Making my first trip to the US,...

[bluesdoc]

Michael, I second the vote for Bananas in San Rafael (just over the Golden Gate Bridge from SF) and Zone Music in Cotati (about 35 min further north). I have contact people there (both) if you'd like. They get a lot of biz.

jon

[Bulldog]

Originally Posted by starfish

So tell me where else in the U.S. is this type of live music culture present moreso than in Austin? I'll answer - nowhere. Not even close. Nashville is the closest thing - maybe in the 70s for country, not r&r. Sure there are other great cities to see a rock show (NYC, Chicago, San Fran - I love San Fran), but none of them even rate for live rock culture.

Austins a nice place, with a great music scene that has grown in proportion with the size of the University of Texas. I'd say that it's definatly a top 10 music city (and probally number 1 among cities of over 500,000 people). Its definatly #1 in Texas and the South/Southwest. The University has had a huge hand in maintaining its long standing music scene, and I think MI audio would benefit having a retailer there, as the MI Audio pedals are definatly college student budget friendly. Id defintaly include Austin in a list with Chicago, LA, Seattle, Memphis, Nashville and New York.

I think Michael has a good list of cities (we will miss him in the middle). A city you might be interested in at least contacting the major retailer is Lawrence, Ks (the liberal stronghold of the midwest). The music scene rivals that in any of the aforementioned cities including Austin, but on a smaller scale (there's 80,000 residents and 20,000 students.). Id say that if any city could take Austin on, it'd be Lawrence. Every other building in lawrence seems to have live music or an art gallery in it, and its been that way for a long a-- time. That being said, Mass Street Music in Lawrence is the major player in Kansas (anyone with a Cornish pedal might have heard of them), and might be a good place for you to contact Michael.

Here's their website:
http://www.massstreetmusic.com/index.php

[royd]

Michael,

the icehouse sounds really cool (excuse the pun)

You have some great sggestions for dealers to meet so I'll not add others...

as for your visit... do know that many cities in the US have terrible public transportation and LA is the worst. Others have reasonable transportation within the cities (primarily the northeast cities, Chicago, & SF) but the further out you go, the worse it gets.

2nd, you mentioned using the train to go between nearby cities. Train service here is worse than the public transportaiton in the cities! The tracks are owned by the commercial companies so the passenger trains always get the bad end of the deal when a freight train needs the tracks. Outside of the northeast - NY, Boston, Phila., DC, corridor, it is really a poor choice for travel unless you are riding the trains for the trains' sake. Sadly, cars and planes are the only practical way to travel in most of the US. As for the "other side of the road," we spent a month in England and I adjusted pretty quickly to driving there. Parking lots were the worst.

Finally, if you have to travel all of this way, try to take some time for yourself and see some of the sights. It is a very beautiful and diverse country.

If you end up driving from LA to SF, let me know and I'll treat you to some central coast wine in the Santa Barbara area

[michael_ibrahim]

Originally Posted by royd

Michael,
as for your visit... do know that many cities in the US have terrible public transportation and LA is the worst. Others have reasonable transportation within the cities (primarily the northeast cities, Chicago, & SF) but the further out you go, the worse it gets.

Hmm,... that's very interesting. I've always thought the public transport in Australia was quite bad, especially compared to Europe, which is amazing. Sounds like we're in the same boat there.

Originally Posted by royd

If you end up driving from LA to SF, let me know and I'll treat you to some central coast wine in the Santa Barbara area

Hmm,... can't say no to Californian wine!

[tstone]

Just a tip after several US vacations: Rent a car. Get one with sat-nav - it's the only way you'll be able to find all those stores. Forget about buses, trains or public transport - it's absolutely NOT like it is in Europe.. Driving in the US is not difficult, especially if you got the sat-nav to tell you were to go

[michael_ibrahim]

Originally Posted by tstone

Driving in the US is not difficult, especially if you got the sat-nav to tell you were to go

My only guide is Seinfeld, but wouldn't driving and parking in NYC be difficult?

I can see it now,... sat-nav yelling it me,... "Wrong side of the road. Please drive on the right you stupid Australian"

So my updated list is now:

• NYC
• Chicago
• Houston
• Austin
• Phoenix
• San Diego
• LA
• San Jose
• San Francisco
• Seattle

Which cities would you recommend a car? I'm guessing NYC wouldn't, but the others???

[tstone]

You could do all the Californian cities with one car - last time I was there we hired cars in San Diego and LA, and dropped them off in SF. Didn't have to pay any surcharge. Driving around in SF/LA with satnav was nothing but fantastic - just enter the music store's address, and drive. It's that easy

I don't know the other cities well enough, but maybe a combination of public transport and taxis would be the cheapest?

[Keld]

Originally Posted by tstone

You could do all the Californian cities with one car - last time I was there we hired cars in San Diego and LA, and dropped them off in SF. Didn't have to pay any surcharge. Driving around in SF/LA with satnav was nothing but fantastic - just enter the music store's address, and drive. It's that easy

For that matter, you might consider driving all the way up the west coast from San Diego to Seattle. About 25+ hours driving if you were insane enough to do it straight through. However, you could hit:

San Diego
LA (and the surrounding areas that make up that mega metropolis)
San Jose
SF
Sacramento
Medford, OR (home of Musicians friend)
Eugene (really only one or two shops worth it here, but what the heck...)
Portland
Olympia (not sure what the shops are like there...)
Tacoma (not sure what the shops are like there...)
Seattle.

