Tim Wilson beamed as a small crowd gathered to pay tribute to his late father Don Wilson, rhythm guitarist for the Ventures, at a booth at the NAMM Show in Anaheim on Friday.
“It’s fabulous. It’s just wonderful,” Wilson said as one person after another came up to say how much the music his father and the Ventures made had meant to them.
Don Wilson, who died in January at 88, and his friend Bob Bogle were construction workers in Washington in the late ’50s when they decided there had to be something better to do.
Tim Wilson, the son of guitarist Don Wilson, shows off a guitar with signature from The Ventures, during a tribute to his dad during the NAMM Show at the convention center in Anaheim, CA, on Friday, June 2, 2022. Don Wilson, co-founded the instrumental guitar band the Ventures, whose hits included the surf-rock standard “Walk, Don’t Run” and a version of the theme song for the 1960s TV show “Hawaii Five-O,” died Jan. 22 in Tacoma, Wash. He was 88.
(Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Tim Wilson, the son of guitarist Don Wilson, raises a glass to his dad during a tribute at the NAMM Show at the convention center in Anaheim, CA, on Friday, June 2, 2022. Don Wilson, co-founded the instrumental guitar band the Ventures, whose hits included the surf-rock standard “Walk, Don’t Run” and a version of the theme song for the 1960s TV show “Hawaii Five-O,” died Jan. 22 in Tacoma, Wash. He was 88.
(Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Photographer Lisa S. Johnson with her new book about famous guitars during the NAMM Show at the convention center in Anaheim, CA, on Friday, June 2, 2022.
(Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Tim Wilson, the son of guitarist Don Wilson, during a tribute to his dad at the NAMM Show at the convention center in Anaheim, CA, on Friday, June 2, 2022. Don Wilson, co-founded the instrumental guitar band the Ventures, whose hits included the surf-rock standard “Walk, Don’t Run” and a version of the theme song for the 1960s TV show “Hawaii Five-O,” died Jan. 22 in Tacoma, Wash. He was 88.
(Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Surf musician Bob Spickard laughs with friends during a tribute to Don Wilson during the NAMM Show at the convention center in Anaheim, CA, on Friday, June 2, 2022. As part of The Chantays, a surf band from Orange Clinty, Spickard co-wrote the song of “Pipeline”.
(Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Jordan Rudess, of the progressive metal band Dream Theater and the progressive metal supergroup Liquid Tension Experiment, plays during the NAMM Show at the convention center in Anaheim, CA, on Friday, June 2, 2022.
(Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Jordan Rudess, of the progressive metal band Dream Theater and the progressive metal supergroup Liquid Tension Experiment, plays during the NAMM Show at the convention center in Anaheim, CA, on Friday, June 2, 2022.
(Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
The Pumps play at the Ultimate Ears booth during the NAMM Show at the convention center in Anaheim, CA, on Friday, June 2, 2022.
(Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
The NAMM Show at the convention center in Anaheim, CA, on Friday, June 2, 2022.
(Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Fruit-inspired ukuleles in the Kala Brans Music Company booth during the NAMM Show at the convention center in Anaheim, CA, on Friday, June 2, 2022.
(Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Cristian Correa, left and Marcelo Correa takes a selfie near one of the entrances during the NAMM Show at the convention center in Anaheim, CA, on Friday, June 2, 2022.
(Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Rocky Gordon plays during the NAMM Show at the convention center in Anaheim, CA, on Friday, June 2, 2022.
(Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
The Disneyland Band opens the NAMM Show at the convention center in Anaheim, CA, on Friday, June 2, 2022.
(Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
The courtyard in front of the main entrance during the NAMM Show at the convention center in Anaheim, CA, on Friday, June 2, 2022.
(Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Clara Marie Lund sits with her 3-month-old son, Nooa Lund Charkviani, away from the drums during the NAMM Show at the convention center in Anaheim, CA, on Friday, June 2, 2022.
(Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Tracy Sherman cleans the NAMM sign during the NAMM Show at the convention center in Anaheim, CA, on Friday, June 2, 2022.
(Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Photographer Lisa S. Johnson with her new book about famous guitars during the NAMM Show at the convention center in Anaheim, CA, on Friday, June 2, 2022.
(Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
James Shaw takes a selfie during the NAMM Show at the convention center in Anaheim, CA, on Friday, June 2, 2022.
(Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Visitors have plenty of room during the paired-down NAMM Show at the convention center in Anaheim, CA, on Friday, June 2, 2022.
(Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Tracy Sherman cleans the NAMM sign during the NAMM Show at the convention center in Anaheim, CA, on Friday, June 2, 2022.
(Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Musicians check out instruments at Taylor Guitars during the NAMM Show at the convention center in Anaheim, CA, on Friday, June 2, 2022.
(Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
The Pumps play at the Ultimate Ears booth during the NAMM Show at the convention center in Anaheim, CA, on Friday, June 2, 2022.
(Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Alfonso Montes plays guitar as he waits for visitors to the Vicente Carrillo Guitars booth during the NAMM Show at the convention center in Anaheim, CA, on Friday, June 2, 2022.
(Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
The Pumps play at the Ultimate Ears booth during the NAMM Show at the convention center in Anaheim, CA, on Friday, June 2, 2022.
(Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Coressa Garza, a facilities services work at the convention center, pops bubbles filled with smoke at the Chauvet DJ booth during the NAMM Show at the convention center in Anaheim, CA, on Friday, June 2, 2022.
(Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Robert Rudolf Engelberts checks out bubbles filled with smoke at the Chauvet DJ booth during the NAMM Show at the convention center in Anaheim, CA, on Friday, June 2, 2022.
(Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Perry Damiri takes a selfie as he enters during the NAMM Show at the convention center in Anaheim, CA, on Friday, June 2, 2022.
(Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Visitors check out the wolf guitar at the ESP Guitars room during the NAMM Show at the convention center in Anaheim, CA, on Friday, June 2, 2022.
(Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Artwork on the walls at Rocking the Clock during the NAMM Show at the convention center in Anaheim, CA, on Friday, June 2, 2022.
(Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
The NAMM Show at the convention center in Anaheim, CA, on Friday, June 2, 2022.
(Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
The Disneyland Band opens the NAMM Show at the convention center in Anaheim, CA, on Friday, June 2, 2022.
(Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Visitors pose with a NAMM sign during the NAMM Show in Anaheim, CA, on Friday, June 2, 2022.
(Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Joey DeFrancesco, center, chats with Brian Ho, left, and Evio Previati during the NAMM Show at the convention center in Anaheim, CA, on Friday, June 2, 2022. is a jazz organist, trumpeter, saxophonist and singer. He has released more than 30 albums under his own name, as well as recording extensively with Miles Davis, Houston Person and John McLaughlin early in his career.
(Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Visitors try to find their way during the NAMM Show at the convention center in Anaheim, CA, on Friday, June 2, 2022.
(Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
The Pumps play at the Ultimate Ears booth during the NAMM Show at the convention center in Anaheim, CA, on Friday, June 2, 2022.
(Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
The Pumps play at the Ultimate Ears booth during the NAMM Show at the convention center in Anaheim, CA, on Friday, June 2, 2022.
(Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Maddox Kennerson checks out the equipment at Walrus Audio during the NAMM Show at the convention center in Anaheim, CA, on Friday, June 2, 2022.
(Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
“They bought two cheap guitars, and during the week they’d stay in Eastern Washington, where they working, with nothing to do but learn how to play,” Wilson said. “A year and a half later they had the No.2 hit in the nation.”
That 1960 release, “Walk, Don’t Run,” wasn’t a surf rock song, though it influenced the popularity of that music.
“People always say, ‘Pipeline,’ that’s the Ventures,’ ” Spickard said as he mingled at the event inside the Anaheim Convention Center. “I say, ‘No, it’s the Chantays.’
“But I probably did as well with their version as I did with mine,” the Huntington Beach resident said. “I say, ‘Thank God for the Ventures.’”
Friday was the first day of the first in-person version of the NAMM Show since January 2020 before the pandemic shut it all down. This version is a hybrid — the in-person component smaller than in the past, with a virtual version allowing many more to participate remotely.
The exhibition halls, though, still echo as usual from musicians and merchants trying out new lines of instruments from guitars to tubas, DJ equipment to smoke-and-fog machines.
Here’s what else we discovered on Friday at the NAMM Show.
Coming home
Keyboardist Jordan Rudess of the progressive metal band Dream Theater walked off stage in Istanbul on Wednesday night and caught a flight to Southern California where on Friday morning he was demonstrating Black BT’s new SusEx foot pedal in a booth at NAMM.
