Surf Guitar Video: Dick Dale Plays Ghostriders in the Sky

Here is an epic performance of 'Ghostriders in the Sky' at The Surf Club, NJ in 2007. Dick Dale is a badass. He is the King of Surf Guitar. His tone is unmatched, and he is my surf guitar hero.

Dick Dale at NAMM 2008 with Fender Guitars

Dick Dale performs with G.E. Smith, Reggie Hamilton and Curt Bisquera at the NAMM 2008 Gala for the Fender Showcase. Personally, I don't think any of those other guys even deserve to be on the stage with Dick Dale. Well, I guess maybe they are. Dick Dale is King! I love his guitar. The Beast. He really knows how to tame that thing! And Dick Dales knows how use reverb better than anyone else on this planet.

Yngwie Malmsteen Shredding on the Marshall Amps Stage at NAMM 2009

This is Yngwie Malmsteen:


This is all the people watching Yngwie Malmsteen:


Notice that many of them are recording Yngwie Malmsteen as he shreds that song into a million notes. This guy has everything that a shredder needs (except for pesky nemeses like the Ninja Turtles). Yngwie makes really crazy faces as he plays. It's pretty comical. I think his talent may have actually turned into a bit at this point. It was funny because he was doing it all on a Fender Strat. I was expecting a Parker, Jackson, or Washburn guitar model to be his weapon of choice. Nope. He plays a Fender. One of my friends told me that Yngwie Malmsteen is so into himself that "he has mirrors on his stage monitors." Talk about awesome! I'd like to see that. It's even worse than having a fan blowing up at your face (I'm looking at you, Steve Vai)!

Fender John Severson Sonoran SCE Acoustic Guitars

Fender John Severson Woody Sonoran SCE Acoustic Guitar

Fender John Severson Surf Fever Sonoran SC Acoustic Guitar

If anyone knows surf guitar themes, it's Fender. I saw these two guitars in the Fender display at NAMM. These guitars are both acoustic/electric and they are single cutaway. The designs are by John Severson, an artist and publisher. Apparently, Fender has a California Series of guitars, and these are the two models for this year. I think they did a fantastic job!

Eastwood Gemini Guitar (Wurlitzer Replica)

I stopped by the Eastwood Guitars booth yesterday, as they have some of the coolest guitars on the planet. The guitar on the left is one of their newest models: the Eastwood Gemini guitar. It is a clone of the guitar on the right: an original vintage Wurlitzer guitar. You will notice several slight differences, but the Eastwood model is much better in terms of playability. And price, too! The Wurlitzer is going for $1100+, while the Eastwood model is right around $500. Way to go, Eastwood Guitars. Another fine replica job.

Smoking Cigarettes at NAMM

No, I don't smoke. However, I could not escape the smoke yesterday outside the Anaheim Convention Center. As it turns out, NAMM is a convention that welcomes musicians, instrument dealers, instrument distributors, and other people in the music industry. And wouldn't you know it? Many of these people smoke. Because I am such a math nerd, I got to thinking about the amount of cigarettes that are smoked on a daily basis at NAMM. Let's take a look at some imaginary numbers. Keep in mind I'm just making this up:

125,000 people attending NAMM
Let's say that 20% of them smoke
25,000 smokers
Convention Hours: 10am-6pm
Each smoker has at least 3 cigarettes during those hours
25,000 smokers x 3 cigarettes each day=

75,000 cigarettes each day at NAMM!

That's a lot of smoke breaks, a lot of smoke, and a lot of cigarettes! And really it's a lot of people standing outside the convention hall doors telling stories of lore about musicians and their gear. I'd love to be a fly on the wall for some of those conversations. Although the fly would probably have some smoke allergies or something. But I'm sure the stories are good ones.

I guess I could also look at the number of beers sold at NAMM. That number would also be astonishing. Or cell phone calls made during NAMM. Last night I could not make a call until I was 4 blocks away from the convention center. My only guess is that the cell phone towers were jammed up with thousands of calls every second of the day.

Well, I'm off to the show!

Grimace, the Video Game Cowboy

Today was a very odd day. There I was in Terminal D at DFW airport, waiting for my plane flight to NAMM. I'm feasting on a bacon/egg/cheese biscuit at McDonald's, and I noticed these kids playing really awesome videos games. I looked behind the video game console, and I noticed Grimace the Video Game Cowboy. He's purple. He's big. And he's got a touchscreen game system build into his abdomen. Hey kids, do you want to play Bejeweled in Grimace's stomach? Yes, he wants you to touch him there. I could go on, but I won't. Anyways, my plane flight was delayed for almost 2.5 hours because there was something wrong with the "Avionics box." I'm not sure what that is, but I am sure that it scared the hell out of me when the pilot told us about it. Our flight was very nice, but I had white knuckles the entire time. Right after liftoff I remember thinking about the fact that there hasn't been a plane crash in the United States in several years. And I remember thinking that the probabilities would show that we are due for some type of plane incident. And what do you know - I walk off the plane at LAX, look up at the plasma TVs in the terminal, and see a US Airways plane in the Hudson River. Good Lord. I gotta remember to keep more positive thoughts and energy about planes. I'm just glad that everyone made it off of that one without major or fatal injuries. Oh yeah. And after the hourlong wait at Hertz and the hourlong trip to Anaheim, I finally made it to NAMM 2009. More pictures and stuff later...

NAMM 2009 in Anaheim, CA

I am about to leave for my first trip to NAMM. I've been wanting to go to this show for about 10 years, and I finally saved up enough money for the trip. Of course, it was a little easier this year because the economy is in a downturn, so my plane ticket was only $268 for a round trip to Los Angeles with non-stop flights both way. I kinda wish this was in baseball season because I'd love to see the Dodgers and/or the Angels play a game or two. At any rate, I'm planning on seeing some awesome gear and even awesomer musicians at NAMM 2009. I'll be posting updates every night, and hopefully I can get my camera working. I'll take several hundred pictures, I'm sure. Everyone will be like, "Hey. Who let the tourist into the building?" Oh well. It's what I do. I take pictures. And hopefully I'll be taking pictures of some cool surf guitars!