NAMM National Association of Music Merchants 2013

What up, rare stones, are you glistening? We hope somewhere with your heads held high and shining like new money.  Thought we give ya a treat, letting you know that this past weekend we just happened to be in Anaheim for NAMM, which by the way, is the world’s largest convention of music and technology.  The creme de la shit gear, viewing is open only to music manufacturers and music retailers. www.NAMM.org. Talk about technazoid, the shit was off the banga.  No, you don’t hear me, folk, was literally bangin all over the place to the beat of digital sounds, that were coming from all directions.

We caught some glimpses of Ted Danson getting his Alva on, DJ’s were in the house, point in case, I AM RANE who was hanging in NAMM’s space to give a promo announcement for his Rane DJ 2013 Winter NAMM Contest. www.rane.com.  Serato stepped up in support of Rane. Sounds like a two for one, if you ask us.  Moses Avalon, I swear is always up giving us pearls of wisdom, on all subjects related to music.  All music and its various entities. www.mosesavalon.com.  Another treat to sit in and get some necessary information on whats really going on in the new world of give aways, you tube, twitter, reverbnation, spotify, rhinofy, itunes, no tunes, lastfm, radio blogs and all, it is really good, to have a few words from someones mouth, to our ears, make sense.    Moses does that sort of thing, makes sense.  There were a host of booths, all named brands and each having their own group of social media stand ups.  Vets represented, performing for a crowd of excited but cold flushed faces.

Mama nature made her presence felt, she clouded all up in a cloak of gray gloom, pouring down what seemed like sheets of rain.  Still they came, the followers of NAMM, the never been to NAMM ers came, and the technology, unbelievable. We all may be rollin ole school still in our homes, amongst our families and friends, but we here ta tell ya, that ain’t so out there in the show rooms.  It surely is not so at NAMM.  The wonderful thing about NAMM is that it brings together industry experts who never see each other unless it is at an industry get to gather.  Stanley Clarke was in town for NAMM and performed at one of LA’s top jazz venues, Catalina Bar and Grill.  www.catalinajazzclub.com.  We heard that at Vitello’s it was a partay, seriously, icons like Bill Withers, Elgin Bailey to see the Byron Motley performance and celebration to Negro League Baseball.  Hmm, mm.

www.vitellosrestaurant.com.  We were told that Kathy Sledge, the voice of Sister Sledge, We Are Family, got up and sang an unreleased single, and knocked it out of the park.  www.kathysledge.com.  Her repertoire involved singing, a tribute to Bill Withers,  Lean On Me, with Byron.  Byron’s show involves tidbits of educational information, on musicians who became members of the Negro Baseball League by default.  Meaning that they were around so much performing that the coaches said heh, if you gon be around hers like that, then you might as well put on a uniform.  www.byronmotley.com.   We drove through a small section of Hollywood and caught a bit of street art by Lazerblade. www.fr-ca.facebook.com/lazerblade. All  in all, the weekend was full of fun and laughter, mish and mayhem and of course, something that we can all share, memories.  Former, Universal Music Group, Music Copyright Division, Paul Young was around, looking good and living his dream as a working musician and music instructor for the USC Thornton School Of Music. www.usc.edu/schools/music. The amount of people trying ego friendly items was interesting.  With our roving eyes, we met Spence Quint of Hitech Guitars.  Spence makes ergonomic guitar picks. www.hitechguitarproducts.com.  Before you blink, his guitar picks are really true to their function.  We would suggest you go to the website to find out more.   Enjoy the NAMM pics.

This has been another Ankh Entertainment Stones In The Color Of Rare Productions. Let me see you glisten…