Don't be fooled by the previews. It's pretty predictable, I thought Kim Basinger's acting was f**king shocking...parts of the movie I sat there saying to myself "Why would you do that you fucking fool!?" shall I go on?
NAMM was cool. Tiring, but generally an eye opener! Can't say I'd wanna live in the States - it's very weird. Watching ever-so one-sided news reports on the Iraq (& soon bleeding into Iran) thing was un-fucking-believable. Eating American food (if you can generally call a lot of it "food"). Americans can't talk softly.
Got to meet Vinnie Paul & a few others. Gave Vinnie & Rita condolences on behalf of all Australian metalheads & they were genuinely touched by the sentiment. That was cool. Saw Scott Ian walk past me while I was on the phone to Jen. Saw Yngwie at the Marshall stand, just hanging around watching all the young kids go "Who's that fat bastard in the vinyl pants?". Saw Paul Gilbert at the ESP stand. Kerry King walked past me near the BC Rich stand. Saw Billy Sheehan play live again. Freak. Zakk Wylde at an invite only GHS/Guitar World gig. Very cool. Got drunk with the boss of Zoom corporation & his next in line who is a big Dungeon fan - he (get this!) told me he thought my basslines in ARTP were great & that album is one of his all time favourites... a "Metal Masterpiece" as he said. I told him I haven't even touched my bass since quitting Dungeon & he looked like a sad little (very little!) kid.
So many cool guitars/amps/new stuff in general it'd take a day of blabbering to tell you about it.....