Wednesday, January 19, 2011

NAMM 2011: Taj Mahal Live

I keep talking about NAMM and I still have a whole bunch to write about. I feel like whenever there's an event, there's a bit of a post-event depression that kicks in. I think bands experience it when they tour just as soldiers feel it after they get home from battle. It's the inexplicable feeling of camaraderie that you don't really experience in daily life and after NAMM, even squeezing into a room and sleeping on the floor and not having any privacy ever and living on too little sleep and completely aching after walking all day and night and drinking too much and not eating enough...after all of that, you can't wait till the next big thing, which is why I'm so looking forward to possibly heading out to Coachella and SXSW this year. This tribal bonding stuff is quite addictive.

After Jesse did a demo at Luna Guitars, we went downstairs to Schoen, but Keith Urban was playing, so we watched him for a few minutes until he took off, turned a corner, and there's multiple GRAMMY award winning blues legend Taj Mahal. At the moment I walked up, there were two people watching him, but as he really got going, a small crowd formed. NAMM is pretty funny, because there really aren't schedules generally posted anywhere, it's all about happening on things and being in the right place at the right time. People talk about the old days of NAMM when it was very closed to music industry buyers only but thankfully it has opened up and getting to see legends geeking out on gear or other musicians was really spectacular and inspiring. It's also funny because unless you happen upon something, you're completely oblivious, like the jerk in one of the videos sampling the Irish flute in the adjacent booth. You wanna smack them and make them get a clue.

Here are three songs that Taj Mahal performed in the booth.
To see more of my photos, you can check out my two different galleries on FaceBook and at SoundDiego.





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