WOW! This is one of the best industry events EVER- with a big something for everyone, no matter what your taste in music is. As usual, the first booth on my agenda was the world famous Dean Markley booth, and they did not disappoint. Yngwie Malmstein was the first person I saw, but the line was too long – so I cruised over to the Anvil case booth where Carmine Appice was appearing daily. I had recently picked up a new GUITAR WORLD magazine and read that Carmine (along with Cozy Powell & Bev Bevan) came close to replacing John Bonham in Led Zeppelin, but the surviving members eventually decided that they could just not go on without Bonzo – more Carmine trivia for the masses. Carmine was there drinking from a special “Carmine Appice” coffee mug made special for his appearance there.
So then I met Nick from Black Label Society, and was fortunate enough to be standing by when some fans presented him with a custom Dimebag B.L.S. black leather vest. He was really thrilled with the vest, and so were the guys that brought it to him… it was cool to be standing by to watch that exchange. Then it was Rick Springfield time, he is still looking good after all these years!! I wonder what he’s doing now – because I didn’t have enough time to ask him, as there was a huge line of people waiting to meet & greet with him.
That night the hot ticket was the Anaheim House of Blues, where if you were lucky enough to get a laminate, you could go see ThundHerstruck open up for Dick Dale. Jimmy Dale, Dick’s 14 year old son, is becoming quite the guitar hero! When I first met them back in 1996, Jimmy was playing drums, and Dick told me once that Jimmy played his first show at age 18 months! Jimmy has his own custom Fender “Beast”, like his dad, and he took over the stage while Dick bowed down to his son. It was a great father / son moment to catch with my Nikon. And then... I ran into Tony Franklin, who was the bassist for the Firm 
(Jimmy Page on guitar) and caught up with him, he still works for SWR, so hey all you bass players – go see Tony for your next amp. Cruising over to the Daisy Rock guitar booth ( we were hoping to catch Nancy Wilson for one of her famous unannounced 20 minute visits) we checked out the expanding line of their new products. Every year this company gets bigger and bigger! And we miss Nancy by minutes every year, damn it, one year we are going to catch her at that booth! So then we thought we’d go downstairs to check out the drum area, and ran into Sean McNab (formerly of Great White) and his lovely fiancé, Ch 11 news anchor Christine DeVine, who was working on a story for her broadcast. Lovely couple I might add. So as we were walking down there, we noticed the one and only Rudolph Schenker signing photos at Dean guitars, huge bummer that his brother Michael didn’t make it this year as he had 4 shows scheduled every night from that Thursday thru Sunday that were abruptly cancelled, much to my dismay. So we got to chat with Rudolph, and boy is he exciting! Just love that guy-he is so full of positive energy, he is one of my favorite guitarists, and I think he knows that!! Later that night it was back to the HOB for Nuno Bettencourt’s band, the Dramakings and Disturbed. Luckily for me, a friend snagged an extra pass, courtesy of the Washburn guitar company. Thanks Shannon! That was a great night.
Saturday afternoon brought us Johnny Vatos Hernandez, the famous Oingo Boingo drummer, 
also known as the drummer in the band at the Titty Twister, in the “From Dusk to Dawn” first movie. Jerry from the Misfits was hanging around, and Howard Leese was too.
Also saw Audie Desbrow, former drummer for Great White. Audie has some new projects going on; he is in Griffin, who have been doing shows with WOOD lately. Audie is really sweet, & he lost EVERYTHING in the horrible fires we had a few years back, and he is starting a new collection of rock & roll memorabilia, so if you have any old Audie articles, pictures, anything to share with him, he would love it. He is on MySpace, search him by email audiedrums@yahoo.com and find him, & drop him a line! He’d love to hear from you. Then we saw Paul Shortino, former singer for Heaven & Earth who has a new CD out with Ira Black (Vicious Rumours, Metalchurch) on guitar, and they have a new CD out, which they gave me but I haven’t had a chance to listen to yet, (but I definitely will)& the drummer from Judas Priest, yeah!!! Scott Travis, and he’s looking good… mmmmm. Kip Winger was standing right behind us too, and then turning around, there was Mick Fleetwood getting ready for a show in the Pulse Lounge.
Sunday we had a special treat, something I hadn’t seen before, ThundHerstruck did an acoustic set at the Electrovoice booth. With a backdrop of B.L.S. sound equipment, the girls put on a great set of AC/DC for a big crowd that had gathered. Sunday I finally got up the escalator to the Gibson booth, where many, many fine instruments were on display, including the original flying V that Jimi Hendrix had purchased in the late summer of 1967 and proceeded to turn into an instrument of mythic proportion by designing it with his own artwork There was B.B. Kings famous Lucille there, and a special custom tribute to Les Paul Gibson with a special headstock dedicating it to the great man, and his picture on the body with the words “Celebrity – Inventor – Entertainer” along the neck. Very cool stuff!
Didn’t see Joe Satriani this year, but did catch Steven Segal on my way out the door. He was checking out the show too... and did you know he plays guitar too???
Suddenly it was Sunday, 5 pm, time to clear out, and after 4 days of cruising up and down the never ending aisles of NAMM, in which every booth had boasted of the latest and greatest displays & developments in the music world, my feet had definitely had it, so I carefully made it to my car with a bagful of t-shirts, key chains, magazines, and other swag, I finally home to my bed. Had to work in the morning!!! But it was worth it... and I ‘ll do again next year, that’s for sure.
