MOOG IN VOGUE
Jun 18, 2008
The Bob Moog Foundation aims to preserve its namesake’s archives.
BY ALLIE GOOLRICK
When Dr. Robert “Bob” Moog died of cancer in 2005, the world lost a great pioneer of electrical music. Best known for the Moog synthesizer—and his warm personality—Moog was known for building innovative instruments that broke down the barriers between natural musicianship and technology. For many musicians, the loss of Moog was the loss of a hero.
“Immediately following Dad's passing, thousands of people around the world paid tribute to the effect that Dad had on their lives, both through his instruments and through his warm, humble spirit,” says Moog’s daughter, Michelle Moog-Koussa.
What Moog fans didn’t know was that they were about to lose a part of the Moog legacy, too. After the passing of her father, Moog-Koussa opened up a storage shed to find stacks and stacks of dusty boxes and trashbags filled with her father’s archives. Covered in a thin layer of mold were thousands of items: vintage instruments and equipment including the last of the Minimoog synthesizers, prototypes, master recordings from ‘60s and ‘70s electronic musicians like Wendy (nee Walter) Carlos and Keith Emerson, copious schematics, articles and photos and a huge amount of memorabilia.
Moog-Koussa knew immediately that the archives needed to be restored. She soon founded the Bob Moog Foundation to fund the project with the intention of eventually opening a Bob Moog Museum. And her plight was heard by the musical community. After the Smashing Pumpkins’ nine-day run last summer in Asheville, NC (the home base of Moog Music Inc.), Billy Corgan became interested in the project, donating and speaking out on behalf of the Foundation.
“I strongly believe many people all over the world would benefit from being able to interact with the thoughts, ideas, inventions, and life of Dr. Moog,” says Corgan, in a message on the Moog Foundation website, www.moogfoundation.org.
The archives are only a fraction of what the Foundation is doing to preserve Moog’s legacy. The non-profit recently released a CD, Mooged Out: Asheville, which features Asheville musicians all using Moog gear. Plans are in the works to set up scholarships at UNC-Asheville, Berklee College of Music and Cornell University in Moog’s name and the Foundation is designing outreach programs to bring electronic music into the schools “as a vehicle for children to connect science, music and creativity,” says Moog-Koussa. The group was also represented at this year’s NAMM Show, has held community events in the Asheville area and even anticipates a series of benefit concerts with nationally recognized musicians.
If the Foundation has any say in it, Moog’s legacy will continue to inspire electronic music and creative technology for years to come.
“My father has a unique and beautiful legacy of touching people's lives through innovation, creativity and human warmth,” says Moog-Koussa. “The Bob Moog Foundation aims to carry that legacy forward. As my father would say ‘What's not to like?’”
[Photo of Moog 1974 courtesy the Bob Moog Foundation]
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