A wonderful close to my NAMM weekend!

Bo Eder

Platinum Member
I got to attend Fri-Sat and had a great time seeing people I only see then, and getting to people watch folks who clearly should no longer be dressing the way they do, or wondering why their hair is the way it is when they're in their 50s....

But, this year, I got tickets to take the wife to see a double-header concert: The Aristocrats and Stick Men at nearby Whittier. If you haven't experienced The Aristocrats, I highly recommend you do! Marco Minneman on drums, Gutherie Govan on guitar, and Bryan Bellar on bass - an incredibly talented trio to say the least. Their music was almost too technical and wacky to the uninitiated, but they were very funny and awesome at the same time. Stick Men, with Tony Levin and Markus {I forgot his last name} (Stick) and Pat Mastellotto on drums are totally carrying on the King Crimson vein by doing group improvs, some Crimson favorites, and very etheral and cerebral stuff. Good times were had by all! I say check them both out if you're into master musicianship. We were impressed.

It's also nice to get to see these people in person as you get to see how they interact with the crowd, and with the extremely difficult music they were playing, how unpretentious both groups were. It definitely wasn't like seeing KISS, or Slipknot where it's just this attitude all the time. We almost felt like you could have these guys play a backyard party and no one would be embarrassed having them there.

I've known who Marco was for a while, but I've never gotten a chance to see him live or really get into what he was doing, but I'm a fan of his and the band's now. They were really good. Their talent level could really leave the audience in the dust if the audience didn't know what they were in for. It was mind-bending.

Levin and Company got a bigger reaction from the audience, even if they weren't playing notes at warp speed. Their King Crimson aura had much of the auditorium churning along with them. Check out both if you're in a progressive mood. Very cool!
 
Your weekend couldn't have been that good, you never ran into me! lol

Kidding aside, glad you had fun. But I a bummed I never saw you.
 
Ya - I was just kidding anyways.

I used to want to go there, but not so much nowadays.
Better to leave it to the merchants, I guess.

I suppose this is true - like alot of conventions. After you go to one, they're all pretty much the same. For me, I go to see people I may only see there once a year now. If something is really big, I'm sure we'd all hear rumors about it before it debuts. But I do enjoy the people watching - I think it takes a fair bit of moxie to be an aging 50+ guy pouring himself into black skinny jeans, with aged white witch hair while balding ;)

And the women aren't safe from this either - I saw many beautiful and sexy women from the back, then you can see their faces have seen younger days. Even Lita Ford is beginning to appear like leather. It's an interesting study in the Peter Pan complex. People can age gracefully and appear their age and still be cool. Seeing people like Alan White, Bernard Purdie, and Anthony Jackson proves that. Doug Wimbish, being a grandfather now, looks very cool for his age. But most people don't pull it off as well.
 
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