Bob Moog Foundation Makes Waves at NAMM

January 2010

Bob Moog Foundation Making Waves at Winter NAMM 2010

Happy 2010 to all of you from the Bob Moog Foundation! The year begins for us with big plans as we head out to Winter NAMM in Anaheim, CA next week. Our friends at Moog Music are once again sharing their booth space with us. You can find us there (Booth #6100) making waves with a new video about the Foundation and sharing some recently restored material from the tapes in Bob’s archives. We hope to see many of you there! For those of you who can’t make it, follow us on Facebook and Twitter for daily updates.

We are also proud to be co-sponsoring three events at NAMM that highlight the Moog Legacy and synthesizer history:

  • Main Showcase at NAMM Features Items From Moog Exhibit

From January 14-17, the Bob Moog Foundation, in collaboration with the NAMM Museum of Making Music, will feature dozens of items taken from their exhibit Waves of Inspiration:The Legacy of Moog in the main showcase on the floor of the convention center. Of particular note, an extremely rare Eaton-Moog Multi-Touch Sensitive keyboard will be on public display for the first time. Numerous vintage instruments, photographs, articles and project notes will also be on display. The full exhibit runs at the Museum through April 30, 2010.

  • Celebrating The Legacy of Vintage Keyboards Through Documentary Film

On Friday night, January 15th, from 6-8pm in the Avila Room at the Anaheim Hilton, neo-symphonic synthesist Amin Bhatia and documentary filmmaker Dianna Dilworth headline an evening exploring the evolution and impact of vintage keyboards. Amin Bhatia will be joined by Michelle Moog-Koussa, Executive Director of the Bob Moog Foundation for a question and answer session followed by a screening of a short documentary on the making of his innovative realization of Bolero Electronica, for which he used over 70 synthesizers covering 75 years of evolution in synthesis in music. The documentary features rock legends Steve Porcaro and Patrick Moraz and Roland Founder Ikutaro Kakehashi.

Following Bhatia, Dianna Dilworth and Markus Resch of the Mellotron Archive will screen Mellodrama: The Mellotron Documentary which explores the rising and falling fortunes of the Mellotron – the first musical keyboard to “sample” the sounds of other instruments – from its birth in a California garage in the 1950s, through its dominance on concert stages in the 1970s, through its almost religious cult of followers in the 2000s. From the Beatles’ “Strawberry Fields” to Black Sabbath to Kanye West, Mellodrama traces a 50-year odyssey of musical invention, revolution, betrayal, and rediscovery.

  • Panel Discussion To Explore the Impact of Bob Moog’s Work on the Music Industry Past, Present and Future as Interpreted though Museum Exhibit

On Sunday January 17th from 3-4pm in the Idea Center at NAMM, The Bob Moog Foundation and the NAMM Museum of Making Music will present a panel discussion in celebration of the premiere exhibition Waves of Inspiration: The Legacy of Moog. The

discussion will involve industry and musical luminaries in an exploration of the impact of Bob Moog’s work on the music industry as it relates to the exhibition at the NAMM Museum of Making Music public display through April 30, 2010.

The discussion will be moderated by Museum Curator Tatiana Sizonenko

Panelists include:

  • Craig Anderton (Senior Editor: Harmony-Central.com, Senior Editor: EQ Magazine, Contributing Editor: Keyboard Magazine)
  • Herb Deutsch (collaborator on first Moog synthesizer)

  • Larry Fast (Synergy, Peter Gabriel)

  • Brian Kehew (Moog Cookbook, The Who, Exhibit Advisor)

  • Michelle Moog-Koussa (Executive Director, the Bob Moog Foundation)



  • When the Show Ends, An Exclusive Moog Tour Begins


    The Museum of Making Music, in collaboration with Moog Music and the Bob Moog Foundation, is offering an exclusive tour of their exhibit Waves of Inspiration:The Legacy of Moog to NAMM attendees only. The exhibit is the first-ever public display of a rare collection of vintage instruments, photographs, diaries, schematics, catalogs and project notes from the Bob Moog Foundation Archives, along with the prototype of the first Moog modular synthesizer and much more.

    On Monday, January 18, a bus will depart from Anaheim to the NAMM Headquarters (where the Museum is housed) in Carlsbad, California. Hosted by Michelle Moog-Koussa (Executive Director of The Bob Moog Foundation), Mike Adams (President, Moog Music Inc.), exhibition advisor Brian Kehew and museum staff, the tour includes lunch before departing back to Anaheim in the early afternoon. Space is limited and an RSVP is required. For more information and to RSVP, please contact Carolyn Grant at carolyng@namm.org or call 760-801-7180.

    Celebrating the Moog Synthesizer with Pioneers Herb Deutsch and John Eaton

    The week after NAMM, we will be at the NAMM Museum of Making Music to join electronic music pioneers Herb Deutsch and John Eaton for an evening of music and conversation regarding their collaboration with Bob Moog on two groundbreaking instruments. The event, Celebrating the Moog Synthesizer, takes place at the Museum on Saturday, January 23rd at 7pm. Tickets are available for purchase online through the Museum.

    We’re off to a great start in 2010! Thank you all for your ongoing support that makes our work possible.