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.