Arrival, set up, show, tear down...all the food groups!
Arrival
Easy flight in, cab ride into Frankfurt
The Ollymobile arrives at the same time as we do.
Olly drove down from Koln with all of our gear.
Set up
With no Schenker knuckleheads to wait for we have all of our product
unloaded in a matter of minutes. Gio has made some great improvements
to the signage and the booth looks sweet before the drums are even unpacked.
No, these are the new Remo cajones...
The Pork Pie secret hand shake.
The Merchant of Venice...er...Balogna
Paul indulges in the art of "BS" - Build at Show.
This is what it looks like during set up. Boxes and crates in eveyones way.
Check out the Bonham cajones on the right.
In all it's glory - very proud of the final product.
Bouncers.
No. Not ever. Don't even ask.
Dunnett Classic
A rare MonoPly Cherry kit
Dunnett Classic and Geo. Way snare drums
MonoPly Milkwood in Gloss white
MonoPly X Teak, with the new Deco lugs, die cast hoops and a rare round badge.
The lugs were designed by Todd Rathkamp.
George Way Drum Co.
A rare and stunning Studio model in a Sparkling Blue fade.
Black Cherry Marine Pearl over a Legacy model.
My friend and colleague Anton Sutej (last name pronounced: Shoe-tey)
of Antonio drums. Anton, like myself, is an inventor and product developer.
Anton is the inventor of the slotted shell snare drum pictured below.
www.antoniodrums.com
Drumhead magazine's John Coviello stops in to check out a Way snare drum
Meet Ced, my dealer from All Music in France.
My pal Roberto Spizzichino and his son Ruben. Later on the pictorial
I pay a visit to Roberto's shop, so keep going!
My friend John McLaughlin happened to stop in.
Mason (a man never lost for words or ever unable to engage a perfect stranger in intimate conversation) couldn't bring himself to come over and introduce himself.
Paul Mason
Red Piano Award
This young lad stepped up and gave Mason a remedial lesson in food preparation..
What kind of dressing would you like on that?
Saturday at Messe is open to the public and bus loads of school children are driven in from the area to take part in what effectively becomes the world's largest Guitar Center for a day. Children with drum sticks often just run past the both swinging at anything that they thnk might make a sound. No dealer in his right mind would come on Saturday. The exhibitors...well, we have plugs and we just hold on and wait for it to be over.
This little girl does a drive by on some wind chimes.
WHY YOU LITTLE...
My pal Marcel who is the ultimate Bonham fan!
www.trommelladen.de
My friend Boris - a hard core Pork Pie endorser.
(Say Hi to Kimmy for me!)
TEMPUS Drums
Paul brought this sparkling blue beauty.
www.tempusdrums.com
Neil Grover (Grover Pro / Silver Fox) , Pat Brown (Promark) and Mason
Pork Pie
Bill Detamore brought 2 fine examples of his expertise in
the art of painting and making visual stunning, great sounding drums.
www.porkpiedrums.com
Tear down
Again, with no Schenker to deal with, we were torn down and packed in record time.
PTSMS Syndrome
Post Traumatic Saturday Messe Syndrome
Done! A very succesful show and a whole lotta fun.
I can't tell you how much I enjoy working with these guys.
True captains of industry and the best in the business.
A Fond Farewell...until 2009
Up next is our travelogue - you don't want to miss it!