NAMM, which originally stood for the National Association of Music Merchants, is the largest music products trade show in US, held every January in Anaheim, CA. The show brings together all facets of the music industry to reveal new instruments, products and ideas to help retailers and musicians become more successful. After years of evolving into what the show is today, it is simply known as NAMM! NAMM started off as it usually does each year, with traffic! Friday afternoon I started my trip out to Anaheim for the convention. After two hours of creeping along the 5 freeway, I finally arrive. Ah, the joy of driving in LA! By the time I got down there it was too late to check in and get my media pass, so I headed to the hotel for some relaxation time. My boyfriend Tod, who had been working the convention all week for Yamaha, had already gotten the guidebook, so I spent Friday night plotting out my route for Saturday. After my usual Starbucks coffee and scone Saturday morning, it was off to the convention center! I am first greeted with signs of “ALL LOTS FULL”. Wow, it’s only noon and already its packed! I take a short cut into the Hilton hotel parking lot, and quickly find parking. Helps to know the tricks of the trade at NAMM! After a walk around the center, in my rather new cowboy boots I thought were perfect to wear, I find the Press check in. “I’m here for MOLI!” I say, and present my business card and ID. I’m quickly suited with my MOLI badge, NAMM tote bag, and some free NAMM merchandise! I’m ready to rock! I enter the main hall of the convention center and only walk a few steps before I see a rock god. It’s none other than Mr. Nikki Sixx of Motley Crue signing at the Gibraltar booth. Nice way to start off the day! I immediately do as any music photographer would do, and raise my camera to take a picture. But all I see is a giant hand in front of my lens! Security was thinking otherwise. Nikki plays in a new band called SIXX: A.M. with my friend, guitar player DJ Ashba, who was signing autographs as well. I quickly give DJ a wave hello and get the “Isn’t this crazy” nod back from him. Yes it is! I step back a few feet, tell security I am here as press, and continue to snap a few shots of Nikki Sixx. Low and behold, I got the shot! I’m off to a good start at NAMM! I continue my route through the guitar section in the main hall. I spot guitarist extraordinaire Yngwie Malmstee at the Dean Markley booth, Paul Stanley of KISS surrounded by beautiful women, Billy Sheehan of Mr. Big, Dave Mustaine of Megadeth checking out DEAN Guitars and a plethora of other rock and metal guitarists signing autographs, taking photos and checking out all the cool gear. It was a rock photographer’s heaven! I don’t know what fascinated me more: the guitarists or the guitars! As for guitars, I hit up some of my favorite companies and made sure to spread the word of MOLI. Ever heard of Daisy Rock Guitars? Think about the most rocking chick musician and what she would play if she could design it herself. These guitars are HOT! And their rep seemed to love the idea of having Daisy Rock on MOLI! Sounds good to me! I’ve always been a fan of DEAN Guitars as well. If you’ve ever seen Dimebag Darrell of Pantera, these were his guitars. And they were all on display in memoriam of him at the DEAN Guitars booth. Even though I don’t personally know a rep there, I made sure to slip one of the DEAN girls my MOLI card. Hey, you never know! Next up it was time to visit the coolest guitar case company around, Coffin Cases. I was glad to find founder Jonny Edwards at the booth! And when I say Coffin Cases, that’s exactly what I mean! Guitar cases, microphone cases, road cases, etc., all shaped like a coffin! I personally own the microphone Coffin Cases which doubles as a lovely purse! When I told Jonny about my company MOLI, he was extremely interested and noted that most of their exposure and success comes from networking sites and loved the idea of combining social and business in one place. I think we have another MOLI fan! Speaking of case companies, next stop was A&S Cases. Tod always goes to them when his band is hitting the road and needs road cases. Or, to fix this one case that is falling apart but for some reason he is so attached to! I introduced myself to their rep as Tod's girlfriend, and immediately was given star treatment. He showed me some new products, and I of course continued to spread the word of MOLI! What caught my eye next was a beautiful display of guitar picks right next to the A&S Booth. This would be Pick World. And what cool guitar picks they had! When I introduced myself to their rep, he handed me his business card. Or should I say, business pick! A giant guitar pick with his contact information imprinted on it. Ah, genius! At this point I’m starting to wonder if cowboy boots were the best choice in foot wear to walk around a giant convention center. But I ignore the slight ache in my left foot and continue on. Next stop, drums! Tod has been going on for days about a monstrous drum kit he set up at the Yamaha Drums booth. He said “You’ll know its mine when you see it!” And guess what, I did! It was a massive display of a beautiful red drum kit with an arcing drum rack, double kick drums, numerous cymbals, electronics and a GONG! Just WOW! Everyone was fascinated by it! I immediately texted Tod and said “GOOD JOB!” He was proud! As I wondered through drums, I noticed a long line going around the Pearl Drums booth. It was a signing session of some of the most rocking drummers in the rock world. I spotted Vinnie Paul of Pantera and Hell Yeah, Eric Singer of KISS, Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Johnny Kelly from Type O Negative and about 10 more guys I would need Tod to name! It was amazing seeing them all lined up in one place! I snapped some photos and moved on to find my friends