I remember it very clearly. It was many years ago, long before the days of Musicians Friend and Guitar Center, and even before the Internet. I was just beginning my musical journey as a drummer in middle school. My music store shopping experience had been limited to the selections of a few very small local music stores with not much choice in variety of gear. I went out to the mail box one day and there was a catalog that had been sent to our address, but it had someone else's name on it. The catalog was for Sam Ash Music, and it was like a dream come true. There was a collection of musical equipment like I had never seen before. I learned about new drums, guitars, basses, and other equipment that I had never even heard of.

For almost three years I kept this catalog and when I finally had to throw it away, the pages were tattered, torn, dog-eared, and in general poor shape. I can not count how many nights I sat and flipped through the pages of this catalog dreaming of a day when I could buy and play with all these cool products.

Today I learned that Sam Ash Music time spent a lot of time, effort, and money in redesigning their website. It opened just yesterday, and will be going through the general tweaks and fixes that come with a website of this size. I have stumbled upon a few links that are not working correctly, but give them a little time. Working out the bugs takes some time, and I have been assured that they have a team on copious amounts of coffee and sugar working around the clock to get these minor problems fixed.

I wanted to let you all know about this so you can head on over and check it out. www.samash.com .

I am also honored to say that Sammy Ash has visited GuitarGearHeads.com and when I spoke with him today, he told me that he really likes what we are doing, and complimented the site and community we have built. When I got off the phone, my mind wandered back to that shabby looking catalog that stood up to the abuse of a young man dreaming. I am probably one of thousands who had a similar experience with a Sam Ash catalog. I feel privileged to be a person who is living the dream that catalog inspired all those years ago.