Shamanczarek

I've also heard it's okay to put a football in your ear.

I picked up the copy with the "Roundabout" transcription at the NAMM Show in the 80s. Liked the magazine and sent in for a subscription. Never got another issue and now I know why.

I have had a once a month gig on the upper east side for the last 10 years playing to a packed house. Looks like it is finally over and not likely to come back. In the 90s I played Wetlands, Rock and Roll Cafe, L'amours, Webster Hall, Mercury Lounge, and other venues. Usually made a couple hundred a night back then. My more recent regular gig only paid $120 before toll and gas expenses. While it was nice to play for an enthusiastic full house monetarily it really didn't make sense and it was more of a vanity gig for the band.

The OB8 has a cutout on the wood side panel to access the pan pots. Maybe this is an OBXa?

Traffic in 1967. Winwood is still playing an M102 and now has four Marshall stacks behind him. I don't think he was using a Leslie at all in live performances until a couple of years later. [video:youtube]

I first tried a Flute in the 70s. A band member I lived with rented one and was going to learn how to play it but he couldn't get a sound out of it and gave up. He let me try and I got a sound right away but the dizzy feeling discouraged me. Years later in the 90s I really wanted to give it a try again and happened to join a band that had two accomplished Flute players which helped a lot. This time I stuck with it and the dizziness passed after a week or so. It still does give me a nice light-headed feeling at times. Anyway, I practiced playing Irish jigs, favorite Flute solos from recordings and got good enough to play the occasional Jethro Tull song and other Flute parts on stage. For a while I had a duo with a bandmate and he learned Flute pretty quickly with my help. I had another lead singer bandmate who was interested in trying it but he blew into it once, got dizzy, and gave up. More recently I had two brothers taking Piano lessons from me. The younger brother wanted to play Flute so he tried and tried but after a few weeks just couldn't get a sound out of it so gave up. His brother gave it a try and did quite well but decided not to continue. Even more recently I had a young girl student who was learning Piano and Flute. She was more into the Flute than Piano but was doing very well on both. Then one day she decided she didn't want to play Flute anymore and switch to Alto Sax. Luckily I had an Alto which I hadn't played in a while. I got back into it and we did Sax lessons for close to a year. She was coming along very well when the Covid thing hit and now lessons are on hold indefinitely.

There are a lot of challenging Classical Music quizzes at that link.

Starting in Kindergarten I played percussion while the teacher played Piano. I played sand blocks, oatmeal box hand drum, tambourine, and my favorite was the triangle because it played a note that rang out. Then I got a cheap chord organ and a few years after that started Piano lessons. After that I mostly played Organ and Guitar. Later I picked up Bass Guitar and covered Bass and Keys in bands. Then I started playing Flute followed by Tin Whistle and Alto Sax. A few years ago I got a set of Drums and still put in practice time on that. My main gigging instruments are Keys, Guitar, and Bass.

That Gibson is in great condition with the music stand still intact. Unfortunately this may have to be removed to fit the Piano Bass on top. Be sure to put some kind of padding on top to avoid damage from the Piano Bass. Gibson Organs use a Pratt-Read Keybed which is usually sturdy but the Gibson seems to use a soft metal which makes it prone to Keystops breaking. If the original Key Bushings are still on it replace them to minimize the chance of breakage and also for a quiet, smooth Key action. A few online sellers have the bushings. One seller has bulk quantities at reduced pricing in case you have other boards that could use new bushings. The Repeat function often needs attention. You can fix this yourself if you can find the correct parts or there is an eBay seller in Danbury, CT who sells a kit to refurbish this if needed. The Reverb tab doesn't do anything unless you have the matching Gibson amp which was offered as an optional accessory. If any Tone Generator board acts up intermittently use some contact cleaner on the connectors. The Generator boards are right under the top and unplug easily. These Organs are generally very reliable electronically. I've been gigging with them regularly since the early 90s and never had a failure other than broken Keystops.

Though he rarely used it Jon Lord had an RMI on stage in 1972-73. He seemed to only use it for some left hand notes on "Space Trucking'". I saw Deep Purple in 1972 and he had it then. The RMI can be seen here and in other live performances from around this time:

I just got my RMI Electra-Piano and Harpsichord 300A working again after last using it about 25 years ago. Yes, it is a limited instrument as far as the range of tones goes but I'm having fun playing it again. Electronically the RMI is very well designed and uses top quality components. One thing that sets it apart from seemingly similar sounding 1970's Italian Electronic Pianos is that it has an individual tone generator board for each note rather than Top Octave Dividers. The later Yamaha CP-20/30 electronic Pianos also used TOD but had a weighted velocity Keyboard. Every note is individually tunable on the RMI so it can be used for historic tunings or stretch-tuned if desired. The top of the line Rocksichord models added a complete second rank of tone generators tuned an octave higher than the main rank. This model is capable of a richer tone than the "Electra-Piano and Harpsichord" with the notes on the higher rank also being individually tunable. RMI/Allen Organ were well aware that the keyboards lacked dynamic response. They did develop a method of incorporating velocity response in prototypes but decided to leave it out due to increased weight, expense, and other factors. The last RMI keyboard in the early 80's had a velocity Keyboard but are very rare. RMI parent company Allen Organ was an innovator in music technology first employing a primitive form of digital sampling in their Organs as far back as 1969. This led to the world's first digital keyboards the RMI Keyboard Computer KC-I and KC-II around 1973. Here are some videos of prominent bands and players who used an RMI: The Rascals: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJD3zmWVg4M Blind Faith (Steve Winwood): Edgar Winter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQv9cRk8R4M Sparks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x29_lhRjuuw Yes (Rick Wakeman): Blood Sweat and Tears: Iron Butterfly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXF1MdH8u1I Kris Kristofferson: Frank Zappa: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7H1Q5pJu0I New York Rock Ensemble (Michael Kamen): Mandrake Memorial: Three Dog Night: Country Joe and the Fish (RMI Calliope): Lawrence Welk (Allen Electric Harpsichord): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_J2IkrPlE6w Allen Electric Harpsichord: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxIeYkFxAn4 The Doors (this one may be controversial but sounds like an RMI to me):

The Leslie was the decorator cabinet probably a 222. That would devalue it somewhat but a 222 still might get $895 by itself.

