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Volume Four - Issue Two
The Control Room - Richard Mogridge - Webmaster
Walnut Hill Productions |
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FROM THE WEBMASTER'S DESK |
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ORGAN OF THE MONTH
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We begin the month of February in a new location after leaving Marysville, California on January 29th of 2007. The Walnut Hill Office of Operations is now in Ridgecrest, California. This city is much closer to Los Angeles and the surrounding areas, including Pasadena and San Bernardino, where there are a wealth of fine installations abounding. To see some of these great organs, visit our 2005 Convention page. The Founding Father of Walnut Hill, Fred Willis, is letting Doc stay at his place until things settle down and Doc can find a place of his own.
A MINI CONCERT AT CASA ROTONOn February 22nd, Cyrus Roton invited the Bone Doctor to come and play the Mighty Rodgers/Artisan organ installed at his residence in Ridgecrest, so Doc obliged and went there to give a mini-concert on this fabulous instrument.
Above, we see this unique instrument from a wide angle perspective. It is somewhat of a hybrid, having drawbars like a Hammond and tablets like a church organ. Also, the Accompaniment keyboard has piano touch and 73 keys.
Here, we can see the Artisan stop box attached to the organ along with the piston strip that accesses the presets. This box is driven by a Mac Mini computer running actual WurliTzer Theatre Pipe Organ samples.
Here is a close up showing the stop sweep consisting of two rows of white stop tablets that are of the push on, push off type. Each tablet has a status LED that indicates whether it is in program or play mode. If the LED is not lit, that tablet is off. If the LED is blinking, the tablet is being programmed. If the LED glows steady, the tablet is selected for play.
Here, we see Doc noodling away at the console to give you the songs in the list below. The music was recorded live, so there are many noises and lots of mistakes, as the performance was unrehearsed and Doc was completely unfamiliar with the instrument.
BACK IN THE SADDLE AGAIN!One of the first things Doc did after settling in was to hook up with fellow TPO buff Cyrus Roton, also a resident of Ridgecrest and the owner of the Apple Barrel Newsletter, a member of the Theatre Organ Academy and the Walnut Hill Virtual Theatre Pipe Organ groups on Yahoo!, and a fine organ technician. Cyrus works on organs around the area and expressed a desire for Doc to take a journey south to Palmdale to help him with a Rodgers 755 Digital Church Organ that was out of tune. So, away to Palmdale they went.
This is the Palmdale United Methodist Church where the Rodgers 755 Digital Church Organ is installed. The church will soon be moving to a much larger building. Cyrus was told by one of the members of the clergy that if the organ could not be repaired, it would have to go. Neither he nor Doc liked that news, so inside they went to get down to the business of rescuing the poor beast.
Here is the console of the Rodgers 755 Digital Church Organ with the bench set aside. The console has been retrofitted with a Roland SoundCanvas and MIDI on the manuals and pedals.
Here we see the stop sweep of the console. The stop tongues are the push on, push off type, having small LED's that indicate when the stops are drawn. there is also a special Positiv division that can control actual ranks of pipes, but this organ has only the onboard generators playing through loudspeakers.
Here, we see Cyrus working inside the console, just after completing the task of tuning the 85 tone generators which are mounted on swingout frames.
After the instrument was buttoned up, Doc took the bench to give her a go. They had to be sure that everything worked and the tuning held, which it did. Fred Willis sent along his wonderful little Samson Zoom H4 Digital Recorder for them to use, eager to hear what the instrument sounded like. After clamping the recorder to a music stand and pointing it at the speakers, Doc armed it and sat down at the organ to play a few songs, which are listed below. Click on a title to listen.
On the way home, Cyrus and Doc stopped at Fosters Freeze to have some lunch. This is an excellent fast food eatery serving up the best malts and cheeseburgers in the state of California, not too far from the famed Edwards Air Force Base.
Above can be seen the rugged terrain on the way home from Palmdale. Southern California is mostly desert, and Cyrus assured Doc that although it looks lifeless out there, there are plenty of creatures that make this harsh land their home. As you can see, Doc has been busy since moving west, and is just getting started. Yes, he is back in the saddle again!
