AMICA Convention 1999 - Waltham/Boston MA
By Karl Ellison - Salem, Massachusetts

During the early part of summer of 1999 much of the Northeast USA has
been experiencing severe drought conditions and periodic heat waves.
Sultry days, uncharacteristically relentless sun and "dry" thunder-
storms have been the norm for the prior 8 weeks making it very un-
pleasant to do any outdoor activities.  But on the week of August 12-15
1999, AMICA got lucky.  The week of the convention saw a break in the
heat, allowing all of us to enjoy the planned activities in relative
comfort.  Despite some weekend clouds, the weather was the most
comfortable it's been in months!

The 1999 AMICA convention was headquartered at the Wyndam Waltham hotel
in Waltham Massachusetts - a 30 minute bus ride from downtown Boston.
Why so far from the city?  Perhaps one factor is that the room rates
in downtown Boston would be approximately double our convention rate of
$95/night.  Our hotel was made mostly of sweeping glass facades contain-
ing all of the amenities that one would expect near a major metropolis.
People started to arrive a day early from around the world.

Living only a 40-minute drive away, I attended Wednesday's committee
business meeting.  President Linda Bird chaired the meeting, covering
old business in the morning, new business after lunch.  The committee
members adjourned for dinner, while I popped back home to later return
to the hotel to stay for the week.

I arrived for my 3-night stay at the hotel Thursday morning and glanced
about the hospitality room while checking in.  Look at the instruments!
A Crown piano that interfaces to a Telectric and a Telelectric console,
with an original cabinet and lot of brass roll cassettes.  There was a
Mason & Hamlin Ampico B grand, a Steinway Duo-Art grand, a Chickering
Ampico A grand, and an Ampico Upright with a clockwork spoolbox motor
(that was wound when you pumped - yes! - it was an experimental unit
from the factory, the owner told me!), a nice standard 88-note pumper,
and a shiny ebony Disklavier grand.  People brought boxes of rolls for
anyone to play.  The hospitality room looked like the piano section of
a 1920's department store.  The room was full of old friends and
friendly new faces.

Shortly after 1 PM we boarded busses to go to the heart of Boston: the
historic Faneuil Hall District.  Site of the first town meeting in
America, Faneuil Hall was host to revolutionary gatherings in the 18th
century, antislavery assemblies in the 19th and temperance and women's
suffrage rallies in the 20th, hence its moniker, the "Cradle of
Liberty" -- ironic, because the place was built by merchant Peter
Faneuil with proceeds from the slave trade.

We were let off at the Quincy Market, three long buildings of shops
adjacent to Faneuil Hall.  The tourist hordes at the Quincy Market
building make it seem like a circus.  Since I work in downtown Boston
I've spent many a lunch time in this area.

During the summer, jugglers and fire-eaters perform free for the teem-
ing masses to make the impression complete.  Irish fiddlers, Andean
flutists, frenetic clowns and a faux-Ben Franklin strolls the property
to answer any question a visitor may ask, jokers and smokers and
"aspiring poets" -- they all perform during sunny summer days in the
area immediately surrounding marketplace, the middle building of the
three that make up Faneuil Hall Marketplace.

Some convention attendees walked around the area shops, while most took
the scheduled combo trolley/open-air bus sight-seeing tour of the more
historic extremities of the city.  Our colorful tour guide, Malinda
(colloquially pronounced "Ma-lin-der"), gave an excellent narrative
of little known objective as well as subjective facts of every view.
Sites visited were: The Charlestown Navy yard, home of "Old Ironsides,
the oldest currently commissioned ship in the US Navy, MIT, the history
Back Bay section, Boston Public Commons (garden), Bunker Hill, etc.

Upon returning to the Faneuil hall area, many ate a quick bite at the
market building containing an ethnic food court.  After this "dinner on
your own" we popped across town to the Boston University, a.k.a. BU.

The BU "John R. Silber" Symphonic Organ -- 30' high, 10' wide and
weighing 22.5 tons -- is located in the university's Student Union
building.  Nelson Bardon (Boston's premiere Aeolian-Skinner organ
builder) gave a brief narration of the instrument's history, whilst his
assistant Shawn sat up in the balcony operating the organ though the
computer player interface.

