Has anyone else read "The five people you meet in heaven" by Mitch
Albom?  My mother (an ex-librarian) brought this book home a month or
so back.  In many ways this is another take on Liliome, which was the
inspiration for Rodgers & Hammerstein's Carousel.  I really do not want
to say much about the story as I do not really want to spoil anything
for those who have not read it.  The protagonist is an 83-year-old
maintenance worker at a seaside amusement park.

Since I have been busy I have not had much to share with the list as of
late.  I will add that I am 44.  While the economic downturn has slowed
my progress, it has not slowed my enthusiasm for mechanical music.

Perhaps the best thing we can do is to find a way for members who do
not have the means to travel to the big events, like the MID-AM, AMICA
or MBSI, to get together informally to meet and share with each other
the passion they have.  Here in the San Francisco Bay area I know of
several dozen enthusiasts.

There needs to be a way for more informal regional rallies or other
outreach to the general public, not necessarily something structured
but more of a place or person who can act as a nexus of contact.
At one time amusement parks did this.

I love it when I watch someone at a rally, or a park or the Museum
Mechanique, fall in love with the instrument for a few minutes.
That is when they are the most vulnerable to catch the enthusiasm.
The question is, then, how to sustain this?

Is something like the MMD or Carousels.com the sort of nexus needed?
What sort of simple ways can we come up with, that can act like the
amusement park of old, where one can taste the magic without a lot of
demands?  Books?  Magazines?  Other forms of ephemera?  Are they the
next step after the exposure on the net?

After that come the meetings with others, face to face.  How then do we
manage this so as to fulfill the needs, without the demands on the time
needed to get the work done?

Julie Porter