Anyway, here are some of the industry's most memorable NAMM moments uncut and (mostly) uncensored, and now made public for the first time, and offered for your entertainment. These are listed in no particular order, but I'll get the ball rolling with one of my faves. Interestingly, most of the people we contacted had tons of great stories, but on second thought felt some should remain "private." However, it you have a NAMM tale to add, send it to gpetersen@mixonline.com.

You Mean THAT Mitch????
Some years ago, I was at Summer NAMM and walking around the riverfront area about midnight. After an evening of drinks and a business dinner, I was heading back to my hotel for some much-needed rest when a friend stopped me and asked if I wanted to have a beer and talk with him and his friend Mitch. A diminutive guy (maybe everybody looks diminutive when you're big like me), Mitch had with graying hair and seemed like a nice fellow, but I left, telling them I was tired and really needed some sleep. The next day, I saw my friend at the show and he said he was surprised that with me being a drummer and a major Hendrix fan, I turned down having drinks with Mitch Mitchell. I was shocked and stunned, to say the least! Moral: The next time anyone introduces me to a musical god/icon/genius who I might not immediately recognize (after all, that Are You Experienced? cover photo was taken 40 year ago!), please tell me their whole name.
-- George Petersen
Mix magazine

Watch that Door!
Here's a strange little NAMM story that happened to me last year. The night before the first night of the show, I was in my hotel room getting ready for bed. For some reason I decided to turn off all of the lights and needed to walk in the dark into my bedroom. I held both hands out in front of me not wanting to run into anything. However, the bedroom door managed to make its way right between my outstretched arms and I hit the corner of the door on my forehead walking full speed! When I turned on the lights I could see my forehead was gushing with blood. At the show, the next day, I had a big gnarly bump and gash on my forehead which I covered with a band aid. It was pretty embarrassing.
-- Brad Zell
PreSonus Audio Electronics

Rolling Along
It was the first NAMM show I attended, I think in January 1975. It was at the Marriott at LAX, prior to moving to the Disneyland Hotel. I was checking out the Travis Bean electrics and a fellow approached me in the aisle. He was hyping his new concept for a business card. It was a pack of cigarette rolling papers with the cover printed like a business card. Far out, man!
-- Kurt Listug
Taylor Guitars

Anyway, here are some of the industry's most memorable NAMM moments uncut and (mostly) uncensored, and now made public for the first time, and offered for your entertainment. These are listed in no particular order, but I'll get the ball rolling with one of my faves. Interestingly, most of the people we contacted had tons of great stories, but on second thought felt some should remain "private." However, it you have a NAMM tale to add, send it to gpetersen@mixonline.com.

Take It to "11"
Back when I worked at Shure, I was the organizer of one of the most legendary NAMM concerts, the free Spinal Tap concert at the Hilton in 2001. From the hiring of the little people to backstage amenities, the entire experience was so appropriately surreal that it's difficult to pick just one memory to share. The thing I most remember was soundcheck. We had the full-blown California Ballroom, a shiny new line array system and a band that really does turn everything up to "11." Several of us Shure folk were watching the rehearsal, which just got louder and louder until we noticed a couple heavy, 5-inch-long crystals from the massive chandelier 30 feet above had been shaken from their moorings and had fallen directly into the seating area. Suddenly, we were faced with the possibility of actually doing bodily harm to the audience, giving new meaning to the phrase "killer sound." Thankfully, the 3,000 attendees that night absorbed enough SPL to keep everything under control, and the show was everything we could have asked for.
-- Jack Kontney
Kontney Communications Inc.

The Show Must Go On
Once, Taylor clinician Dan Crary and Piedmont blues master John Cephas were onstage in the Taylor booth, and Cephas took a cell-phone call. He didn't realize that the soundcheck had ended 10 minutes earlier and that his mic was live, and he began negotiating his fee for another gig, right in front of the audience in the middle of their set! Then there was the Dan Crary-on-the-Titanic moment, when Dan was playing solo and the convention center fire alarm went off. Lights were flashing, horns were horning, people were confused and pouring out of the convention center...Crary looked up for a second but never stopped playing, saying something like, "The hell with it, I'm playing through..."
-- John D'Agostino
Taylor Guitars

Bathroom Tales
We walked into a bathroom at the Marriott to find two extremely inebriated famous session drummers, lit up and trading studio stories of the hit records they had played on. One was leaning against the wall holding his stomach because the other was making him laugh so hard. They were trashing artists and commenting on how bad the songs were. One went on to tell us mere mortals how he put the 'backbone' in [a hit record by a very popular artist] and without his drumming the record would never have made it because the songs had 'zero substance, and were total !*^$+!$!!@'! I hung out in that bathroom for about 20 minutes. It was a great 'fly on the wall' moment.
-- Andy Lund
Taylor Guitars