John Vitale had to catch his flight today, but was in the booth for a few hours. Here, he takes moment with new endorser John Hatton of the Brian Setzer Orchestra, and Steve Cook (of King Konga), our Band101 columnist. John's been using a CXC110 on local dates and has now decided what he wants for a touring rig. He'll be using a WT1205, with two pickups running simultaneously into the two channels. He chose a pair of D410XST cabinets for their depth and the fact that he can also take a mid-size rig (single cab) when needed. Steve is going to do an article on NAMM from his perspective of being an attendee as opposed to working a booth. We should have that on Wednesday's load.

The group pose. By the way, the reason you only see David or myself in a photo, but not both of us, is we were the official Camera Boys. Especially today, with many of the DSMs having already left, there wasn't someone to take pictures.

Brian Bromberg dropped by as promised, along with friend Bruce Stone. Brian is a huge Bill Clements fan, and has offered to produce Bill's next record. Brian also offered some sound business advice and many encouraging words for Bill.

Bill Leigh of Bass Player magazine showed up shortly after Brian. Here the two check out Bill's chops. You can see by the look on Bill's face that he's just as amazed at Bill's technique as the rest of us.

Rick Pelster and endorser Rev Jones (both of Black Symphony) stopped by to say goodbye to our featured artist, Bill Clements. Like virtually everyone who saw him, Rick and Rev both loved Bill's unique style. Also shown, John Hatton.

See what I mean? Now it's David's turn for the Photo Op, and I'm behind the camera.

Here's the Photo Op shot.

The two Bills discuss the future while David listens in.

Trae Daniels of POD came by for a quiet chat. Trae hinted at some fun stuff on the near horizon, but it's too early to be talking about it. Keep an eye on the web site, though...

Yes, Trae was blown away by Bill.

Endorser Uriah Duffy (Whitesnake) came by to hang for a bit and say goodbye. Shown here with Bill, Uriah's looking forward to the 2006 'Snake tour. We'll tell you more about that as the start draws closer.

Brian Bromberg took a considerable amount of time test driving everything, from the CXC110 combo to the WT405 and WT550, to the Navigator and the WT1205. David and I explained the controls and the different designs. When it came to the very technical stuff, David was on his own.

Dialing in the WT1205 with Brian.

Rev Jones and Steve Cook drop in for one last
goodbye. No, really...this is the last time.

Just a few hours later, the booth looked
like a teenager's bedroom.

It was great to finally meet Trae face to face. We talked about the web site and I hope to have Trae's basics (bio, picture, rig, etc.) up soon. This will be followed by some in-depth content in the near future.

After being mesmerized for several minutes by Bill's lightning fast sixteenth-note funk grooves, Trae said, "grab your camera; you gotta take a shot of us!"

Seth Horan made sure to drop by one last time before heading out. If you haven't heard him yet, you've got to check Seth out. Great chops, great songs, and a great personality.

David and Brian, dialing in the
perfect sound on the WT550.

And then waiting to hear the verdict. by the way, that's my laptop on top of those Nemesis pieces. You can easily see the Eden web site on the screen. We kept it there most of that day so we could show folks all the info available on the site.

Same with John Hatton, who gets in one last shot with Bill and Rev. Speaking of shots, thanks John for the lovely parting gift. We enjoyed that immensely, but only after we'd torn everything down and made it back to the hotel.

Loading the pallets. By this time, David and I were both just punchy. In this final picture, David is laughing so hard because I'm getting on David about box integrity and the whole "use no hooks" thing. After we'd done all we could do for the night, we headed for one last piece of pie at Coco's restaurant and a celebratory bottle of champaign back at the hotel.