Perri,
Congratulations on the second printing! that is outstanding. I finished the book as well and just loved it. It put so well into words many of the same feelings I've -- but so beautifully expressed. A good friend in another city clipped out the NYT review and mailed it to me, without my having mentioned the book to her, because it struck her (a non-pianist) as so perfect. thank you!


Sophia

Just saw a picture and short article in More magazine on Grand Obsession (nice picture of you, pique).


Sophia

thank you, sophia!

i had a pretty good live interview on a local san fran radio station yesterday. you can listen to the sound clip on their site.

if you go to www.grandobsession.com you'll see lots of updated pages, including a recording of me playing chopin on the flash page, updated reviews page, updated news and events, and more pages of videos and pics from past events.

the link to the radio broadcast is on the news and events page.

i'm doing another live show tomorrow--"soundcheck" on wnyc with john schaefer. stuart isacoff will be on the program, too. should be fun!

here's the link to yesterday's interview:

http://kpfa.org/archives/index.php?arch=24641

one of the interviewers, sarah cahill, often performs with our own realplayer. i thought she asked wonderful questions.

"soundcheck" "pre-interviewed" me twice today, and it is going to be fun. they are talking about the future of the piano industry, and in particular the future of boesendorfer now that it's being bought by yamaha.

stuart isacoff, the editor of piano today is going to be on the first 20 minutes, talking about the business side. then i'll come on and talk about my book.

they're going to cue me in with a clip of marlene dietrich singing "falling in love again"

(i said it would be fun!)

tune into wnyc from 12-1 EST.

Brian, from WNYC's Soundcheck here. Just a head's up that you can also tune in to hear an interview on WNYC's Web site. The audio will be archived here later in the day as well:

http://www.wnyc.org/shows/soundcheck/episodes/2008/02/06

Cheers

I caught the interview today on NYC and thought you did great. I am a little biased though
It was a pleasure meeting you at NAMM. I wish we could have made the party but never did find out the address.
Love the book and will be ordering some for our store.

Ken

ken, that is great to hear! it was a pleasure meeting you, too. i am so sorry you missed the party.

A Grand Gift:
I've got a good friend who lives in Minnesota. He and his wife just recently visited my wife and I. We had a wonderful time. I even played a little for him on the Bluthner (kind of a big deal insofar as I'm a beginner and still pretty self-conscious). He and his wife are also piano lovers. In fact, they recently inherited a 1920's Steinway B that I'm trying to convince them to restore. He's also familiar with the journey I took to find my Bluthner.

In any case, my birthday was Monday. When I came home from work yesterday an Amazon box was waiting for me. I opened it up and guess what was inside? Yep, "Grand Obsession"!

What a great and thoughtful gift. I can't wait to read it. I also can't wait to tell him that I kind of know the author through this forum.

kewl. and happy birthday SHP. hope you enjoy the book.

my birthday's tomorrow (today? depends on time zone). i wonder what i will get? i bet it will not be a copy of G.O.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PERRY!

I hope you have an Excellent day with Marlene.

Have you been to 1066 Pianos in Whitefish? I tried PMing you about them but your mailbox was full. Any information about them would be much appreciated as they are my nearest Bohemia dealer at 300 miles.

Happy returns,

yes... happy birthday pique..

you deserve one

thanks, 9finger (i hope that is not an accurate description of your hands?)

i have never been to 1066 pianos in whitefish. whitefish is about three hours from me.

where are you? i believe fandrich & sons in stanwood wa. carries bohemia.

thank you, apple!

i'd add that little accent if i could

Hi Perry,

Yes, "Fandrich and Sons" carries Bohemia, it is also the standard line for their Fandrich Vertical Action, though one Fuerich model is also available with their vertial action. It will be some time before I can get over to the coast but I'm planning on visiting their shop; we've already been in touch.

I'm in eastern WA, and Whitefish is actually a bit closer to me than Stanwood. Based on reviews of the FVA and the Fandrichs themselves I'm inclined to lean in their direction. But, I'd like to have some other Bohemia dealer to compare.

As to my nom de plume, it could be looked at two ways, if I'm a thalidimide baby with an extra digit (9 fingers and two thumbs) then other pianists might be envious. If one digit is truncated or missing then I'd likely be an object of sympathy. Both cases are generally undesirable so I'll leave it to your imagination.

