It had pictures but it didn't get thru so maybe later <div style="clear:both">Dale Erwin... RPT Mason & Hamlin/Steinway/U.S pianos www.Erwinspiano.com 209-577-8397 <tt><tt>     </tt></tt> </div>   I admit this a bit of a sentimental journey but this is part and parcel of our work and a part we may need more of. <div style="font-family:arial,helvetica;font-size:10pt;color:black"> <div id="AOLMsgPart_2_e683fa90-e2c8-4e3f-aa6e-09245fd4b7e3">   Many of you may remember the 1928 D that I took to the rebuilders Gallery in Rochester  N.Y. 2006 & Los Angeles,Sacramento,Anaheim later. I know many people enjoyed that instrument and for me it was a very happy outcome tonally. <div class="envelope" style="float: none;" align="left"></div> <div> </div>  My Personal Favorite D to Date. Its shop name was "Big Foot', AS it had such a big footprint in the shop for soooo long. For many reasons it was rebuilding process scattered over about 5 years.    After parading it here and there to conventions it finally sold about 4 years ago to the Arkely center for the arts, a 1920 Theater restored by a local family in Eureka on the remote North Calif. coast. It was gratifying to place this beast in a place that was acoustically the pianos equal, a really great space. The center is the hub of culture in the region and the piano used by the symphony and others. My friend and consummate technician Greg Granoff looks after the beast now with great care. He is also the head tech for Humboldt state. <div style="font-family:arial,helvetica;font-size:10pt;color:black"> <div id="AOLMsgPart_1_fcd4d131-eea6-4f14-bf93-6a3c1916a994"> <div>  I had not seen/heard the piano since I delivered it 4 yrs ago. I've been waiting for the right concerto at the right moment to make the trek up there to see and hear this piano in concert in this space.  So I was  in Eureka Ca. over the weekend, about 300 mile drive from Modesto, to hear...Bigfoot....  A young local talent Ryan McAvoy McCullough came back to the area to perform the Rachmaninoff 3 thd piano concerto. Fantastic acoustics, amazing young pianist,...He was near flawless. The performance  gripped me on so many emotional levels. It was similar to seeing one of your children after a long absence. Someones voice you know and love so well speaking to you again. The sound in the building, the way he bonded to the keyboard & the nuance of tone coming from the Instrument was truly a culminating moment in my ears and life. The Beast has become the Black beauty! </div> <div>   What a journey that piano has been in my life.   The piano/pianist sounded absolutely stellar. Best performance I,ve ever heard on my work. </div> <div>I'm on cloud nine this am. Beautiful day in that coastal town. Trix, Jacob and Sara all here.... Life is good.</div> <div>Dale</div> <div>Aka...tone warrior :) </div> <div style="clear:both">Dale Erwin... RPT Mason & Hamlin/Steinway/U.S pianos <a target="_blank" href="http://www.Erwinspiano.com">www.Erwinspiano.com</a> 209-577-8397 <tt><tt>     </tt></tt> </div> </div> </div> </div>  </div>