Page 21 - ION Indie Magazine MarchApril 2018 Issue

Some of the new companies I saw were
Funktion-One, Powersoft from Italy, and VUE
Audiotechnik, with many more left unexplored.
Today, I focused on products and companies.
Everyone was eager to share their stories and I
made new friends from China, Italy, New
Zealand, and Portugal. After a quick dash to a
favorite pizza shack for lunch, we were back at
it.

There are three levels in the Anaheim
Convention Center. New this year was the ACC
North building, housing mostly software, P.A.
systems, and electronic parts. I was fortunate to
see the piano that was at Ford’s Theater the
Famous Piano from Ford’s Theater night President Lincoln was assassinated. As I
am a history buff, I spoke at length with the
ttps://www.fords.org/
curator and he answered lots of my questions.

Day 2 closed at 6:00 p.m. Admittedly still tired from our trip to Anaheim and all the walking we did (my pedometer read
16,999 steps), after dinner, we headed back to the hotel for some much-needed rest. No NAMM parties for us!

DAY 3, SATURDAY: This day began with an early wake up and media breakfast at the Hilton and more product
presentations. As we neared the convention building, I could see a band performing on the balcony. From where I was
standing, I can swear it was U2 performing. To confirm, I pulled out the zoom lens. False alarm! It was Hollywood U2, “The
World’s Greatest U2 Tribute Show” from Los Angeles. Almost had me fooled!

This morning the security metal detectors were out of commission on our side, so everyone just went on through like a
small “Black Friday” shopping crowd. Today, I focused on artists and celebrities. Note to self: I would make a horrible
paparazzi as whenever I saw large crowds around someone, I had to continuously ask, “Who is that?” Several times I
caught myself talking to a performer
Garry Gary Beers and J.D. Fortune of INXS and after a while, they would introduce
themselves as either Michael Jackson’s
(Jennifer Batton) or Madonna’s (Monte
Pittman) guitar players. Moving on, I
was fortunate to see a short set with
The Fells, featuring Garry Gary Beers
and J.D. Fortune of INXS. I chatted with
them and dismissed myself. I’m just not
the type of person who is star-struck.
However, speaking of “star-struck”, I
ran into two of my all-time favorite
artists, Gary Lenaire of Tourniquet
(Fishman Products) and Leo
Moracchioli (Frog Leap Studios) of
YouTube Fame and was able to share