Again, any info on 1066 would be appreciated, even if it is 2nd hand through you.

Ciao,

Hi Perry,

Yes, "Fandrich and Sons" carries Bohemia, it is also the standard line for their Fandrich Vertical Action, though one Fuerich model is also available with their vertical action. It will be some time before I can get over to the coast but I'm planning on visiting their shop; we've already been in touch.

I'm in eastern WA, and Whitefish is actually a bit closer to me than Stanwood. Based on reviews of the FVA and the Fandrichs themselves I'm inclined to lean in their direction. But, I'd like to have some other Bohemia dealer to compare.

As to my nom de plume, it could be looked at two ways, if I'm a thalidimide baby with an extra digit (9 fingers and two thumbs) then other pianists might be envious. If one digit is truncated or missing then I'd likely be an object of sympathy. Both cases are generally undesirable so I'll leave it to your imagination.

Again, any info on 1066 would be appreciated, even if it is 2nd hand through you.

Ciao,

Piqué... this should be one of your grandest birthdays ever!!

Here's to many years of celebrating the success of Grand Obsession[/b]!

i'd add that little accent if i could[/b]

psst.. apple, try Alt + 0233 (using number lock)

é é

ha!

I'm new here, and in fact, I came to these forums because of your book - and what a wonderful book it is. Happy belated birthday!

very cool, larisa! welcome to pianoworld. how did you hear about the book?

and thanks for the birthday wishes. i'm glad you enjoyed the book.

You missed a great party Larisa. My impressions on the day is on page 3 of this forum topic.

- Mark

I just downloaded "Grand Obsession" on my Kindle Cyber reader and have almost finished reading it.

Since I am reading it electronically, may I ask are there any photos of the fascinating people she encounters in the hardcover edition?

Thanks,

Lyn Bronson

Hi Lyn,

As one of the not so fascinating people in the book :-), I can tell you there are no pictures in the hard cover.

However, you can find a number of pictures of people in the book here on the forums.

Some examples:

SoCAL NAMM Party & Book Signing
http://www.pianoworld.com/ubb/ubb/ultimatebb.php?/topic/1/20133.html

LA Times Article with pictures
http://www.pianoworld.com/ubb/ubb/ultimatebb.php?/topic/1/20903.html

NYC PianoThon, Book Reading, and Book Signing
http://www.pianoworld.com/ubb/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?/topic/1/20395/3.html

NY Piano Crawl (2003)
http://www.pianoworld.com/ubb/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?/topic/22/18.html

lyn,
the book's website also has a collection of photos, videos, radio interviews, and a sound clip, as well as links to the sites of many of the characters (and those sites have lots of photos):

www.grandobsession.com

click on "news & events" "new york events" "california events" and "links".

but the links frank posted also have forum members' accounts of the events.

Finished reading your wonderful book, Grand Obsession, one hour ago. Having been on a quest for a grand piano for our church in Tacoma for over two months, I had some similar experiences to yours early on (meeting Darrell and Heather Fandrich at their home/studio/piano barn), and of course trying out at least two or three dozen pianos, including the some of the pianos at the "110 Steinways Show" in Seattle last November.

Quite by luck (at the recommendation of piano technician Michael Reiter) I encountered a restored/refinished Model O 1928 Hamburg Steinway...and when I sat down to play, it was very similar to what you describe when you found your Grotrian, "Marlene." The treble sound is creamy, round and bell-like. I fell in love with this piano. Our story ends with Hamburg Steinway now singing out our church as of two month ago, thanks to generous donations from our parishioners.

Thanks for bringing such a marvelous story to those who love the piano, and for the insights to better understand the sometimes temperamental nature of these instruments (vis a vis temperature, humidity, and of course, the effects of simply playing the instrument).
Brava!

David Dahl, Director of Music Ministries,
Christ Episcopal Church, Tacoma, WA
(Also, personal owner of a rare 1885 Henry Miller upright pedal piano (30 note pedalboard that plays coupled at 16' pitch.)

thank you, david. i am so glad to know you enjoyed the book. and congratulations on your hamburg steinway. they are indeed very close in personality to the grotrians.

special alert to pacific northwesterners. classical grands of seattle is going to host a book reading/signing/piano party in mid-april as part of their grand reopening celebration at their new/old store in north seattle.

we are looking at dates from april 11 to 16th. does anyone have a preference? week night? weekend?