wow,where do i begin? NAMM -
National Assoc of Music Merchants.huge trade show of muical instrument industry.Taylor Guitars flew the Whistlestop out to play on their stage!here's the story:
Our trip out was smooth. Raleigh to Dallas/Ft.Worth, to Anaheim... long day of traveling. classic guy-at-the-airport-holding-a-sign to pick us up, and drive us in a big shinny SUV to our hotel which was just a block away from the Conference center. Check in at hotel, go eat at nearby Denny's (get ridiculed by wives for being all the way across the country, and eating at a chain restaurant) - play songs on Juke Box at Denny's. Take showers, rest, play spades w/ California souvenir cards from the hotel lobby store, etc. Go to meet Bob Borbonus (a&r guy for Taylor) for schmoozing-drinks, etc. Head back to our hotel for more drinks and karaoke... the hotel bar had a Karaoke rig that was on it's VERY LAST legs. The manager and several of the staff members had to keep trying to kick-punch-unplug-replug the machine to get it to work. The crowd at the bar starts getting restless at the long wait for Karaoke that they're not sure they want to hear away. BUT Peewee had already informed us that Scotty Miller (our lead guitar player) does the best Neil Diamond you could ever hear, and we were all too excited to care what anyone else in the bar felt like hearing. Alas, their Karaoke rig had only 1 ND song, and Scotty didn't know it. But the did get the machine working eventually, and I started things off with a little Smokey Robinson's "You really got a hold on me" - the guys chimed in perfectly w/ back up singing. It went over not well. but after the bar staff kicked the machine enough to get it working again, Scotty ripped an amazing/heart-felt version of "Ballroom Blitz" by The Sweet. It was amazing. The crowd was fully entertained if not bewildered. It was worth waiting for. Then some mostly-drunk cat got up and did a most-complicated Earth Wind and Fire song, that seemed to go on forever. But he def knew the song, even though he couldn't sing a lick. He didn't really try, but he performed w/ passion, and was surprisingly entertaining. And that was it. We couldn't squeeze another song out of the dying Karaoke machine. I think we would have had a lot more fun but it was already 12am (west coast time, which was 3am our time). So we went to bed.
Day two: get up, eat breakfast in hotel restaurant. Get over to the conference center to pick out guitars and sound-check. Shake hands with lots of folks. "Thanks so much for having us," etc. Set up/sound check. Everyone claps for each song we try at sound check. Finish doing that... go walk around the downstairs (main floor) of the show for a couple hours. Get completely overwhelmed by cocktail of sights/sounds cacophony... go back to room to sleep. Get up, get dressed, head back over to show to get ready to play. Watch first act perform. (can't remember his name at the moment.) We play, start out kinda nervous, but hit stride by 3rd song. Doyle Dikes plays a song w/ us. You can hopefully see all of this on video soon, either YouTube or Taylor website. Finish playing, shake lots of hands, hand out lots of CDs. Everyone seems really excited/impressed w/ our sound and performance. (it was not one of our better shows, but i guess went well enough - don't know, haven't seen video yet!) Then watch Doyle play his set. Amazing. His son and daughter each take the stage for a couple songs with him, they're both really talented. Then the legend Leo Kottke takes the stage. The room is packed. He sits, steadies himself, and starts to play. The room is at full attention. He's amazing. (again, see video). More hand-shakes, etc. Head back to hotel for showers, beers, more spades. Then go meet Borbonus and band Six-Wire to go have dinner. Take 2/3 cabs to Italian restaurant, that is packed to capacity when we arrive. We supposedly have a reservation... so we head to the bar, which is also packed. Drinks all around... then another round... finally get a table for 15 people. Sit, eat, laugh, drink, order WAY more food than we can eat. Spend an astounding amount of money (thank you Taylor Guitars!) Catch 2/3 cabs back to hotels... bed.
Day three: get up, slightly hung-over. Shower, eat b'fast. Go back over to NAMM for one last walk about. Hear the Six Wire guys do their sound check, say final goodbyes to all the wonderful, friendly folks at Taylor Guitars. Hand out a few more cds. Bob Borbonus tells us that they are going to GIVE us guitars. yes, GIVE them to us. I know, we didn't believe it either. We shall see. Head back to hotel, pack up, check out, take car ride to airport about an hour early, to find out that our plane is 2 hours delayed, and we will miss our connecting flight in Dallas. Deal with all of that madness... decide to fly to Dallas, and stay the night there, to be half-way home. Play lots of spades as we wait for airplane. Finally board plane, it's about half-empty. Flight attendants know that everyone is disgruntled - so they give us free alcohol and headphones. Play a movie about harry houdini "death defying acts" it was alright. Finally arrive in Dallas. It takes an hour and a half to get shuttle to take us to Ramada. Get there, put stuff down, go eat at Denny's across the street. Immediately regret eating at Denny's but it tasted so good. Try to sleep, but can't.
Day four: Finally sleep for 2 hrs. Have to get up to catch shuttle back to airport to catch 7:25am fligh back to Raleigh. Arrive in Raleigh at 11am. Finally HOME!Spend the day with my old pal Brian Million and his wife Amy, decide not to nap. 8pm head over to the Pour House to meet up w/ rest of exhausted bandmates to play again. Set up, sound check. Good friend Brian Million plays quick opening set. (He has new EP coming out soon, project called monoson. You should check it out.) 10:15pm Wstop takes the Pour House stage, and proceeds to play one of our best shows ever. The mixture of being deliriously tired, plus having spent the last 4 days together equals the kind of reved-up good time show like we've never played before. Had a blast. Kickin Grass band plays last and sound fantastic. but i'm too tired to stay and watch. Head home, shower, go to bed.
Day five: sleep until 11:30am! (thank you gorgeous wife!) Get up, play with kids, eat, watch Football, hang w/ Brian and Amy... stay in sleeping clothes all day long, never leave the house. (Perfect way to end the weekend) Go to bed.