Neil Peart's NHL Themed kit
By all accounts, it was a busy and successful NAMM Convention this year. As usual, the expected mountains of new gear were on display and all the usual suspects were present – including the perennial Ozzy Osbourne look-alike (who seemed to pack on a few pounds since last time.) Having rested my weary feet and voice, here are a few highlights:
DW (Drum Workshop) was showcasing Neil Peart’s latest ‘National Hockey League’ themed kit. The DW booth was busy as always. After running into Scott Donnell, I met up with session great John ‘JR’ Robinson.
John’s has recently joined DW’s stable of endorsed artists and the ‘world’s most recorded drummer’ videotaped an brief interview with me regarding Gary Chaffee (stay tuned for more info about Gary’s upcoming DVD release we’re producing for distribution with Alfred Publishing).
(L to R) Julie Slick, Bryan Beller, Kira Small
While stopping by the Alfred Publishing booth, I ran into incredible bassist Bryan Beller (Mike Keneally, Steve Vai, Dethklok). Bryan was spending some time with his wife Kira Small and Julie Slick (Adrian Belew Power Trio) ahead of his afternoon performance with Mike Keneally and Marco Minnemann.
Bryan has been very busy over the past few years – between his Vai gig, the Dethklok tour, Keneally projects, getting married and everything else he does!! – and it was great to catch up with him and attend his quick Keneally performance at the Dean Markley booth.
The Kenally gig was held in a really really small, crowded and hot (no Tom Friedman jokes please) demo booth on the show floor – and the super-trio absolutely killed their 30+minutes of music.
Mike Keneally & Marco Minnemann
It was great to hear Marco’s style of playing added to the Keneally repertoire in-person. The guys ripped thru fan faves such as ‘Snowcow’, ‘My Dilemma’, ‘Beautiful’, ‘Dolphins..’ and Mike was even gracious enough to tune down his copper-colored Washburn for a great version of ” `Cause of Breakfast” at my request.
Marco claimed he wasn’t sure he remembered it – and then proceeded to catch all the cues and odd rhythms thru the whole song. These guys are not fooling around.. truly bad-ass trio.
Mike Keneally’s recent release ‘Scambot I‘ has been called an ultimate ‘headphone’ album. Mike is quoted on his site: “There is a plot, and a bunch of characters. The CD booklet contains a very long story I wrote which lays out all of the action. Musically speaking, it’s about two-thirds instrumental. It encompasses a little bit of straightforward-ish rock and pop, a lot of rigorous composition and arrangement, some obsessively intricate vocal and instrumental harmonies, some improvisation which has been orchestrated, some digitally-manipulated musique concrete, some purely uncategorizable stuff and, I think, some of the most interesting melodies I’ve come up with. It is a peculiar album but I think very satisfying as a journey, and emotionally it hits a lot of different moods.”. You can (and should) buy it HERE.
Bets Dave Ron Steve! at Hilton
Following the great Keneally gig, we convened a great hang at the Hilton with Dave and Betsy Foster, Steve Laub and special guest RON!. Lots of fun trading war stories and enjoying funny stories. Check out the photo bomb to the right.. unknown woman sharing our moment.
Dave and Steve are integral members of the Keneally video team and have contributed heavily to the many videos and bootlegs of Mike Keneally over the years. Check out their work on the MK Bonus DVD releases with “hat.” and “Guitar Therapy Live.”
All in all, the NAMM show was great and we’re looking forward to next year. We’ll have several releases in the market and our commitment to high-quality music educational multimedia will continue. Cheers! signed BB