Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum 20 YEARS of Piano World!

Wow, it's hard to believe it has been 20 years since I started Piano World!

Piano World first started as All About Pianos! (see picture below), hosted on a now defunct service, originally at tiac.net, then at something like http://pages.prodigy.com/pianos/ (don't bother clicking, it stopped working years ago). I used to be able to find some of the old pages in archives.

As the site attracted more visitors I found I needed to add new content and new areas. And so it grew.
I'd like to thank everyone who has been a part of this journey. Some of you have been here since the beginning, others are new arrivals, and still others are yet to discover us (but I hope they do).

And now what started as a hobby is how I make my living.

That's right, I rely on Piano World (and occasional tunings) to support Kathy , myself, and our two little ones (along with a part-time employee who handles order shipments from our online store, www.PianoSupplies.com) .

That's a hint to those of you who might think it's ok to try to get free publicity on our site(s), it's not. Please instead consider paid advertising. And to those who are enjoying the free access to the forums and the main site, please consider that just the hosting alone costs me over $6000.00 a year, so if you'd like to purchase something from our online store :-)


And now I'd like to share a few memories from my journey to today...

Born November 26, 1951
1950's - realized my Dad could play the piano, really well (even if he was an "iron worker" by trade).
Late 1950's - early 1960's, realized I liked some of the 45's my sister played.
Couldn't get to sleep at night because my parents let a local rock (50's rock) band practice in our living room. (the drummer went on to work on the Johnny Carson show).
1960's - realized girls liked musicians, learned the piano/keyboard, started a local band with my new friend from the city, Joey Doringer (amazing guitarist who attended Berklee School of music, could play anything).
1969 / 1970 - first real band was a clone of The Allman Brothers (two great guitarists, two drummers)
1968/1969 - Started working for Curtis Music Stores (delivering pianos after school, later learned about pianos from Raymond Curtis (son of the original owner who opened the store in 1890) and George Cole (graduate of Bennett Street school).
1970's - played in rock/blues bands and managed music stores
1980's opened my own music store
1990's - continued playing music and tuning pianos, but also worked for McGraw-Hill (publisher) and became a web developer and SEO expert. Started Piano world
2000's to date - continued to develop Piano World, tune pianos, play gigs
Reconnected with Kathy Lyons, hadn't seen her in 40+ years, fell in love, moved in together (in Florida)
2012 - We moved to Maine, bought a house mostly because it has a great music/piano room :-)
Still tuning pianos and playing gigs whenever I (we) can. Still love the piano, live music, and Kathy.

One of my first piano sites, in 1996 (made the local paper, I was living in Enfield CT at the time)...



My Music Store, circa 1983


Curtis Music Stores - Where I started in the business in 1968 delivering pianos after school


Yes that's me in the shorts pushing the piano up the ramp


Equipment for my first band, circa 1965/1966 Hey at least I had a Hammond, and I still had hair then!
Note the lovely TV (probably B&W) with the control for the rooftop antenna


My Attempt at Becoming a Ragtime Pianist


Various pictures from the piano industry over the years (I have hundreds).

With Joe Lamond - President of NAMM


An interesting participant at one of the NAMM shows (she was actually very pleasant and articulate).




With Kathy and Scott The-Piano-Guy Houston


With the Burgett Brothers of Mason & Hamlin / PianoDisc / WNG
(unfortunately we lost Gary last year, the brother on the left)


Del Fandrich and Yoke Wong


With David Nevue (pianist - Whisperings) when we took him to a restaurant in St. Pete


With Christian Bluthner of Bluthner pianos


Some crazy German from Canada, Me, Kathy, Indrek Laul of Estonia Pianos


Mason & Hamlin Tour


Cape Cod Piano Party


Another Mason & Hamlin Tour


NAMM Show


Larry Fine, Me, Ori Bukai, Rich Galassini, Indrek Laul, Steve Cohen (Estonia booth at NAMM)


I may add some more pictures to this, time permitting. Although I suspect most people could care less it will at least give me a place to find them :-)

LINKS To some Past Events http://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/2327001/LINKS_TO_WONDERFUL_PAST_EVENTS.html

For those who have been around here a long time, some threads from the old forums 1999 / 2000
http://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/919373/Forums_Nostalgia?.html

2018
An Interview I did for the NAMM Oral History program https://www.namm.org/library/oral-history/frank-baxter-full-interview

Congratulations! And thank you!

pianoworld.com = one of the few sites for which all add blockers stay disabled, in order to support this very fine site, and also because adds on this site have never been annoying neither out of topic.
Frank, thank you for Pianoworld.com!

It's hard to believe that I have been "here" for over sixteen years (when you count my participation on a previous version of Piano World).

It's even harder to imagine what I would do with Piano World, a site that has taught me so much over the years, from which I continue to learn, and which I thoroughly enjoy.

For all that, Frank, thank you!

Regards,

Congrats Frank!

I remember stumbling across your first site in 1996 from R.M.M.P. (Who remembers THAT place?)

I may have taken a hiatus every now and again, but I have never really left.

Here's to 20 MORE years of Piano World.

Thank you for everything you do, Frank.

Many Congratulations Frank!

What an awesome site... a wonderful place to read, learn, share, and make many new friends from around the world who all have one thing in common... a love of the piano! Wishing continued success and as Rich said, at LEAST 20 MORE years of PianoWorld!!!

Congratulations! This is one of the first piano sites I found when I started playing again, and still pretty much the only piano site I read and sometimes post to regularly.

Thank you for Piano World. I have no one in my circle of acquaintances who plays piano and no one who "gets it" if I want to talk about it. I don't post much, but just to "listen" to people talking about playing piano heals my soul.

Congratulations, Frank! I haven't visited Piano World for a while and I've been neglecting my pianos as well, but my new year's resolution is to return to both! For years I really enjoyed the Forum, and of course our Piano World Caribbean cruise was unforgettable!

Congratulations, Frank!

Congratulations Frank and Piano World!

Thank you Frank, like others have said I seldom post but read Piano World every day and enjoy it immensely. Your efforts are greatly appreciated!

Congrats! Mazel Tov! Here's to many more. This place has been a tremendous resource on my musical journey. Thanks again!

20 years!

Congratulations. That's quite a run.

Frank, congrats on the site and I also want to express my thanks to you as I have learned SO much from this forum. I also have met a few members and visited piano stores that I would have not known existed. I wish you continued success and keep up the great work.

Congratulations!!! Thanks very much. This is a great platform and I'v learned a lot. So many friendly and helpful people here.

Congratulations. Thank you for such a wonderfully inspirational site.

PianoWorld Caribbean Cruise? SIGH!! How wonderful that must have been....

Cruising in a sea of music, camaraderie, and inspiration...