I'm adding my congratulations to Robbie Rhodes for the well-deserved
AAIMM award.  Every time I open my email and read the MMD, I am
reminded of what he did in 1984.  I was living in Southern California
at the time.  AMICA Honorary Member Dr. Leo Podolsky had moved to
Burbank, California, and some of us got the idea of preserving his
piano artistry.  Audio cassette?  Piano roll?  The decision was "both."
So began the Podolsky Roll Project, details described in a March-April
1987 article by Robert W. Taylor.

The timing was perfect.  Wayne Stahnke was generous with his special
electronic recording and reproducing piano.  It was never meant to make
paper rolls.  As the article states, Robbie "spent many hours to bridge
the gap from 'new' to 'old' technology."  The result, ten Ampico piano
rolls and an audio cassette of delightful piano music, are a tribute to
all involved.  Without this critical step, no rolls would exist.

Technology marches on, and I recently copied my audio cassette onto a CD.
It is a treasure, because Dr. Podolsky introduces his selections.

Dorothy Bromage
Billerica, Massachusetts

 [ Bob Taylor created the Ampico expression coding for almost one
 [ hour of Ampico music that was perforated by Richard and Janet
 [ Tonnesen, and Dorothy Bromage pulled the whole project together.
 [ Read Bob Taylor's articles about the Podolsky piano roll project at
 [ http://www.amica.org/Live/Organization/Honor-Roll/podolsky.htm  and
 [ http://members.socket.net/~rtaylor/coding_master_roll_72083.html 
 [ -- Robbie