The longest stretch without any stops would be between LA and San Jose (and I'm sure there could be a city or two stopping at in between - Bakersfield?) would be about 10 hours. Everything else is about 3 hours or less (a lot less in some cases). You can't even fly between some cities faster than 3 hours with all the security measures.

Just a thought...

[westex]

Originally Posted by michael_ibrahim

Hi guys!

I'm taking the plunge within the next two months and I'm going to do the rounds of the US to meet up with potential new retailers. I've been scratching my head all night trying to work out what my intinerary should be. At this stage, it looks I'm going to try to visit the following cities:

• New York
• Chicago
• Houston
• San Antonio
• Phoenix
• San Diego
• LA
• San Jose
• San Francisco
• Seattle

Logic behind visiting these cities is that they have relatively large populations, and a quick yellow pages search seems to indicate that they also have a large number of music stores.

Any suggestions for cool stores to visit there? Have I missed the mark with any of these cities? Any other suggestions?

Thanks!

OK, Houston:

I would visit:
Fuller's Vintage guitars
Evans Music City
Danny D's Guitar Hacienda
Rockin Robin's
Southpaw Guitars

End of Transmission

Wes

[michael_ibrahim]

Once again, thanks guys!

So lets assume the trip will look like this:

• Fly from Sydney to NYC
• Use public transport in NYC
• Fly from NYC to Chicago
• Rent Car #1 in Chicago
• Fly to Houston
• Rent Car #2 in Houston
• Drive to Austin
• Fly from Austin to Phoenix
• Rent Car #3 in Phoenix
• Fly from Phoenix to San Diego
• Rent Car #4 in San Diego
• Drive from San Diego to LA
• Fly from LA to San Jose
• Rent car #5 in San Jose
• Drive to San Francisco.
• Fly from San Francisco to Seattle
• Rent car #6
• Fly home!

Which car rental company should I use in the US?

[westex]

Originally Posted by michael_ibrahim

Once again, thanks guys!

So lets assume the trip will look like this:

• Fly from Sydney to NYC
• Use public transport in NYC
• Fly from NYC to Chicago
• Rent Car #1 in Chicago
• Fly to Houston
• Rent Car #2 in Houston
• Drive to Austin
• Fly from Austin to Phoenix
• Rent Car #3 in Phoenix
• Fly from Phoenix to San Diego
• Rent Car #4 in San Diego
• Drive from San Diego to LA
• Fly from LA to San Jose
• Rent car #5 in San Jose
• Drive to San Francisco.
• Fly from San Francisco to Seattle
• Rent car #6
• Fly home!

Which car rental company should I use in the US?

My vote: Avis. why: realistic advertised rates, at least in my case I tried another brand that seemed cheaper but after all the fees and my car size not available it came to considerably more than advertised. Of course this is just one experience.

Wes

[royd]

Michael, the basic itinerary looks reasonable. I'm not sure whether a rental car is needed in Chicago or San Francisco. SF has pretty good transportation. I'm not sure about Chicago. NYC, you can certainly get away without one. The other places, I'm pretty sure you will need one.

The only change I might make, depending on your schedule, would be to add some sight-seeing. It feels like a long way to go for business only. I'd consider driving from LA to San Jose. With no stops it is about a 7 hour drive but it is some of the most beautiful driving in the US if you take the coastal route. Sadly, there are not any serious music stores that I know of along that stretch to visit... but there is some astounding scenery and some pretty good wine (I was serious about treating you to some wine if it fits your schedule). Also, fall, in the northeast can be wonderful so a trainride up the Hudson valley north of New York could be beautiful if your timing put you there for the fall leaves. Apples & apple cider are great in the fall. And there might be a few music stores up that way that might make that side trip worthwhile (New Paltz has one I think). Arizona and New Mexico can be beautiful in fall or winter and the Grand Canyon is indescribable any time of year.

Any of the major car rental companies would be reasonable. I'd go as much by price as anything else. Budget and Enterprise are often less expensive than Hertz and Avis but different companies may have better prices in your different markets. Some cities have local companies that can be very good or not. I can't help with any recommendations for them.

[Brewmaster]

I think your products should sell themselves given the quality and price point. We communicated once before a few weeks back when I had a problem with a Blue Boy Deluxe. How often does the owner of a company jump in to support his product? :AOK

Good luck on your trip.

[therhodeo]

I would recommend Lawrence too. And its only 45min from Kansas City.

[michael_ibrahim]

Hi guys,

Well, I set my alarm for 2 am this morning, and I've made about 40 appointments to see retailers, many of whom you guys have recommended. I would absolutely love to catch up with some of you guys, and having thought about it, I realise that most retailers don't operate on Sundays, and many also on Mondays, which means (thankfully) that I'll get some time off every week. I'll probably do quite a bit of travelling on these days, but certainly not 2 days worth!

Once again, thanks for all your help, and I might see some of you guys when I'm out! I'm off to the travel agent's tomorrow, so I'll have more concrete plans by then, hopefully.

Regards

Michael