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Would have loved to be there and meet everyone, but I'll miss it by one week. I will arrive in the Boston area only Sat night the 20th.
Have a great time.
Regards,
Rami (who returned from his NZ tour and managed to upload Milonga del Angel onto his YouTube page: http://youtube.com/watch?v=fAtQMHTIyMs )

Just 5 days till party time. Remember to dust off and bring your Piano World namecards.

Sat. we begin at noon at Harrisons. Then about 2:00 or so we walk through the woods to Williams. About 4 we will then go to Ed Bonacci and his sister Roberta's house. At all 3 places you will be able to play and listen to their M & H grands.

Sun morning Kathy Howes is serving brunch from 10-1or so. They have a new August Forster 6' 4 for our playing and listening pleasure.

I talked to all 4 hostesses this morning. They are preparing lots of good food but would welcome more appetizers, main courses, desserts and wine or beverages. Nothing huge as so many of you are traveling, but if you have a specialty, that would be great.

At this point we have 35 definitely coming and 8 more possible. Lots of new faces this year. Frank will have a ball recruiting new members to Piano World.

We sure will miss Terrytunes and John Citron and Bernard who are always at these parties.

See you Sat. Send me a message if you have a question.

Linda Gloo

Looking forward to it, should be a great weekend.
Made my reservations at the Skaket Beach Motel, hoping my sister joins us.

Can someone pm or direct email me phone numbers for our hosts?
I have directions from last year, but there's always a chance I'll get lost (I often do).

Oops,
Turns out I don't have a reservation, the online interface accepted it, but turns out the are sold out.

Trying to find another place now.

Hi All,

Here are some directions:

From the south or west I 95 (CT turnpike) to Providence, I 195 to I 495 which becomes Rt 25, then follow the signs to Rt 6 (the mid cape highway). Get off at X 12, turn right at the end of the ramp, to the first traffic light (less than one block), [the Skaket Beach Motel is on your right], turn right at the light onto Eldridge Parkwa
y, after two more traffic lights Eldridge Parkway becomes Tonset Rd. Follow Tonset for 2 miles to Freeman Lane, bear left on Freeman for about 1/4 mi, we are the first house on the right (51 Freeman Lane) after the Snow Point turn around. The party begins at the Harrisons at the end of Uncle Jim's lane (#15) which is the first right turn after our house.

If you are coming from the west get onto I495 and follow the directions above from I495.

If you are coming from the north then Rt 3 south is the best bet. Follow it to the new flyover and across the Sagamore Bridge onto Rt 6. Then get off at exit 12 as above.


Here are some websites or phone numbers for local motels.

Skaket Beach Motel in Orleans MA is a right turn off Exit 12 from Rt. 6 and your easiest access to the party. Telephone 1-800-835-0298. Frank reports that they are all booked up. http://www.skaketbeachmotel.com/

The Cove Motel in Orleans is on Rt. 28 across from the Christmas Tree Shop. www.thecoveorleans.com

In Eastham on Rt. 6 there are 2 motels next to each other. One is the Sheraton www.fourpoints.com and the other is Ocean Park Inn www.oceanparkinn-eastham.com

Also in Orleans is the delightful Nauset House Inn
http://www.nausethouseinn.com/index.htm

Last year most visitors stayed at the Skaket Beach Motel.

See you all on Saturday!!!

Hello All-
Hoping everyone who attends the Saturday Open Houses in Orleans will also come to the Sunday Brunch at our home in South Orleans starting at 10am. Anyone who can attend Sunday only--please come too! I will have directions to our home (about a 10 minute drive south) available at the Saturday parties.

Any questions (my phone, directions, etc.) please contact me via PM. Looking forward to meeting everyone and hearing my Foerster 190 sing!
Kathy

Frank...I would think you should have some kind of PULL...lol bummer...

Will be thinking of you guys...hope you have great weather, I already know your going to have a great time...envious

have fun...don't eat to much...

Frank, I just called there. They have a couple of rooms "on hold" and they're waiting for firm confirmations. If they don't hear by tomorrow am, they'll be free. I have dibs on one.

What time do the festivities begin on Sat.?

kathyk,

This is from my mother's post on Page 1....

"Sat. we begin at noon at Harrisons. Then about 2:00 or so we walk through the woods to Williams. About 4 we will then go to Ed Bonacci and his sister Roberta's house. At all 3 places you will be able to play and listen to their M & H grands.

Sun morning Kathy Howes is serving brunch from 10-1or so. They have a new August Forster 6' 4 for our playing and listening pleasure."

I asked them to let me know if something opens up too. I made a reservation with the Ocean Park Inn online, but can't confirm by phone because the don't answer.
May have to move to the Four Points (Sheraton), a bit pricey but may have no choice.
Will decide tomorrow morning.

Got a room at the Seashore Park Inn, only thing I could find.

Seashore Park Inn
24 Canal Road, Orleans, MA

Toll Free Reservations: 1-800-772-6453

Thanks Eric. I need to read more carefully. I had seen the post, but missed the noon part.

It looks like Lilylady and Beelady won't be coming after all - a death in Roberta's family and Beelady is overwhelmed with work and duties at home. Since I'll be make the trek alone, I was somewhat hesitant. But, doggone - it's hard to pass up such a great party. So, I just booked a cute little room at the Nauset Inn - their only single room. Thanks for the tip, Ed.

I hope you guys are having a festive time! Missing being there, so hoping you all are taking lots of pics to share.

