Combo Line
Michael Houser is the Chief Executive Officer for Cascio Interstate Music, which serves both as a brick and mortar store in New Berlin, Wisconsin as well as an internet store. The store was established by Frank Cascio, a professional accordion player, in 1951. Over the years the store has built an...
Connie Smith is the Vice President of Ward-Brodt Music in Madison, Wisconsin. She grew up in music and enjoyed playing music as a young girl, going on to study music in college. While in college she applied for an internship at Ward Brodt Music, where she has been ever since! She worked her way...
Tom Merritt is the general manager for The Music Center in Kenosha, Wisconsin and the right hand man for the company's president, Jim Paulsen. The two have worked side by side for several decades and both feel their main goals in business are to serve those who walk in the door. Customer service...
Jim Paulsen's father opened a small music store in Kenosha to focus on his instrument of choice, the accordion. When young Jim encouraged his father to expand into guitars, they started off slow, but soon began to grow. The Music Center today is a well-established retailer that covers the combo...
John Pollard first walked into Swords Music in Fort Worth, Texas as a customer. In fact he took music lessons in the store before he was told of a position to work in the store. The store owner and founder, Logan Swords, opened the retail shop in 1969. At the time of the taping of John's...
Bryan McCann is the president of Instrumental Music stores, with three locations in 2014 in and around Ventura, California. Bryan’s career began when he teamed with a friend to purchase used instruments and to fix them to re-sell. As a result his skills as a repairman grew as did his customer...
Kenny Smith serves as the Managing Director of the Peavey Hollywood store on Sunset Boulevard. However, this is only part of what he does in the shop. Kenny is a born salesman and enjoys teaching others fresh and effective ways to sell musical products. He feels nothing is more important than...
Joseph Gomes is a partner with his brother in the music company their father purchased in 1953. BX Furtado & Son opened in 1865 in India, having a small part of their store dedicated to musical instruments. That focus expanded over time, and by 1953 the store was well known for service and...
Jesus "Jet" Fernando opened a small music retail store with his wife, Elizabeth, in their native Philippines. Elizabeth grew up in her parents store across town and knew the business side of the store while Jet offered the technical knowhow that was needed in providing customer service such as...
Alan Rosen sat down for his first interview for the NAMM Oral History program in January 2014. It was a special occasion as it was Alan’s 30th anniversary of his first show and his 30th winter show, as he has not missed one since first attending! Capturing this interview was also important for...