The official Tall Tales 'o NAMM thread

[hippietim]

AlexL started the pic thread so I'll start the rumors and tall tales of NAMM thread.

NAMM was fun. It was kick ass to meet AlexL (Eric), Tekky, MrsTekky, Joel, MrsJoel (Amy), Stuka (Scott), and Stuka's wild friend which will be referred to from now on as Cujo - read into that whatever you want [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img].

Day 1 - I got into town on Thursday. I went to the convention center and picked up my pass. THANK YOU MATT'S MUSIC!!!!!! By the way Matt, you have some excellent things on order - Eric did some fine negotiations on your behalf [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] I took a quick walk through the FMIC booth. Very cool stuff. I didn't have much else to do so I looked up a bunch of pawn shops and music stores in the GPS and was off. The rental car company fucked up so I ended up with a brand new convertible Mustang for my compact price. Two thumbs up to Hertz for not being organized.

[hippietim]

Re: The official Tall Tales \'o NAMM thread

Day 2 - Strolled into the show around 10 or so. First stop was the Taylor room. Mmmm.... Taylor. Next stop was FMIC room. Within about 5 minutes I met Eric. Very cool dude.

We did a quick tour of a substantial bit of the show. In the early afternoon the Tekky's arrived and we met up with them at the FMIC room (of course). Did some more wandering through the hall around with Eric, myself, and the Tekky's and it was off to dinner.

Did I mention the Econo-Lodge in downtown Indiannapolis is a dump?

We went to a brewery across the street from the convention center. Eric thinks he's James Bond and ordered some fancy martini. Me and Tekky being far less sophisticated ordered the 6 beer sampler [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

Stuka and Cujo joined us about the time our food arrived. Very cool folks. After dinner and a another round Cujo took off to get slapped in the face by someone of the fairer sex. Eric called it a night and the rest of us ended up at the Hard Rock Cafe.

The Hard Rock had a cool blues band playing - the dude played a mean slide guitar on a Tele and the female singer could belt pretty good.

We made it an early night around 10:30 or so - sheesh, what a bunch of lightweights [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[hippietim]

Re: The official Tall Tales \'o NAMM thread

Day 3 - Part 1 - Joel, MrsJoel, and I caught a cab to meet the Tekkys, Scott, and Cujo for breakfeast at 10am. The Joels were just checking in at the Econo-Lodge at about 10 'til so I thought we'd be the ones holding everyone up.

Did I mention the Econo-Lodge was a fucking dump?

Scott and Cujo were there when we pulled up. Apparently when Tekky says 10am by golly he means 10:30 [img]/images/graemlins/poke.gif[/img]

We grabbed bagels - apparently Victor Wooten was there too.

So we hit the show and naturally start off at the FMIC room again. It's still cool! I didn't get tired of that room. I love all of the Jackson, Charvel, Fenders, Gretsch, Tacoma, Benedetto, and Guild stuff.

We ran into Mike Learn and his wife early on - holy crap - they are some kick-ass-down-to-earth-rigtheous folks. Naturally we all snagged an aloholic beverage (hey, it was after 11am).

We all split up and cruised the hall some more. I'll post some detailed reviews of some stuff later.

Lunch was at the mall. I think pretty much every food place in that food court had some form of chunked chicken and rice.

Back to NAMM and more surfing the booths.

At some point we met back up with Mike Learn and Tekky and Eric did interviews for a documentary he is working on. Did I mention what a kickass folks the Learn's were?

[hippietim]

Re: The official Tall Tales \'o NAMM thread

Day 3 - Part 2 - Ok, so this is when the drinking began in earnest. A bit before 6 Eric and I met Scott and Cujo over at Champions across the street. The Tekky's and the Drabicki's went back to their hotels to presumably do whatever it is that young couples do in hotel room [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

So naturally Scott, Eric, Cujo, and myself started drinking. Eric ordered another fancy martini. The rest of us just drank beyah. Within an hour or so we were again joined by the rest of our gang. So naturally we continued drinking. The Tekky's were pounding rasberry Long Island Iced Teas. The rest of us continued to pound beyahs.

Lots of scandolous secrets came out at this point. The most shocking of which had to be Eric's revelation that he was listening to ABBA on purpose on the trip to Indy. This of course gave birth to a new official JCF term (Tekky made it official) - ABBA-gay. As in, "dude that Pinky Paisley Telecaster you play is ABBA-gay". Joel fessed up to liking Warrant's Cherry Pie. This was deemed worse than ABBA-gay - we need a term here.

A friend of Scott and Cujo's showed up. Very cool fellow and the three of them were fucking hilarious. So naturally we ordered shots [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

I should mention that this is approximately the point in the night where Joe (his real name apparently) became Cujo. Basically, he was pretty fucking drunk [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]. He was pretty fucking funny too.

We had planned to go see a friend of Tekky's play at a nearby club. So while we're waiting outside for MrsTekky to rejoin us (she had gone off for a nap), Cujo decided to adorn himself with a No Parking sign over his crotch. It was pretty funny to watch. Gary Hoey seemed get a chuckle out of it too - of course I didn't even recognize him so I say "who are you dude?". Dar. I'm a dork.

Once MrsTekky met us we started off walking to the club. Then Tekky thinks we ought to grab a cab.

This is where the story takes a turn towards Giligan's Island.

Apparently there was some sort of late night fucking bicycle race and we couldn't make our turn. The stupid ass cabbie kept going and getting fucking turned around. Next thing we know we're turning down streets into questionable neighborhoods and this dumb fuck keeps stopping and doing stupid shit.

