Mark Pollock and I sat down to talk about this years all new and improved Dallas Guitar Show. Many changes to talk about regarding this years show including an entirely new venue with Dallas Market Hall. Here is what Mark shared with Musicians Hotline about this years Dallas Guitar Show...

MH: Mark, as the 27th Annual Dallas Guitar Show approaches, there are some major upgrades for this years show. Tell us about the excitement surrounding this year's show, and the changes you have made.

MP: Actually the major thing this year is the move to Market Hall. What I would like the readers to know is: that when Charley Wirz died in February of 1985, the first place I went to was Dallas Market Hall. It is the absolute premier venue for this type of event. It's where the biggest event in Dallas (The Boat Show) is held every year. Of course I was told then the months of Feb - May were booked for virtually twenty years, and that was in 1985. Anyway I gave up and moved the show to the Dallas Convention Center, and we were there for 10 years. Then I moved to Fair Park. It had kind of a vintage Art /Deco look to the place. Parking was kind of a city concession, we never got one penny of the parking revenues. But I still had to go to three or four meetings before the show to meet with the Parking committee to make sure of exits and what not. When the parking hit $8, I said we are out of here.

So we called The Dallas Market Hall, and got that dealt with. The Dallas Market Hall is free parking. We got one hotel that is like within rock throwing distance. It is a 5-star hotel called The Renaissance Hotel. We got it for $99. It is almost within walking distance from the new American Airlines Center, the Eagles have played there. You can be in Deep Ellum in about 3 minutes by cab. We are really close to what they call the West End. Then there are about 7 other hotels right around the area too. Dallas Market Hall is in what we call The Dallas Market Center. The Apparel mart is there, the World Trade Center is there, and of course Market Hall. So that is the biggest news.

We also have the "Live Auction" that is going to be a big deal. It will be in the upstairs area overlooking the main floor of the show. Those are the two biggest things going on this year. We are in a venue that I have been trying to get into since 1986, and we have a three-year window. So we not only have dates for this year, but we always have a two to three year window.

MH: What do you feel is the future direction of the show, and how do you perceive the show continuing to evolve?

MP: It will continue to grow as it has, and the music will be a big part of it. I really think this auction is gonna be huge. Some people just can't come to the show, so this auction will allow them to "real time" bid on these items. They can look at some of the premium stuff, and bid on it. I think it will evolve to where they have a digital camera roaming the show, and a guy can actually sit there in his Barcalounger with a beer and walk through the show. That is where I see it heading in the future.

MH: Obviously the show has quite a history over the past 27 years. Tell us how you first got involved with the show, and your relationship with your friend and mentor, the late Charley Wirz.

MP: I was involved from almost day one. I went to the very first show, I wasn't involved in the planning of it but I went to it as a friend of Charley. I met Charley in the 70's. He loved guitars. He loved Blues, loved musicians and he ran bars and nightclubs with bands. He knew from hearing them talk that the guitars that were in current production were not quite cutting it and everyone was always searching out the older guitars, 50's & 60's. He had an old panel van like dry cleaners use and he would travel around to flee markets, pawnshops and other music stores that didn't know what they had. Sometimes they needed minor repairs, which is also another area Charley got into with Charley's Guitar Shop. He was one of the premier repair shops. He started buying these guitars, fixing them up and selling them to people who knew what they were and made a great living. He finally opened a shop in the spring of 1976. He did the first show in 1978. My Dad had a company that had a bobtail truck so later I always helped Charley get all his guitars over to the show. I really got involved and took over when Charley died on February 3rd, 1985. He was one of my dearest friends and I still miss him.

MH: Jimmy Wallace has been a long time partner, how has his involvement assisted in developing the Dallas Guitar Show?

MP: Jimmy and I have known each other forever. Jimmy and Charley were really good friends too. Jimmy was one of the original guys that not only had a booth at the very first show, but also was actually involved in meetings before the first show ever happened. He was a road musician, and he was also a vintage guitar wheeler-dealer. He brought a different perspective into it. He is incredibly famous not only in players circles but collectors circles too. He goes to Japan and Korea once or twice a year so he is famous there also. We've both played in bands and we've been all over the place. He came on as a partner in 1989-1990 and his perspective has added a lot to the show.

MH: What has been the most notable change in the shows development over the past five years, and how has this assisted in furthering the incredible growth in the show?

MP: The most notable thing is the music gets bigger and bigger. We started out with a Saturday night Jam at a nightclub, now we have several stages. We have the Ernie Ball stage. It is still in the works for Gibson to bring in the Chevy stage, with the Hummers and all the guitars that go with it. Really we lose a couple of dealers every year, either they go off and retire, or disappear into a .com somewhere. However, there are a lot of fears among the guys from the Golden era of guitars from the 50's and 60's, that we are all aging and no one is replacing us. I think that is wrong. A kid born in 1975 thinks a '75 Strat is a vintage guitar and he is right. Anything that gets to 20 years old is vintage. Antique used to mean 100 years old, but in the Vintage Guitar business, it used to be 30 years, now it is 20. I think eventually a vintage guitar will be a ten-year-old instrument. I'm kind of seeing that in some of the stuff, especially the Custom Shop stuff. I think there is young blood coming into this thing from a dealer viewpoint. John Mayer was at the last guitar show, buying a bunch of stuff. It's all relative to what you consider vintage. John Mayer probably bought something from the late 60's, whereas 20 years ago we would have turned our noses up at anything from the late 60's.

For more information regarding the show go to www.guitarshow.com
A special thanks to Diane Laner for helping me get together some details for
the article.