When my dear friend, Doug Slocum called me to invite me to tag along with him to Ashville North Carolina to attend the fund raising concert, Moogus Operandi I was beside myself, which takes up less space as of late I'm proud to say. Anyway, the event was to promote the Bob Moog Foundation. The Bob Moog Foundation (BMF) was created to carry Bob’s legacy forward by continuing to touch people’s lives through electronic music, just as Bob did. This includes bringing The Arts back into our school systems to inspire talent and innovation.
Doug drove the entire twelve hour journey with minimal stoppage, usually me complaining of tobacco withdrawal. I know, I know. I'm working on it. Amazingly enough, the previous night's forecast called for us to bring rain with us, where it would camp out for the duration of our stay, and return with us when we left. None of that happened. So where I usually complain about the serious lack of predictable ability with our current weather technology, "Cheers, guys!" for being so inaccurate.
Our first morning there, we had the honor of having breakfast at a wonderful little place in Ashville called "The Early Girl", with non other than Shirleigh Moog, Bob's first wife and their daughter, Michelle. Michelle is president of the BMF, and was so incredibly gracious to take the time out to meet with us the very day of the concert event.
Now, before I get in trouble for publishing that photo, I want to point out that we were all disheveled so early in the morning. And so I post here a picture of the beautiful Michelle Moog addressing the crowd at the Orange Peel, of which by the way she does very well.
For those of you who are not in the know, Doug has had a relationship with Moog Music since around 1970 making modifications to Minimoog synthesizers to meet performers needs. Notable clients of Doug's were Chick Corea and Manfred Mann. Another client of Doug's Tom Capolla had Doug work on his Minimoog and would go on to produce the three note chime that we all know today as the sonic symbol of Duracell Batteries. It was Tom and Doug's donation of that very Minimoog Synthesizer to the upcoming "Moogseum" that kicked off Doug's relationship with Michelle Moog.
We spent the rest of the day touring the Biltmore Estate, which is the largest personal residence in the United States. Words cannot convey the grandeur of this awesome palace of over 175,000 square feet with more than 250 rooms. You can learn and see more about George Vanderbilt's incredible residence at http://www.biltmore.com/
Literally dead on my feet, from there we went to (for the second time) one of Doug's favorite Thai restaurants, "Wanpen" where we had another fantastic authentic Thai dinner. We went from there onto the main event, Moogus Operandi at a very cool venue in a turn of the century (yeah, the previous one...) building called The Orange Peel.
The headline of the event was Eric Norlander, a present day musician and performer along with his authentic 1960s era Modular Moog Synthesizer dubbed,"The Wall of Doom". Just in time for this event, the BMF helped Eric re-configure his monster synthesizer. And, the company OSP Worldwide donated six 16-Space ATA Shock Mount Flight Cases to contain it so that Eric can more easily tour with his now more mobile Wall of Doom as a sponsor of the BMF.
Eric was magnificent, combining current sequencing technology with his huge analog synth. Eric was joined by local entertainment on several of Eric's pieces along with some assistance of Moog Music's own Amos Gains. Finally I was able to put a face to that name that I've come to know so well in the Moog Music Forums. The sonic power Eric's beautiful beast of a synthesizer was inspiring to say the least. Eric is a really wonderful, very approachable fellow that is more than willing to talk shop with anyone interested. I even found out that Eric and I both completed redesigning our keyboard rigs (sans beast) recently with pretty much the same exact hardware and software! I guess I'm in good company and now I'm positive I've done the right thing.
To commemorate the evening, and to show their support for the BMF, the Ashville Brewing Company unveiled their new product, "Moog Filtered Ale" which will be available only 'til the end of July. And yes, I did break my alcohol free life to sample some. As a matter of fact, Doug came home with a nice case of 22 oz. bottles of said ale after winning the evenings first raffle! Congrats, Doug, and remember I'm only 20 minutes away from your house! This really topped off a really wonderful evening, a once in a lifetime opportunity at that.
