The NAMM Experience As It Happened - Part 3

This is the third installment about NAMM 09 as it happened with the Rock House Gang. If you have missed part 1 and 2 you can find them here – Part 1, Part 2.

Day 2, a big day for Rock House. Tonight is the night we get to shine for the NAMM crowd with The Wimbash Show. So much to do and so little time in the day. Besides getting things finalized for the show Gordon and I have 4 Rock House autograph signings to organize with the crew from Music Sales Corp.

We all started the day with a meeting at breakfast to get organized and then hit the ground running. Karen and I dug up a couple hundred more passes to the show and ran around handing them out. Other members of the crew ran around picking up the performers equipment and getting to The Pulse Lounge for sound checks. John and Joe were off to more meetings.

We met up with Gordon at about noon at The Music Sales booth to set up the first signings that were to take place at 1:00. It is kind of a challenge to coordinate signings in a booth without having too much disruption to the business that Music Sales has going on. But it was easier than I thought it would be. The folks at Music Sales were pretty good to us and helped get an area set up.

While waiting for Alex Skolnick and Alexi Laiho to show up for the first signing session we ran in to Joe and John. They were absolutely stoked. They just came from a meeting where they were given the Music and Sound Retailer Award for the Best Instructional Book/Video product for 2008. The award was special to the guys because it’s an award that is voted on by the retailers. Meaning it came from the people who sell all kinds of instructional products. There were of course celebratory poses for pictures with the awards. Alexi showed up for the signing and learned of the award. He was blown away.

We were waiting for Alex to arrive and I took the opportunity to talk with Alexi before the signing got started. I have to say I was surprised with Alexi. We all see him on stage or in videos and see him do what we know he does best, shredding on his guitar and running around with no inhibitions. The reality was that he is a quiet, humble and polite guy. During the signings he put it all out there for his fans, giving them what they wanted, giving picture perfect poses and answering any questions they may have for him. Alex Skolnick is a class act too. He’s full of personality and charisma. They worked the crowd well and I have to add that my part was easy. The crowd was patient and willing to wait their turn to talk with them. We did what we could for the fans. Gordon and Karen took pictures for them posing with the stars and we had glossies for people to have so they could get them autographed.

After the signing we cleaned everything up and took a short break. Then we got ready for Doug Wimbish and David Ellefson. Much as I was learning about all of the Rock House Artists, these two guys are also class acts. They also gave their all to the fans that came to see them. Spending as much time as the fans wanted with them and not hurrying anyone off.

We left and hurried Doug off to the sound check. I was warned that it might be a bit of chore to get Doug there on time because he likes to talk to everybody and everyone likes to talk to him as well.

We arrived for the sound check on time. We watched the sound check team do their job for a bit and then headed back to the hotel so we could get ready for the show.

The show is a whole story of its own so check in tomorrow. There were lots of things happening there. Great musician, funny happenings and in general a great evening. This story will be continued………..