Mellotronists

Ken,
Besides Moodies covers what sort of stuff does Mr Iceberg play?
John

> 
> I had the good fortune to catch Michael Iceberg's show at the South
> Florida Fair last Friday in West Palm Beach.  For those of you who
> don't know, Michael Iceberg is kind of a one-man-band, keyboard
> prodigy who used to perform quite a bit at Disney World in Florida
> during the mid 1970s.  Back then, he used synthesizers and at least a
> couple of Chamberlins.
> 
> Now, he's strictly using all electronic keyboards - unfortunately the
> Chamberlins are gone. He played for about 40 minutes or so, doing
> three shows a day at the fair.  I talked to him after the show, and he
> doesn't seem to miss the Chamberlins, says he's "moved on".  I bought
> his "Michael Iceberg Live" CD which he was selling after the show
> (along with two others), and the Chamberlin sounds on the recording
> are great.  On that older CD, he had violins (which didn't sound like
> Mellotron 3-violins), flutes and trumpets.  All sounded very
> "accurate" (unlike the TRON) and were loaded with reverb (probably too
> much).  These were the sounds which were missing from his show on
> Friday (to me, anyway).
> 
> For his current show, he pops out of a giant, smoking Pyramid (or
> Iceberg) on stage which contains his seat and the keyboards, which
> surround him.  There is a camera overhead and a giant screen behind,
> so that you can see him play. 
>  The great thing about Mr. Iceberg is that he is very entertaining,
>  and he 
> explains what he is doing just about every step of the way.  Yes, some
> of it was kind of corny, geared toward the kids and the older folks
> there in the audience, but how often do you get to see a 62 year old
> man in a tuxedo pop out of a giant smoking pyramid and start wailing
> on a rack of synths?  Not too often, these days.
> 
> After the show, someone mentioned the Moody Blues (who he covers on
> the live CD), and I heard him say that if it weren't for the Moody
> Blues, he wouldn't be doing what he is doing now.  So, chalk up
> another one for Mr. Pinder!  Iceberg had another interesting comment,
> this one from the live CD (recorded in 1978).  When talking about his
> keyboards, he said that he had electronic machines (synthesizers) and
> mechanical beasts (Chamberlins), and compared changing sounds on the
> Chamberlins to changing gears on a bicycle.  You could tell that he
> wanted to become all electronic back then, and that's what he
> eventually did.
> 
> While down in West Palm I got to meet JP "TronLord" of our list, and
> he showed me the famous "Microtron".  I took some photos (and even a
> QuickTime movie), which will all be posted on my web site one of these
> days.  Thanks JP, for showing me all the gear. 
> 
> If anyone has a chance to see Michael Iceberg, he is very entertaining
> and is a great showman & musician.
> 
> 
> Ken M.
>