NAMM 2005

Greg Howard, Emmett Chapman, Jim Reilly and Tony Levin at the Stick Enterprises booth. Photo: Art Durkee Click to start the slide show

Imagine the world's largest music store. Everything you could possibly imagine is there-any guitar, bass, drum, instrument, effect, piece of software, toy you could think of, plus innumerable musical creations you didn't even know existed. Now imagine that this store is staffed with intelligent, upbeat staff that don't ignore you when you walk in the door, staff that not only answers any question you throw at them but are also genuinely happy to be there. Then imagine you are trying out a new instrument, a Chapman Stick perhaps, and you look over your shoulder to see one of your heroes, let's say Tony Levin maybe, standing beside you checking out the latest Sticks too. Then you turn around and see Stevie Wonder running down the aisle with full entourage in tow.

This is NAMM.

NAMM (the National Association of Music Merchandisers) has held their annual trade show for the last 103 years. Each year builders, manufactures, designers and companies show off their latest and greatest products for an audience of buyers, musicians, press and fans.

Stick Enterprises attended their first NAMM show in 1974, sharing a booth with Walter Woods amplifiers. Every year, save one, Sticks and Stick players have been prominently featured, displayed and played at NAMM. This year was no exception.

Our booth was located in one of the highest traffic areas of the show (as Art Durkee's photos will attest) between the major drum companies and the custom guitar builders. Our mission was simple: play lots of music and get as many people as possible to actually pick up a Stick and play it for themselves.

The first part was easy. With Emmett, Greg Howard, Bob Culbertson, Tom Griesgraber, Steve Adelson, Don Schiff, and me scheduled to perform throughout the show and many other great players both working at the booth and stopping by on a regular basis, finding players to entertain the passing masses was an easy task. Add to that a noon hour concert on Friday in the Centre Courtyard, a very busy lunch spot, featuring Emmett, Steve and Bob, plus various Stick players performing at other booths (including Tom Griesgraber with Jerry Marrota at Sennheiser, Mark Smart at Continuum and Steve Adelson at several booths including Gallien Kruger and Madison Amplifiers) and the music requirements were easily met.

Here's how the second part played itself out:

Person watching one of the above-mentioned players: "Wow, that's amazing. How does that thing work?"
One of us working the booth: "Well it's actually pretty simple, you just pick it up and tap."
Other person: "There's no way I could do that."
Stick guy: "Wanna bet? Check this out."

We then lead the innocent victim to one of the listening stations set up along either side of the booth complete with Stick plugged into a mixer or Rane SP13 and headphones, show them where the belt hook and shoulder strap go, show them what the right and left hands do, put the headphones on them and let them tap away...

The reactions are mixed. Some people take to it right away, big smiles of unexpected joy creep across their faces. Others can't quite get the hang of it and walk away shaking their heads, convinced that they'll never get it.

For Emmett the NAMM show has two faces. One is very new, the face of excitement and wonder as people encounter The Stick and hear players like Greg, Bob, Steve, Don or Emmett play for the first time. The other is decades old, faces from the past, old friends who stop by the booth to say 'hi', musicians he has played with, people reminding him of memorable concerts and jam sessions from long past years. People like Joe Zawinul (one of the first Stick owners and friend from Emmett's days in New York), Bruce Gary (drummer from The Knack who Emmett played with a lot in the 80s and recorded Parallel Galaxy with), Ned Steinberger and Steve Mosher (fellow instrument designers who have worked with Emmett on projects over the years). Old friends and new faces.

For us Stick players the NAMM show is a chance to check out all the latest gear, play our music for a large and interested audience and meet other players from around the world. It's a chance to get together, share ideas and swap stories, hang out and although it's phenomenally busy and a lot of work NAMM is one of the year's highlights for Stick players.

So what was new at the Stick booth? Lots. A new Stick for starters. The first pressed bamboo Stick prototype was ready for the show. I played it a lot and loved it, its very dense, hard and responsive, almost like graphite but with more of a wood vibe to it. From all reports it went through the construction process very well and should be into regular production very soon. We had the first "Stick Amps" from SR Technologies in Italy. These are the modified SR Jam 150 models packed full of features for Stick players. New inlay patterns in the SB8 designed to make it even easier for bass and guitar players to navigate right away, another BassLab prototype and graphite necks on the NS Stick, bevelled Stick style, all debuted at this year's show.

And the Alto Stick made a huge splash, actually a rich, high pitched, chiming splash. Greg Howard took to the Alto like a duck to water. One of the recommend Alto tunings is the baritone Stick tuning but octave higher, so Greg found he could play all of the tunes he plays on his ten-string in baritone tuning on the Alto Stick. He and Tom Griesgraber put this to the test by breaking into an impromptu duet of Greg's tune "Charmed Life." The sound of the two Sticks-Tom's Grand and Greg's Alto-an octave apart, doubling the melody and trading fours during the solo was simply beautiful.

I could go on and on but you'd probably be better served by checking out some of the photos that Stick player, artist and graphic designer Art Durkee generously captured for us during the show. Just accompany the photos with an imaginary wall of white noise surrounding you, voices and music of all kinds competing for your attention and you'll have a pretty good idea of what the NAMM show was like.

Beyond the obvious cast of regular characters who worked and performed at the booth there are many people to thank, without whom the show couldn't have run as smoothly as it did. We'll start with Art Durkee who documented both NAMM and the Stick Night (Check out that review here) and helped out in the booth, Vance Gloster for going above the call as always, Jim Lampi and Linda Cushma for hanging out and sharing their music, Grace, Yumi, Carlos and Chiz at Stick Enterprises for working extra hours to get everything ready on time and all those who lent a hand, drove folks around, stopped by the booth and shared their joy of making music and their stories with us.

See you there next year.

Jim Reilly
Los Angeles, CA
Jan. 25, 05

Start the Slide Show
Emmett Chapman and Greg Howard performing at the booth
Steve Adelson and Bob Culbertson performing in the courtyard
Emmett Chapman and Richard Schwagerl performing at the booth

All images and video ©Art Durkee 2005.