Marie and I have just returned from our annual trip to Anaheim. This year was different (and better) in many ways. We got off to a slow start at Denver Airport with a ground stop at John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana. The delay only cost us 90 minutes which, in the scheme of things, wasn't that bad. The next curve ball was an aborted landing as we were on approach. That led to another 10-15 minutes in the air but a cool tour of Orange County from 2800 ft in a 737 at no extra charge!

Thankfully all was well and we were on our way. One of the most exciting things that was different this year was being joined by my cousins and my brother. That really made it special.


NAMM itself still has not returned to its pre-Covid size but it's still a great show and is an economical way to see almost everyone you need to in one spot (vendors, old friends, new friends, mentors, etc). One trip, many purposes.
Some highlights below:









It was a great show and much was accomplished on all fronts. Brett performed with the Mike Risko Band. They did a great job and the band sounded great.

Afterwards, Brett and I were checking out drum gear on the show floor.

A big highlight for me was shooting an impromptu promotional video for one of my favorite pieces of outboard gear. Old NY friend Jon Haber (Alto Music, RAD Distribution) blasted this out on all of his social media channels so it got a lot of visibility for me and the studio. Thanks Jon!

We're back to reality now and back to hounding our contractor and sub contrators to get our rooms done! The inability to produce music the way I want to is really bothering me. The sooner we get it done, the sooner I'll be back in my happy place. In the meantime, I've setup ProTools and my Genelec monitors so I can continue production of the third Soul Rash album. It's coming along, but I need my studio complete because I want to track drums, bass and additional guitars, keys and vocals here!!
Thank you to all of our music industry friends old and new as well as the family. It was a great time and was a success on both business and personal fronts.
Until next time! - JJR
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