The 106th NAMM show took place one more time in Anaheim, California -- from January 17 through the 20th -- bringing over 1,500 manufacturer’s exhibits from all over the world, including Brazil. Each year this event beats its own record of public, retailers and manufacturers. Even though the NAMM show is a trade only show, not open to the general public, it still had 88,000 people registered, including 10,000 from other countries.
NAMM stands for ‘National Association of Music Merchants’, and is a non profit organization that tries to unify the musical instrument industry from all over the world. The organization has about 9,000 participant companies and its activities promote the right of people from all ages to make music. One of these activities is the NAMM show occurring twice a year, in Anaheim, CA in the winter, and in Nashville, TN in the summer. Another activity is the NAMM University that offered, in this show, various seminars in the “Idea Center’, bringing experts in different areas to talk about the new tendencies and practices in the market.
Exhibitors did not seem to be affected by the economic issues the US has been facing, according to exhibitors from Ernie Ball, Fender and Martin Guitars, among others, the 106th NAMM was one of the best shows so far in terms of business.
NAMM had some highlights for 2008: in the drums area Zyldjian presented the ZBT series with 3 new models, and also new models for the already famous Hybrid series. In the entertaining part, Zyldjian had some of the most famous drummers in the world – Eric Singer, Steve Smith (Journey), Pete Escovido, Kenny Aronoff, Bryan Hitt, Russ Miller, Mike Mangini, among others – simultaneously at the booth for an autograph signing session. The Pearl booth had some stars for autograph’s sessions like Morgan Rose (Sevendust), Chad Smith (Red Hot Chilli Peppers) and Craig Nunenmucher (Black Label Society). Rikki Rockett from Poison was also at the NAMM along with Troy Patrick Farrell (White Lion) promoting Rikki’s Rockett Drum Works.
The guitars, bass guitars and accessories also had many highlights: US Music Corp – includes Washburn Guitars, Randall Amplifiers, Eden Electronics, Parker Guitars and Oscar Schmidt Musical Instruments – showed the Nuno Bettencourt’s Cantonese guitar series, and Paul Stanley’s Preacher series. Paul was at the booth for an autograph session and also to explain how he and Washburn came up with the guitars. The ‘Heavy Metal’ guitar series along with the amplifiers created by Kirk Hammett (Metallica) and Randall was another highlight, but not as impressive as the US Washburn Signature Series, a somewhat exclusive line – only 25 units manufactured – that has a unit cost of U$ 10,000.
Billy Sheehan was at the Yamaha booth promoting his bass series. Also Joe Satriani, Carlos Santana and Stevie Wonder doing autographs sessions in different booths. In the Dean Markley booth, Nuno Bettencourt, Yngwie Malmsteen, Rafael Moreira and Nikki Sixx were signing autographs. Nikki – who has now band Sixx A.M. – seemed a little overwhelmed with all the attention from the fans, but was very nice and patient.
The real party really begins when the convention center closes its doors. This is the time when everybody – exhibitors, musicians, fans, press – walk to the nearby hotels to relax.Every year many parties, shows and jam sessions happen all over Anaheim to celebrate NAMM. One of the biggest “after-show” this year was the Washburn 125th anniversary event at the Hilton Hotel. It started with a fashion show and then ended with the reunion of Extreme. The band played some of their biggest hits like ‘Get the Funk Out’ , ‘Hole Hearted’, and of course the ballad ‘More Than Words’.
The party was not over for the ones who were unable to make it to the shows as there are many jam sessions and friends to catch up with at the bars in the nearby hotels. For the Dynamite staff: great show, see you next time!
Text by Silvia Mendes
Photos: Luciana Mendes e Kevin Long
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