MOTM

Bob died around 2PM today from a large inoperable brain tumor at age 71. The 
Moog modular/MiniMoog was the (not "a", 'THE') reason I switched from being a 
chemistry/biology/physics nerd to an EE geek. Bob was always very nice and 
polite to me, last NAMM I attended (2003) he actually wandered over to my booth 
and asked to borrow my soldering iron.

The first time I met him was in 1983 at the AES convention (Audio Engineering 
Society). The room wasn't that crowded, but I was towards the back. I was 
reading the program when somebody sat next to me (which was sort of odd, there 
were lots of empty chairs) and I look up and damn near had a heart attack. Even 
though I was on the Tandy MG-1 project, I never dealt with Bob, it was David 'Mr 
PolyMoog' Luce. He probably thought I was ill because I was shaking like a leaf 
and when I tried to speak I croaked like a frog. But he was very nice and 
polite, considering just how many times people like me babble on and on to him 
(20 years later at NAMM, there were over 150 people waiting in line babbling the 
SAME STUFF).

As a side note, at that same AES I was leaving the bathroom, turning a corner 
out into the main exhibit hall, and Wendy Carlos and Dominic Molano (that big 
tall dude that was editor of Keyboard, he's like 6' 10") literally ran smack 
into me, trying to run from a pack of synth geeks (they went "out of bounds" 
back behind the exhibits, pretty funny).

My biggest "Moog highlight" though was at my second NAMM show, and there was 
this really big, noisy and over-crowded 'reception' in a tent. The place was 
absolutely jammed, and I wandered by myself way off to the far corner by this 
potted plant and there were 4 chairs empty. I sat in one, grabbed a beer, and 
PLOP, here sits Bob Moog. Now, his booth was 20 feet from mine, and we waved at 
each other but I never really talked to him that much. We chatted for like 20 
seconds, and then here comes Roger Powell, Tom Oberheim and Dave Smith. Here are 
all these famous synth designers and one of the best rock keyboard players ever 
and *ME* (the former chemistry nerd that shot Estes rockets) sitting around and 
chatting.

I wish Bob's family well and hope Big Briar lives on.

Paul S.