FHF #45 with NS man Dean Kobayashi is now available for viewing! We had a full house last Friday with Kyle McCann as our host and special guest Dean Kobayashi as our guest.

Dean walked us through his introduction to the instrument as well as his musical history, moving through different instruments until finally arriving at the Stick in 2013. Dean had purchased his NS, one of 2 of Emmett's original prototypes (I believe Don Schiff has the other one), only months prior to attending Free Hands Academy in 2013 and already, he has been on the bill at our last two events as an emcee and/or a performer.

We got a walkthrough of his pedal board as well - a completely self-contained rig that runs straight into the PA. Check out how Dean has synced up 3 loopers, in addition to his Line 6 pedalboard, whammy pedal and volume pedal. His rig also contains a line mixer from which he manages his own volume and processing for his voice - a one man band.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xI8W6ZJQJQ[/youtube]

Lots of great discussion between Kyle and Dean on technique and live performance - all in all, a real nice addition to the catalog of discussions featuring NS players. Hope that you enjoy watching this as much as we all enjoyed being there! Thanks Kyle and Dean.

Having met Dean last week, to some degree, I have to assume that the Bay Area Stick Circle is a very good time.

At least, that is the concept I had for this post.

Right on Rob!

Bay Area Stick Circle had a gathering this past Saturday. What a great time!

I admit the concept goes right out the window sometimes... and you just have to go with the flow...