This is a unique interment in that it's generally a combination of an
Aeolian and a Skinner organ (but not to be confused with an Aeolian
Skinner instrument proper).  The first instrument, the Skinner, was
originally installed in the home of Percy A. Rockefeller in Greenwich
Connecticut.  Other divisions came from other instruments, including
one previously installed in Boston's John Hancock building.  The
original roll-playing consoles are displayed in the well lit blower/
controller room.  A temporary master console is in place on the main
balcony; Nelson Bardon & Associates are working on a proper console.

The instrument also has a computer interface: The Boston University
Symphonic Organ Recorder (BUSOR).  This proprietary software/hardware
music interface was developed in England using a specially designed
kind of MIDI to play the instrument.  (Regular MIDI is too slow; BUSOR
is capable of 1000 note changes/second.)  Television screens around the
auditorium are used to display the graphics of this software, showing
all the virtual stops and console keys moving as they're being played.

The crumbling and deteriorating player rolls that were part of the
individual residential organs that make up this instrument have been
digitally recorded for use on BUSOR.  The purist may be tempted to
sniff at BUSOR, yet it's flexibility and speed all but eliminate human
limitations, making it "an artistic medium in it's own rights".

The organ isn't just an orchestral organ -- it has many attributes
of a theater organ, with many traps and theater organ type stops.  The
entire instrument was built with a full corridor tunneled through it so
you can see all of the works, well-lit behind Plexiglas.  After all,
this is a college, a place of learning and experimenting.  This instru-
ment is the culmination of 16 years of work, and it's metamorphosis
continues to this day with the plans for a "Fanfare" division which is
now in the planning stages.

I swear the busses got lost upon returning, so we didn't arrive back at
the hotel until late.  I again popped into the hospitality room to find
Hi Babbit playing for a small group.  Extemporaneously, as usual.
Someone in the room said "Play 'New York, New York'".  Another voice
quietly said "I'm sick of that one", to which Hi replied, "YOU'RE sick
of that one?!?"

Friday morning began with a continental breakfast and more greetings of
new friends, and the seminars followed shortly.  It's a shame, but due
to time restrictions one is only allowed to attend three of the six or
so seminars offered.  Larry Norman added his usual comical aire to his
seminar on preserving and repairing music rolls,  Bill Koenigsberg gave
a well-documented historical tour of his 1000-hour task of his Mason &
Hamlin Ampico B, and Ken Volk showcased the history and details of oper-
ating his Tel-Electric expression player.  These were the three I was
able to attend.

Lunch at the hotel was a formal served affair, after which immediately
followed a Magic Lantern show.  Slides were projected that contained
moving components, liquids between the slides for effects, and other
projectable motions.  It can be best described as a slide how with cer-
tain mechanical motions induced by superimposing other moving slides.
The audience was instructed where to interject their participation
within the narrated stories.

Silent movies and Magic lantern shows were rarely silent, involving
sound effects and audience participation.  Magic Lantern shows long
before adopted this concept to the Nth degree.  Also highly enjoyed
after lunch was Margaret Davis of Loughton England, who sang patriotic
solo selections accompanied by Julian Dyer on the pianola.

Following the singing and lantern show was an organ grind in the hotel
parking lot.  A sneak peek below the hood of one organ revealed a
computerized song selector, but the instruments were pneumatically
powered by crank bellows.

Later that afternoon was the pumper contest.  Peter Davis of the UK
played em-cee for the affair, and this year I was disappointed to
find there were only a handful of participants, relative to the 1998
competition.  Somehow always the center of attention, Larry Norman's
twisted psychology failed to influence the judges and psyche out the
other contestants this time as in the past - as he arrived this year
at the contest dressed as a house painter, replete with full painters
coveralls, tool kit, buckets and brushes.

But it was yours truly who happened to win the contest with my newly
acquired copy of "Raggedy Ann", QRS 2539 played by Herbert Clair, that
I won in a Mike Montgomery mail auction.  I promise to dust the Golden
Footsie Status Award every week, and give it periodic Desenex treat-
ments as needed.  I'll be certain to return the Footsie to my successor
in Sacramento next year!

Friday night was the Harbor Cruise Banquet Dinner.  We again were
bussed to downtown Boston's Rowes Wharf, where we all boarded the good
ship "Freedom" for a 3-hour cruise and dinner.  While the boat was
still moored at the dock, it was ever so slightly pitching with the
waves lapping against the dock, and this landlubber began to feel
dizzy.  Oh great.

