Blog 2.0

Hi everyone,

Band registration for the 2013 Great Lakes Steelpan Festival is now open! With guest artists and clinicians like Gary Gibson and Clyde "Lightning" George, you know this event is going to be great! Register early to reserve your spot though because space is limited and early registrants receive a discount!

This is a great opportunity for a school band to get some expert feedback on their playing as well as learning about the instrument from some respected professional within the steelpan community.

The festival will be held in Crystal Lake, IL (about an hour northwest of Chicago) and will feature one on one clinician sessions for each band, workshops, guest artist concerts, and a mass band. Along with being a great educational experience for all participants, this is going to be a whole lot of fun too!

For more information about the event, and to register please check out their website at:

http://steelpanfestival.com/

The Steelpan Store is a proud sponsor of this event and is very excited to see such an educational festival being created.

To the Pan Diaspora and Pan Historians. I am doing a compilation entitled, "Panorama Finals from 1963 to 2012".

This will be a mere 52 pages without photographs.

I want to pay tribute to all of the not so known arrangers, but my source of research is limited. This is why I need your help. You all may or may not know that only 67 different Steel Orchestras have made the Panorama Finals from 1963 through 2012. (12) have won, (13) have placed 2nd or 3rd and (42) have also ran. The arrangers and selections of the also rans, are what I need. For example who arranged for Wonderland, Sunland, Amboys, Blue Diamonds, Eastside Symphony, Birdsong, Fascinators, Flamingoes, Kintups, Melodians, Tornadoes, Stereophonics, to name a few of the also rans. I am in contact with Pan Trinbago and I know the arrangers for most of the non-mentioned, but the more the merrier. You can privately E Mail any info to my E mail which is, laventl@aol.com . If you do please use a catch word as the subject. You know we all get a lot junk mail from all over.

        Sincerely and love peace and pan,

                                                                 Ian Franklin