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Alan Lenhoff

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Posts posted by Alan Lenhoff

    Classic Keyboards for your coffee table

    in The Keyboard Corner

    Posted

    Received a copy of this book a couple days ago and have barely cracked it, but it's beautiful in every aspect. I expected the gorgeous pictures, but not the extensive well-told history.

     

    You rock Alan!

     

    I appreciate the kind comments! I just read them to my wife, who, with a wry smile, said "That's wonderful! You still have to take out the garbage." And so I did... ;-)

     

    Alan

    Virtual tour of an amazing vintage keys collection

    in The Keyboard Corner

    Posted

    Here's a link to the recording of the session:

     

    It runs about 1 hr, 50 minutes. It starts with a wide-ranging tour of the EMEAPP collection, and ends with them showing (and playing) their collection of Keith Emerson gear: His modular Moog, split Minimoog, Tarkus C-3, the L100 that famously caught fire on stage (complete with Keith's daggers), and some other keys. They also show some of his stage clothes, and gear and memorabilia of other ELP members.

     

    The modular Moog sounds are just incredible!

     

    Enjoy,

     

    Alan

    Virtual tour of an amazing vintage keys collection

    in The Keyboard Corner

    Posted

    I was on for the full experience and loved it. Thank you so much for sharing this.

     

     

    Glad you enjoyed it. It's an amazing collection, created and maintained by people who love vintage keyboard instruments!

     

    The combo organ forum that sponsored this, https://groups.io/g/combo-organ, has been doing these Happy Hours roughly monthly during the pandemic, on a wide variety of vintage keys topics -- ranging from presentations of uncommon instruments to tips on doing museum-quality restorations and electronic troubleshooting basics. If you join the group, you'll be notified when each of these sessions is happening.

     

    Alan

    Virtual tour of an amazing vintage keys collection

    in The Keyboard Corner

    Posted

    You are cordially invited to join the Combo Organs Forum (https://groups.io/g/combo-organ ) this Thursday for its January Zoom Virtual Happy Hour, at 7:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (US). The session will feature a virtual tour of the Electronic Music Education and Preservation Project (EMEAPP), a private museum and educational facility located near Philadelphia that has perhaps the world"s most extensive collection of vintage rock keyboard instruments, as well as vintage amps, effects pedals, guitars, and studio gear.

     

    If you can name a famous rock keyboard, there"s probably at least one of them there, including rare prototypes and instruments owned by top artists. EMEAPP is generally open only by special arrangement. Our virtual tour will include an overview of the amazing collection, and a demonstration of their Keith Emerson instruments, including Emerson's modular Moog, split Minimoog, Tarkus Hammond C-3 and others. We"ll also get a demo of an extremely rare Yamaha GX-1 'Dream Machine,' a groundbreaking, three-manual, polyphonic synth used by Emerson, Stevie Wonder, John Paul Jones and others. And there'll be plenty of time for your questions.

     

    Don"t miss this opportunity! To participate, download the free Zoom app to your phone, tablet or computer. You'll need access to a mic and camera (or use the ones built-into your mobile device or laptop).

     

    Thursday, January 28, at 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (US).

     

    You can join the meeting by clicking on this link:

     

    https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86855390788?pwd=SFFUN00yNXZyNklpRDg3UjdNczZkdz09

     

    To learn more about EMEAPP, go to EMEAPP.org. Dress is 'pandemic casual.' (Pajamas and slippers welcomed.) ð

     

    Alan

    Classic Keyboards for your coffee table

    in The Keyboard Corner

    Posted

    David Robertson and I are quite pleased that 'Classic Keys: Keyboard sounds that launched rock music' was just awarded a certificate of merit in the 2020 Awards for Excellence of the Association for Recorded Sound Collections. The book was recognized in the category of 'Best research in recorded rock and popular music.' The ARSC, founded in 1966, is dedicated to the preservation and study of sound recordings. Its members include historians, archivists, museum curators, musicians, record collectors, music producers, reviewers and broadcasters. https://www.classickeysbook.com/

     

    Alan

     

    A well deserved award Alan. Huge congrats! I continue to be impressed with the book as I periodically pick it up and read sections in between my day gig work. It's such a welcome distraction.....:)

     

    Thanks so much!

     

    Alan

    Classic Keyboards for your coffee table

    in The Keyboard Corner

    Posted

    David Robertson and I are quite pleased that 'Classic Keys: Keyboard sounds that launched rock music' was just awarded a certificate of merit in the 2020 Awards for Excellence of the Association for Recorded Sound Collections. The book was recognized in the category of 'Best research in recorded rock and popular music.' The ARSC, founded in 1966, is dedicated to the preservation and study of sound recordings. Its members include historians, archivists, museum curators, musicians, record collectors, music producers, reviewers and broadcasters. https://www.classickeysbook.com/

     

    Alan

    Classic Keyboards for your coffee table

    in The Keyboard Corner

    Posted

    Before Classic Keys was published in December, the publisher's marketing director warned me about Amazon's weird and wonderful pricing algorithm, and predicted that the book's price would fluctuate wildly for no apparent reason. That indeed has happened.

