people. We were all there as people in the music industry in one form or another. The same thing happened when I stumbled on legendary bassist Marcus Miller just playing. He was set up at the EBS booth just wailing away. When the lights went down and the announcement said politely the convention was now closed, he still kept jamming. Just being a musician and having fun. With the first day over, I can’t imagine what the next day will be like when the “freaks “ come out.

 

Thanks for the flask Josh.