Many things have happened this spring. Luckily none of them involve fire, theft, or loss, like 2013 did.
Now for our big news! We have moved our entire piano shop from Englewood to the Stapleton area. We will continue to do complete rebuilding and refinishing at the new location. Also, in the plans is a small theatre/stage area so we can start doing our concerts again. Please take a few minutes to enjoy this video from our first concert in 2012. James Lee Stanley is the guitarist and Warren is the rest of the band. You WILL enjoy this. James Lee & Warren.
I keep thinking of more news. We are now working with Elite Sound in Englewood as their digital piano service partners. It is a guitar wonderland in their store. You MUST check them out. They have everything from vintage amps and guitars to that Model T to old roller skates. It’s a destination!
Just a heads up that we are going to do a big push on our smaller pianos in August, so if you or someone you know is in the market for a beginner piano, this would be a good time while the selection is abundant. Once we get into August they will move quickly.
Here are the top ten reasons to be excited about pianos:
10) There are between 8,000 and 12,000 parts in a piano made of materials including wood, felt, buckskin, paper, steel, iron, & copper.
9) The Pierce Piano Atlas that we use to identify pianos, includes over 12,000 brand names from over 300 years of piano history.
8) If you have an old piano it might contain treasures like these which we recently extracted from one of the pianos in our inventory (plastic spider, key, marbles, and more!)
7) If a new client mentions you as referring them to us, we’ll knock 10% off your next tuning.
6) The total string tension in a concert grand is close to Thirty Tons!
5) More US Presidents have owned Chickerings than have owned Steinways.
4) 93% of Americans have had pizza in the last 30 days…..oops, must be time for dinner.
3) A drop of 1/2 step in pitch can equal a change of 3000 to 5000 pounds of tension! (Now you know why it is important to keep your piano tuned).
2) Many music schools require at least one semester of piano, regardless of your major.
#1…..drum roll, please……Everyone smiles when they see a piano!
Many of these fun facts were courtesy of Piano World. See their page for more.
http://www.pianoworld.com/facts.htm
Stay cool & stay tuned!
holly@americanclassicpiano.com
office: (303) 761-6858
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BROOKLYN EIGHTH-GRADERS GET SONY RECORD DEAL
A trio of friends from Brooklyn, N.Y., who are not yet out of middle school have signed a record deal with Sony.
Guitarist Malcolm Brickhouse, 13, bassist Alec Atkins, 13, and drummer Jarad Dawkins, 12, are the three members of the heavy metal band “Unlocking the Truth” from New York City.
While other kids may be spending the summer at camp and preparing for eighth grade, these three musicians will be figuring out the logistics of their potential $1.7 million deal with Sony.
“The record deal is awesome,” Jarad told ABC News. “This is something we always wanted.”
The band was founded in 2007 by lifelong friends Malcolm and Jarad. When they were young children, Malcolm’s father would take them to wrestling shows, where the background music was metal.
“It’s just fun. It’s exciting, and if I listen to the lyrics in metal, they just touch me,” Malcolm said. “I don’t like hip-hop because they don’t talk about anything important.”
The pair said they became serious about music in 2012, and recruited Alec to join them, teaching him how to play bass from scratch.
At first, the boys said they were bullied at school for their heavy metal look – skinny jeans, black nail polish – but then their videos started to go viral and they were invited to play real shows.
The band made up to $1,600 per day playing on the streets of New York City before being discovered and brought on the Vans Warped Tour and as an opening act for Guns N’ Roses in Las Vegas. They have also been featured in a Cole Haan Christmas ad and an ad for Beats by Dre, which gave them unimpeachable street cred and changed the way they were treated in school.
“They say, ‘oh I saw your commercial, you’re so cool. That’s Mr. rock star, you don’t know me anymore, Mr. rock star,’” said Alec, laughing.
“Once they have seen the commercial, they are all like ‘oh my god, you were in that commercial!’ Yes, I was,” Jared added.
Now the band is playing bigger and bigger venues, including South by Southwest, and this year the trio made history as the youngest band ever to perform at the indie-music festival Coachella in California.
Sony has committed to producing at least two albums with the band, with an option to produce four more. If Sony produces all six albums, the boys could net as much as $1.7 million.
Aside from the boys, no one is more excited for them than their manager, Malcolm’s mother, Annette Jackson, and their biggest cheerleader, Malcolm’s father, Tracey Brickhouse.
“I never thought that taking these kids to see WWE Wrestling and watching Japanese cartoons would inspire them to play heavy metal music. Sometimes… I can’t sleep at night because there are so many things happening,” Brickhouse said. “I sleep and I eat and I drink these kids, it might sound like I am bragging about these kids, but I am the proudest dad in the world. Sometimes I have to pinch myself, it’s like a dream come true. They are talented, they work hard, they deserve everything that is happening.”
By Mara Schiavocampo | Good Morning America
https://gma.yahoo.com/brooklyn-eighth-graders-sony-record-deal-163700399–abc-news-music.html?vp=1
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