ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
From: Ray B John, January 1999
At this writing, the Mosque 3/17 260 special is no longer playable.
The wind trunk from the blower room on the fifth floor main chamber going
across the proscenium arch was accidently removed and has not been replaced.
This same fiasco occurred about twenty years ago when the Mosque was air
conditioned. Tommy Landrum and Dick Barlow who for many years scrupulously
maintained both the Mosque and the Byrd organs, came in one day to work on
the organ. When the wind was turned on, there was the roar overhead. Upon
investigation, the air conditioning people had removed the 100 foot long
windline because they didn't know what it was for. It was promptly replaced
and the organ continued to see regular useage for some years.
Unfortunately, another group of "organ enthusiasts" pushed Tommy Landrum and
Dick Barlow out of the Mosque and the Byrd Theatre. Not having the weekly
maintenance, both instruments began to suffer.
I played a Sunday morning concert at the
Mosque in the fall of 1994. At that time every rank in the organ was riddled
with dead notes. As I recall, one person was trying valiantly to maintain
the organ when time permitted him to do so.