All About You FRIDAY – Narrative and Nostalgia

It’s 5:47 a.m. and I’m sitting in the quiet darkness of a hotel in Anaheim, CA. I spent most of yesterday knocking off a bucket list item: attending the NAMM Show. For those of you unfamiliar, NAMM is a massive annual trade show for music manufacturers, retailers and professionals. Upwards of 62,000 attendees fill the Anaheim Convention Center and this is the first year they opened it up to regular people like me. I’ve spent years watching NAMM Show videos, learning about the latest gear and instruments, even if I never intended to purchase any of it. I don’t really need another guitar. (Actually, I always could use a few more, but I thought I’d state that just in case an important person in my household is reading).

Instrument makers from all over the world are representing their goods and I logged some major miles walking by all of their booths. Of special interest, of course, are the guitars.

Look at all of them! (and this is just a small sample of the showroom floor). I know for at least some of you, there is some desire to just pick every one of them up and strum a few chords, or maybe add a few to your wall. The personality and emotion that each one evokes in me is enough to make me hang out amongst them for just a little bit longer.

The guitars are priced from $50 to over $1M in some cases, like the 3 Millionth Martin Guitar ever made. But amongst all the shine and glitter, there was this display:

Ever hear of Terry Reid? I never had, but I came back to the hotel room and listened to some of his music. Nicknamed “Superlungs”, he launched his musical career after leaving school at the age of 15. His voice was emotional and he had such power and control that, in the words of Esther Phillips, “he could go from a whisper to a scream in split seconds.” In what many thought was career suicide, he turned down invitations to join Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple because their music wasn’t his style, instead enjoying a quieter career. When asked if he regretted it, he said he was content with his choices. “I don’t sit around going over old coals,” he said.

The guitar in the picture above is a replica, as are these guitars that represent the five stages of his career:

These guitars were a project by Italian Luthier, Fabrizio Paoletti, who collaborated with Reid in 2022 to ensure the instruments accurately represented the ones he played from the 60’s to the 80’s. The forearm sweat marks, worn off paint and scratch marks tell the stories of Reid’s career. It makes me happy to know he got to see them before he died.

“Why would anyone want any of those guitars?” a young boy was heard saying. “It’s like they are broken.”

A man in his 70’s replied, “For someone like me, I want one because I won’t be around long enough to make them look like that.”

Liz gifted me a beautiful Martin 000 Jr acoustic guitar for Christmas. It has been on my wishlist for awhile and it was a total surprise that I got it. I play it every chance I get. Some might say I don’t need my Little Martin LX1E anymore. It’s a smaller body guitar that isn’t even made of real wood. I bought it at a time when I didn’t have a lot of money and when I was single and just wanted something small to play while I sat in my bed.

But I’m hard-pressed to get rid of it. It hangs on my wall with it’s worn out veneer and scratches where a pick guard never was. That guitar soaked up my loneliness and some tears. It holds stories and history. It is also the guitar that carried me through the pandemic and launched a duo that has allowed me claim the title of professional musician. I am not a professional a lot, but I have been paid to play. So, I’ll hang onto it even as I begin to make history with my new Martin.

The shiny guitars are nice. But we are drawn to things that tell a story and we long for the familiar warmth the brain already knows. Narrative and nostalgia. There is something to be said about that.

It’s been a great week. Maybe I’ll head back over to the expo hall and just look at all the guitars one more time. One day, someone is going to take one of those home and make some history. That is reason to celebrate.

Until next time…