“I waved goodbye to 8,000 people and here I am,” Rudess said, laughing as he admitted he still wasn’t quite sure what time of day his body thought it was.
But the NAMM Show is, and has long been, important to him.
“It’s not only a chance to see all my friends, but it’s also a chance to check out the new technology,” Rudess said.
During the pandemic, he improvised new ways to connect with people from his home outside of New York City. He livestreamed, set up a Patreon account, worked with the developers of Pocket Piano, a new modular piano from Triple G Ventures, which shared the same booth with the foot pedal folks.
But none of that compared to walking onto the floor at the NAMM Show on Friday, he said.
“This is where you make friends and really connect with people,” Rudess said.
The hitmakers
The NAMM Show also featured fewer panels and presentations than normal this year, though scattered throughout the day there were still fascinating conversations to be found.
“Life of a Hit Song” was one of the best. Hosted by musician and producer Don Miggs, it featured Bob Clearmountain, Tony Brown, and Mark Needham, three men who have produced, engineered or mixed scores of commercial and critical hits going back decades.
Clearmountain, who has mixed albums including the Rolling Stones‘ “Tattoo You,” David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance,” and Bruce Springsteen‘s “Born In The USA,” said there are times you hear a song in the studio and just know it’s destined for something great.
“When we cut Chic’s ‘Good Times,’ I was just recording it, they came in and I thought that sounds like a hit,” Clearmountain said. “I turned to Bernard Edwards and said, ‘Where did you come up with that (bleepin’) bass line?’
“He says, ‘Oh, you like it?’” he said. “I don’t know if they knew it was a hit or not. It was just a song to them at the time.”
Needham, whose worked with the Killers and Imagine Dragons since their earliest days, says he was sure the then-still-unsigned Killers’ “Mr. Brightside” would be a hit.
“But then we got kicked out of every (record label) office for a year,” Needham said. “Finally we got a little label in England to put out ‘Mr. Brightside’ and it blew up.’”
A mixer is there to help the artist get the sounds they hear in their heads into the track, he and Clearmount agreed. When you’re producing, too, you can push the artist in different, more forceful ways.
“When we first worked with Chris Isaak the band didn’t want any reverb on it,” Needham said of the way in which a good nudge or two can help open new avenues for an artist or a song. “That ended up being the identity of his sound, ‘Wicked Game,’ with that big reverb on the guitar.”
The Nashville-based Brown has worked on more than 100 No. 1 county songs, often with stars such as Reba McIntyre, George Strait and Vince Gill. He’s also long been known as a progressive country producer, and a godfather of the Americana movement for his work with artists such as Lyle Lovett, Steve Earle, and Nancy Griffith.
Brown said he doesn’t really feel at home with the sounds on many of the modern hit songs today, whether it’s the so-called “bro country” of the past decade, or the records atop the pop charts.
“It’s as much about trends, beats and youth more than songs,” he said. “I don’t even relate to much of country music today.
“They’re using loops. I need a band.”
Gorgeous guitars
Photographer Lisa Johnson invited Tim Wilson to use her booth for the Don Wilson memorial on Friday. But her main reason for the booth is for the coffee table books featuring her photographs of the guitars of well-known musicians.
“Immortal Axes: Guitars That Rock,” which was published in late 2021, is her second after 2013’s “108 Rock Star Guitars.”
For the new book, there are both more guitars that belong to female guitarists, such as Lucinda Williams and Bonnie Raitt, and more portraits of musicians with their instruments, including guitarists such as John Mayall of the Bluesbreakers and Dave Davies of the Kinks.
Flipping through the pages of “Immortal Axes” she paused at the two pages dedicated to Lucinda Williams’ instruments. A John Trussart Steelcaster with roses engraved in its silver finishes is discolored where Williams’ sweat has soaked in. A strip of black electrical tape covers some minor mishap.
Johnson says that when she showed the photograph to Trussart he was shocked, and asked her, “Why does she have that black tape on there? Why doesn’t she bring this in for me to fix it?”
But that’s one of the things Johnson said she loves about photographing these guitars that have lived a life in the studio or on the road, sometimes for many, many years.
“It shows me without her being in the photo that she’s a practical woman,” Johnson said. “That’s wonderful.”
