Yeah, you know how it all starts. My first keyboard was a two octave tabletop organ that took an hour to warm up before it made noise. (and I mean noise) My Bro and I had more fun with that thing by throwing a marble in the motor and pretending it was a helicopter. I don’t quite remember what happened to that organ but I am fairly certain the marble didn’t help. Then we would put on our 45 record of “Helter Skelter” and wear that little piece of paper called a speaker to shreds.

I spent the next couple of years pounding out Mozart and Beethoven before my friends let me hear Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon”. Funny, as much as I came to love Floyd it wasn’t until after I started listening to “Yes” that I became infatuated with Synthesizers. Watching Rick Wakeman play “Six Wives of Henry the VIII” (a huge keyboard solo) was awe inspiring. I immediately got a copy of the sheet music and played my piano until it was out of tune. So then it was like “OK, I need to get me one of those synth things”.

Not too long after I was the proud owner of my very first keyboard. It was a four octave Korg that could only play four notes at a time. Being so used to playing with ALL my fingers I knew before too long I would get another and another synth. For years I just kept trying to build a wall of keyboards around me to look more like that dude Wakeman. I was trying to build my version of the “Spinal Tap” cocoon by encasing myself behind way too much gear.

I have managed to downsize a little these days as things become more dependant on computers but I still Love to keep a full rack of sound modules close at hand.

Maybe someday if the opportunity arises I will rebuild the great wall of keys for all to see.

Peace to All