This year, we had a host of great performances in the booth.  The Makepeace Brothers and Yellow Marbles are two great up and coming groups based in the LA area. They both performed 10-minute sets on Thursday.  Friday brought us 2 a cappella groups – a new group called Pentatonix who won the first competition on the TV show “ The Sing-Off” and the second was Shure Artists Take 6, who are now celebrating 25 years as a group.  Both of their performances brought an amazing amount of energy and a large audience into our booth space.  On Saturday, we welcomed famed producer Eddie Kramer for a discussion of how he used and continues to use Shure products to work his magic.  Last but not least, a great local LA artist named Britany Christian performed short demos for our newly introduced wireless line GLXD.  We are very thankful to all the groups who spent some of their time with us at NAMM.

Other artists that came by to visit included Sheila E., Sinbad, Christina Perri, Tony Royster Jr., and Actor/Musician Charles “Chip” Easton who plays Deacon Claybourne on the hit TV show “Nashville.”

Ryan Phillips and Adam Russell from the group Story of the Year also came by to interview yours truly as part of a documentary called “Who Killed (or Saved) the Music Industry?”

Since I have started Tweeting, I have been followed by a number of artists. One in particular, 10-year old Claire Stevens, came out to NAMM with her family.  She is a singer/pianist/guitarist who is writing her own songs and is determined to be a big artist someday.   She already has a 5 song EP that she recorded and her parents bought her a Super 55, which she has used at many performances including some at various House of Blues venues.  Keep an eye out for Claire because you can tell she loves to perform and now she has her eye on our wireless products.

OK, so here’s where the “+” comes in from the title.  After a successful NAMM show, I stayed in the area to catch The Who perform in Anaheim.  Definitely a BIG +!  The group Vintage Trouble has held the opening slot on their tour for the last few months and they know how to get people moving.  I’ve been fortunate to see The Who about 5 times now and it continues to amaze me how much energy they still have for performing.  Pete Townshend moves like someone half his age. Roger is still swinging around his vocal mic (now a Beta 58A) and had a big hand in the arranging of this presentation of Quadrophenia for this tour.  The encore consisted of several of their biggest hits.

The next day, I went up to the LA area to visit a few artists and management companies.  I got to catch Simon Phillips recording some new tunes with KSM27’s all over his toms as well as Kenny Aronoff playing at The Baked Potato with the Bombastic Meatbats, Chad Smith’s group.  What a great way to spend time in LA.  Loved every minute!

Opening this show is a new group that is primed to explode with the right ammunition – Vintage Trouble.  Their lead singer, Ty Taylor, is singing primarily through a Shure 565SD microphone until he grabs a UHF-R and runs offstage to get the crowd going.  Nashville loved the group and so did I.  We wish them the best of luck as they progress in their career.

Since this is the Quadrophenia tour, The Who performed the entire set to an almost sold out crowd.  I am still amazed at how much energy both Pete and Roger have on stage.  Roger is still swinging his mic (now a Beta 58A) around on a wire, taped up like crazy.  Pete still whips out his signature wheel house on guitar.   In the drivers set on the drum kit is Zak Starkey, son of Ringo Starr who is such a great player.  Once they made it through Quadraphenia, they closed the show with a few of their big hits like “We Don’t Get Fooled Again”, “Pinball Wizard”,  and “Baba O’Riley.”

The crowd was energized and I had a great view from the side of the stage, mezzanine section to catch all of the action.  If you have a chance to catch the group who have part of the Shure family for over 45 years, it’s an awesome show!

Ryan