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http://www.ofoto.com/I.jsp?m=9815538...3&n=1923329461
There's the link to the photos. I'm gonna remove the link after a couple of days because I don't want some freak hacking into my ofoto account.
Day 1: Friday
Met George Lynch at the Dean Markley booth. What an ass. Talk about zero personality. Dude, be happy people even remember you, okay? Jeff Pilson was very talkative, though I didn't get a chance to talk to him.
Checked out the Empire Guitars from GMW. GMW does a ton of custom stuff, works with Jackson on their finishes and graphics and makes the Empire line of guitars. Amazing fit and finish. Lowest action on earth. Seriously. Lee Garver, the owner is very cool.
BC Rich. Holy **** do these guitars scream. Fantastic quality, thin necks, great finishes. My wife wants a Bich and Widow guitar. I'll take any of them. Hardly anyone at this booth.
Mark Wood violins/TSO. Mark Wood makes and plays these funky electric violins and also plays with TSO's east coast company. Very down to earth guy. Watched him, Alex Skolnick, and other TSO dudes perfom in a 10 foot booth. Videotaped 2 performances. Skolnick is very down to earth and nice, but a bit quiet. TSO played a Purple Haze jam and a TSO song on friday and on saturday played what sounded like a TV show them and the same TSO song from the previous day.
Carvin. Most of the guitars are on the heavier side, but they feel very solid and play nicely. Steve Vai was signing at the booth but there was a line a mile long.
ESP. Beatiful guitars but they just don't feel right in my hands. Maybe it was the necks or thick strings. I wanted these to feel perfect, but they didn't. Very empty booth too. Met Steve DiGiorgio of Testament and Sadus fame here and chatted with him. Mellow guy.
Charlie Benante (Anthrax drummer). Got him to sign my Armed and Dangerous CD (asked me why I had to go old school on him). Asked me (in a Joey from Friends voice) re: my son: hey, how's he doin? Cool guy, but a bit quiet.
Dean Guitars. Holy **** are these wonderful instruments. I can't say enough good things. They all play so freakin wonderfully. Perfect finishes and fretwork. The Vs and MLs were my favorites but the Hardtails, Cadillacs, and EVO's were nice as well. The new Korean 79 series are killer and cost only like $450-500 street price. Lighter than the USA models but play just as nicely.
Met Metal Mike Chlasciak from Halford's band as I was walking around. He's very down to Earth and I even spoke in Polish to him for a bit.
Earlier in the day I saw Buckethead signing at the Washburn booth. There was a huge line so I didn't want to wait. Jeb, my wife, son, and I were headed to the Wood Violins booth to see TSO perform and there's Buckethead and Bootsie Collins walking towards us. The handlers/security weren't allowing photos and were trying to push everyone away. Well, Bucket sees me in my Mr Punch shirt (a graphic novel illustrated by Dave McKean, who has designed CDs and directed videos for Bucket), points at me and gives me the thumbs up. He agreed to let me get a pic with him (he doesn't speak, just nodds) and a bunch of people were like "man, why did he let YOU get a pic..."
Kerry King was standing around at the BC Rich booth so I got some pics of him and his crazy ass tatooed head. He's shorter than he looks in photos and is a pretty nice guy.
Day 2: Saturday
Checked out a wall of Marshall Amps. They have a new head called Mode 4 which is like 300 watts. I think it has a tube preamp and transistor power amp. Didn't get to hear it. 4 channels I believe.
Walked over to the Dean booth and caught Michael Angelo playing live. Videotaped most of his performance and got him doing that crazy left had speed demon thing. This guy plays overhand, underhand, you name it. Awesome player. Got pics with him and chatted for a bit. Hands down, the nicest most sincere celebrity I met at the show.
