not only do we manufacture cymbals, we are also a distributor for various other companies in the musicindustry. for example - we distribute tama drums, promark sticks, evans heads, prs guitars, mesa boogie amps, and other brands. in 2007, the construction of our new logistic center has begun and was finished end of last year. yesterday we celebrated the official opening of the new logistic center. it's been a lovely day with lots of friends, great weather, a great band (liquid blue), food and drinks. it's the most modern logistic center in the entire music business and needless to say, we are all very proud of it. a picture says more than 1000 words - so check'em all out.

yesterday would have been the perfect day if our national soccer team had won the euro-final against spain. unfortunately, we lost 0:1. congrats to spain. you guys deserve it, cause your team has been the best in the whole competition. but hey, being #2 team in europe is not bad at all :-)

dear fans of the meinl drum festival,

i wish i would not have to write these words, but unfortunately i have to tell you that thomas lang is not going to be participating at the 2008 meinl drum festival.

i asked thomas to send me a brief statement in which he explains the reasons for his cancellation:

"due to unforeseen changes in my touring- and travel schedule in september this year, unfortuntely i am not able to perform at the meinl drum festival and i hope i see you guys again sometime soon."

you can also see and hear his statement in a specially produced video-clip (even though its a sad occasion, the video clip is absolutely worth seeing).

video-statement on meinlcymbals.com
video-statement on meinldrumfestival.com

because of thomas' absence, the line-up has of course changed now. two other top-class drummers are confirmed and will enthuse you with their extraordinary drumming. we all know that thomas lang can not really be replaced. and that has never been our intention when we chose those two new artists. what's more imporant is the fact that both artists are unique players and convince with their own unique style. i am sure that johnny rabb (biodiesel, u.s.s.a) and daniel svensson of swedish metal superstars "in flames" are great additions and will round out the festival perfectly.

so, here is the final line-up for the '08 meinl drum festival:

saturday, september 06 (masterclasses)

11am    benny greb (drumming vocabulary, universal repertoire for every situation)

02pm    jost nickel (phrasing and orchestration)

05pm    johnny rabb (versatile drumming: being well versed in many styles will allow you more drumming opportunities)

07pm    panel discussion


sunday, september 07 (drumshows)

11:00 am    jost nickel, germany (jan delay)

12:30 pm    jaska raatikainen, finland (children of bodom)

02:00 pm    chris coleman, usa (chaka chan)

03:30 pm    benny greb, germany (jerobeam, stoppok)

05:00 pm    daniel svensson, sweden (in flames)

06:00 pm    johnny rabb + benny greb

signing sessions, drumcircles, give-aways, cymbal exhibition

we have also invited a very special performer: the vaudeville artist "fernando" who will present his astonishing show, "juggling & drums". fernando currently has an engagement at the "krystallpalast varieté" in leipzig.

we hope that we will see all of you at the '08 meinl drum festival despite of the recent changes in the line-up. thank you very much for your trustfulness and belief in meinl.

- norbert saemann


ps: if you have already purchased tickets and would like to return them because of thomas' absence, please send them back to us and include your complete bank-details so we can reimburse the money to you. the address where to send the tickets to is: meinl drum festival, am bahnhof 2, 91468 gutenstetten, germany

Benny Greb visited Meinl yersterday and me as a trainee was allowed to be part of the meetings with him. First I thougt "Wow! Now I meet a famous drummer from Germany" and what kind of guy he would be. He said "hi" with a smile. Wearing Adidas-pants and a cool shirt he came across to me very friendly. He was relaxed and I found that he was a good mate. Not full of himself! It was really great and funny heaving met him and learning from him more about drums and cymbals!

By the way RIVO DREI!!! My music-recommendation to all of you out there! Check out the songs from Rivo Drie! The lyrics are phat and the songs make happy and good mood :)

Howdy,

"Howdy" is the southern U.S. greeting that many will receive when they show up at the Summer NAMM show, 2008, here in Meinl USA's hometown of Nashville, Tennessee starting tomorrow, Friday, June 20, 2008. The show is happening at the Nashville Convention Center in the historic lower Broadway District of Nashville and it runs through Sunday, June 22.

This is a great chance for all of the music instrument manufacturers who have a booth at the trade show, to meet with retailers from across the USA and discuss business and get a little bit of face time in.

Meinl will be there at booth #608. While the show is closed to the public, any of ya'll out there reading who are on your way, please stop by and say hello. We'd love to see you.

