Mellotronists

Now that I've got your attention...
After seeing a fun little video clip on the web site of Mike Keneally 
playing at the "Museum of Making Music's" fifth anniversary, I decided 
to pay this museum a visit last weekend since I was in the area 
visiting (Carlsbad, CA [USA]).  I hoped but didn't think I'd actually 
see a 'tron inside, but low and behold, they had an M400 that had been 
cut in half, supposedly by original owner, (as the tour guide explained 
it) Karen Carpenter!  He said she cut it in half so that she could fit 
it in the trunk of her car.  As the story goes, she "toured" with it 
for awhile and eventually decided she didn't need it (or it didn't need 
her) so she took it back to the store where she bought it and asked 
what they'd give her for it.  He says the told her they'd give her half 
of her money back, since she only brought half of the mellotron back.  
(This might have only been a retired volunteer's dry attempt at humor.)

I had my camera phone with me so I took a picture of the plaque, but 
unfortunately didn't think to take a picture of the full tron (what's 
left of it).  But according to the plaque, after the Carpenters ditched 
it, it was sold to Michael Lloyd, a studio musician, who used it on 
tracks by The Monkeys, the Dirty Dancing soundtrack, Belinda Carlisle 
and Donny and Marie Osmond tune.  This tron truly has been through 
hell.

In case you want to visit:
http://www.museumofmakingmusic.org/
(and get a better picture!)

JimA/m400#680