Peavey. The custom shop EVH models are pretty sweet. Thin frets, skinny but fat necks, great finishes. These were the most unexpected surprise to me. The Vandenberg type guitars were very cool as well. Peavey had a HUGE booth with all kinds of demo rooms. In one room a bunch of musicians were jamming and it looked like rapper Coolio was either singing or talking or rapping. The little combo amps with hotrod and custom graphics were a nice touch.
Hamer didn't have a ton of US guitars. Played some Les Paul and double cutaway style axes. Nice guitars, but a bit too heavy for me.
Caught Guthrie Govan playing. Stunning player with superb technique. He was playing at the Cornfield (or whatever they're called) amps booth.
Gene Simmons. What a joke. Horrible rug on the head...looks like matted dog fur. He was walking aroung with 2 blond chicks and security guards. He was then trying to art direct a photoshoot of a woman with too much silicone in her face and chest. I laughed out loud and took photos and shot video. I wish he would shave his head and tatoo a KISS face on the back of his head.
Jackson/Charvel/Fender. This was in it's own room upstairs. Too dark, hot and loud. But, the Jacksons were killer. See the pics for the custom shop guitars. One of them had blood splatter graphics and the necks even had crusted red paint that felt like scabs. The skull guitar with holographic finish was amazing...I think it even had holes for laser light to shoot out of. Can't say enough good things about these axes. The Charvel Bullseye played like a dream. I'm a bit partial to the King Vs, RRs myself. Fender had some cool custom guitars and some lame hippy graphic ones. Did I mention how hot it was in this room? The Jackson Warrior was a nice player too. The Firebird was beautiful but I didn't like the neck.
Gibson. Quite possibly the most disappointing room. Lots of pianos and old men. A few Les Pauls (you see one, you've seen them all). But there was a very cool SG prototype and the new Explorer is nice. Some of the guys from Testament were in this room too.
Digitech. Like Fender and Gibson, they had their own room with effects, headphones, and guitars at each station. Played with a modeling amp thingee which was interesting. Metal Mike from Halford did a performance to a backing track. This ****er can shred like hell. Seriously. I think he played stuff from his new solo record. Got the whole thing on video.
Lado. Met Joe, the owner. Very down to earth Croation fellow. Told me my Lado guitar was one of 12 ever made.
JJ Tubes. They make the most insane looking home audio amplifiers.
Floyd Rose. What a nice guy. Demo'd the new Speedloader system for me. Jackson and BC Rich will be equipping guitars with these soon and other string companies will start making strings for them. He said there's an involved process for setting up machines for making the new strings.
Diezel Amps. These things are freakin evil sounding. Peter Diezel shared a booth with Vigier. Played a Vigier with EMGs thru 2 Diezel heads. "You heff good senze. You like my amps, ya? Let me szow you dees. Thees one is fasta and has mo attak and is mo alyff". I need one of these amps right now.
Ibanez had some cool new neckthru guitars and some double cutaways with aluminum pickguards. Artists signing included Satriani, Paul Gilber, the freaks from Korn, Andy Timmons, the list goes on...huge lines for signing at this booth.
Ernie Ball had the most bizzarre booth. Fake astro turf and 1/2 of a football field. Cheerleaders and people in football uniforms and face paint. Sterling Ball, the head of Ernie Ball (hey, at least his name isn't Left Ball or Harry Ball) was dressed in a sportscaster jacket. Huddled in a group was Steve Vai, John Petrucci, Steve Lukather and Vinnie Moore. Jeb pointed out Christopher Guest (or Gungi Patterson as his badge said) and we got pics with him. Blues Saraceno walked right past us too.
All together, an amazing show. Thousands of attendees. After 2 full days I still didn't see everything I wanted to see. I'm probably leaving out info as well. Oh well. Hope you enjoy the review and pics! BTW, if you want hi res versions of any pics I can send them your way.
One last thing..Michael Schenker was walking around handing out stickers that say "Michael Schenker says be saved by Jesus. Pray and have a positive vision.
