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thanks so much for letting me know, dave! i'm so glad to hear it was meaningful for you. and it doesn't hurt my feelings that you'll make the book required reading.

Hi Pique! Just wanted you to know that in our Borders Book Store, Grand Obsession was spotlighted and right next to The Piano Book! I can't wait to go back and buy it, I wasn't aware you were a fellow PianoWorld Groupie!

You PianoWorld Folks are so much fun, as I am new to this, I am so touched by your love and support for each other! Bravo Pique on Your certain success with this book! Where will your book signing tours be, and where would I find your listing?

P.S. That was the book I saw Norbert and others sighted the other day! To COOL!!! B-Sharp

hi, b-sharp (cool handle!),

thanks for letting me know about borders. i'm so happy to hear that bookstores are still displaying "grand obsession."

i only have two dates left on my tour, and one date is not yet definite.

this week i'll be in anaheim, ca for the PTG national convention, all day in the book signing booth in their exhibit hall, this coming friday, june 20.

and in about a month i'll be doing an event with tom kuntz (piano technician) and dr. jody graves (pianist and professor of piano at EWU), both of whom are in "grand obsession."

that will be in the new steinway showroom in spokane, wa. right now the date is tentative for july 20, but we may have a conflict so we'll see if that remains the date.

then i hope to get back to writing for a while.

you can stay up to date on book signings by revisiting this thread, or visit my website.

and a belated welcome to pianoworld. when you read "grand obsession," you'll find out how important this place has been to me, too.

Just bought my third copy; I give them to friends.

For my nephew in Virginia, I gave him the Amazon connection. He can buy his own.

lewbo, thank you for being such a substantive fan of the book!

ok, there has been a change of plans for spokane.

the new date is july 25th, a friday, from 7-9 pm, at the new steinway showroom.

i will have further details soon, in the meantime, mark your calendar and plan to be there.

i will be reading, and two of the characters in the book, EWU piano prof. jody graves and technician tom kuntz, will be there. jody may be performing, we are working out the details.

i'll update here as well as on the website shortly.

i just got back from the ptg convention in anaheim a few days ago and had a swell time there! got to meet a few luminaries, such as al sanderson and david stanwood, who showed me the computer model for stanwoodizing a grotrian!

it was also great fun to see many old friends, some of whom i've only talked to on the phone before. many of them were people who played a role in "grand obsession," even if not by name. i got a real kick out of showing them where they appear in the book.

and i met some truly wonderful and amazing folks. i just love hanging out with piano techs! my most favorite time was my last morning there, after i'd sold the last copies i had of the book, and was finally free to wander the exhibits.

there was a steingraeber, i think a 9' there, that gave marlene a run for her money. god, what a piano!!!

and the tools! seeing and handling all the amazing tools for sale is enough to win one over to the profession.

such great people, and a wonderful organization. as one of my tech friends said during the banquet, there is a lot of love there!

Pique - Somehow I managed not to have heard of this book, but saw a copy in Border's while my wife was looking around. Started to read and I got caught. Next day, I went to our local (non-chain) bookstore in Menlo Park and ordered a copy. They now have copes in their store.

Great read and it hooked me on practicing and enjoying our piano.

Thanks for writing and for building i community here.

Rob

hi, rob! thanks for letting me know you enjoyed the book. pass it on!

I would like you to know, pique, that I have thoroughly enjoyed your book. You have so much determination. I am so happy that everything worked out.

Just received an email from AMAZON promoting Grand Obsession along with the purchase of a couple of other books ...I thought it was great to see your book promoted this way!

grandma,
thanks for letting me know you enjoyed the book!

me, too.

PP, thanks for letting me know about the amazon promotion! that's great!

Woo, thanks for signing my book! I'm the chick from Spokane who writes, if that helps. I was really excited to meet you.

hi, ML! i remember you. it was great to meet you, too. thanks for coming to the event at the steinway gallery of spokane. it was a great evening wasn't it?

jody graves played beautifully, and i thought tom and casey did a great job with their jazz standards.

we sold out of every last copy of "grand obsession" and had to refer people to the missoula bookstores to get signed copies. some of the organizers thought there were 100 people there.

teachum, of these forums, came, it was great to see her again. we inland northwesters should get together more often.

mr. pique has some photos of the performers and hosts in his laptop, i'll have to extract them and post here.

It was indeed a fabulous evening. I took lessons from Dr. Graves for a while, and she has an amazing personality as well as incredible talent. She is one of my heroes

It's great that you sold so many copies! Congrats.

I'm a new member here (my first post) and I can see that I need to find a copy of your book as soon as possible. I used to live in Missoula, I like to think I'm a writer, and just this week I bought the piano of my dreams - a restored 1915 Mason & Hamlin - so needless to say, I'm looking forward to reading your book!

New fan here. Perri, great job writing a fun book.

My only regret is that I found it too late for your last stop in Denver ... would have loved to meet you.

Love your book pique, I read it several months ago and still remember it fondly. Can't wait to read your next one! By the way the recording on your website sounds beautiful, was it studio recorded?

Thanks for sharing your story and the stories of all the wonderful people in the book.

Frank

hi, all, i'm just back from two weeks entirely away from civilization and high tech, and have to say it's an odd feeling to be online again (i'm sure i'll get used to it!)

thanks for all the positive comments. and bcw, welcome to pianoworld! glad you found us and i hope you will enjoy the book.

randy, we'll have to get together next time.

frank, yes the recording on my website was studio recorded by lou brown, who has a terrific setup in nyc near the theater district. that recording was a gift of lou's and marc wienert, who owns and prepared the steinway centennial D i was playing in the studio.

i'm kinda surprised i get asked about that recording so much, i guess my webmaster put the identifying info too far down on the page. i'll have to change that. but if you scroll down to the bottom of that flash page, you'll find links to lou brown and marc wienert.

I am SO happy to see you here Perri! I absolutely loved your book as I wept right along with you and also felt your joy when things went well. Because of reading Grand Obsession I have found this wonderful website and am looking forward to meeting many new friends....thank you! ~Sharon Peeples~

great seeing you here, too, sharon! i hope you enjoy the community here. these are great peeple! (people! )

well, this thread is titled "updates" so i'll update a bit.

"grand obsession" will be appearing in chinese and italian next year.

the book has garnered 38 five-star reviews at amazon (more are still being accepted!)

the publisher has submitted the book for several prestigious awards, including the national book award and the pulitzer prize.

now, i'm not expecting anything, but i am very gratified that the publisher thinks highly enough of "grand obsession" to put the time, energy, and money into award submissions of this kind. that, all by itself, is a great reward.

also, coming up soon are two events:

a piano festival at the university of montana's school of music, where i will be reading. the festival takes place over two days, friday and saturday, october 17-18, in missoula, mt.

and the montana festival of the book, where i will be reading and participating, also in missoula, the following weekend: october 23-25.

so if any of you are in the neighborhood, please come and introduce yourself.

and if you aren't in the neighborhood, montana in autumn is spectacular. make the journey!