(Long Island, NY) Twice a year, I travel to different parts of the country to get a look at the latest gee-whiz music gear, sound system equipment, and recording studio toys at a little event called NAMM. This year’s Summer NAMM is in Austin, Texas and while the heat is sure to be murderous, I am looking forward to the show.
One of the reasons I look forward to NAMM is the music celeb sightings. At Winter NAMM, I thought I was looking at Cher only to realize I had been staring into the makeup-smeared face of Paul Stanley from KISS. Bootsy Collins was signing autographs, and I caught a few minutes with Stray Cat Lee Rocker, chatting about his upright bass.
But forget the famous names for a moment, what about Long Island bands? I thought perhaps I could hook up with a few LI groups while in Texas, chat about the music scene, ask a few questions, do a few band interviews. But on the subject of NAMM, there is a strange amount of silence. Is ANY Long Island band going to this event? Granted, Summer NAMM isn’t as large or as fabulous as the Winter version in Anaheim, CA, but come ON. Austin is the music capital of the world! Surely some Long Island performers want to go down south, play a few gigs, and hobnob with the music industry weenies, right?
Then again, Blue Oyster Cult call LI home. These shows are literally full of people from hoary old 70s heavy rock bands, handing out autographs, making endorsement deals, shooting the bull. The aforementioned Paul Stanley, for example. Kerry Livegren from Kansas, Bootsy, hell, even that guy from Vanilla Fudge. You know, the drummer.
Never mind.
It’s entirely possible that I could spend the entire NAMM weekend, July 27-28-29, hobnobbing with the guys who played “Agents Of Fortune” and “Don’t Fear The Reaper” to packed auditoriums all those years ago. But then again, it would be nice to collide with some newer LI talent, too. I set out on Myspace to see if I could track down any internet-savy bands, drop them a line, and see if I could badger them into a Texas trip.
I didn’t have much luck. Myspace seems to be populated with bands who don’t want to admit they are actually FROM Long Island. They’d all rather be from NYC, for street cred or some other nonsense like that. The best I could do in a reasonable amount of time was a band that called itself Heitner’s Swim Team, and they don’t have a show scheduled for 2009, and I think that in itself is probably a joke.
Ahh well.
In light of my utter failure to scrounge up any actual bands from LI that are going to Texas for this thing, let me just pass along a word of wisdom to all you Long Island bands who want to make it somehow as string-pullers, microphone-users, and noisemakers.
Go to NAMM. It is a place where deals are made, where musicians hobnob with more established and successful acts, and generally learn a thing or two about how the business works. Also, have you ever dreamed about getting one of those sweet musical instrument endorsement deals, with your band name plastered all over some big music manufacturer’s web site?
Go to NAMM. You can learn all these things and more. You can learn about how overpriced convention food stays with you for 12 hours. You can learn what a guitar effects pedal rep looks like drunk at 10AM. You can even learn why some people decide to stop trying to be in bands and start trying to sell musical equipment for a living.
But most of all, you can have a lot of fun with all the new geeked-out equipment that is supposed to revolutionize all of our lives, cook breakfast, and make you an instant star with the push of a button.
Is there any other reason to go? For more information about NAMM visit: http://www.namm.org