drum company, Rockett Drum Works. Does the name Rockett sound familiar? If so, that’s because Rockett Drum Works is owned by drummer Rikki Rockett of Poison! Rikki and his AR man Bobby Gibb are both amazing drummers good friends of ours. Every year I look forward to seeing their awesome display of colorful and uniquely designed drum kits. From green camouflage, to blue sparkle to confederate flags, their drums look and sound amazing! Artists on their roster include Rikki Rockett, of course, Troy Patrick Farrell of White Lion, Jacki Stone of Vains of Jenna and a few more. They also provide drums for local rock clubs in LA such as The Cat Club and Club Vodka. I was able to chat with Bobby and Rikki for a few minutes about MOLI and they love the concept! I’m on a mission to see a Rockett Drum Works MOLI site, as well as some cool drums giveaways while we’re at it! While at the Rockett Drum Works booth, I saw locals Slim Jim Phantom of the Stray Cats and Joe Leste of Bang Tango & Beautiful Creatures checking out the drums. And I left with a big smooch on the cheek from Rikki. Good times at Rockett Drum Works! About now the day is starting to wind down, and my left foot is starting to tighten up! I check my watch and see it’s almost 4pm. Two more hours, can I make it? Next stop, Samson for a signing with Brett Scallions of Fuel and Riders on the Storm, who also happens to be married to my gal pal Abby Gennet, singer of the band Slunt! And I hear they have their new little one with them who I have yet to meet! I hobble over to the Samson booth and quickly find Abby holding baby Jagger Scallions. What a beauty! But, “What does his shirt say?” I ask. Abby holds up Jagger and I read “Hung like a 5 Year Old”. Ah, keeping the rock alive! Abby also has a giant display on the Samson booth, so her hubby isn’t the only one getting attention! I say hi to Brett, snap a quick picture, and go back to oohing and ahhing over baby Jagger! What a rocking family! Now I decide its time to head for the door. I think my left foot is sufficiently strained and I can’t wait to get these boots off my feet! But alas, that would be too easy. On route to the door, I run into a few friends from LA who also braved the 2 hour drive down to Anaheim for NAMM. Brothers Chris & Jet Pink of the LA band Whitehouse Station have brought with them their friend and guitar virtuoso Gary Hoey. And we can’t forget Jets girlfriend Michele Alexander, makeup artist and one of our gorgeous MOLI girls! I snap a final picture with Michele and my other MOLI girls, photographer Megan Stark and Debbie, who have also represented MOLI at some LA events. What can I say, my MOLI girls are hot! I finally head back to the hotel where I meet up with Tod for a few minutes at the Arts Center next door. He is Tech Boss for Yamaha's Groove Night that is about to start. This is a fabulous show featuring some of Yamaha's best drummers, along with an amazing house band who I had the pleasure of meeting the night before. I would be honored to attend this event, but it is a sold out industry only event. So I wish Tod a good night, and I am off to get ready for Saturday night NAMM after parties at the Hilton hotel! That is of course, after I gave my foot sufficient rest time before putting on high heels for the night! At 9pm I head to the Hilton to find it is already packed with people from the convention. Every year, the Hilton plays host to the official NAMM Saturday night party. It is an amazing sea of artists, exhibitors, musicians, fans, friends and looker-ons from all over the world! The people watching alone could fascinate you for hours! I am greeted by my friends Megan Stark and Lindze who have secured passes to a private event where the band Heart is going to play! Sounds good to me! We head in and proceed to wait 45 minutes in an over crowded hot room while the band runs late. Ann and Nancy finally take the stage and one song into their set, I see Megan Stark get a funny look on her face. Next thing I know, she has fainted! No, not because she is such a big Heart fan. The heat, crowd, long day, and fast food were not a good combination for her! So needless to say, we didn’t stay much longer. Although Heart did rock! I spent the rest of the evening schmoozing with friends and having a great time. Around 1am I receive a call from Tod saying he is done working. Time to head back to the hotel and take off these heels! Oh, my poor left foot! Sunday was Tod's turn to hit up the convention so I opted for sneakers and we headed back. Knowing I had pretty much seen all I wanted to on Saturday, and was now walking with a very attractive limp, I let him lead me through the drums section while I held onto his arm as my crutch. He introduced me to all of his associates and buddies and showed me the latest in cool drum gear. And of course, don’t forget the monstrous Yamaha kit he built! You know I got a lesson in how to play it! Drum sticks, cymbals, electronics, snares, kicks, racks, I saw it all! And it was a great way to end our weekend at NAMM. About 5pm as the convention came to a close, I said goodbye to Tod as he was now in charge of breaking down the entire Yamaha drums display he so proudly built. I grabbed some food for the road, painfully limped back to my car, and headed for home! An hour and a half later, I was happy to be sitting on the couch with my puppy dog and kitty cat, resting my foot on the coffee table and looking through over 150 photos I had shot. I truly believe I did MOLI proud and spread the word of the best networking site around and I look forward to seeing some of my favorite companies join the site! NAMM was a lot of fun and a great success! Please visit my NAMM profile to take a look at all of the photos! See you next year!

DAY 1 - Saturday, Jan 19th

Day 2 - Sunday, Jan 20th

Saturday Night at the Hilton and Sheraton Hotel After Parties