Amusing tortures for "pianos"

John Musselwhite john@musselwhite.com
Sun, 27 Feb 2000 14:08:42 -0700


At 07:39 AM 2/27/2000 -0500, Dale wrote:

>Hi Kristinn,
>     There was a popular TV series here in the states a while back called
>"Northern Exposure".....set in a small village in Alaska.
>One of the episodes portrayed a "Flinging" of a piano by the use of a
>catapult.

See this page:  http://www.eskimo.com/~verne/treb.htm  for more info on the 
Northern Exposure Treb.
See also: http://trebuchet.com/ 
,  http://members.iinet.net.au/~rmine/gctrebs.html
and if you're REALLY interested there's a Windows trebuchet simulator at 
http://ftp.usma.edu/cme/civilsoft.htm

There was an article on a fellow in England who flings pianos and dead farm 
animals but I can't locate it at the moment. It was quite interesting and 
his "back 40" must really be a sight!

>The piano, a vintage Mason & Hamlin had already been through a fire in a
>prior episode. The local artisan, "Chris" needed something to fling with his

In that same episode... called "Burning Down The House". In a later episode 
Ruth-Ann describes it as a "Baldwin Upright" although Maggie says it's a 
Mason in BDTH.

>self made catapult. He was going to fling a cow but it had already been done
>by an artist in Europe.

Monty Python. IIRC it was the movie "Holy Grail"

>     By the way, if anyone on the list has a copy of that episode, (and I 
> know
>you're out there)! I would gladly pay for a copy of it!

Well... you're *supposed* to call/write/email A&E and see if that episode 
is on one of the Northern Exposure Collections and pay the $99 (plus 
shipping and handling) for that particular 5 episode set. B-})   Email me 
and I'll see if I can get you a copy on loan.

                 John

John Musselwhite, RPT -  Calgary, Alberta Canada
Registered Piano Technician   http://www.musselwhite.com
email: john@musselwhite.com



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