As if this whole trip couldn't get any better, the next day began with a tour of The Moog Factory. Needless to say, I was like a kid in a candy store. The people at Moog Music are the most charming, welcoming people you'd ever meet, egar to show you their latest offerings and ideas. Never in my life have I encountered or even heard about a company quite like Moog Music. It's an American company, making hand constructed instruments for the working musician... in AMERICA - not overseas. Moog Music is really to be commended for their quality of workmanship, service and pride to which they run their company. In my humble (?) opinion, there is no company on earth like Moog Music.
At the end of our tour, we said our goodbyes to Ashville and headed east to Cary to meet with Doug's lovely mother and sister. Afterward, we continued east to Chapel Hill were we spent the night with my cousin Cort and his lovely wife Ellen. It had been many years since I'd seen my cousin and his wife, and it was good to learn that North Carolina is NOT such a long trip when it comes to visiting family. Thanks, cuz.
Well, there you have it. I know this was long winded, but I just had to share this once in a lifetime trip with you. My mind is still swimming with excitement even a week later! Thanks again, Doug... and thanks for supplying the photos.
Doug drove the entire twelve hour journey with minimal stoppage, usually me complaining of tobacco withdrawal. I know, I know. I'm working on it. Amazingly enough, the previous night's forecast called for us to bring rain with us, where it would camp out for the duration of our stay, and return with us when we left. None of that happened. So where I usually complain about the serious lack of predictable ability with our current weather technology, "Cheers, guys!" for being so inaccurate.
Our first morning there, we had the honor of having breakfast at a wonderful little place in Ashville called "The Early Girl", with non other than Shirleigh Moog, Bob's first wife and their daughter, Michelle. Michelle is president of the BMF, and was so incredibly gracious to take the time out to meet with us the very day of the concert event.
Now, before I get in trouble for publishing that photo, I want to point out that we were all disheveled so early in the morning. And so I post here a picture of the beautiful Michelle Moog addressing the crowd at the Orange Peel, of which by the way she does very well.
We spent the rest of the day touring the Biltmore Estate, which is the largest personal residence in the United States. Words cannot convey the grandeur of this awesome palace of over 175,000 square feet with more than 250 rooms. You can learn and see more about George Vanderbilt's incredible residence at http://www.biltmore.com/
Literally dead on my feet, from there we went to (for the second time) one of Doug's favorite Thai restaurants, "Wanpen" where we had another fantastic authentic Thai dinner. We went from there onto the main event, Moogus Operandi at a very cool venue in a turn of the century (yeah, the previous one...) building called The Orange Peel.
The headline of the event was Eric Norlander, a present day musician and performer along with his authentic 1960s era Modular Moog Synthesizer dubbed,"The Wall of Doom". Just in time for this event, the BMF helped Eric re-configure his monster synthesizer. And, the company OSP Worldwide donated six 16-Space ATA Shock Mount Flight Cases to contain it so that Eric can more easily tour with his now more mobile Wall of Doom as a sponsor of the BMF.
As if this whole trip couldn't get any better, the next day began with a tour of The Moog Factory. Needless to say, I was like a kid in a candy store. The people at Moog Music are the most charming, welcoming people you'd ever meet, egar to show you their latest offerings and ideas. Never in my life have I encountered or even heard about a company quite like Moog Music. It's an American company, making hand constructed instruments for the working musician... in AMERICA - not overseas. Moog Music is really to be commended for their quality of workmanship, service and pride to which they run their company. In my humble (?) opinion, there is no company on earth like Moog Music.
At the end of our tour, we said our goodbyes to Ashville and headed east to Cary to meet with Doug's lovely mother and sister. Afterward, we continued east to Chapel Hill were we spent the night with my cousin Cort and his lovely wife Ellen. It had been many years since I'd seen my cousin and his wife, and it was good to learn that North Carolina is NOT such a long trip when it comes to visiting family. Thanks, cuz.
Well, there you have it. I know this was long winded, but I just had to share this once in a lifetime trip with you. My mind is still swimming with excitement even a week later! Thanks again, Doug... and thanks for supplying the photos.
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