     

    A few minutes ago, I noticed that Amazon was selling the book at a 47% discount from its list price, with free shipping. If you've been looking for a gift for Uncle Fred's birthday, this might be a good opportunity. https://www.amazon.com/dp/1574417762/

     

    It really wouldn't surprise me if they raise the price $10-$20 by tomorrow. That's just the way it seems to go with Amazon.

     

    Alan

    Classic Keyboards for your coffee table

    in The Keyboard Corner

    Posted

    Added to my cart. Will go with my next order. I really hope there is a picture of the Rhodes Chroma in it. :)

     

    The Chroma is mentioned in the text, but unfortunately is not among the 560 photos in the book. Still, I don't think you'll be disappointed by the breadth and depth of the book. There's a lot to love!

     

    Alan

    Classic Keyboards for your coffee table

    in The Keyboard Corner

    Posted

    Ordered, should be here this week. Can't wait!

    :)

     

    Arrived!

    I'm a bit bummed that one of the corners took a pretty bad hit, but that's happened to just about every book I ever purchased from Amazon so I had to expect it, cannot complain.

    Wow, after reading this topic I expected a good product, but still I'm impressed way beyond expectations. Just quickly flipping through the pages and seeing the quality of the paper, print and photographs, it's clear that the authors put so much work and research and dedication into this.

    This will provide endless hours of learning and enjoyment.

    Thanks so much Alan!

     

    Sorry it arrived damaged. It's a big, heavy book and the usual packaging that the retailers use isn't always up to the job. If yours is badly damaged, I'd think Amazon would quickly replace it.

     

    I really appreciate the kind words. David and I put our hearts and souls into this project. As Chuck Leavell (Allman Bros., Rolling Stones musical director) said on his back cover endorsement, it was meant to be a "dream book for us keyboard players."

     

    Best,

     

    Alan

    Classic Keyboards for your coffee table

    in The Keyboard Corner

    Posted

    I'm pleased that "Classic Keys: Keyboard Sounds That Launched Rock Music," was selected as one of the "Best Classic Rock Music Books of All Time" by the BookAuthority: https://bookauthority.org/boâ¦/best-classic-rock-music-books⦠BookAuthority collects and ranks the best books in the world. It's nice to get this kind of recognition. Thank you for all your support! ClassicKeysBook.com

    Alan

     

    Huge congrats on this Alan. So well deserved!!

     

    Thanks!

     

    Alan

    Classic Keyboards for your coffee table

    in The Keyboard Corner

    Posted

    Me too. And Happy Birthday Dave!

     

    So NOW I finally work out why you wished me happy birthday :D My birthday isn't until July but that's the excuse I used to order the book ;)

     

    Dave:

     

    My Australian co-author and photographer extraordinaire, David Robertson (from Adelaide), gets especially excited when copies of the book make their way Down Under. Thanks for making his day!

     

    Alan

    Classic Keyboards for your coffee table

    in The Keyboard Corner

    Posted

    The Leslie part is within the Hammond Chapter. About 3 pages and photos of specific Leslie details and story, plus mention throughout the Hammond section.

     

    I can't overstate how lovely the pictures are, not online the Hammond/Leslie part, but throughout the entire book. Awesome...

     

    You beat me to the response!

     

    In general, while each chapter is named for its "feature instrument," most of the chapters also have considerable info and photos of instruments that competed with it and instruments that made the feature instrument "obsolete." (At least in the minds of musicians of the day.) For example, the Mellotron chapter also includes the Chamberlin, Optigan, Orchestron, Birotron and the later "string machines" that offered many similar sounds. The Rhodes chapter talks about the Yamaha DX-7 and the Kurzweil K250, which helped seal the fate of the Rhodes, etc.

     

    Alan

    Classic Keyboards for your coffee table

    in The Keyboard Corner

    Posted

    Alan, were any of your personal instruments photographed for the book? I see from your signature you've got quite a collection!

     

    Actually the only instrument of mine that made the book was a photo of my mint Wurli 140B that accompanied my first-person account of how I found it. (It's in the final chapter of the book that's about collecting vintage keyboards.) Almost all the big, beautiful "glamour shots" in the book were shot by my co-author (and photographer) David Robertson at his studio in Adelaide, South Australia. David has a very impressive collection, which was supplemented in some cases by me purchasing instruments in the US and shipping them to him to photograph. (Uh, yeah, that was incredibly expensive!)

     

    Alan

    Classic Keyboards for your coffee table

    in The Keyboard Corner

    Posted

    My copy just arrived. It is indeed a beautiful book, filled with detailed photos. I've been skimming through it, and it looks like it's going to be a fun and interesting read. More importantly, perhaps, it looks like it'll be an excellent reference -- not only for the history and details of the keyboards themselves, but also for information about the musicians who played them, for the effects used to get certain sounds, and for which keyboard was used on a bunch of songs.

     

    Joe:

     

    Really glad it's meeting your expectations!

     

    Alan

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