Hi All,

Let me second the comment from Matthew Caulfield, our Relief Editor,
concerning the AMICA Convention/COAA Organ Rally weekend in Buffalo.
I was at the Wurlitzer factory in North Tonawanda both days and met
over 100 friends from COAA, plus quite a few people from the AMICA
Buffalo Convention on Saturday.  This included a friend from high
school whom I had only seen a couple times in the last fifty years.
There were organs for as far as one could see.

We located our organ under a large maple tree with a couple of friends,
and we had over fifteen crank organs between us.

On Sunday, we were joined by even more people from the area, many of
whom saw the rally while driving by.  Lots of them asked questions and
expressed a sincere interest, including a number of young people.
That's good news.  Then two busloads of folks from the AMICA meeting
arrived and we said hello to even more friends, many of whom were also
MBSI members we don't see often enough.  Thanks to all the members on
the committee (including Mike and Holly Walters, of course) who made
all the arrangements, especially for ordering the great pizza from the
WurliTzer Pizza Company.

It's now Monday, late afternoon, we're back in Rochester and we have
just said farewell to a few guests who visited our open house.  Among
them were Robbie Rhodes, Julian Dyer, and Joyce Brite.  We chatted, as
Julian would say, on a wide range of musical topics, including a brief
discussion of John Harrison and his famous Longitude clocks, one of my
favorite subjects.  Robbie and Julian threatened me sufficiently to get
me to show them my shop and, by some miracle, not one of us was lost or
seriously injured in the process. It's really a treat to meet in person
some of the e-friends I've met through MMD and the mechanical music
community.

After loading them up with some of my wife, Kathay's, cookies, we sent
Robbie, Julian, and Joyce off with their GPS to find Buffalo and return
to their various homes.  I wonder if any MMD members who live nearby
were able to attend the rally?

Craig Smith
In Western New York, where we had a beautiful weekend