Summer NAMM 2006 Events

Gibson Guitar will exhibit at the 2006 Summer NAMM show, July 14-16, 2006 in Austin, Texas, the "Live Music Capital of the World." Gibson Guitar will offer guests of Summer NAMM the chance to ride the exclusive Gibson tour bus direct to the new Gibson Austin Entertainment Relations Showroom where they can view some of the newest instruments offered by Gibson Guitar.

Gibson Guitar will exhibit in Booth # 1830 in the Austin Convention Center. Guests of the booth can experience several daily demonstrations by clinician Bart Walsh of Gibson's digital guitar. Daily schedules will be posted at the booth. In addition all guests of NAMM can perform like a rock star at the exclusive Gibson Pod which is an interactive guitar pod that allows each person to test-drive various Gibson Guitar models while listening to how they sound.

Baldwin Piano, America's Favorite Piano will exhibit in Booth # 280 at the Austin Convention Center. Visitors will have a chance to view and experience the new vertical and grand Wurlitzer digital pianos and the new vertical, 47" furniture-style Hamilton Pianos in Oak, Cherry and Mahogany. The Baldwin USA brand of handcrafted pianos, Howard Grand, will also be on display.

On July 15th at 7pm, Gibson will host "the place to be" with a special VIP reception at the showroom located at 3601 South Congress G400. All attending will get a first look at the official design unveilings for the Austin GuitarTown project. The VIP Gibson bus will shuttle between the Convention Center and the Showroom beginning at 10:30 AM on Friday, July 14. The Gibson Tour bus will pick up guests outside the Convention Center, on the corner of 5th and Nueces, approximately every 50 minutes (lunch break from 12:30 pm - 1:35 pm) each day.

The shuttle service will conclude each day as follows:

-Friday, July 14th - approximately 6:00 pm

-Saturday July 15th - approximately 6:00 pm.

Shuttle service resumes at 6:45 pm for transportation to The Gibson Summer NAMM Party '06. The last drop off at the Convention Center will take place at approximately 9:30 pm.

-Sunday, July 16th - approximately 4:00 pm

The place "to be and be seen" will be the Gibson Summer NAMM Party '06, a private reception for dealers, artists and other VIPs. The event will feature food, drink, live entertainment by Cacy Crowley and legendary Gibson guitars and Baldwin pianos. The party caps off the convention on Saturday, July 15 from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm. For more NAMM information, please contact Ellen Canas at the Gibson Entertainment Relations Showroom at 512.692.4191 ext. 1. To RSVP please call the same number.

In addition to the NAMM events, all attendees and media are invited to view the initial phase of the most talked about public arts project in the world, Austin GuitarTown. Austin GuitarTown is a public arts project that will feature thirty (30) 10-foot tall fiberglass Gibson guitars painted by local visual artists along with thirty (30) showcase Gibson Les Paul guitars. The project's steering committee, a who's who of Austin, has voted on all 60 named artists to creatively paint one of the guitars. This week, only the selected artists for the project will showcase their submitted artwork at the showroom. For more information on the project, please go to www.austinguitartown.com.

This week, as part of Austin's Summer NAMM festivities, guests are welcome to attend the Austin ER Showroom to view the selected artist's designs. After this week, additional media viewing of all artwork submitted will be available at the Gibson Showcase at 3601 South Congress G400, Monday-Friday from 10:00 AM-5:00 PM.

All guitar sculptures will be placed throughout Austin in front of the city's landmarks and businesses and inside viewing locations until mid-2007. Various companies and corporations will be asked to serve as sponsors of the project which will serve as an artistic reminder and display of Austin's great musical heritage. In addition, celebrities will be paired with a majority of the visual artists. At the culmination of the project, all of the guitars will be auctioned off for four locals charities: the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians (HAAM); The Austin Museum of Art (AMOA); American Youthworks; and the Austin Children's Museum. Other similar projects throughout the country have risen over $1/2 million for charity.