<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML xmlns:o = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:st1 = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.6000.16414" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY id=role_body style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #000000; FONT-FAMILY: Arial" bottomMargin=7 leftMargin=7 topMargin=7 rightMargin=7><FONT id=role_document face=Arial color=#000000 size=2> <DIV> <DIV><STRONG><EM> Hi All</EM></STRONG></DIV> <DIV><STRONG><EM>    I got this very satisfying post  from My friend at the Arkely center of the performing arts in Eureka Calif. (See Arkly.com)   </EM></STRONG><STRONG><EM>Where my 1928 Steinway D now lives.  This as you may remember was the piano on display in Rochester </EM></STRONG><STRONG><EM> N. Y., at last years national convention.</EM></STRONG></DIV> <DIV><STRONG><EM>   </EM></STRONG></DIV> <DIV><STRONG><EM>  Sincerely </EM></STRONG></DIV> <DIV><STRONG><EM>   Dale Erwin</EM></STRONG></DIV> <DIV>.</DIV> <DIV>   </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000 size=2><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Hello Dale,<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid"> <P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Hope you and your family are well.  I just thought I’d catch up with you for a moment and report on the doings at the <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Arkley</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Center</st1:PlaceType> here in <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Eureka</st1:place></st1:City>.  The D has had only incidental use up till this last weekend.  The <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Eureka</st1:place></st1:City> jazz festival used it several times, though I have no idea what anyone thought of it, since I wasn’t around after the first tuning.  But the first “artist” to use the piano (theatre management’s term) was Jim Brickman, who accompanied both himself and his vocal performing partner in a concert of his own and Disney songs.  Luis warned me that Brickman (whom he used to travel with on tour) was <I><SPAN style="FONT-STYLE: italic">extremely</SPAN></I> picky about the pianos he plays, normally hauling a Yamaha C7 around with him.  Apparently he’s able to detect the slightest unison wander or octave roll—and likes to point them out to the tech.  I found the idea that he would consider a C7 to be somehow a good benchmark against which to measure all other pianos gave me a certain amount of cognitive dissonance, but then he made it all clear by the hard, hot sound he gets (and likes) from the way he has the piano amplified.  I did an obsessively detailed tuning, and as some brassiness had developed in the mid-section of the instrument, I voiced that down a bit, and did a super quick, 2 thin drops in the string grooves type juicing of several notes in the high treble break where the attack was just a bit cotton-y, made sure the shift pedal voicing was OK up there, and crossed my fingers.  I came back around 5 pm at Brickman’s request, and sat in the audience where he was just finishing up sound check.  I heard him off-handedly remark to his partner that this was “definitely the best piano I’ve played on the entire tour”.  He left the stage without bothering to point anything out, and I was informed that a quick touch up would be just fine—no complaints.  As I was doing that, Luis came to me and told me he wanted me to know that Brickman loved the piano, and was completely satisfied.  I’m told (I wasn’t there) that he paused at one point in the performance to tell the audience that he was aware the instrument was a new acquisition, and was “extremely pleased” to be playing it and was enjoying it a lot.  <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P> <P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">So there you have it—the thundering approval of the instrument keeps rolling in…..<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P> <P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P> <P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Greg Granoff</SPAN></FONT></P></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV> <DIV></DIV> <DIV> </DIV></FONT><BR><BR><BR><DIV><FONT style="color: black; font: normal 10pt ARIAL, SAN-SERIF;"><HR style="MARGIN-TOP: 10px">See what's free at <A title="http://www.aol.com?ncid=AOLAOF00020000000503" href="http://www.aol.com?ncid=AOLAOF00020000000503" target="_blank">AOL.com</A>. </FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>