Adventures at NAMM '26
- Cheryl Alterman | The Music Soup Editor
- 4 hours ago
- 7 min read
Every year when I attend the NAMM Show, I have a very different experience. And whether I go there with someone or on my own also changes the flavor of the weekend. This year, whilst contemplating my NAMM '26 adventure, to sum it up, I'd say it was all about people connections. Some of my NAMM friends that I see every year were not in attendance for one reason or another, and some that I haven't seen for several years were there. I ran into so many people I knew, it was hard to believe that NAMM had over 60,000 attendees in this its 125th year. It's always awesome to see friends from both near and far. This year I ran into some of each. One of the people that I met at NAMM more than a decade ago but haven't seen since before covid was my pal from the UK, drummer Stephen Jackson.
'Twas so nice catching up with him, that I missed my moment with Mike Dirnt (Green Day guitarist). However, sometimes the universe has other things in mind and during that hour, although I missed my time to meet Mike Dirnt, I happened to meet someone else in the Green Day world, Tommy Armstrong, Billie Joes' brother.
Connecting to Tommy Armstrong has given me an avenue to get some of my best Billie Joe photos directly to him thru this family member.
My NAMM '26 started off with a bang as there were more events in my calendar than a normal day should have. During the day I hung out with my pals from the awesome bay area band, Wreckless Strangers. And the biggest 'missing out incident' occurred when our group split up into two upstairs in the Yamaha room.
Mick and I stayed for the Yamaha drum demo whilst Amber and Dana went downstairs. Normally this is what happens...but on this day, within an hour of our one group becoming two...the one that I did not go with, that ventured downstairs, ran into none other than Stevie Wonder!!!! An hour after our split, my phone exploded with photos from Amber of Stevie and her, I was so excited for her. She got to chat with him, he put his arm around her and they even took photos together!
Which is something I've not seen him do very often. He attends NAMM every year, usually for more than one day, exploring the gear with his huge entourage. Last year I was invited to stand next to him at his piano bench whilst he demoed a keyboard. It will always remain one of the most memorable few minutes of my life. This year Amber got to have one of those incredible memories! Later, she called me with the excitement in her every word telling me all the details of what occured with her Stevie sighting. It was a godly moment for her as it was for me last year. I'm so happy that she got this amazing experience. But I do regret not being with her when it happened!
At 6pm on Thursday was the annual TEC Awards in the ballroom at the Hilton. Celebrating the winners with a lovely dinner and awards ceremony. I like this celebration as I always get to see my friend Michael Romanowski. Romo is a one of a kind mastering genius based in Northern California. Coast Mastering is the place to go if you want the best mastering done for your next album! With five Grammys under his belt already and hopefully another one coming his way in a couple days-he is da man when it comes to expertise in music mastering!
This year the TEC Awards were celebrating Billy Corgan from the Smashing Pumpkins. Corgan played a few tunes at the end of the evening, which for me was the highlight.
After the TEC Awards, the best bits of NAMM...music, music and more music! The Hilton and Marriott sit next to each other and the convention center so it's easy to go back and forth and catch as much live music as one can handle...and for me, I can handle as much as there is on offer! So traditionally I walk back and forth between the two lobbies until...well until it stops usually! This night was no exception ending at around 2am. I had to make some tough choices on this night and miss a few or double up. One of those that I chose to double up on was one set time for two artists I wanted to see. Both Taj Farrant and Wreckless Strangers played at 9pm-9.40 at different locations, so I split my time at both the Hilton and Marriott lobbies. I promised Mick (drummer in Wreckless Strangers) that I'd see the first 15 mins of their set, and I did-it was great as usual.
And then I ran over to the Marriott and saw my young Aussie friend Taj Farrant. I met Taj here 3 years ago when someone assured me I wouldn't want to miss this kid play. They were right and since then I'm a Taj fan and I've been saying the same thing to others. When I met Taj he was only 13 and had been playing since he was 7. Check out one of my past articles on Taj here. Taj is now 16 and is definitely hard at work securing his place in the music industry. He's got a new band and his sister Jazel has given up the drum kit for keys and is now part of Taj's band. The week prior to NAMM she turned the ripe ol' age of 15! And she is quickly growing into a beautiful young woman!
In this performance, Taj struggled as two guitar strings broke, and his band was not having a good day. It happens to everyone. And Taj handled it all like a pro. I've seen him several times and after each show, he'd say to me that as long as this show was better than the last, he's happy. This gig was not, but it happens to everyone and with Taj's maturity, talent and resilience, I'm sure he's put it behind him, learn from it, and the next show was probably much better. We all have off days. But he did handle it like a pro. Bravo Taj!
After 10 when Wreckless Strangers were done, we hung out and finished our evening into the wee hours. It was a fun first day of NAMM!
During the weekend there was so much great live music going on from morning till the wee hours. I was truely in my element. And to see people I dont get to see often was also such a beautiful gift! Some of the music standouts for me, were young singer songwriter, 13 year old Saxon Weiss,
Edi Callier, Water Tower, Alex Skolnick and as always the wonderful Ron Artis. I've known Ron and his gorgeous family for a few years now and it's always a joy to see him, his beautiful wife Julia and their five amazing kids all under the age of 10. Ida who is the eldest of the lot seems to have an eye for photography as well as the talent to perform onstage with her dad Ron. How Julia keeps the gang together gets big kudos from me! She is quite the rockstar in her own right!
At NAMM there are always so many things going on at the same time, one has to miss a lot. And at this NAMM for some reason I did not look at the events i pre booked in my calendar and I went with where ever things took me. I was once told that I have ADHD, and this year at NAMM proves to me that it's probably true. I seemed to see 'shiny things' throughout the weekend which made me miss out on a couple of my favorite annual events, one was the wonderful Remo drum circle.
On Saturday, I saw Arthur Hil, the leader of the drum circle for the past 3+ decades and I mentioned to him that I'm excited to attend later that day, when he informed me that it was yesterday - on Friday, as it's always been for the 30+ years! To say I was dissappointed was a major understatement! The Remo drum circle is and always has been my absolute favorite event at every Namm (along with the Stevie Wonder sightings). And this year I missed both of those, plus some other events I always look forward to but my ADHD got the best of me this year!. However, I'm so grateful I was able to attend, and I did get to make lots of great connections and possibly a couple of amazing business opportunities to unfold for me from this years NAMM Show in the near future.
Towards the end of each NAMM weekend, the companies that bring gear usually sell off whatever they came with so they don't have to bring it back home with them. I've never purchased any gear at NAMM but this time I made an exception. I bought myself a little electronic drum pad, complete with headphones and high hat and bass drum pedals. That evening, I was hanging with the drummer from the band Yachtley Crew, he checked out my new drum pad and said I did good with the purchase. As soon as I got home I played on it and it's turned out to be so much fun! He was right! And now I won't torment my neighbors by banging on my acoustic drum kit in the evening! During NAMM '26 I also ran into to locals, Josh Fossgreen (badass bassist) and his lovely wife Mandi Goldberg, Gas Money, and fabulous Elton John impersonator Kenny Metcalf. I always have a great time at NAMM and the NAMM Show 2026 was no exception. As always, remember..."Life is short...break the rules, forgive quickly, kiss slowly, love truly, laugh uncontrollably, meditate often, be kind to each other, and never regret anything that made you smile". And of course...see live music-as much as possible!
With peace, love, art and music,
Cheryl ☮ ❤️🎵
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©Cheryl Alterman Photography 2026
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