Maryann Sfarzo has always loved singing! She is fondly remembered in the Baldwin NAMM booth alongside Lowell Simpson as Mr. & Mrs. Baldwin. The two entertained attendees with songs as...
Christian Dean is the co-owner and guitar tech for The Magic Flute in San Rafael, California, just north of the Golden Gate Bridge. In 1978, he purchased his first guitar from The Magic F...
Will Meyer grew up with a great appreciation for music, thanks to being exposed to styles such as Bluegrass by his parents. He played trumpet beginning in grade school and focused on sing...
Joe Nemzer is a salesman and shipping manager for The Magic Flute, a music store located in San Rafael, California. Musically his uncle Jeff was an influence on young Joe, playing the pia...
Tamara Osheroff enjoyed a 30-plus career in marketing and formed a well-respected agency with her partner. When her husband, Christian Dean, brought up the idea of buying a music store sh...
Michael Creamer has many happy music memories growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area, such as attending rock concerts at the Cow Palace. His brother was a big Van Halen fan and had a gu...
Chaco Amazè fell in love with music at a young age, after all his father was a music teacher and his mother was a dancer of Mexican folklore music. His father introduced young Chaco to J...
Spike Klein thanks his sister and her love of Van Halen for bringing music into his life. Their father made guitars for them out of plywood but pretending to be musicians soon turned into...
Marilyn Creamer likes to tell people that the only day The Magic Flute was closed, besides holidays, was for her wedding! She met her husband Michael while both were working at the store,...
John Pedersen is a master repair technician with a focus on stringed instruments. John found himself in the position of purchasing a music store with his wife back in 1983. The wonderful ...
Judy Kaufman and her husband, John Pedersen, own Amazing Grace Music, a charming and funky (in a good way) music store located in San Anselmo, California. The couple purchased the store i...
Tim Shirk likes to say he is a Tim at Tim’s Music and not the Tim. While not the founder, Tim is the general manager of the Sacramento area store, which focuses on band and orchestra sale...
Jim Hart has two passions, music and animals! His love of music began for him in the 6th grade when he began playing drums for the school music program. In 1981, his family purchased a mu...
Melissa Mandeville and her husband, Scott, own Tim’s Music, which is located in Carmichael, California, near Sacramento. The couple are strong advocates for music education and work to se...
John Mello is the Manager for Wollmer’s Music and took part in the company’s 100th anniversary during the NAMM Show in 2023. John provided a historic look back at the store, which was est...
Joe Goodman began playing gigs around the Los Angeles area since he was very young with his primary instruments being the piano and trumpet. With a Marching Band scholarship for college i...
Bruce Adolph is the energetic advocate of worship music and musicians who in 1998 established Christian Musician Magazine. As president of the Adolph Agency, Bruce oversees several public...
Gerald Ishibashi is the musician, music retailer and concert producer who has taken part and witnessed some of the biggest changes and developments in our industry. With a love for music,...
Bud Roberds was two months shy of his 103rd birthday when he was interviewed for the NAMM Oral History program about his life in music. His father was an avid musician, always bringing in...
Kayoko Forrest was born in Japan and always felt drawn to music and in particular the piano. After moving with her mother to the United States, Kayoko played in the school music program. ...
Dale Dawalt admits he knew little about band instruments being a guitarist when he first joined the team at San Diego County Music Exchange in 1990. He was however, eager to learn and he ...
Jeff Bertrand is the president of the music company his parents started back in 1983. His father, John Sr., a former band director wanted to provide much-needed support and supplies to sc...
Dustin Barlow is the head instrument repair technician for Bertrand’s Music in San Marcos, California. He joined the store in 2006 and has since become the repair shop manager as well as ...
John Bertand was not yet 15 years old when he began working in the music store his parents established in 1983 in San Bernardino, California. He remembers helping move glass display cases...
Dennis Hallmeyer has fond memories of his years playing mallet percussion in the school’s marching band, eventually progressing to the xylophone. Beginning in the 7thgrade Dennis took a k...
Ken Donnell is often regarded as the foremost authority on close-mic applications for stringed instruments. While he has an extensive background across the music products industry, first ...
Ron Whittaker was just eleven years old when his father started a music retail store in Long Beach, California. Whittaker Music opened in 1946, just after World War II and Ron still remem...
Dusty Wheeler served as a medic in the US Air Force during the Vietnam War. After the war he attended college all the while playing guitar and giving lessons. In 1979 he opened Dusty’s Gu...
Art Olson brought his love for playing music together with his experience as an instrument salesman to form his own store, Artistic Pianos. The store opened in 1999 in Encinitas, Californ...
Rob Eastman and his wife DeAnna established Musician's Friend in 1983, which became the leading mail order musical instrument business in the country. Rob's father, Bud, opened a music st...
Jim Palenscar opened up his small shop, Steel Guitars of North County, in Oceanside, California back in 2000. While in college, Jim heard the steel guitar on Jackson Browne’s recording of...
David Millard was a teenager when he first walked into Folk Music Center, his local musical instrument store in Claremont, California. The now iconic retailer was a true mom-and-pop opera...
