The verdict is in: Chocolate is dandy! Our fall mailing brightened many an Arts Presenter's day, challenging them to solve the riddle and reap the chocolate reward. Presenters were impressed by our latest promotional mailing for Ebony & Ivory and grateful for the chocolate treat. More mailings to follow!

Ebony & Ivory will appear in concert in Hornell, NY, for the Hornell Area Arts Council on Saturday, October 19, 2002. The concert was arranged by Renee Coombs, Executive Director. The Arts Council (and Hornell music lovers) are eagerly awaiting this appearance of the Dynamic Duo!

Ebony & Ivory will be displaying at the Midwest Arts Conference in Columbus, Ohio, from September 19-21. Agent/Manager Robert Baird will be on hand to meet and greet Arts Presenters and provide the "Chocolate Emergency Kit" to Booth #140 visitors. Please bring the invitation you received in the mail to get your kit. Robert is looking forward to seeing old friends and making new ones at the conference. Complete Presenter's Kits, demo CDs, and Master Class & Workshop Brochures will be available, and Robert will be happy to discuss an appearance by Ebony & Ivory in your concert season. Hope to see you there.

The first ever Performing Arts Exchange will include an Ebony & Ivory display in the convention hall (Booth #209), and Agent/Manager Robert Baird will again be on hand to greet visitors to the Ebony & Ivory booth. Bring your invitation to the booth and exchange it for a "Chocolate Emergency Kit," a useful item to have when convention fatigue hits. The Ebony & Ivory booth will feature complete Presenter's Kits, demo CDs and Master Class & Workshop Brochures, and Robert will be happy to tell you all about Ebony & Ivory and what a great addition they would be to your concert season.

In response to our marketing efforts, many Presenters have contacted us for concert dates for the current 2002/2003 season and for the 2003/2004 season. Ebony & Ivory is preparing for this season and still has dates available in 2002/2003. Be sure to place them on your short list for 2003/2004 and book early. Agent Robert Baird will be pleased to discuss concert details with you.

A computer malfunction by the computer server which hosts the Ebony & Ivory website caused some embarrassment to Ebony & Ivory agent/manager Robert Baird, and resulted in some adverse Presenter reaction.

In attempting to mail out the August Ebony & Ivory Newsletter, Robert discovered, to his horror, that the server had somehow re-sent the June Newsletter in error. He immediately emailed a short note of apology to Presenters, telling them of the error and saying that the August Newsletter would be forthcoming. Imagine his shock when messages started coming in, indicating that the apology email was being repeated over and over again by the malfunctioning server! Some Presenters received this same note of apology 22 times!

Many Presenters responded with humor, some wrote just to inform Robert of the error, and a few became annoyed. There was nothing Robert could do. The computer malfunction was finally rectified and the repeating emails stopped, but there was some damage done to our relationship with Presenters. On behalf of Robert Baird and Ebony & Ivory (and I'll only type this ONCE): We apologize for any annoyance or inconvenience caused by the computer malfunction; it was beyond our control. Also, we wish to thank those Presenters who were kind enough to take the time to tell us about the error.

The Ebony & Ivory Website has been updated to accommodate Presenters' wishes for receipt of Ebony & Ivory Mailings. Some Presenters have asked to be removed from our e-mail list, but it has been unclear whether or not they wished to be removed completely, or just transferred to our snail-mail list.

On our new Mailing List page, you can tell us how you'd like to receive our mailings: by email, mail, both, or neither! Also, you can inform us of an address change, give us your new phone, fax or email, or sign up a friend for our monthly Newsletter!

You'll find this useful new page on our website at: