Daniel C. Grinstead

I admired Dan's creativity in the era of the coke bottle calliope, the single paddle wheel we ran inside of and later the steam powered tugboat. He whetted my love for ragtime piano. I always think of him when I play it. I moved away to LA and we lost touch. I was hoping to find him when I found this obituary. He was one of a kind. My sincerest condolences to his family.

Big thanks to whoever thought of running this around again. I thoroughly enjoyed it again and it reminds me how lucky I am to have known this wild and crazy smart guy. A great lesson in finding your own path and creatively getting it to work!

I was listening to Dan on a CD (Ragtime - Bigtime) this morning and thought I'd look him up. So sad to have found that it's too late for that. He was a roommate of mine in Haggett Hall at UW. His sense of humor, interest in musical instruments of all sorts and love of playing ragtime piano all made a strong impression on me. Some memories: piano rag at Shakey's, an old Studebaker with a propellor mounted on the nosecone; an ophicleid bought from Europe, a wooden flute found in a junk shop, a...

April 23, 2019

So sorry to hear of Dan's passing. I first met him when he was a senior and I was a sophomore in Mercer island High School's band. He much disliked the director and contrived to fall off the back riser with his tuba, just to make the rehearsal more interesting, an act of defiance and scorn we all appreciated. I played clarinet in a few of his bands during high school, and then, to my amazement, we met again when we were both in grad school at the University of...

I found this obituary looking for the man listed on the 1971 recording of mbira music from Shona people of Rhodesia (Zimbabwe). https://www.nonesuch.com/albums/zimbabwe-the-african-mbira-music-of-the-shona-people

Tipe Tizwe on that recording is one of the most beautiful things I have ever heard. Reading Daniel's own words and learning about him from all those who have commented I wish I could have met him and I feel better about all of humanity from his existence.

So glad Dan thought to write this up. I've known him for years from our Ragtime Festivals and never knew he had such an involvement with boats ( I have a similar but less extensive malady). People were asking for him to come to our festival every year, he was a pro entertainer and, of course, we'll miss him. Good run, friend Dan, our good fortune to know you and share some time together.

I'll never forget the barrel boat! Dan graciously let me and some of my high-school friends borrow it to play on the lake.

Jody, sister of Pete Dieckerhoff

Third try to get something into the book- I'll never forget playing two coke bottles in his arrangement for Glass Hocket Choir to The Happy Wanderer . . . and his bashing away at Widor's Fifth Symphony on the piano . . . and loading my car with stuff at night in pouring rain and in True Dan engineering style watching him slam the hatchback on my little Honda and pop the hinge struts and have the whole door fall off! Gigster to the core, to be greatly missed AND remembered always.

One of my favorite people of all time. A fond farewell to you, Dan.