[ January 20, 2003, 04:45 PM: Message edited by: Venomboy ]
There's the link to the photos. I'm gonna remove the link after a couple of days because I don't want some freak hacking into my ofoto account.
Day 1: Friday
Met George Lynch at the Dean Markley booth. What an ass. Talk about zero personality. Dude, be happy people even remember you, okay? Jeff Pilson was very talkative, though I didn't get a chance to talk to him.
Checked out the Empire Guitars from GMW. GMW does a ton of custom stuff, works with Jackson on their finishes and graphics and makes the Empire line of guitars. Amazing fit and finish. Lowest action on earth. Seriously. Lee Garver, the owner is very cool.
BC Rich. Holy **** do these guitars scream. Fantastic quality, thin necks, great finishes. My wife wants a Bich and Widow guitar. I'll take any of them. Hardly anyone at this booth.
Mark Wood violins/TSO. Mark Wood makes and plays these funky electric violins and also plays with TSO's east coast company. Very down to earth guy. Watched him, Alex Skolnick, and other TSO dudes perfom in a 10 foot booth. Videotaped 2 performances. Skolnick is very down to earth and nice, but a bit quiet. TSO played a Purple Haze jam and a TSO song on friday and on saturday played what sounded like a TV show them and the same TSO song from the previous day.
Carvin. Most of the guitars are on the heavier side, but they feel very solid and play nicely. Steve Vai was signing at the booth but there was a line a mile long.
ESP. Beatiful guitars but they just don't feel right in my hands. Maybe it was the necks or thick strings. I wanted these to feel perfect, but they didn't. Very empty booth too. Met Steve DiGiorgio of Testament and Sadus fame here and chatted with him. Mellow guy.
Charlie Benante (Anthrax drummer). Got him to sign my Armed and Dangerous CD (asked me why I had to go old school on him). Asked me (in a Joey from Friends voice) re: my son: hey, how's he doin? Cool guy, but a bit quiet.
Dean Guitars. Holy **** are these wonderful instruments. I can't say enough good things. They all play so freakin wonderfully. Perfect finishes and fretwork. The Vs and MLs were my favorites but the Hardtails, Cadillacs, and EVO's were nice as well. The new Korean 79 series are killer and cost only like $450-500 street price. Lighter than the USA models but play just as nicely.
Met Metal Mike Chlasciak from Halford's band as I was walking around. He's very down to Earth and I even spoke in Polish to him for a bit.
Earlier in the day I saw Buckethead signing at the Washburn booth. There was a huge line so I didn't want to wait. Jeb, my wife, son, and I were headed to the Wood Violins booth to see TSO perform and there's Buckethead and Bootsie Collins walking towards us. The handlers/security weren't allowing photos and were trying to push everyone away. Well, Bucket sees me in my Mr Punch shirt (a graphic novel illustrated by Dave McKean, who has designed CDs and directed videos for Bucket), points at me and gives me the thumbs up. He agreed to let me get a pic with him (he doesn't speak, just nodds) and a bunch of people were like "man, why did he let YOU get a pic..."
Kerry King was standing around at the BC Rich booth so I got some pics of him and his crazy ass tatooed head. He's shorter than he looks in photos and is a pretty nice guy.
Day 2: Saturday
Checked out a wall of Marshall Amps. They have a new head called Mode 4 which is like 300 watts. I think it has a tube preamp and transistor power amp. Didn't get to hear it. 4 channels I believe.
Walked over to the Dean booth and caught Michael Angelo playing live. Videotaped most of his performance and got him doing that crazy left had speed demon thing. This guy plays overhand, underhand, you name it. Awesome player. Got pics with him and chatted for a bit. Hands down, the nicest most sincere celebrity I met at the show.
