Propellerhead

We thought, since some of you (probably a lot of you) have never been to NAMM, and since our SpyCam reports can be a bit sketchy and scattered, so here's a more structured photo story of what it's like.

The first thing you see when you walk in off the street is the beautiful concrete arena, the one the Propellerhead booth is right next to.

To get to the main entrance, though, you walk down a narrow passage, filled with those ever-present palm trees.

And there's the main entrance right there.

Right inside the doors, you have the NAMM merchandise store that, among a lot of other things, carry this... shay we say 'remnant of the summer of love'?

Then it's time to go inside. Be prepared to show your badge, your ID and have your bag searched at all times - NAMM security is tight.

And then you're inside. This photo does not give it justice, the sheer enormity of it all demands that you'd climb to the ceiling for a photo and there's that NAMM security staff stopping you. Just try to imagine acres of music gear, filled with musicians and music industry people. And guitars! Who knew there were so many of them?

Some booths are really elaborate and must have cost millions. This is (qite obviously) the entrance to the BOSS section of the Roland Booth (the glowing things on the wall to the right are 100 BOSS TU-2 stomp tuners, synced to flash in unison).

Others aren't quite as elaborate. Still, it's not all about the flashiest booth, having the nicest staff will also take you a long way.

You'll see *all* kinds of style, including some very sharp or far-out dressers.

And all kind of hair-dos

We mean ALL kinds!

No, really!

And then there's music! All the time, in all booths, there's music playing and there are also proper concerts, like this one, in the main lobby. We're all looking forward to seeing Carebears on fire on Sunday!

Not only do you get a lot of bona fide rock stars at NAMM, you also get clones. Most people settle for looking a lot like, say, Scott 'not' Ian or Tom Araya, but some people go all the way!

Some companies (and we don't mean to be rude here, but most of them sell guitar related products) think the best way to attract people is to have nice looking ladies with little clothes on in their booths: Booth Babes.

Not these guys though. These makers of boutique pedals had one of the most laidback booths of the show. In just a couple of days, they made it look messy enough for it to have been there for years and years. Beautiful looking gear though!

Speaking of laid-back... these Chinese bull horn salsemen don't seem to interested in talking to anyone about their products, they're very busy reading.