Backdoor Bob Owens #2 (final night of Namm)

So we are walking through the Marriot at Namm in an odd strategically lost manner. Bob looks at me as we walk down this narrow hall and says to me , i only have 2 rules

1) Follow me no matter what i say or do. (bold for a first rule, but i'm rolling with it)
2) Always act like your suppose to be there.

Simple enough. Bill then looks at me and says incase you haven't noticed this is why we call him "Backdoor Bob" He can sneak in everywhere. In any-case, im down. I fall back, let Bob address the security and front table and he gives me & Bill this "look" and we walk straight into a private party. lame he says after 2 mins, he's right it's this small hall in the back corner of the Marriott where everyone is treating it like some VIP area. I guess it was a VIP party however , it was just a smaller version of the past hall we were in. So again, Bob seems to have it down , we hit the bar grab 4 more unopened beers and place them in the bag , this i now realize is our traveller bag, and we press on to the next party.

This is where we walk in directly through the back door of a huge conference hall inside the hotel. Bob walks over to the bar and starts chatting with a gentleman there. Me and Bill keep chatting away as the venue looks like its starting to fill up, maybe 1000 + people. The more i chat with Bill i get the nostalgic feeling him and Bob go way back and have not had a good night out together in a long time. Bob returns to the table and says "lets head out , well come back to this party". We walk and now Bob reaches in the bag and pulls out some fresh pints, i have noticed now the bag has a clinking sound coming from it as Bob has almost a full stock of roadies at this point. We make a quick stop at the washroom in the hotel and im beginning to get the idea Bob is Veteran to this Namm hustle.

When Bob returns from the washroom he pulls out his app and we go over some options. Bill has a friend that is doing live sound at a at a show close by and he wants to take us and introduce us. His friend has developed a program that allows wireless mixing from multiple locations. (ie this venue has a patio, so we show up and there are 4 guys mixing the show as its going on. They all are sitting down with an ipad mixing from different places in the venue, assuring the audience all gets a good mix based on there seat. Being an artist and an avid live music fan, this thing is unbelievable.

From here , we enjoy an great instrumental band and Bill gets a chance to catch up with his old friends as they demo the new toy. We just relax on the patio and drink our beers out of the Namm grab bag .It dawns on me Bob is such a veteran. 24 years in row to Namm Bob tells me to be exact. The patio show is interrupted as Bob has us dialled in to get back to one of the original parties, so we head back to the hotel. We enter back into one of the big halls where the lineup of guitars players performing is star studded. What's interesting about this show is the company putting it on is showcasing these new speakers. They are panels similar to a flat screen tv, they weigh about 50lbs and 4 of them can do a crowd of 1500 people. They have some crazy frequency response that does not allow feedback. Its crazy to think about standing in-front of a speaker the size of a flat screen and that weighs 50lbs and have 0 feedback. They were so incredible sounding, i want these on tour for sure. As the show progresses, Bob makes his way to the front . I follow, refer to rule #1. We end up side stage digging into a giant guitar cake. That naturally turns into us meeting the owner of the company putting on the showcase. We exchange cards, laughs and ideas and press on.

I forgot to mention, in-between that show we walked Bill out. His girlfriend was on her way to pick him up in the madness so we all waited outside and had one last drink. I didn't get to say enough about Bill in these Namm blogs but he will get his, such a great guy. After Bill leaves Bob says he has more beers at his hotel and we should load up, not a bad idea.

Apologies again, i forgot to mention in our travels i found out Bob was retired now but was a certified reflexologist. I found this out as were sitting in these comfortable chairs relaxing and he takes his shoes off and starts rubbing the bottom of his feet on the coffee table. He then explains the reason behind it followed by the amount of times he has been to Bonaroo. He then also tells me his old roomate has a sensory depravation business and i should go for a float on him. I looked into it, its there and im thinking about it.

So in-between this i was in touch with Angie (my potential roomate) she was back at Namm and was going to meet us for a drink. So we get to Bobs hotel and grab ice and more beer, he has a bottle of champagne he loads up to drink with Ang when we meet. Bill & Bob are shaping up to be these best guys i could have ran into on the last night of Namm. We work our way back and pull a quick he has our room key, ok enter, no wait he has our room key , just go type of trick on the door guy at the hotel as security is tight now. We just missed Stevie Wonder playing in the hotel lobby. So we get Ang and her girlfriend to meet us up 1 floor out of the securities eye and we bust out champagne and toast to Namm. We then make our way downstair to watch a performance by one of the temptations. A great moment in my life , listening to My girl in a hotel lobby. Afterwards me and bob walk up chat and jump on stage and grab a quick pic. We then move to the patio and fall into some crazy hotel room party. the rest is a blur. I do wake up with Bob lighter and give him a call to return it before we head out, it was this crazy waterproof lighter that looked like a keeper for him , so i made sure i returned it. We part ways in the hotel parking lot the next day.

Until our next adventure. Thanks Bob.