We have been announcing a lot of new relationships between The MIDI Association and other non-profits including GiveANote , RAMPD and TI:ME, but we are not done yet.
Brian Hardgroove, a multi-instrumentalist who has played recently been out with Public Enemy has been friends with the MIDI Association since we collaborated together on 40th Anniversary of MIDI and 50th Anniversary Of Hip Hip in 2023.
He has played drums and bass on the road with Public Enemy — and recorded and toured with such artists as Bootsy Collins, Dug Pinnick (King’s X), Stewart Copeland (The Police) and Fred Schneider (B52s), among many others. In this wide-ranging interview with Joanne Calitri, Brian will talk about the advantages of being a multi-instrumentalist, social justice and the musician’s role and life on the road with the band that perhaps most represents the soul of America.
He will be interviewed by Joanne Calitri of the Montecito Journal at NAMM on Thursday, January 22 at 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM in The Hilton Laguna AB.
Recently Brian introduced us to Karrie Keyes, who has been the monitor engineer for Pearl Jam and Eddie Vedder for 27 years and is the Executive Director of Sound Girls.
We knew right away that we wanted to have SoundGirls involved with our NAMM plans so we got a bunch of Soundgirls badges to the show and SoundGirls will be doing an event on our stage at The MIDI Association booth at 1:15 PM on Saturday, January 24.
In the small world department, Jenny Amaya whose Riverside City College students are an invaluable help to The MIDI Association at NAMM called me and wondered how one of her former students had gotten a badge for the NAMM show from The MIDI Association. When we checked it out, the former RCC student was on the list turned in by SoundGirls!
For more information on SoundGirls, please check out their website.