LA and all that.........
2003-10-01 by tronbros@aol.com
Well dear reader, We survived LA. I see this as a personal triumph as Sunset and La Brea must rate as one of the most lacklustre places to find oneself after a gruelling 10 hour flight and damn all sleep. I feel obliged to let the world know that Hollywood is a monumental dump of staggering proportions and apart from a few hand prints in concrete, it has bugger all else to recommend it. L Ron was recruiting but we stumbled passed the Test Centre, mainly through uneven foot paths, beggars underfoot and bewilderment at the tat around us. However, we did get two MKIIs up and running nicely in Marvin Gaye's old studio and squeezed in time to see John Lennon's black and gold machine. This MKII has sat in Jimmy Iovine's office in Santa Monica for many years but despite it's age and and shabby exterior, it worked encouragingly after a fashion and even cycled. Sadly the rhythm tapes are magged and the audio is very noisy but it remains a unique, historical machine and maybe one day we'll get to fix it. Just to let you know. The reason we were dragged kicking and screaming from this beautiful isle to the pile'o'shit that is the H word is because our carrier dropped a beautifully restored MKII onto it's back and then shunted the flightcase around the floor a bit. In the ensuing debacle they managed to completely screw two cycling circuits, through vibration allow the transformer to break free of the power pack, dislodge the headblocks and destroy two rollers, destroy the left hand wiper circuit board at the rear of the machine, dislodge various components and basically negate 8 weeks work in one act of mindless vandalism. We now learn that the insurers will only refund if the flightcase had "this way up" stickers. We thought the wheels at the base might be a clue but not in LA. This is where fan belts have the words 'Do not change while engine is running' printed on the side. This alone suggests there may be a problem.................. Martin <A HREF="http://www.members.aol.com/tronbros/index.htm">Streetly Electronics - all things MELLOTRONIC</A> - click this link.......... US East Coast Agent: Jimmy Moore - JMoore6397@...