[Bret L]

(Please forgive my intrusion back to the group. *It's probably
temporary, but I thought that I'd check in to see if anything is
different, and I see three topics of interest...)

THe NAMM show is a mixed bag for sure. *I don't find it nearly as
obnoxious as the writer does. *It's a great time to renew friendships,
meet new people, and get your music heard if you're lucky enough to get
asked to play at a booth. *I've been lucky to play with Laurence Juber
the past two years for a couple of tunes. *Muriel is a giant talent and
nice person. *She's in the rarified group of 10 or so SOTA acoustic
fingerstyle solo players along with LJ, Martin Simpson, Tony McManus,
Doug Smith, Ed Gerhard, Tommy Emmanuel, et al.

Oh, I think it's a great show, especially because if you're not
really in the industry it takes some moxie to get in. NAB and AES are
open to all and CES pretty much has been overrun by total consumos.

The writer is a guy who does business under the name Zachary. He's a
real eccentric, kind of like Howard Dumble. Weird ideas on guitar
building.