The life and times of Danny Lyons. This is mainly so my family can keep up with me and see pictures as I put them up.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Top of the Rock


Danny and Joe at the Russian Tea Room just before going to Carnagie Hall to hear Jessye Norman.
This is our last morning in New York, and one of the things I wanted to do was go to the Top of the Rock, so here we are. This is the observation deck of Rockerfellar Center -- 70 floors up from the ground. You can see just a smidge of Central Park at the right of this picture. We could see the whole park (which is really huge) from up there as well as all the rest of Manhattan.



Here's Joe from the other side of the building. The building with the angled top is the CitiCorp Center. Wouldn't want to be on the top of that!
Here's the altar area of some cathedral -- I don't remember which one.




The New York Botanical Gardens. These are just a few of the tulips in bloom.










A view of the conservatory at the NYBG. It's one of the largest in the country -- this is just a glimpse.

Friday, May 02, 2008

New York City in May











New York has been exhausting and cold, but fun so far. "Wicked" on Wednesday night was just an incredible spectacle of sets, songs, and great voices. The story doesn't really follow the book very closely, but that's OK since the book was pretty weird anyway.











This is printed just above the exit doors.







This is Trudy Sherwood, one of the members of our troup, standing inside the rim of a 9' Steinway inside the drying room. It was about 95 degrees in there, and the rims stay there for about 6 months.







This is an illegal picture from inside the factory. We weren't supposed to take any photos in the factory except in specific places (like inside the drying room above), but I did it surreptiously as we walked around. These are lids for 7' Steinways.










Last night was Jessye Norman and Mark Markum at Carnegie Hall.




The tulips are in full bloom in Central Park. Also, cherry trees, dogwoods, pears, and others that I can't identify. Even this great picture that Joe took doesn't show how big the beds are and how many different colors there were.

More later.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Going to Nassau

Well, it's really happening. I'm going to Nassau in just over two weeks, and I'll be there for two weeks.

For those of you who don't already know, I've been engaged to rebuild a Steinway piano for the Bahamas National Children's Chorus to use in their programs.

More later.

In concert

In concert

About Me

My photo
Danny is the Steinway piano technician and head of the piano technology department of Dollarhide Music and Sound, specializing in tuning and rebuilding the Gulf Coast's finest pianos and harpsichords, including antique restoration of such historical pianos as the Steinway in the Mississippi Governor's Mansion and the 1850 square grand piano in the Oakleigh House in Mobile. Danny is the area's concert tuner for both the Mobile and Pensacola Symphonies, The University of West Florida, Pensacola Junior College, and numerous artist series throughout the area including the prestigious "Music at Christ Church" series. In his 32 year career as a piano technician, he has prepared pianos for the area concerts of numerous celebrities, including Ella Fitzgerald, Bob Hope, Izsac Perlman, Harry Connick, Jr., Barry Manilow, Roger Williams, Peter Nero, Lou Rawls, Garrison Keiler's "A Prairie Home Companion", and many others. In 2004 he was commissioned to rebuild a Steinway in Novi Sad, Serbia/Montenegro, and traveled there and spent a month in the country on that project. In 2006 he was invited back to Novi Sad as a solo handbell artist.