Al Nielsen  (1924-2002)

Our friend, Al Nielsen, died unexpectedly on Dec 31, 2002.  He and his
wife, Linda, have been our friends for more than 30 years.  We met when
the Nielsens, who were music box collectors, responded to an ad we ran
in the Antique Trader offering a cob organ for sale.  They came to our
home and saw our first instrument, a Wurlitzer AX, and that was the
start of their own expanded interest in automatic musical instruments.

Al was a native Californian who spent the majority of his life in San
Francisco and Berkeley.  He was a graduate of UC Berkeley, with a
Master's Degree in Education from San Francisco State University.

Al and Linda were educators, and they had a great interest in all kinds
of music, particularly jazz and ragtime.  They enjoyed sharing their
interest in music and musical instruments with children and the public
at schools, organ rallies, and street fairs.  They were members of the
Founding Chapter of AMICA and are members of the Golden Gate Chapter of
the MBSI.

Al also had a keen interest in all things technical -- particularly
electronics, mechanics, physics, and computers.  Living in Berkeley, CA,
gave him the opportunity to associate with several of the physicists at
the university.  He was at various times an aircraft pilot, the owner
of a computer business, and a shipboard radar installer.

Al's interest in music and computers was joined 20 years ago with the
creation of MIDI, which he encouraged me to pursue.  One of the most
memorable events that Al and I attended, at a San Francisco Bay shipyard,
was the demonstration of a 40-foot tall Tesla coil which produced 50-foot
lightning bolts.

We will miss Al and we will miss his off-beat sense of humor.  We will
fondly remember our visits to Berkeley, and Al's guided historical
tours of San Francisco, and our Chinatown dinners.  We had a lot of
fun together.

Mike and Marilyn Ames
Solana Beach, CA

 [ Editor's note: Publication in MMDigest was delayed pending delivery of
 [ the MBSI News Bulletin of March/April 2003, which was received today.
 [ -- Robbie