Naturally Scott, Cujo, and myself were just giving this guy a ton of shit. Oddly, that didn't seem to improve our situation. [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

Of course the meter is like 20 bucks already and we're like half way to Kentucky with this moron driving.

We get up to another point where the race is and Tekky asks a cop for some help and the officer tells us what to do. So what does our Einstein driver do? He starts driving down the WRONG SIDE OF THE FUCKING ROAD right in front of the cop. At this point I'm trying to remember if my life insurance is up to date.

So at the first stopping point we just got the fuck out and started walking.

[hippietim]

Re: The official Tall Tales \'o NAMM thread

Day 3 - Part 3 - So it starts to get more subdued from here on out. We walked for what seemed like 10 hours (probably 15 minutes) and we finally arrived at this club. Tekky's buddy's band is a roots rock group and they sounded real good. They weren't quite metal enough for Joel but I think it's good for the youngster to experience something different once in a while [img]/images/graemlins/poke.gif[/img]

Around 2am we called it a night.

Day 4 - apparently drinking for about 7 hours makes you not want to just spring right out of bed bright and early. Surprisingly I didn't have a hangover though. I did take a few preemptive aspirins just in case though.

I headed down to the show one more time to check out a few things I hadn't had a chance to fool with yet.

Along the way I pass the club we went to.

IT WAS JUST TWO FUCKING BLOCKS FROM WHERE WE GOT THE CAB TO BEGIN WITH!!!

D'OH!!!

Grabbed a much needed cup of coffee and enjoyed the show some more. I bought some of the coated DR Strings - very cool people!

We all met up for lunch around 1:30 and that was it.

Thanks to everyone - you folks were a blast. It was a pleasure.

[IrfaanSE801]

Re: The official Tall Tales \'o NAMM thread

Wow, lol. I gotta make it to NAMM next time. Glad ya'll are havin fun, and that your alive, lol. Damn cabbies I tell ya...

[AlexL]

Re: The official Tall Tales \'o NAMM thread

Geez, Tim, sounds like I missed all the fun Saturday night! See, there's a reason why I always retire early! I was much safer walking back to my hotel than you guys were cruising around in a cab.

I still get to call Joe "Mr. Pink" since I was never there when he earned the nickname "Cujo".

Saturday night the knuckleheads in the room above mine were bouncing bricks (or something heavy) off the floor again. This time, it was at 4:00 am. Assholes. I used my official NAMM earplugs to help me snare a few more hours sleep before I headed back to Mpls at 7:00 am Sunday.

I note in your post above you mentioned everyone's guilty music pleasure but your own! Ah, your secret's safe with me.

And BTW - I had a blast hanging out with you. I'll give you a shout if my work takes my to Raleigh again in the near future.

And for the record, it's a Bombay Sapphire Martini, stright up, very, very dry with an olive. It's no be-yah, but it's not THAT complicated of an order, is it? Ah, hell, I'm difficult sometimes, what can I say. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]


- E.

[sully]

Re: The official Tall Tales \'o NAMM thread

oh man.
i'm a gin and tonic guy, but bombay sapphire is fan-god-damn-tastic.

sounds like fun was had by all, i love to hear that... good times!

[hippietim]

Re: The official Tall Tales \'o NAMM thread

[ QUOTE ]
oh man.
i'm a gin and tonic guy, but bombay sapphire is fan-god-damn-tastic.

sounds like fun was had by all, i love to hear that... good times!

[/ QUOTE ]

Sully, I'm with you. I love gin and tonics. I know what we'll be throwin' down at NAMM [img]/images/graemlins/toast.gif[/img]

[AlexL]

Re: The official Tall Tales \'o NAMM thread

[ QUOTE ]
oh man.
i'm a gin and tonic guy, but bombay sapphire is fan-god-damn-tastic.

[/ QUOTE ]

Damn right it is. The martini I had at the restaurant Sat. night was kick ass, too. Plus, it was huge. I still felt it while I was walking back to the hotel.


- E.

[AlexL]

Re: The official Tall Tales \'o NAMM thread

I forgot to mention that I spent a bit of time talking to John Walker (from FMIC; he's a member here) the first morning of the show. He was a great guy, and I made sure to let him know that his contributions to the board are appreciated by us forum members.

John was at NAMM to help make money for Fender, and he didn't need to spend as much time talking to me as he did; I knew he had dealers to talk to. But he didn't rush our conversation at all. He said appreciates the importance of online communities, which is why he visits and contributes here.

Thanks again, John!


- E.

[Drsracing]

Re: The official Tall Tales \'o NAMM thread

You gut's didn't try to break our "How Many People can fit in a ford van Cab" did you?? We got 16 in a Van!!!

Wish I could've been there, Winter Namm is way better though

[pagemalicious]

Re: The official Tall Tales \'o NAMM thread

[img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] Abba-gay [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[Chrisb]

Re: The official Tall Tales \'o NAMM thread

[ QUOTE ]
Joel fessed up to liking Warrant's Cherry Pie.

[/ QUOTE ]
Joel joel joel.....I just don't know what to say.
Then again we all have our guilty pleasures. For me its chick rock/metal. Which encompasses everything from Heart and Evanescence to Nightwish and Therion. On the plus side my guilty pleasure is more likely to get me laid [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[Tekky]

Re: The official Tall Tales \'o NAMM thread

[ QUOTE ]
You gut's didn't try to break our "How Many People can fit in a ford van Cab" did you?? We got 16 in a Van!!!

Wish I could've been there, Winter Namm is way better though

[/ QUOTE ]

We only had personnel for 7, Summer NAMM's numbers are scaled back in more ways than one. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]