Upon going above deck to the observation deck, I met a few others who
were also experiencing the beginnings of the unfortunate phenomenon of
motion sickness.  However, as soon as the boat took off, everything
leveled off beautifully, and everyone was okay.  Dinner was a tasteless
lump of lasagna, but what of it?  The company was good, there was a bar
on board, I was hours and miles away from my work-a-day cares (even
though my office building loomed in the background).  What more could I
ask for?  The city is very pretty when viewed from the water at night.

Saturday morning started with the Mart.  Relative to last year, this
one was lacking in variety somehow.  There was plenty to see, but to
me, there just didn't seem to be the diversity of items for sale that
I expected.  Having a table myself, I didn't get the time to browse as
I would have liked.  There were some new business there: myself (New
England Music Rolls) and David Saul (Precision Music Rolls).

That afternoon was the busiest part of the convention, with the massive
road-tour to view a remarkable home collection as well as local sites
and museums of interest.

My bus's first stop was to the home of Mr. & Mrs. Lavacchia, a
wonderful, gracious and hospitable couple that opened their home to
our tour.  They had coffee and snacks prepared for everyone!  We were
all free to roam throughout their entire home.  Clearly the result of
years of collecting, there were band organs, Pipe-organ consoles, and
a fully-restored Photoplayer (see pages 377-378 of Bowers' Encyclopedia
of Automatic Musical Instruments), all of which was demonstrated.
Passing an antique peep-show viewer and equipment on the staircase
going up, you arrived in their living room where a Mills Double Violano
Virtuoso was playing (see p 522 of Bowers).  That was just the start of
the instruments and memorabilia placed throughout the house.

Next stop was the American Textile History Museum in Lowell, Mass.
The Museum houses the nation's largest collection of artifacts and
documents relating to America's textile manufacture.  They boast to
have the largest collection of spinning wheels in the world.  Young
girls would work with heavy equipment 6 days a week for 12 hours a day
producing the yarns and strings that fed the massive looms.  Semi-
modern (1950's) looms were demonstrated.  Wear your earplugs!

Getting tired now ... but we move on, our bus drives through very
scenic areas of Northern Massachusetts to our next destination, The
Charles River Museum of Industry in Waltham, Mass., where their mission
is "... to be a center for exploration of the history of industry and
technology and to study the dynamic process of innovation in order to
encourage and inspire future innovation in America."

The group toured the past, present and future of the machine age.
The top floor was devoted to the remnants of the Waltham Watch Company,
containing artifacts, parts, equipment, and finished products.  Comic-
ally ending the tour was a sad looking player piano.  Butchered for
"maximum viewing", this neglected upright needed much help.  This
ostensibly was to be the grand finale of the tour, but ended up being
more of a coups de gras.  A fun place to poke around, in any event.

Aaahh ... back to the hotel, where everyone was all toured-out.
A welcomed happy hour preceded the Banquet dinner.

The "Blue Horizon Jazz band" played though the dinner, though I found
this a bit loud for dinner conversation.  Ramsi Tick, past president
and owner of QRS music happened to walk over and sit next to me for din-
ner.  He has fully recovered from his emergency bypass operation this
time last year (judging from the prime rib dinner he had ordered!).
I consider it a rare privilege to be able to discuss industry topics
with people who have been there and lived it; wonderful!  Couples
danced on the main floor, where I saw David and Ann Saul, wonderful
competition ballroom dancers they are, showing their stuff -- smooth!
Afterwards, a group of 20 or so stayed up late at the hotel bar,
generally being silly.  I don't think I laughed so hard in my life
(thanks, "Reverend" Fox).

The Sunday farewell breakfast was a fully served affair, after which
the open business meeting took place.  The Wednesday Board meeting
activities were highlighted.  John Motto-Ros gave a slide presentation
of the sights and activities that have been booked (a done deal!) for
the June 2000 convention in Sacramento CA.  Discount air fares to
Melbourne for 2001 are in the works.

When the meeting was adjourned around 11 AM, the mass exodus began to
the airports and to the local open houses.  So many people left so
quickly, it was difficult to individually say good-bye.  Ah well, until
next year in Sacramento ... farewell!

Karl Ellison