Several years ago someone gave my wife a piano roll.  We objected,
saying that we didn't have a player piano.  At that time we had very
little knowledge of mechanical music, but had a friend who had some
sort of piano that played by using rolls, so we agreed to take the roll
telling the person (the identity of whom we still don't know) that we
would give the piano roll to our friend.

I told our friend that we had a piano roll for him.  He responded by
selling us a Marque Ampico piano for $100 after playing the roll for
me.  We paid $250 or so to move the piano two miles to our house and
various members of the Lady Liberty Chapter of AMICA helped bring it
up to snuff.  Incidentally, our friend who sold us the Ampico is Keith
Bigger, former president of the Lady Liberty Chapter of AMICA, and his
piano is an Ampico grand that was formerly owned by Melville Dewey,
the inventor of the Dewey Decimal System used to categorize books in
libraries throughout the USA.

I am a pastor of two Russian-speaking Baptist congregations in New
York City.  I barely speak Russian, but care greatly for these
disenfranchised people, most of whom have suffered persecution for
their faith.  That keeps me busy both Saturday and Sunday, plus most of
the rest of the time.  Still, my wife and I found time to attend AMICA
meetings, even though we would often arrive late and had to leave
early.  We didn't understand what was being said in the workshops, but
we were fascinated with the wonderful instruments.

We also discovered a really wonderful group of people outside of our
normal circle of friends.  We were hooked.  We have since entertained
people with our piano from many countries around the world.  People
from small children to those in their 90's have sat in our living room,
spellbound that such a marvelous instrument could exist!  They don't
want a CD or cassette -- they want to hear this "ghost" piano, as some
have called it, give a live performance.

We don't have a big budget but we can buy an occasional piano roll.
While many of my fellow pastors pay big bucks to club a little white
ball that never did anyone any harm, we choose to invest in piano
rolls, cylinder boxes, an Amberola phonograph and two roller organs.
None were expensive.  All bring great joy to many people, most of whom
have never seen such things before.

We don't need a large budget as we have open doors across the country
and around the world through the AMICA directory and meetings to enjoy
those wonderful million dollar machines that we don't have room for
anyway.

Not all articles in the Bulletin interest us.  So what!  The article
that doesn't interest us is vital to another member.  We don't all have
the same interests or needs.

I don't know about other chapters, but the members of the Lady Liberty
Chapter of AMICA are wonderful and go out of their way to help each
other.  I cannot praise them enough and my wife and I make an extra
effort to visit the members in their homes whenever possible.

Vincent Morgan, New York City
President, Lady Liberty Chapter, AMICA Intl.