Peavey. The custom shop EVH models are pretty sweet. Thin frets, skinny but fat necks, great finishes. These were the most unexpected surprise to me. The Vandenberg type guitars were very cool as well. Peavey had a HUGE booth with all kinds of demo rooms. In one room a bunch of musicians were jamming and it looked like rapper Coolio was either singing or talking or rapping. The little combo amps with hotrod and custom graphics were a nice touch.
Hamer didn't have a ton of US guitars. Played some Les Paul and double cutaway style axes. Nice guitars, but a bit too heavy for me.
Caught Guthrie Govan playing. Stunning player with superb technique. He was playing at the Cornfield (or whatever they're called) amps booth.
Gene Simmons. What a joke. Horrible rug on the head...looks like matted dog fur. He was walking aroung with 2 blond chicks and security guards. He was then trying to art direct a photoshoot of a woman with too much silicone in her face and chest. I laughed out loud and took photos and shot video. I wish he would shave his head and tatoo a KISS face on the back of his head.
Jackson/Charvel/Fender. This was in it's own room upstairs. Too dark, hot and loud. But, the Jacksons were killer. See the pics for the custom shop guitars. One of them had blood splatter graphics and the necks even had crusted red paint that felt like scabs. The skull guitar with holographic finish was amazing...I think it even had holes for laser light to shoot out of. Can't say enough good things about these axes. The Charvel Bullseye played like a dream. I'm a bit partial to the King Vs, RRs myself. Fender had some cool custom guitars and some lame hippy graphic ones. Did I mention how hot it was in this room? The Jackson Warrior was a nice player too. The Firebird was beautiful but I didn't like the neck.
Gibson. Quite possibly the most disappointing room. Lots of pianos and old men. A few Les Pauls (you see one, you've seen them all). But there was a very cool SG prototype and the new Explorer is nice. Some of the guys from Testament were in this room too.
Digitech. Like Fender and Gibson, they had their own room with effects, headphones, and guitars at each station. Played with a modeling amp thingee which was interesting. Metal Mike from Halford did a performance to a backing track. This ****er can shred like hell. Seriously. I think he played stuff from his new solo record. Got the whole thing on video.
Lado. Met Joe, the owner. Very down to earth Croation fellow. Told me my Lado guitar was one of 12 ever made.
JJ Tubes. They make the most insane looking home audio amplifiers.
Floyd Rose. What a nice guy. Demo'd the new Speedloader system for me. Jackson and BC Rich will be equipping guitars with these soon and other string companies will start making strings for them. He said there's an involved process for setting up machines for making the new strings.
Diezel Amps. These things are freakin evil sounding. Peter Diezel shared a booth with Vigier. Played a Vigier with EMGs thru 2 Diezel heads. "You heff good senze. You like my amps, ya? Let me szow you dees. Thees one is fasta and has mo attak and is mo alyff". I need one of these amps right now.
Ibanez had some cool new neckthru guitars and some double cutaways with aluminum pickguards. Artists signing included Satriani, Paul Gilber, the freaks from Korn, Andy Timmons, the list goes on...huge lines for signing at this booth.
Ernie Ball had the most bizzarre booth. Fake astro turf and 1/2 of a football field. Cheerleaders and people in football uniforms and face paint. Sterling Ball, the head of Ernie Ball (hey, at least his name isn't Left Ball or Harry Ball) was dressed in a sportscaster jacket. Huddled in a group was Steve Vai, John Petrucci, Steve Lukather and Vinnie Moore. Jeb pointed out Christopher Guest (or Gungi Patterson as his badge said) and we got pics with him. Blues Saraceno walked right past us too.
All together, an amazing show. Thousands of attendees. After 2 full days I still didn't see everything I wanted to see. I'm probably leaving out info as well. Oh well. Hope you enjoy the review and pics! BTW, if you want hi res versions of any pics I can send them your way.
One last thing..Michael Schenker was walking around handing out stickers that say "Michael Schenker says be saved by Jesus. Pray and have a positive vision.
[ January 20, 2003, 04:45 PM: Message edited by: Venomboy ]
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