Dear MMDs,  The French annual meeting of our association AAIMM was
a success, although it was in a rather remote place.  On Saturday,
March 15th, more than 100 people were able to have dinner with very
good local beers, listen to and dance to the sound of the three large
Mortier organs (1912, 1928, 1939) in the wonderful Cafe des Orgues
Mortier, Herzeele, between Lille and Dunkerque (North of France).
The address of that place is given in the museum section of the
musicamecanica web pages : http://www.musicamecanica.org/

In this incredible place, each Sunday afternoon, hundreds of French
and Belgian Flemish people come to dance, as you may see in a Brueghel
picture : by twos, by fours, by sixes or with sarabandes of tens of
people, from 7 to 77 in age!

On Sunday, we had a visit at the very nice Musee de la Musique
Mecanique, owned by Patrick Desnoulez, in Haubourdin, south of Lille.
A very good collection, with fine instruments: a very good red Welte
Steinway grand piano, several orchestrions by Seybold, playing with
nuances, a large "cafe" Mortier organ, a good Wurlitzer organette, a
Mills Violano, a Regina music box with changer, and many other organs,
music boxes, phonographs, etc.  (Address on the same web pages.)

Outside, Raymond Hequette, a fairground specialist, had brought his
large 52-key Verbeeck on a trailer, to welcome us and the visitors !
A very fine day indeed, a little cold at the beginning, but with
great sunshine afterwards.

Our association is in good health : more than 600 members, many new
young members, a good convivial atmosphere, participation foreseen
this year in the more than ten organ festivals in France, and always
our 48 pages quarterly journal, "Musiques Mecaniques Vivantes".
(A short abstract of our articles is actually published by the MBSI
News Bulletin, the GSM Journal and the journal of the Italian
association).  See http://www.aaimm.org/

With best regards,

Philippe Rouille  (Paris, France)
http://www.musicamecanica.org/