Hello there, Frank Himpsl and the MMD readers -- from our campsite
on Penobscot Bay, Maine, and via cellular 'phone E-Mail transmitted
from my battery-powered laptop!

There will be _plenty of ragtime_ for Ampico when Artcraft gets going
on new arrangements this Winter.  I purchased a '26 Brewster upright
in NH and it's due to be moved to Bob Hunt's shop in Kennebunk ME.
He, in turn, is lending me his slightly earlier Franklin Ampico to
use during the Winter months, in order to accelerate the creation of
new virtuoso 'Interpretive Arrangements' for this type of expression
player.  See my Ampico web page for details and frequent updates about
this ongoing expression roll project:

    http://www.wiscasset.net/artcraft/ampico.htm

If you are familiar with our numerous 88-Note and Duo-Art Ragtime
releases under the Artcraft banner, then you can know what to expect
from us via the Ampico route!  Already "Cleopatra Rag", published by
Dale Lawrence in CA and arranged by me for Ampico from a duo-pianist
LP of the '70s, should indicate the performance direction we'll take.

Unlike most the original Ampico rolls, "Cleopatra Rag" could be played
against the _source_ audio recording -- and it was for a promotional
cassette of the time: RCA-Victor with Hersch & Montgomery at the
keyboard vs. the Artcraft 'Interpretive Arrangement' on an Ampico
upright player.  (Some musicians even confused the two performances and
concluded that my Leabarjan-made roll was the LP recording!)

Choppy Rythmodik Ampico arrangements (with compressed tempo speeds and
homogeneous striking) and cutsey '20s arrangements of Ragtime-like
pieces will not be in our forthcoming list of Ampico offerings!

Ragtime and '20s jazz -- performed for those who enjoy this kind of
effervescent music -- have been remarkably absent from the original
Ampico library which, for me, was merely background music most of the
time.

Anyway, Ampico owners will have a choice in the near future -- count
on it!

Regards from our waterside location near Searsport, Maine.

Douglas Henderson

P.S.:  We'll return to civilization and the Artcraft Studio on the
19th.  However, we can send/receive E-Mail from the laptop during the
rest of our camping trip.  (We don't bother with URL's or URL-oriented
E-Mail, as it's slow on these cell 'phone modem speeds and requires too
much air time.)  However, letters with text are fine, and move through
the radiotelephone/Internet system rapidly -- even long epistles!

Artcraft Music Rolls, Wiscasset, ME 04578
tel: (207) 882-7420
http://www.wiscasset.net/artcraft/