Megadeth’s David Ellefson and Chris Broderick kicked off the first of six Jackson clinics Tuesday evening in Roslyn, N.Y. at the Music Zoo.
The guys performed for the crowd, signed autographs and answered questions.
Want to know what happened behind the scenes? Here’s Ellefson’s opening blog post for JacksonGuitars.com:
October 18, 2011
This week starts a major Jackson Guitar USA clinic tour with me and Chris Broderick. First stop New York! Upon our arrival into JFK airport on Monday it was time to get our culinary fix at the legendary “Lenny’s Clam Bar” in Howard Beach, the old haunts of John Gotti. Pasta with a to-die-for red sauce, bruschetta and old-Italian charm as you can only get in New York. As you might imagine, it was some meal, complete with pictures of celebrities and cast of The Sopranos on the wall….’nuff said!
First thing Tuesday morning was a Jackson Bass Summit with Artist Relations man Mike Tempesta, Jackson product manager Jon Romanowski and me. You gotta get your head right first thing in the morning so we headed to the best corporate boardroom in town…Starbucks! Part of my love for Jackson is playing their instruments, but more than that, is to bring my experience as a bassist to the table so we can continue to conjure up some killer new bass products. Today’s meeting was inspired as we continue to roll out some new goodies in the New Year. After all, winter NAMM is just around the corner…
Off to sound check at 3 p.m. which took us to the new location of The Music Zoo in Roslyn, N.Y., out on Long Island. After an extended soundcheck we sucked down another round of Starbucks and fired up the clinic at 7 p.m. sharp. This store was a small but niche guitar hang, packed with about 60 zealous fans, who showed a real connection with our music and history. We featured a recent track, performed a few bits between the two of us and fielded some questions from the audience, which is one of my favorite segments of any clinic. I even got a copy of letter I wrote to a fan back in 1986 just before the Peace Sells…But Who’s Buying tour started! That was a real treat, as were the Christmas decorations and other fan friendly gifts of gratitude from our fans. They really are the best!!
One thing you HAVE to do while on the east coast is eat at a down-home diner. Our after show dinner was at a killer place called the “Landmark Diner,” which had desserts that made your mouth water just upon walking in the joint. Again, NO ONE makes food like the people on the east coast!
After a long, but productive day, I digress. These are actually Chris’ very first clinics, which is really a treat for me to see him shine in a totally new environment. I’ve done a lot of clinics in my career but these are fun to do with another member of the band, especially with our new album Th1rt3en ready to release in a couple weeks as we can discuss some of the new tracks made available to the public now as well as go in depth on our playing characteristics. Also, a great way to let the fans have first dibs at these killer new Jackson axes that make me and Chris’ job so much easier!
Tomorrow, off to New Jersey for clinic number two…. All clinic details at www.jacksonguitars.com so we hope to see you there!
David Ellefson
In New York