Departure

DEPARTURE

After we packed up from the workshop, Jimmy, Nancy, Jerry, and I made our way back to the Moore residence, which is not too far outside of Philadelphia.

The Wyeth Residence

On Sunday Jimmy, Jerry, and I took a mini tour of the area. We stopped by the historic Brandywine Battlefield area, an important part of the Revolutionary War. Having grown up in the Boston area and lived just a few miles from where "the shot heard 'round the world" rang out, for me it was an introduction to another piece of the history of the United States. We also visited the Brandywine River Museum to get a flavor of the local art (and to see the model railroad that gets set up there during the holidays). I enjoyed Andrew Wyeth's wintery work.

Nancy Moore cooked a nice lasagna for us on Sunday evening, and we had dinner with Jimmy's kids Anna and Chris. The Moore Mansion is definitely all "family style"--you won't meet more delightful people. Thanks a ton for the hospitality, Jimmy and Nancy!

The Moore Family
Dinner with the Moores
Nancy, Anna, Your Webmaster, Jimmy (saying "Hi Mali!"), and Chris

Jerry and I had an uneventful trip back to Boston, and that's the way you want it. Thanks to Jerry's navigational skills, our route avoided the New Jersey Turnpike (and most of New Jersey for that matter)---yay! It made it much more pleasant for me, and it made the 8-hour nearly 400 mile drive fly by!

On Tuesday Jerry drove the additional 200 miles or so to northern Vermont, and he was greeted with...

Snow at the Korb Residence in Vermont

And, as mentioned, #1037 worked just fine on the workbench when I got him back home:

Mellotron M400 #1037 - now working OK? GREMLINS!

Jeez, I wonder what'll happen when I put him back in his case...?

Fortunately - no problem. What's going on with this guy? I haven't the foggiest. But I suspect a loose wire somewhere.

One thing that is going wonky on this machine (and on #805 for that matter) is the audio wire coming from the power supply. Professor Korb is going to set me up with a Belling Lee connector with some leads that I'll solder in. Nice---and thanks!

The Mellotron Workshop was a lot of fun. I believe it helped to take out the mystery of the Mellotron for the 30 or so people who showed up. Next time perhaps we'll have a cycling machine there or maybe a video or some other way to represent those, as there were questions about them. Showing is better than telling with those...but being there in person and listening to one beats all.

Thanks to Jerry for navigating me around the NJ Turnpike and to the Moores for their hospitality. It was good to see Jeff and Gino again and to meet Brad, new to the Mellotronists community (very nice Novatron!). I appreciate the support Chuck van Zyl, The Gatherings, and Stars End give to progressive electronic music and the instruments that help to create it, including our friend, the Mellotron.