Ah the wind down from NAMM. Two days of being on your feet all day long, it’s actually quite taxing on the tootsies. Yesterday I took a moment to try out the Taylor T5 12 string. Quite simply, it’s the easiest 12 string guitar I’ve ever played. Smooth. They did an interesting thing where they adjusted the height of the smaller strings so that they would be at the same level as the regular strings. If you’ve ever played a 12 string, you might understand that they’re never adjusted this way. What’s the result? The smoothest stroking strum I’ve ever experienced with a 12 string. it’s amazing. So it seems that I did find something of value after all.
The other plus is, I got mentioned in Taylor’s new issue of Wood & Steel. They actually mentioned several Taylor people who won awards at the Just Plain Folks awards. Along with myself they mentioned Erika Luckett, Melody Guy, . So all in all I’d say cool!
I made a couple of good hookups for effects processing and synths. Though I believe I probably mentioned that yesterday. However I did re-enforce the connection at T.C. Electronics. I had just gotten new molds made of my ears for some noise reducing ear plugs and my in-ear monitors. While walking out of the show (it was closing time) I passed the T.C. booth and stopped in real quick. I saw the guy I had been talking to in the group of T.C. people. They were all chatting and drinking since the day was over. I got his attention and he introduced me to their PR guy. We chatted for a bit and then they handed me a beer to celebrate. Woo hoo. Gotta love it.
It was definitely Lisa Loeb that I had seen on Friday as I saw her again yesterday. I also ran into Trevor Lukather, son of Steve Lukather. Nothing like chatting up the recent memory of a Christmas party. It never fails, at every NAMM someone comes up and says “Hi Paul”. I know instantly that they think I’m Paul Gilbert, the once famous guitar player. Actually I guess he must still hold some fame for people to think I’m actually him. Usually I’ll joke about it and play along. This time though, the guy who said it was someone I had played a showcase with a couple of months ago. He couldn’t remember that I was on the bill with him. So I said, actaully my name is Jody. Then he remembered. Oy.
I spent time milling about with my friends from Vegas in Big Bad Zero. Seems they’re now doing a U2 Tribute band. Afterwards I went to dinner with them at Red Robin. From there they went to the Hilton for shows there, then I went to Lofflers to see my buddy Jeff Soto play. Jeff was great, Neal Schon showed up and they did a couple of songs. But the sound was the absolute worst mix and ended up being the worst sound ever. So not Jeff’s fault.
In the end, I’m using today to recover a bit. So Simon’s Thames Blues is a great relaxing song. It’s not yet available on iTunes, but it will eventually be. It’s helping me to unwind. Support him.