Day 3 began much like Day 2, with the addition of my partner and photographer, Chelle S of Chelle-S Imaging. We arrived early at Rob's hotel and waited for him while he packed up to check out. We read the NAMM daily magazine and discussed our plans for the day. I noticed that a friend of mine, Rich Redmond (drummer for Jason Aldean) was supposed to be at the Gator Cases booth later that day. I texted Rich, only to find out that he had to cancel his NAMM trip because the band was in rehearsals for their upcoming tour.
Before heading over to the Exhibit Hall, we stopped at Starbucks in the Marriott lobby and ran into Debbie Henderson from Schecter, the sister company of ESP Guitars. Come to find out that the owner of Schecter is married to Tish, the owner of Daisy Rock Girl Guitars. Rob knew some people at Schecter, and Rob and Debbie traded stories.
We moved on into the exhibit hall and the first thing I saw was Gator Cases, so we stopped while Rob spoke to them about an endorsement. We also made a stop at Duesenberg Guitars before stumbling onto G*Lab (Guitar Labs). Rob spent some time talking to Wilderman Glomb, the designer of some incredible equipment that combined multiple pedals into a small unit. (See photo). Another of their unique products was a power box for eight separate pedals, as well as midi input. We also met Jamie Carling, the Sales Director. Rob was extremely impressed with their products.
At this point I learned that my friend Lucy Levinsohn (Evolove) had arrived at NAMM. Lucy's band just recently signed with Planet LA Records, so we headed up to ESP to catch up with her. Lucy introduced me to her manager, and we made arrangements to come to the studio where Evolove would be working on their new album. Speaking of Evolove, they have a couple of LA shows coming up: Molly Malone's on January 20 and the new Hard Rock Cafe on February 3.
Chelle and I spent the rest of the day listening to performances. Up to now I haven't really covered the performances, other than mentioning names of the artists. I want to emphasize that all of the performances I have seen over the first three days of NAMM were incredible, and a few were even outstanding. These were not just watered down, low key product demos. The artists treated them like they were regular paid performances at the local venue. My favorite performances from the first two days were Garrison Starr and Brannigan.
Today, we were treated to a performance by a great tribute band at the Grand Illusions booth. Kenny Metcalf has created the ultimate tribute to Elton John in Elton The Early Years, which covers Sir Elton's first seven albums. While listening to them, I had the opportunity to meet Leon Patillo, the former lead singer for Santana. Leon is working on new material and preparing to go back on tour.
We moved from there down to the Wanna Play? stage, where Katie Costello, another of the Twenty to Watch in 2011 was performing on the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus stage. Katie was superb as she played songs from her upcoming album Lamplight, as well as her EP Cityscape.
Our next stop was back at the Sennheiser stage, where we were treated to the sounds of The Material, Raining Jane, Debby Holliday and the reunion of Chalk FarM. We also happened to run into (literally) Stevie Wonder as he was being walked around the show. Each of the aforementioned artists brought their "A" game to the stage, drawing huge crowds.
Some of the indie artists we ran into today included Julie Neumark (just signed to Lonesome Day Records), Marina V, Nick Baker, and Janet Robin. Speaking of Janet, she has a show coming up on Tuesday night at the Mint. If you enjoy great music with some intense shredding, don't miss this show, as Janet is one of the best in the guitar world. We also ran into Mark Sterling (Sterling Artist Management) and photographer Pamela Corey, as well as MTV UK's Sarah Crisman.
At this point, we had reaced "NAMM sensory overload" and needed to get away. Rob, Chelle and I headed out for a relaxing dinner at Cafe Tu Tu Tango before heading up to the Ue3 Promotions after party to spend some more quality time with Brannigan (their artist spotlight will be coming up shortly).
Sunday is the last day of NAMM - see you afterwards for my final update.
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