Happy birthday, Bob Moog!
August 18, 2003 : House of Guitars : Rochester, NY
I fell in love with electronic synthesis back in 1998 during my undergrad studies. Naturally, guys like Bob Moog and Don Buchla became heroes of mine as I began to learn the history of early synthesizers. I was blessed to have access to an EMS VCS3 modular synth in the studio at school - to this day it’s still the most impressive piece of human engineering I’ve ever laid my hands on.
Bob came to town on a promotional tour for the new Minimoog Voyager synth and there was no way I was going to miss it. I grabbed the only piece of Moog equipment that I owned - the face of a Minimoog D that I found at a musicians flea market in Buffalo (where many Moogs were manufactured for a while in the 70’s) - and headed down to the (legendary) House of Guitars. Bob gave a brief demo of the unit, which wasn’t all that impressive because, as he was quick to point out, he was an engineer, not a musician. Then he took questions from the standing-room only crowd that had gathered amongst the dusty and cluttered isles of the store. It was a hot day, as you can tell from the picture, but Bob stayed up there until every question had been answered, and then he stayed until each person that wanted to chat with him one-on-one was able to do so. I shly approached him and asked him to sign the remnants of a once-great instrument and he happily obliged, commenting on the condition of the hardware and how surprised he was to see it preserved so well despite its missing guts. I thanked him for everything he’s done and for his inspiration and went on my way. He was truly kind, gentle, and engaging.
Two years and one week later, Bob passed away after a short fight with a brain tumor. I feel tremendously priveledged and lucky to have met one of the greatest inventors in history. Despite how goofy I look, this will always be one of my favorite pictures.
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steelopus reblogged this from steelopus and added:
Birthday, Bob. It warms...Google today. The technology
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lickystickypickywe said:
you look so yoooooooooooung.
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