By Ronny North
Part 2 of 2 (Read Part 1 of 2)
After the demo we ran into my friends and endorsers Dustin and his Dad Dennis Cheatham from Guitar Wheel. He told me that they wanted to go to dinner with us that night. We decided we would eat at Tony Romas down the street at 8pm.
After seeing them we ran into my buddy Mike Inez from Alice in Chains in Hall B in the Convention Center. By then my cough from my cold was really acting up and while we were hanging with Mike. He suggested I should get a shot to get rid of it. Not a bad idea but I’m not much of a hard liquor guy. Karen decided we should get me a Margarita instead. She went and got me a Cabo Wabo blended Margarita. I rarely drink let alone during the day but I was tired of coughing, sure enough it got rid of my cough - thanks Mike!
Next we went to see my good friend and sometime golf buddy Craig at the Gibson Guitar room upstairs. I had fun hanging with him and he introduced me to a few of the big wigs at Gibson. Everyone was very cool. I even got to meet Rudolph Shenker from the Scorpions. He was so cool and I even got a picture with him. Before we left Craig hooked me up with passes for the big Gibson party later that night. What made it really cool was the band Saliva was headlining the event. I’m a huge Saliva fan as is my assistant Karen so I was in!!
Well soon it was the end of the day. Back to the hotel we went we decided to check in at the restaurant first to get our name on the list. This turned out to be a great plan since we found out the wait was for over an hour. We got on the list and went back to rest for a bit in our room. We came back a little after 8pm and right when we walked in the door they called our name.
We had a great dinner and all of us had fun. We all decided to hit the Gibson party after. We all got in with my passes and quickly found a place to sit. Twisted Sister was on stage when we arrived and playing a few of their hits. After they got off, I saw my good friend Jon from Guitar Player Magazine who was leaving. He gave me a pile of drink tickets (what a guy..) I gave the tickets to Karen and Arlene and they went and got everyone in our group.
It was fun hanging with Dustin and Dennis at the party. To add to all the craziness, we were also starting to celebrate Karen’s B-Day that was on the next day.
We survived the country band that was on before Saliva and we got another drink. As luck would have it, I went to school with the bartender Cyndee (when we were in school it was Cindy). Saliva hit the stage a little after midnight and we all celebrated Karen’s B-Day rocking to Saliva who by the way just tore it up!!! What a great show!!!
After the show, we went out and hung in the Hilton Bar. I chatted with a bunch of my friends and
even ran into Keri Kelly and his wife Brandy. He told me that he had just played with Lemmy at the Coffin Case party that had happened earlier that night. Soon the bar was closing down and the lights came on. This was our last night at NAMM.
When we got back to our hotel we decided to pack every thing up so when we woke up it would be easier to pack since when we were checking out before we went to the show. We woke up got ready packed up the cars, Karen checked us out of the hotel and we were off for the last day of NAMM.
Since it was now Karen’s B-Day we decided that Karen would leave us after we had lunch so she could see her family and Arlene and I would take care of business the last day of the show. We also decided that I wouldn’t take in gear in the show since I wasn’t scheduled to play on the last day. This made things so much easier. Karen took my car back to my house since her car was parked there. Arlene and I hit all the places I didn’t get a chance to see through out the weekend. Arlene made a list of places we needed to go and we were off.
We saw everyone and even ran into my friend Alexx Calise. She’s a great artist and it was great to see her and chat a bit. We compared NAMM performance stories (she played on Friday night). She also told me that she just signed a deal with Peavey for a new signature guitar. We also decided that we would tour together on the East Coast in the spring when her new CD was coming out. It will definitely be fun to do some shows together.
We soon said our good byes and Arlene and I were off again. On the way to Hall C, I stopped off to see my friends at Warrior Guitars. When I walked in the booth my good friend Mark from the company pulled me aside and told me that they wanted to talk with me about becoming a Warrior endorser. After chatting for a bit we came to an agreement and I left the booth a Warrior Guitar endorser - stay tuned!!
Next we were off to Hall C to talk with my endorser TC Electronics. I went to the booth and was quickly approached by their artist guy Roy. He couldn’t be cooler and actually was familiar with my work. Of course we hooked him up with a bunch of stuff and a new Ronny North T-shirt. Everyone at the booth was very cool to me and we planned on meeting at their offices a couple weeks later.
After TC we went by to see the guys at Radial Engineering. I met CEO Peter Janis and we chatted a bit and I gave him a promo pack. He was very nice and while we were talking Bass playing great Tony Franklin came up. Peter introduced me to him and I talked with Tony a bit and asked him about some of the bass parts he did on Peter Gabriel’s “So” CD. He was just the coolest and had some great stories on the making of the CD.
On the way out we ran into my buddy Gerry. He’s a great friend and also George Lynch’s Guitar tech. We hung a bit and checked out a very cool new software program at the Apple booth that notates tab and music on the fly. I definitely have to get it. But it definitely isn't cheap though - better look into an endorsement.
Arlene and I decided we were tired and decided to call it a day. On the way out, I stopped by to see my endorser Coffin Cases. Mark Waetli from the company is a cool guy and it’s always great to see him. We talked for a minute and compared NAMM stories.
After that we were done. We quickly got out of the Convention Center and headed home. Usually we go home and crash. Well this year I decided to throw a surprise B-Day dinner for Karen since it was her B-Day. We had told her that Arlene and I would pick her up and we would take her to dinner at the Rainbow in Hollywood (her favorite place). What she didn’t know is that I had contacted all her close friends and had them get there just before us. Well when we arrived at the restaurant Karen was totally surprised when we walked up to the table and everyone was there. She had no idea. It was a great to surprise her and she had the best time.
As I sat there at dinner on the Sunset Strip I thought to myself about the long weekend we just went through and realized that I had survived yet another Winter NAMM show. Summer NAMM in Texas will be here before you know it and I’m already scheduled to play it for a few of my endorsers. Adventures from Austin to come…..
Ronny North plays his own signature brand of instrumental guitar rock and is fast becoming a So Cal guitar hero. He has appeared in several national and international music publications, including this one each week.