Here in the U.S., it seems that every time you turn around, there is another "reality" television show. Sometimes it really seems like a never-ending parade of clowns. Now, my wife and I don't watch much tv, but when we do, we like for it to have some value. Aside from endless re-runs of MASH, I'd like to learn something from any tv that I watch...maybe a herd of water buffalo getting picked off one by one by a ravenous pride of lions on the Discovery Channel...or maybe  the history of the eighteen wheeler on the History Channel...or maybe the Motley Crue "Behind the Music" on VH1 (...how many times to I have to hear the same old tiring Nikki Sixx overdose story?!?!?!...).

Anyway, the bottom line is that there really is a lot of crap on tv. So it's always nice when a reality tv show that requires talent hits the air. Right here in Meinl USA's hometown, Nashville, Tennessee, there is a show being filmed by the name of Nashville Star. It has the same premise as the American Idol tv show, only it's got the Nashville / Country Music slant. The cool part is that there is actually some real talent going on. But even if the contestants were all lame, which not all of them are, there is still some real talent in the backing band that has been hired to provide the music for the starry-eyed hopefuls that are belting it out on-stage for those watching to either cheer on or jeer off.

The backing band consists of some extremely talented Nashville musicians, who when they're not working on the tv show, are backing up some of the biggest names in the country music biz, among other things.

I went to a rehearsal for Nashville Star recently to catch up with Meinl cymbal artist Carlo Marino, who is the drummer in the backing band. Carlo was deftly alternating click track tempos and musical charts for each song, all the while having a lot of fun playing music with his fellow hired guns. Given the fact that the show is being aired on a major network like NBC as well as on the cable network CMT (that's Country Music Television....), I would have thought that security would have been a little tight, since even the rehearsals are being filmed. But I learned a long time ago that if you act like what you're doing is all you ever knew how to do and act like wherever you are, that's where you're supposed to be, then no one will ever hassle you. So that's what I did and no one even knew I was there. I said hello to a couple of Carlo's band mates who I have met previously and sat behind him taking pics and filming him playing. I'll have some footage posted on the Meinl Cymbals website soon, but in the meantime, check out a few pics I took.

Carlo really made it look all too easy. I guess that, among other things, is why he's on the gig. He's a good drummer and a good guy. Anyway, if you're here in the States, tune into an episode or two of Nashville Star for some fine musicianship. I guarantee you won't be disappointed.

Later,

Chris

this week went by really fast and now it is friday again. this weekend the drummer-live festival in london will take place with meinl artist trevor lawrence jr. on the bill. my good friend ian croft (drummer magazine uk) has put the show together. if you have time and you happen to be there, go check it out. it's for sure the second best drum event in europe :-) unfortunately, due to my back problems i am still unable to fly and can't attend it for myself which makes me really sad to be honest. lots of friends and some great drumming in london. next time.....

out two trainees jenny and jacqueline are back again joining our team for the next six weeks. welcome back ladies! we hope you will have a good time and gather lots of experience for your future career.

in their july 2008 issue, u.s. based DRUM! magazine has published a review of our new mb8 series cymbals. it is an awesome review which exactly reflects the ideas we have had when we designed the series. all of us were very pleased and proud to read it. it feels good to see all the know-how and passion which we invest in product development finally gets the recognition it deserves. i have never read another review about any other meinl cymbal in any other magazine which hits the nail on the head like this one. thanks to DRUM! magazine.

last but not least, i am including some various pictures which i took today to give you an impression of whats going on in and around our office and factory during a normal day.

thanks for reading, stay tuned and take care

greetings,

despite of some really heavy rain showers, some of us meinl dudes hung out at the ROCK IM PARK festival in nuernberg last weekend (thanks to our friend ralf gustke for the tickets) to see and meet some of our bands and drummers (36 crazyfists, sonic syndicate, silverstein, inflames, söhne mannheims, paramore). rock im park is one of the biggest outdoor festivals in europe and lasts three days. thousands of people camp and enjoy the festival.

the euro-soccer-championships began a few days ago. they had several "public viewing" screens on the festival. our german soccer team played their first match against poland - and we won 2:0 :-)


long live rock'n roll !

greetings,

sorry for my long blog-absence. i have slipped a disk in my lower back and have been out of office for the last six weeks. luckily i got away with it without surgery. still, it has been an aweful experience and i still have to do lots of physical therapy and other stuff.

anyways - at our '08 messe-booth in frankfurt we have hung several banners for decoration purpose. one of them we don't need anymore. instead of just throwing it away, we would like to give it to a drum school. check out the two pictures. one shows the messe-booth with the actual banner, and the other one a jpeg of its design. its size is 3.14 meters wide and 3.98 meters high (equals about 10ft x 13ft).

to qualify for the give-away, simply comment to this blog entry and leave the name and web-address of your drum-school. please also describe where in your school you would place it. last but not least, please send us a picture after you have received and hung the banner, because i would like to post it here again later on. the first entry will win. we will send it to you and pay for shipping, duty and tax.

take care and good luck
- norbert