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Topic: 2008 Convention - A Few Observations |
Walter Stettner
From:
Vienna, Austria
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Posted 5 Sep 2008 1:22 am |
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For me, the long trip to St. Louis is one of the highlights every year, and this year was no exception. It is like a big family reunion, seing old friends and meeting nice people from all over the world, talking steel and listening to hours and hours of great music. Scotty and his family as well as all the support staff cannot be thanked enough for spending all the time to organize this show.
I noticed that the crowd was smaller than in previous years. Maybe because of gas price or Buddy Emmons not playing? It was usually impossible to get a seat close to the stage for the grand opening on Friday unless you had waited in line for one or two hours until the door was opened. This year you just walked in and got a chair close to the stage w/o any waiting.
Bill Ferguson and the sound crew had to do some hard work on the sound this year as there were some equipment problems (bad chords, dead amps etc.) However, the crew always works hard to provide good sound. I can imagine that it is not easy to adjust to all the players with different set-ups on their amps. I noticed that some players use a lot of bass on their settings which sometimes creates a droning sound, especially on the C-6th neck.
Although Scotty had announced the overhead camera, it was never installed during the weekend, I also missed the big ISCG poster in the back of the stage.
The line-up had some great new players (or some that haven't been playing for a long time) like Mike Johnson, Buck Reid, Neil Flanz, Al Perkins, Bert Rivera and John Heinrich which led to a wide variety of sounds and approaches to the instrument. I didn't hear all players on the main stage, but it was far from the often critizized "A Way To Survive"-only program. You could hear strict country as well as Jazz, Blues, some Bluegrass and other styles. John Heinrich played "Take Five", Al Perkins did "Crossroads", the Canadians played "One Way Rider" (Steve Piticco, what a player!), Bert Rivera played "Themes from Godfather" and the list goes on...
The Award Show: What can you say - Dolly Parton and Barbara Mandrell appearing to honor Don Warden and Norm Hamlet, Dolly even singing two songs! All three inductions are well deserved and make great additions to the HOF.
The playing in the siderooms was awesome. The Jazz Show and the Hawaiian Show were both great, he usual great shows could be seen in the Peavey room, lots of great playing could be heard in the Fulawka, Derby, ZumSteel, GFI and MSA rooms. The only bad thing is that you necessarily will miss a lot of great playing because you don't know who's going to play where and when and of course you only can be at one place at a time. 
All of this made the past weekend a very enjoyable experience and I am looking forward to be back next year.
Kind Regards, Walter
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www.lloydgreentribute.com |
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Thomas Cepek
From:
Berlin, Germany
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Posted 5 Sep 2008 1:44 am
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Yeah my friend Walter... well said. Nothing to add 
It was a great pleasure for me to travel with you to the convention my secomd time. You are such a great, friendly and helpfull guy and a real gentleman.
And your first playing at this convention was great. Nice tone, good song selection and friendly stage performance.
Hope to travel "together again" next year.
Warmest regards... your friend from Germany... Thomas  |
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Mike Brown
From:
Meridian, Mississippi USA
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Posted 5 Sep 2008 6:07 am The Convention
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Walter, thanks for your comments about the performing artists in the Peavey room. These artists do not get paid and are performing because of their love of performing.
Hats off to those artists!
Mike Brown
Peavey USA |
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James Sission
From:
Sugar Land,Texas USA
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Posted 5 Sep 2008 6:26 am
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There was a guy in the peavey room playing an upright bass at one point. He milled around the convention and when he could get up a jam, it happened where ever he might be standing. I sat in a little side bar on LL and listened to him, a fiddler, flat top picker and a steel player jam for at least an hour. He was one heck of a good singer and he was a ton of fun to watch. He did folk, cowboy poetry, jazz, blues and what ever else someone might want to do. I went to the peavey room a couple of time just to watch him and hear him sing.
For my first convention, I was amazed to discover what misconceptions there are on this forum. I too expected non-stop "Pick me up on your way down". That was NOT even close to the case. People are missing out thinking this is a "country" only event, as it was not limited to country music at all. I doubt I would go again simply because I could have bought a nice used steel for the cost of that trip, but I will certainly make arrangements to go to Dallas.....James |
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