Well, here we are in Austin...

[Anderton]

Word on the street is that attendance will be light, but we'll see soon enough! HC is here in full force, with video cameras locked and loaded...so if there IS anything cool here, you'll be among the first to know.

[Ed A.]

If the show gets boring, here's some interesting places to see:

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TRAVEL/getaways/07/03/austin.texas/index.html

[leitner6]

Wish I could get in.

Make sure you hit some of the better places to eat.

Chuy's - Tex mex
Rudy's or Salt Lick - Texas style BBQ.

[Ed A.]

:thu:Rudy's. That place is excellent.

[tenoken]

End of the day and nothing to report?

[midimonk v3]

Don't forget Threadgills, when i lived their(99-02) that was a fave of mine.

[Ed A.]

End of the day and nothing to report?

It doesn't look like much is going on according to Dave Bryce (http://forums.musicplayer.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showthreaded&Number=1787885&an=&page=0).

[Anderton]

End of the day and nothing to report?

I just got back from meetings/dinner and have a bunch of photos...as it's late and I'm beat, I don't think I'll get to them tonight (they have to be resized and compressed). But Erik and Bill (two of HC's video team) did a highlight reel with Jon Chappell and myself, and it may be posted by tomorrow.

Anyway, it's a small show but I'm really enjoying the chance to check out cool little guitar things I would normally miss, and spending more than 5 minutes talking to someone.

One of my faves so far is a kit of five different octal tubes for use with the Windsor "Studio" amp. It will accept any octal tube type, so you can check out whether you prefer, say, a 6L6 or KT88. For some reason I think that's cool in a geeky way.

Oh what the heck, I'll prep the photos :) Then good night.

[Anderton]

I couldn't resist, here's one more.

X-tempo's Pok is a USB wireless controller with eight footswitches that provides keyboard equivalents to a computer. So, you can do hands-free recording, rewinding, playback, stop, scroll, or whatever...even control macros in Word or Excel if that's your thing. It lists for $599, and will street for around $479.

[Dr. Gruv]

just for fun... what was the dinner conversation? how is the music industry today... etc...

[Anderton]

Most of it was Secret Stuff I can't talk about, sorry. I can tell you Vernon Reid was there and in addition to the Secret Stuff, we talked about gigging, politics, and mutual friends.

[timmit65]

Word on the street is that attendance will be light, but we'll see soon enough! HC is here in full force, with video cameras locked and loaded...so if there IS anything cool here, you'll be among the first to know.

So, has NAMM given up? Will they move back to Nashville to save the summer show, again (It would be the second time Nashville saved or brought the show back to life):p? It's my understanding they've started talking to Nashville for '08.

tim

P.S. Enjoy the food!

[Anderton]

It seems that NAMM has booked the show for Nashville in June 2008.

As a town I like Austin better. OTOH I get to visit Dendy Jarrett in Nashville!

[MikeRivers]

So, has NAMM given up? Will they move back to Nashville to save the summer show, again For the second year in a row, the rumor is that that the 2008 summer show will be in Nashville. I don't know if that will "save" the show but it might be easier for more people to attend.

It was indeed a very small who with very little new in the pro audio area, which is what I was looking for. There's always a new guitar amplifier or PA system, but you can see those anywhere, any time. This is the time in 15 years or more of attending NAMM that I couldn't pick out a gadget (usually something nifty that you'll use over and over, rather than a clever sound or processor) that was my Coolest of the Show. I do have two strong contenders for Dumbest of the Show, however.

One show newcomer worth watching is Berliner Microphones. This isn't yet another "designed in the US to our specifications, made in China" company making yet another inexpensive microphone to confuse the population. The company founder has been collecting fine microphones for a long time, and has another business that makes enough money so that he could start up a microphone company of his own. (sounds a bit like Skipper Wise of Blue) What's making the current round of ads is their small diaphragm condenser mics that go for about $600 for a pair. Their flagship product is a $3,000+ tube mic with a capsule hand built in Germany by a former Neumann Gefell person, so he's serious about what he's building.

[Anderton]

The picture shows Vernon Reid (left) and Buddy Miles (right) drumming under the aegis of the John Lennon bus. The occasion is that Vernon, along with Keyboard author (and remixer of several #1 hits) Francis Preve, helped a group of kids produce an entire audio/video project in one day. The end result was played before the jam, and you wanna know something? It was very good. I think it's great that the John Lennon bus project is taking music to the kids, especially given that a lot of schools have cut back on the arts.

[Anderton]

Here's a snapshot of luthier Bob Taylor explaining some of the finer points about his new line of guitars...

[Anderton]

Here's a picture of NAMM on Sunday...not exactly packed, eh?

[Geoff Grace]

Here's a picture of NAMM on Sunday...not exactly packed, eh?

:eek:

It looks like Winter NAMM during exhibitor-only hours before the show opens!

Best,

Geoff

[MikeRivers]

And just in case anyone is still watching this thread, we'll be in Nashville next Summer. It's official, and already it's controversial as the first day of the NAMM show is the last day of the InfoComm show in Las Vegas.

[Anderton]

Whoa! That really sucks, because HC was hoping I could cover InfoComm and NAMM. It may sound heretical, but I might pass on NAMM...