NAMM 2008 came and went, with fans and music celebs flooding the Anaheim Convention Center. Weekly web photographer Christopher Victorio dropped by the madhouse on Saturday and ran into folks from Slipknot, Megadeth, Queensryche, Motley Crue and even Playmate of the Year Sara Jean Underwood. Photos galore over here.
After rubbing elbows (literally, the floor was packed!) with folks with bad hair at NAMM, Chris headed to the Jolly Roger next door for another gearhead tradition: Deke Dickerson's Geek Guitarfest. Though he had to run to San Diego for another shoot, CV was mighty impressed by the acts he caught, namely James Calvin Wilsey and Lester Peabody. (Click the links and have a listen for yourself.)
On Sunday, the New York Times ran a piece on locally-grown kiddie show Yo Gabba Gabba and mentioned OC Weekly in it. Why they couldn't have done the same in an article on Carona that ran last week is beyond us.
Also on Sunday: The shocking news that Los Angeles Times publisher David Hiller fired editor-in-chief Jim O'Shea broke. The dismissal supposedly came over a heated talk about budget cuts. Sound familiar? Former LAT editor Dean Baquet left under similar “circumstances.” I remember standing in a along with other Times employees in a packed section of the editorial floor late 2006 when O'Shea addressed his staff for the first time. Print -outs of Dean Baquet's face were taped to walls and cubicles and reporters and editors greeted his successor with folded arms and questions about how much of the paper was going to come out of Chicago from then on. Hard to believe O'Shea's time's up already. I somehow doubt they'll be sticking his face around the newsroom, though.
What else happened. . .LYT tried to beam himself back to his mother planet to no avail. (See lower photo. Review of that new Trekkie exhibit in Long Beach coming later today.)
Gustavo Arellano picked a fight with some hipsters on behalf of his one true love (after his lovely girlfriend, of course), accurate history.
Dave Segal drove to L.A. to see Lichens and Om at the Echoplex. (Lichens is a one-man, eerie ambient orchestra; Om are a bass/drums power duo making masterly mystical metal, he informs us. We suspect he had a good time.)
And Christopher met up with folks from former seasons of The Amazing Race for a finals party Sunday night. Incidentally, the winning team was from OC. Hooray. Pictures to come.
