3/5/2005, Irving TX
Well first off, here's what the ABC local news did on it.
I got to the convention about 7:30 Sat night. Some of the vendors had already draped their hallway tables...but still lots of guitars, picks, instruction cds/books, and regional cds and dvds
This pair was on a cheesy carousel:
This feller was sellin a stereo amp setup:
these were just laying on a table:
One booth had a buch of stuff:
The GFI breakout room (there was a main concert ballroom, a center booth foyer, then hallways with breakout rooms
The GFI line...
An old Fender snuck in there...
The GFI talent, Mike Sigler and UI man
The main ballroom. Different band every 20 minutes... More vendor tables on the walls...
The strobe tuner guy. Never made eye contact with anyone...
One of several Emmons for sale...
Sierra Guitars "J W" model.
The Russ Hicks table and 3 Emmons...
Oops I mean 2 - this one's an "Excel" didn't know Bill Gates made steels too...
This guy was playing when I first went in. I didn't catch his name and can't match to the show guide. Tom Brumley? Johnny Bush? He played real sweet in a cornball way.
This was the drawing Dobro for charity. No I didn't win.
the Derby folks table...
The Goodrich pedal table. It's Ollie Goodrich!
View from halfway back in the ballroom. Seemed like 1000 people...
So my time being short I went back strolling the hallways. Here's more axes from that one booth. Are they called axes?
The Peavy side room...
Ernest Hemingway on a Zum steel! No, it's Tommy Dodd...like the SansAmp Pod...
The dead end of the furthest hallway went to the MSA and Beard rooms...
MSA's specs...
The MSA line...
The MSA talent
If only it had been closer to MY birthday...
So then I go the Beard Guitars room and the DOORS CLOSED. I look in and see a small group of people ina semicircle sitting real close to this guy playing dobro, so I walk in and start clikcing away to see if its a paid training workshop but it isn't. Later on (I went back 3 times to listen to him for about an HOUR) another guy started doing video. I coulda kicked myself for not having a camcorder because this guy, Mike Auldridge was awesome - velvet touch, knew everything, fantastic player. He had a little iPod mini into an amp for backing tracks. The audience was all pickers asking technical questions how to make things different ways. He played on 3 6 string dobros and a couple 8 string C dobros which he said were just like a steel without the bottom 2 strings and the pedals. A soft spoken, funny guy. Like I say, his touch was immaculate, soft and rich, playing favorites and demo'ing different patterns and steel analogies, but he did let out the shaft a coupole times and it was amazing, specially the grace note tricks. What hands.
It was such a hushed little group, I turned the flash off and shot with room light, hence the blur...
the Beard line. Auldridge has his own models..
back out in the hall was this beast....
the Mullen room...
OK, about 9:30 the "Famous Jay Dee Maness" appears. He conferred for about 5 minutes with the house band, and even then they false-started half their songs...
One thing though, he's a friggin' great steel player. He played just 5 songs. First was "Misty" "that I did for Ray Stevens." It was an instrumental tour-de-force. He plays real beefy, like a professional bowler on his Emmons, but he musta had a dozen distinct vignettes in that one song with blazing octave-up variations. It was really rockin. In the 2 hole he did a typical country tune with the tall dude singing shown below. Third was an instrumental "Tears in heaven" that was really really great, especially some clusters near the end. He had a Sam Bush way of getting on fire in his final verses and wrap ups. 4 was some song from Desert Rose, nothing special, just sweet. The last one ("I don't know any more songs") was "Panhandle Rag" a jazzy, blistering version with an astounding alternating set of chords in the middle, like double-stopping, but between 2 5-note chords. A jaw-dropping moment...
those tired eyes...
well, that's it, I couldn't hand around for Paul Franklin or Joe Wright....still a very entertaining 3 hours for $25. And no alcohol or cigarette smoke!
See ya next year!
