Yamaha at the Marriott ballroom - NAMM 2010

Yamaha occupied an entire ballroom in the Marriott, a short sprint across from the Anaheim Convention Center.

I caught up with long time supporter of Xenovibes, Western Regional Manager, Frank Yardley who gave me a tour of the ‘booth’ beginning with my favourite department; the wonderful world of electronic wiz.

John Anthony Martinez, my Xenovibes partner, and I have toured in confidence knowing that no matter where we landed there was a Yamaha representative. When we arrived in NYC for Moogfest07 at B B King in the rain there was rep Eugeni with a DTXpress III. At the 2004 Xenovibes premier in Singapore, Yamaha Asia had a DTXpress II ready for our rehearsal. An O1X mixer/HUI complete with MLan and two 32-bit multi-effects processors was bought to record the show; an item I’ve since used faithfully on every CD. On the other end of the musical instrument spectrum, a Yamaha C3 concert grand was my instrument in my undergraduate years at the Elder Conservatorium …

John and I (Xenovibes) at BB King Times Sq NYC 2007

But then I digress. What can I say about Yamaha except it is a name associated with innovation and quality.

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Suspyre's 3rd CD cover (courtesy of the band)

Ages are believed to correlate to the rise and fall of mighty civilisations and cultural tendencies,  with Aquarius traditionally ruling electricity, computers, democracy, humanitarianism, idealists, rebels and rebellion… so reads the Wikipedia entry.

It was no coincidence that the weekend I was exposed to “Hair” on Broadway, I should have on my travel schedule an encounter with Gregg Rossetti (please role the ‘R’s’ con brio), his band of merry men, his Lady April, and Lord Thomas Brislin, who wields a mighty axe; all chaperoned by Lady Jill Hughes-Kirtland.

Fair and long-haired leader Gregg is a student of Renaissance music while Sir Tom just joined 70s British progressive rock band Renaissance for its upcoming revival tour. The consistency in a certain tiny detail got me highly suspicious indeed.

The Renaissance (Rinascimento means ‘rebirth’) was considered a cultural advancement from the Middle Ages. The modus operandi of the Renaissance man was to champion ‘progress’. This ‘detail’ was to lead me to demand their inquisition at the watering hole known as Bar East.

As Jupiter aligned with Mars, my parallel universes were to move towards various head-on collisions.

This time, the scene is ‘just another Summer’s night’ in NYC. The drizzle would not abate as I walk the 9 minutes from the subway station to 1st Ave, between 89th and 90th Street.
Time check: 19:45; Place: Bar East. Target: New Jersey progressive metal band Suspyre. (#1)

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