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2011 Chicago Drum Show
Post Show Press Release The 21st Annual Chicago Drum Show was held May 21 and 22 at the Kane County Fairgrounds in St Charles, Illinois. Show organizer Rob Cook reports that attendance equalled that of the record-breaking 20th Anniversary show a year earlier. “Paid attendance as reported by the front desk was down by about a dozen,” says Cook, “but when we added in the advance ticket sales, we were up by about a dozen. When you add the exhibitors, media, and guests, the total was about 1,400. I think we would have been down a bit had it not been for the strong clinic roster scheduled for Sunday—it was the strongest Sunday we have ever seen. Bryan Hitt, Cora Dunham, and JR Robinson were Sunday’s clinicians, while Saturday featured Johnny Rabb, Daniel Glass, and Clayton Cameron.” “It was clear that the economy is still squeezing a lot of folks.” says Cook. “We managed to show an increase in the exhibitor count and total exhibit square footage, but travel expenses and general belt-tightening did cause a few exhibitors to cancel in the weeks leading up to the show. We also saw the effect on buying patterns; consignment sales were down and drums like 20s Black Beauties that had appreciated steadily for years are now depreciating.” While equipment sales slowed at the show, showgoer enthusiasm remained high due to the emphasis Rebeats has put on making the show an entertainment event. In addition to the clinics and Master Classes, the Cafe area became a “second stage.” William F Ludwig III emceed the Cafe, doing interviews with exhibitors and guest artists such as Les DeMerle and Jane Boxall who appeared in the cafe. “Obviously the exhibits themselves add to the entertainment value of this event.” says Cook. “Very few exhibitors bring the same gear every year, and we had about 20 completely new exhibitors.” ”The clinic area sound system got a big boost this year, as Chicago-area speaker manufacturer Bag End provided a pair of powered subwoofers. Cook: “Those quad-18 subs really made a huge difference. We had run out of headroom, but thanks to Bag End we had bottom for days.” Raffle and door prize donors included Amedia, Paiste, Tempus, Dunnett, Ludwig, Sabian, Zildjian, Paiste, Toca, Yamaha, Dynamicx, Ludwig, George Way, TDC, Bosphorus, Remo, and Kelly Shu. Clinician sponsorship support came from Ludwig, DW, Trick, Paiste, Axis, Shure, Evans, Aquarian, XL, Regal Tip, Meinl, Hansenfutz, Sabian, Vater, Firth, Kelly Shu, Brasel, Pintech, Toca, Gibraltar, and Bosphorus. The 22nd Annual Chicago Drum Show is scheduled for May 19 and 20, 2012. In the meantime, Rebeats has announced a general musical instrument show to debut this fall. The Chicago Musical Instrument show will be held November 18 and 19, 2011. Photos ©2011 Michael Hacala |
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