•Who is interested in piano rolls of the Studies for Player Piano, composed by the famous American-Mexican composer Conlon Nancarrow? It's hair-raising, but contemporary music! Nancarrow died the 10th of August, 1997, in Mexico. There are left some rolls, personally numbered and signed by Nancarrow...

•"Gee Dad, It's a Wurlitzer!" -- Interesting cook book found in a thrift shop Again, we are off the subject of mechanical music, and hope we do not offend anyone, but while searching through an interesting thrift shop for Regina disks, and Ampico rolls, I found a little black book entitled "Wurlitze...

•I listened to the "Three Stooges" tune too but couldn't identify it, although it did sound familiar. But I'm getting so that every tune I hear sounds "familiar." Since it has been played in several public performances, it ought to be possible (if you go to the trouble and find cooperative people on...

•I was interested to read the discussion of Hawaiian music and particularly Joyce Brite's explanation of possible reasons for it being the rage in the teens of this century. The fad is certainly reflected on Wurlitzer band organ rolls. Here is the list that Robbie asked for: Hawaiian Nights (Lee S. ...

•Perhaps Matt Caulfield overlooked one of the more interesting tunes of that era of "exotic" music from the Pacific. It is "I've Got A Big Black Bimbo Down On the Bamboo Isles". Great tune. Hal Davis [ So. Frisco Jazz Band performs it when we think there are no Women's [ Lib fanatics within earshot...

•John van Kleef asked about American Theater Organ Books. I believe he is referring to David L. Junchen's multi-volume Encyclopedia set: The American Theater Organ Vol. I, II, III. Volume I covers Aeolian Company to M. P. Moller, Inc. It is 432 pages and all photos are in black and white. Copyright ...

•>[ She doesn't mention the big (C)-word, so I presume that "Chlo-e" has >[ passed into public domain and is no longer protected by (C)opyright. >[ Well, so has "Humoresque" (Dvorak), and there were lots of adapta- >[ tions of that famous melody. Would Nan be satisfied with a sub- >[ title saying, "...

•I'm afraid I must side with George on his course of action, and feel sorrow for the general public which will suffer from the actions of one composer's distant relative (with apparently misguided motives). The legal issues facing George are nearly insurmountable, and the revenues his song could pro...

•This is an addendum to a previous posting regarding "Walking the Baby Home." It is the same as the current posting on my WWW page if you click on the icon. * * * Nickelodeon Toe Tappers has been temporarily withdrawn from distribu- tion while the tape is re-edited to replace certain material with n...

•Robert Perry poses this question: > Would re-editing QRS and other companies' rolls, to add many > extra notes, and releasing them on your own company's label without > credit, be legal, and/or an effective way of getting around > mechanical music copyrights in the 1920s? There were _no_ mechanical...

•In response to Jan Kijlstra's comment, "... and how about scanning old books, out of print, and putting them on a CD?" When this becomes economically feasible, be careful to observe copyright law. Just because an old book is out print doesn't mean it's in public domain. "Treasures of Mechanical Mus...

•Robert Perry asks in Digest 980330: > I once heard that Scott Joplin believed that Irving Berlin had stolen > part of 'Treemonisha' for this piece ['Alexander's Ragtime Band']. > Does anyone know anything more about this? Rudi Blesh & Harriet Janis, in writing They All Played Ragtime, had interview...

•There has been some questions raised about the Operators Piano Co. style "O" roll. First a little history. The Operators Piano Co. probably made many pianos that utilized the "O" roll for several years before the introduction of the Coinola Models CO and SO. The CO and SO were the only models to my...

•I found this item on eBay to be very interesting: a copy of Larry Givens book, "Rebuilding the Player Piano". And to think that I loaned out my copy and never got it back! It's eBay item 9481205 (Ends 04/03/98 20:30:50 PST). 'REBUILDING THE PLAYER PIANO,' by Larry Givens, copyright 1963. Hard cover...

•In MMD 980407 Fritz Gellerman asks if the "After Hours" on my piano roll (JAM 149) is the same tune as that on his late lamented Erskine Hawkins 78 rpm record. My source material for the roll was the composition by James P. Johnson; the sheet music was published by Jack Mills showing December 1923 ...

•Hi there everyone, This is the first message I've ever sent -- because something excited me. Somebody said they had a cover of the original sheet music of the "Maple Leaf Rag". Well, I have the complete arrangement and cover too, and it's dated 1899. However, on the back cover is the intro to "The ...

•Hi gang! Little Girl Scouts having to pay royalties from just singing around the campfire is absurd! Lord Knows I pay my share of royalties with the rolls I produce. So just what is defined by "public performance"? Someone singing in the bathtub could get in trouble with 'Rub-a-Dub Music Company'? ...

•Having received a few royalty checks over the years, darned few, I can appreciate the dilemma that some people unwittingly can get into. A case in point involved a national political convention, aired on the television over a period of several days. The Chairman of the convention ordered the organi...

•I am finalizing the purchase of 236 Aeolian 58-note Grand organ rolls from a church in New York. As part of the agreement, I will record approximately 15 of the rolls to CD for the church's archives. My Aeolian Grand organ is nowhere near ready to play these, so MMD member Gary Heckman has gracious...

•Talk about a "blast from the past." When I was a small child, I had an acoustic phonograph that had records with a picture of a red bird on the label, which had moving pictures on the surface. Owing to my age (born 1954) and the general scheme of what's been discussed, these had to be the aforement...