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"And now for
the rest
of the story...
As the World Record Holder for
sounding like forty hammered dulcimers at once, clocking in at an average speed of
339.5 notes per minute, Lucille Reilly, "double-threat virtuoso of hammered
dulcimer and autoharp" (as per the John C. Campbell Folk School), is hailed as both the Vanna White of the
hammered dulcimer and as Folk Music's Best Kept Secret. Since her New York
City début at the Port Authority Bus Terminal in 1982, she has thrilled the
masses at Keystone Racetrack, Philadelphia, PA; the Harvard Square "T"
station, Cambridge, MA; Chemical Bank, New York City; Hahn's Homemade Bagels,
Hanover, PA; Phil's Citgo Station, Ringoes, NJ; Clay's Possum Pit, Brasstown,
NC; as official dulcimatrix for
Strawbridge & Clothier, Philadelphia (Liz Claiborne department, all stores);
and as being the fifty-first and sixty-second performer of the Arizona Folklore
Preserve (thus establishing herself as not quite playing with a full deck but
doing so at
lightning speed). And she's brought the autoharp to new heights: Now that
she's played for the retiring of the colors on the widow's walk of the Old Faithful Inn, Yellowstone National
Park (elevation 8,250 feet), her next highest desire is to perform autoharp in the bell
tower at St. John's Cathedral, Denver, CO (elevation 5,340 ft., although she'll
probably have to settle for the carillon tower at Christ Church Cranbrook,
Bloomfield Hills, Michigan in July
2004, elevation 644.75 ft.). She also performed the First
Annual Going Out of Business Concert for Caffe Gelatto, Wichita, Kansas. Prior to winning
the National Hammered Dulcimer Championship in 1997, she was so well known as
Everybody's Favorite Second-Place Hammered Dulcimer Champion (a title she
enjoyed for 16 years) that she even clinched the red ribbon at one contest without
showing up
to compete.
In 1999, Lucille diversified her
championship status by capturing the gold medal for accuracy in the Mountain
Laurel Autoharp Gathering's now defunct Watermelon Seed Spitting Contest, followed by the distance award of an
amazing 0 feet in 2001. (Similarly, she duplicated the latter record in
the catapult event at the Fourth Annual Fruitcake Toss in Manitou Springs,
Colorado, a record that was never recorded.)
Despite that, she served as the Fruitcake Toss' 2004 poster child, anyway, and
placed first in the Toss' Glamour Division in 2005.)
As for Lucille's ability on the autoharp,
Autoharp-Hall-of-Famer Bryan Bowers has said, "Anyone with that much talent
should have been drowned at birth."
In her spare time, Lucille can be
found waiting for music friends under the head of T. Rex at Hartsfield
International Airport, Atlanta GA (at right). And if she can ever find Father Guido
Sarducci, Lucille plans to pursue a master's degree from his Five Minute University
for mastering the art of "pumping felt" on diatonic autoharp in 30 seconds or less.
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