NERFA – Day 3…

...woke up around 7:30. Yes folks, that would indeed be 4 and a half hours of sleep. I did stay in bed until 9 am, but I don’t really think I slept much more truth be told.

I think the one thing that is the most overwhelming for me is the constant din. The noise of so many people in a relatively confined space all speaking at once is sometimes deafening, and I have constant ringing in my ears as it is. The exhibit hall for instance is very loud, and I find that I have to speak loudly to the person with whom I’m speaking. Now, I have a bit of a sore throat and I feel hoarse, which is not good for me today because…

I was asked to play in the “Golden Ticket” showcase this afternoon, sponsored by Focus out of the D.C. area. It was geared for venue hosts and presenters, and one of the presenters asked me to play – it’s a huge honor, and I was very honored to have been asked! I think I did OK, got some very helpful feedback too, and managed to unload some CDs on some of the presenters there.

Meanwhile, back in the exhibit hall, I found a new-to-me custom guitar maker, Randy S. Muth, who I think I will have to look into a little bit more. The guitars were really sweet… small bodied with slimmer necks, great string action, and a surprising amount of resonance and volume for the body size. I would like to play these guitars outside of a noisy exhibit hall, to really hear what they sound like, but I was very impressed. I’m sure they must cost a small fortune, but I’m also sure they’re worth it. And besides that, they were absolutely beautiful!

Not uncommon at NERFA (from what I understand) is the impromptu jams in the stairwells. On one of my hoof-it-up-the-stairs runs, I ran into Jay Mankita and Peter Siegel, who were thoroughly entertaining and very talented. And they asked me to play a song for them as well – really nice to get some positive feedback from my peers!

Now? I'm just waiting for the Tricentric showcases to start, and then after that will be more guerrilla showcases. It's likely to be another very late night, but no worries... I have Fogbuster coffee to get me through!