Play it again..., Roberta

Well? Yoo hoo? Anybody there?

now that makes me jealous..

sigh

This was another absolutely amazing piano party. I am still just basking in the after glow and feeling invigorated and inspired to learn new pieces. I always feel like it must sound like so much hyperbole when I describe these things, but there's no other way to describe them. Having attended last year's Cape Cod party, this one was every bit as wonderful, in spite of missing some of the regulars - Beelady, TerryTunes (I can't get over her priorities - choosing to attend her daughter's wedding rather than this party), Lilylady, John Citroen, Bernard, Jeanne and Ax, to name a few. In fact, there were surprisingly few PianoWorld members at this party, but the Cape Cod piano contingent made up for the lack. Before posting pics, I have to apologize for having missed some very key players - one of our hostesses, Helga and Larry Buck who was our on site piano problem trouble shooter. Had I been on top of things, I would have caught some good shots of him under a few of the pianos. At any rate, there were a lot of other cameras flashing and clicking, so I expect a lot of other better photos will follow.

The days could not have been more beautiful. Bright sunshine and cool crisp days illuminated the charming beauty of the cape and of all four of the beautiful homes of our hosts. The Nauset Inn where I ended up by sheer last minute happenstance was another unexpected delight. The owners and the guests (many of them regulars for many years) were an absolute delight, as were the accommodations. I think that's where I'll be staying for future Cape Cod ventures. For a little flavor of the environ, here's a shot from my morning stroll just before attending Kathy's Sunday morning brunch.



And here are are wonderful hosts. I didn't think to take these pictures until Sunday, and alas, Helga was unavailable.



Roberta Lang and Ed Bonacci



Marilyn and Keith Harrison and John Williams (without the lovely Helga)



Kathy and Tom Howes

Jerry Gloo and Linda deserve special thanks again for pulling together the whole event. All of the hosts are former clients of Jerry. I don't know what kind of power he holds over them to get them to continue opening their homes to so much riff raff, but I hope he keeps it up. They also need to be commended for bringing their brood of three sons and a daughter-in-law to these parties. What a lovely family.

There were a number of new faces this year (for me anyway). There were two pianists who bear special mention. Ed Papier from NYC. Ed was as much of a pianophile as any of us here and what a great pianist. He played Brahms, Bach, Rachmaninoff, Mozart - the full range of classics. We ended up pulling out some four hand stuff we each had in our bags of tricks. We snuck a ten minute rehearsal in at Helga’s and John’s as the others were off to Ed and Roberta’s and had a grand time (pun intended) performing them for the group. What fun! If Ed doesn’t join PianoWorld, I'll have to send a posse out to NYC to nab him.



Ed Playing

The other person new to me who absolutely wowed, was Jim Cullen. This fellow is a bassist by trade and has played with many big names through his career. But, put a piano in front of him, name a tune - any tune - any he will roll it out like the best of them. Absolutely amazing.

As usual, the food was copious and wonderful.



Preliminary bisque and appetizers at Marilyn's and Keith’s house



Buffet at Roberta’s and Ed’s house



Frank and I guarding the mimosa station at Kathy’s and Tom’s



Attentive listeners along with one of Helga’s and John’s charming standard poodles. Those dogs are such a riot, constantly goading each other to play and veritable sponges for petting. There were several other doggy stars - the Howe's Italian Spinoza (??) a Marmaduke-size gentle giant that looked sort of like an overgrown aerdale and the Williams' cute little spaniels.



Eric playing. I wish he would have played more. He has a really nice style.



Jerry is another who can just lull you with his smooth playing of the old standards. He and Jim had a competitive thing going, though, that the bouncers had to break up a couple of times.



This is John Halter who has attended other piano parties. I had heard him play at one of Larry Buck’s parties. What a talented young fellow!

Oh, and did I mention the pianos? What a line up. Four pianos to die for. The two older but powerful MHs. The Harrison's has a mellow beauty and the Williams' had power. Then there is Roberts's newish Rosewood beauty. Larry Buck had recently worked his magic on it, loosening up a fairly stiff action. And the Howes' Forster just melted to the touch.



This is Kathy and Tom’s son who did a rousing ragtime.



Roberta, Marilyn and Kathy’s and Tom’s son and daughter listening to Ed.



Another rapt audience. That’s Frank’s sister, Barbara with the piano-striped shirt. What a sweetheart she is, and I do believe we have a new piano party junky. To the far right is the Howes children’s piano teacher - also a very accomplished pianist.

Kathy is right, it's hard to put into words how wonderful these parties are.

Again this year I was hoping one of the host families would adopt me, but no takers.
They were probably thinking about what it would take to feed me:-)
(You can tell by my pictures why my doctor keeps telling me to lose 50lbs, never going to happen if I keep going to these parties).

Our heartfelt thanks to our repeat hosts, and to our new hosts this year, Kathy & Tom Howes and family.

I'm going to try to caption my pictures, but I know I'll get something wrong (someone else can jump in). You can easily tell by the beautiful settings and the smiles on people's faces that everyone had a great time. How could you not?


A dog in the Harrison's back yard, teaching Larry how to throw a pumpkin shaped ball.



Jeremy at the Harrison's (Mason & Hamlin) piano


Linda Gloo (Jeremy's wife) taking a picture, in the Harrison's kitchen


Jeremy at the William's (Mason & Hamlin) piano



Food at Ed & Roberta's



The rapt audience while Kathy K. plays Roberta & Ed's (Mason & Hamlin) piano.



The group gathers at the Howes' (our new hosts for the Sunday brunch this year). And of course, more food.



The Howes did an amazing job of renovating and adding onto what was a much smaller house.
Believe it of not, this was orginally the garage and breezeway!

More pictures continued below