I doubt if anyone on a remote island with little - if any - electricity available could have figured out how to set up a modular Moog let alone get a sound out of it. Nearly every African country with electricity has 220-230V. Since this shipment was bound for Brazil most likely everything was set to run on 120-127V though Brazil has areas that use 220V. A voltage converter as well as adaptor plugs would be needed to use any of this gear assuming there was amplification equipment available. It seems the name of the ship has been forgotten. A bigger mystery is what happened to the crew and how they got so far off course.

Last time I needed to ship some Keyboards I got boxes from a Piano store that sold larger home model digital Pianos and cut them to fit. Also got boxes from a bike shop.

I've been using the same Quik Lok two tier stand for the last fifteen years. Up until recently Quik Lok was very good about providing free replacement of stripped knob screws and bolts. I purchased a second stand a few years ago which is identical to the first stand. I need a part for my old stand and Quick Lok has not responded the last few times I tried to contact them. I wouldn't mind buying replacement parts but there is no way to place an order and I haven't been able to find suitable parts anywhere else.

One of the few Crimson songs to feature Piano. Here is Keith on Top of the Pops in 1970 with a guy named Greg singing. I think Tippett could have kept up with Emerson but Tippett Lake and Palmer wouldn't be as marketable. The album version which is longer and quite different. [video:youtube]

Oberheim OB8. Several patches showed off it's ability to change LFO speed as a sound evolves. Interesting but too specific for general use.

John Lennon attended a party at Micky Dolenz' house and spent hours playing with his Moog Modular. Dolenz later sold it to Bobby Sherman.

Nothing like a D50 intro to set up a late 80s song. Helped Eric Clapton sound up to date. [video:youtube]

I've been doing a lot of Keyboard cleaning over the last few months. Among those that I recently cleaned are a Jupiter 6, OB8, Matrix 12, S50, DX7, Pro-One, MS20, four Vox Continentals, Gibson G101, Farfisa Compact, Fender Rhodes Piano Bass, RMI Electra-Piano, Hammond Organ plus various guitars, amps and effects pedals. Everything is then photographed in detail in the event it becomes necessary to sell. I first wipe down thoroughly with a soft dry cIoth to get loose dust and dirt. Then I use a clean bicycle chain brush around pots, knobs, jacks and other tight places. Next I go over the panel with a damp cloth with a little dish soap if needed. For any sticky residue that scrubbing doesn't remove I use the smallest possible amount of Goof Off! as a last resort. If the panel is painted and has superficial scratches a light automotive polishing compound may smooth out and brighten it up. Try on an inconspicuous area first. Sometimes toothpaste has enough fine grit to smooth out scratches. Small paint chips can be touched up with a Magic Marker If more shine is desired automotive car wax will coat and shine painted metal. I cleaned a Juno 60 panel that was so heavily plastered with sticky residue that I resorted to using progressive harsher cleaning products and finally got a good shine with car wax. I wasn't able to get every speck of gunk off but none of the paint was damaged and it looks much better than when I got it. On vintage Keyboards that have Tolex, Rexine, or similar covering leather polish or saddle soap works well after initial cleaning with damp cloth or brush. Armor-All looks good at first but will eventually leave a white residue. Saddle soap can be purchased from Chewy in case you do pet food orders with them. Many older vintage Keyboards have chrome parts which sometimes become corroded or pitted if not rusted. A light grade steel wool can remove tarnish and often reduce pitting leaving a nice shine. Fiberglass scratch pens are good for reducing light rusting or pitted areas. Furniture or guitar polish will make wood end panels look their best. Wood color touch up pens will help hide any small scratches or blemishes. For cleaning the actual Keys dishwashing soap works pretty well. Best to take off all the Keys and wash them in the sink if you can put in the time and effort. I haven't tried it yet but there is Syntaur Key Renew for polishing the Keys.

My Unemployment compensation was finally approved yesterday. Have been out of work since my last gig on March 7. Most of my work was in concert theaters and heavily attended clubs in NYC and the Jersey Shore along with some private teaching. None of this is likely to get back to normal for quite a while so this could be the end of my life-long music career.

Yanni has at least seven Kromes in his stage set up one or two of which are redundant. His second Keyboardist Ming also has a few Kromes so so that narrows the number down to only around forty backups. When you consider how crucial and tightly choreographed a Yanni show is nothing can be left to chance. All of the Kromes are custom programmed identically. You will never hear a factory patch at a Yanni concert.

Yanni carries fifty Korg Kromes so in case one goes down another can be brought in to replace it.

There actually was a pandemic beginning in late 1968 and carrying over into 1969. The Hong Kong flu killed about four million people worldwide and 100,000 in the USA. An Oregon bandmate who I still talk to reminded me a few days ago that he caught it and was laid up for several days. Troops returning from Vietnam are thought to have brought the flu in first to California. The flu was allowed to run it's course with no restrictions on economic activity and a vaccine became available within four months. The death rate which is roughly comparable to what we are seeing today was considered to be low in comparison to previous pandemics. We have a much larger world population now so the average death rate is relatively lower but the whole world economy has been shut down for months.

Not in LA but prices are less than most and they ship worldwide. http://www.tonewheelgeneral.com/index.php?load=/contact.html https://www.bborgan.com/products/roll-or-kari-dollies