It's 6:00 PM Saturday, and I just got off the road from Summer NAMM and a delightful visit with Rory. Got a 7:00 PM playing job, but briefly:
1. Randy, they didn't laugh when I asked about the availabiity of the 950. Had the 710 and 910, but the little guy I talked to wasn't an arranger guy. The Yamaha booth was out in the hall, and he was into string instruments. List (he says) is $1499 for the 710 and $1999 for the 910. Said they would be in stores in 60 days. Yamaha did have a neat new upright bass with piezo and pre-amp, though.
2.Played a C-2. Chas, there is an on-board multi-pin Leslie connecton. I have to use a separate pre-amp/footswith with my C-1. Rory ROCKED OUT on the C-2 and was filmed by the crew which provides the show highlight footage. Nord also showed a prototype of a full pedalboard with the C-2. They also had the Stage and a neat little red mixer.
3. The show was about 2/3 the size of the one last year.
4. It was uke year! More ukes than ANYBODY needs to see. Probably a response to a lot of ukes showing up in utube footage recently.
Saga has ukes designed to look like Les Pauls, Strats, nylon strings, banjos, wtc.
5. Tony Monaco is a gentleman...still excited about playing and is a monster on the XK3C.
6. We visited with Bill Lawrence (pick-ups)in the Q-Lighting booth...A little under the weather, but still a vital part of the music business.
7. Saw a manufacturer of $1200 solid furniture quality instrument cases and a guy who makes a line of fine furniture-like tube amps, with exposed tubes and circuit boards that are meticulously finished in presentation quality chrome ($3,000-up).
Most interesting were modern versions of "player units". These things are mechanical contraptions...some 5 feet wide and 7 feet tall...with on-board guitars, banjos, drums...all mechanically played, triggered by midi. Units sell fof about $30,000, with one 10 foot module going for about $90,000. Saw coin and dollar bill attachments, so I guess the designer intends to sell them to people who would allow them to be operated by the public. Talk about a maintainence nightmare (string changes, tuning, straigntening out positions of elements, changing drum heads and beater pads).
8. Rory is DA BOMB! We had dinner last night and hung around this morning. More on that later (gotta go to work), but I listened to him on the C-2 and guitar with my mouth wide open in admiration. Had to leave before he got with my friends Bob Burris and Ira Cooper, but, when they hear him, they'll be blown away.I'm strongly recommending for an endorsement deal for the Burris line of high-end, hand wired tube amps.
More on that early in the week, but he's a full-time musician; probably in the most competitive environment ever (people pay to play in some places, and, on the strip, play for tips)and is at there very top of the heap, talent-wise. He's building a well-deserved reputation as a world-class muti-instrument player, with a super-pro level of ability- playing a vast variety of styles. He's the consumate musician and an ideal "adopted son". He's what made the trip a delight.
More next week.
Russ (roving free-lance NAMM cub reporter ) Lay
[This message has been edited by captain Russ (edited 07-18-2009).]
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