Mellotronists

Sorry about my brief report last night. I was so wiped out after
experiencing one of the greatest musical events of my life at Steamers.
Watching and listening to George Benson jam with Joey D Francesco an the
cats was just Too Much!

After the show my fianc\ufffde' (Dana) and I introduced ourselves to George... My
lady told him that she has been listening to his music since she was born...
he responded with "Damn pretty lady, I wish that you were around when I was
born!"... Very nice...

My personal thanks to Terrence, the owner of Steamers. For two years in a
row he has sat me in great seats... Last night it was right behind and to
the right of Joey... I was able to watch his fingers fly across the keyboard
all night!

Back to the convention... Yesterday was the only day I was able to go, and
it was a zoo! Thousands of people... Strange combination of young rockers,
old rockers, weird metal rockers, young hot chicks wearing very little
clothes, old (what was once young hot chicks) wearing too little clothes,
older business types. Middle aged business types with long hair and very bad
comb-overs... and of course your typical LA celebrities looking to create a
buzz...

We saw Randy Bachman, Carmine Appice, Max Weinberg, Mickey Dolenze (sp?),
Gene Simmons (with his own camera crew), and many new hip hop producers that
people were flocking around, and I had no idea who they were (but my lady
did). Oh yeah, also several movie stars like Kiefer Southerland... What the
hell was he doing there?

Also proved to my lady once again that I have no hearing loss... We took the
free hearing test. And the chart they gave me showed that my hearing
actually IMPROVED since the last time I took it two years ago! (yeah,
right)...

GEAR...

As I mentioned before, the new Hammond XK System (with the XK3 sitting on
top of the second keyboard) is very impressive. I like the aluminum stand.
The distance between the keyboards is perfect... And having that second
keyboard makes all the difference in the world when you play the XK3. Very
Impressive! The bottom keyboard will need a strange sized custom case as it
is very deep. At Steamers last night Joey played the "older" XK System that
is enclosed in the wood case, and that looked kind of strange. Almost like
an afterthought. I prefer the new system as it looks and feels a lot better.

I did not like the XK1... It seems cheap and I could not figure out how to
get to the other sounds. I heard a strange piano patch that was not
impressive... I say just suck it up and buy the XK3.

As a final Hammond note, I found it absurd that the NAMM police would not
let Joey and Tony play at the booth. Many booths at NAMM were much louder
than the Hammond Booth in the past! And the music sucked (for the most part,
you should have heard Bachman)... I think that Joey and Tony were so good
that the other vendors were just jealous!

I checked out the Clavia Stage piano. Very odd piece of gear. I was not that
impressed with the vintage sounds. Again, the organ is a step below the XK3,
and who wants to play organ on a weighted keyboard anyway?

The Roland "booth" is a joke! Its about the size of a blimp hanger and is
full of thousands of rich people... More power to them... Nothing impressive
to me, unless you like hip hop shit and keyboards that can produce those
sounds... Thousands of kids playing electronic drums.. And how did they get
in anyway? I thought that NAMM was a closed convention!

Korg is also suffering from the same hip-hop malady... Hopefully this will
all die off soon. I am tired of these "artists" ripping off great music of
the past and rapping street poetry above someone else's art... (Okay, I am
done...)

Speaking of Rap, the "Most Outrageous Tattoo at NAMM" prize goes to the guy
with "MOOG" tattooed across his head... Dana and I saw thousands of
tattoos.. Even these strange rockers dressed like spacemen and ghouls! Ouch!

Went to the Studio 88 booth and they have a terrific little 88 note weighted
controller that has decent onboard sounds for $300! It weighs about 13 lbs!
Not that will be a nice addition to my studio for piano (MIDIed into my
Motif ES)...

Saw Marcus and finally played his new Mellotron! Kudos to Dave Kean and
Marcus in producing this new machine. It sounds terrific! I love the half
speed option to lower the pitch of all the sounds. It was also the first
time I heard the piano tapes, and they sound pretty damn good. I must
purchase the new keyboard for my aging M400. Dave was at the Buuchla booth
and I loved the variety of synths there (along with Dave Smith's new
synth).. Go and check that out!

Motion Sound has a new Pro3T. This time with no tube and more controls on
the front. I did not hear it, but the new low price ($599) will offer
serious competition to the Leslie 2101.
They also introduced a new Leslie for guitar plays. It has no amp so you can
power it with the amp of your choice. It sounds great.

I also heard Motion Sound's new wood Leslie, and it sounds very good.
However, it is pricey... It was hooked up to Dave Amel's Diversi organ and
that sounded amazing! Dave and his Voce products rock! Make sure you check
out his Booth... He has an old Leslie 31 hooked up to his organ and it
sounds amazing. Dana was emphatic in her insistence that I purchase no more
Leslies. I guess eight is enough after all...

As usual, I had a great time perusing the lower floor with all the custom
guitars... Listened to some wonderful impromptu jam sessions on that floor
(it is much quieter than the floors above). Included were a couple of cats
from Tower of Power jamming on "What is Hip"... Amazing!

We cruised upstairs to the Taylor room and it was impossible to get it. Wall
to wall people checking out the entertainment. Kelly Clarkson (aka: "The
"American Idol Bitch") was performing across the hall followed by the Goo
Goo Dolls... (like I care...) Even Dana (my fianc\ufffde') was uninterested...

So all in all NAMM was educational, eventful, and even quite entertaining...
Last night's Steamers gig with Joey D and George Benson was certainly the
highlight of the weekend. Like Joey said last night: "When Joey D is in the
room, anything can happen!"... Well, it did and I was glad I was there.

Enjoy!

DJ