RELOCATION FUND DRIVEAlthough we are settling in at the new location, Walnut Hill Productions is still in somewhat of a bind from a business perspective. Household and personal expenses are taking a hefty slice out of the money Doc gets, as he is disabled and on a fixed and limited income. Replacing his personal property and the musical equipment lost after the relocation will be very expensive. Most of the company's original equipment was left in Tennessee due to the high cost of shipping. The items must eventually be replaced. Below is a list of the items we are needing for the studio in order to get back to the recording sessions Doc would like to complete, including albums from the Sub Urban Cowboys and Doc at the Mighty MidiTzer.
We do not have current pricing or availability of this equipment, but it is conservatively estimated that we will need to raise over 4,000 dollars to eventually aquire everything on the list above. When we finally relocate to a residence big enough for an electronic three manual Theatre Organ, we will be looking for the Conn 650 mentioned above. We will also install a digital piano. Our end goal is to construct a portable four manual console for the Walnut Hill 4/36 Mighty WurliTzer Virtual Theatre Pipe Organ, to be powered by jOrgan running a custom disposition and font set from Allman Music of Saint Petersburg in Florida. Doc and Tom Hoehn have created a Pay Pal account for easily and securely receiving contributions from all who want to see this relocation take place, which will allow Walnut Hill to make major strides forward for the King of Instruments. Below is a listing of those who have genorously contributed funds to date:
There are other pledges pending. Anyone can contribute as much or as little as they see fit by clicking the "Make a Donation" button above. You can also send checks via standard mail to the following address, should you choose to not use the Pay Pal account. Please make checks payable to Richard Mogridge, with the words "Relocation Fund" in the memo line. The address is:
If you have questions about the relocation fund, you can call the Bone Doctor at the Walnut Hill Office of Operations to learn more. That telephone number is 1-727-230-2610. All contributors will get recognized at the site should they choose, or they can remain anonymous, simply by letting the Bone Doctor know their preferences via email. This is a major move forward for Walnut Hill Productions, one of the fastest growing TPO sites on the internet. Become a part of history by making your donation today. Please help us to continue the work we are doing as we continue to grow, adding new features and more services such as broadcasting audio and video for all to enjoy. You'll be glad you did. We are thanking you in advance for your generosity and support in this grand endevour. God bless, and happy playing.
The Bone Doctor "It's all about the King of Instruments!"
Slow Dog at deviantART
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EDITORIAL ARTICLES |
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HEADLINE NEWS |
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Arts From The Heart, 2007
On February 10th of 2007, Tom Hoehn did a performance at the First United Methodist Church of Clearwater, Florida on the majestic 4/93 Rodgers/Ruffatti/Wicks Church Pipe Organ for the Arts From The Heart annual concert. Click here and scroll down to listen to some of the tracks from this wonderful event, listed under the Arts From The Heart topic.
Walnut Hill Gets A Facelift! Visitors with eagle eyes might notice a change here at Walnut Hill, couretsy of our Founding Father, Fred Willis, who has an uncanny ability to use the power of Photoshop to create wonderful and stunning graphics. If you look at the navigation stop tongues at the top of each page, you will notice that they are now transparent on the ends, letting the woodgrain of the background show through, where before there were black squares around the curved ends. You will also notice that the stop for the section you are in looks like it really is pushed down due to perspective modelling of the image. Also, you will see the felt under the stops and the small chrome separaters at the ends of the rows of stops, like those which divide the divisions of voices on a real pipe organ. Fred began working on the images on the 9th of February and finished his work on the 11th. Doc modified the background and placed the new images on the tables during the day to arrive at our new site navigation system which now graces each page. There are more additions to come as we strive to not only have the best TPO site on the internet, but also the best looking. Stay tuned as we impliment the changes in the days ahead on our way to version 5.
Eugene Hayek and the Center Street Combo
On February 7th of 2007, Eugene Hayek sent us some recordings of his new group, the Center Street Combo. We decided to give his page a major facelift as we added the new material. Click here to visit his page on Walnut Hill and scroll down to the Music Downloads section. Look for the Central Street Combo entry and see the list of four great songs so far. Enjoy!
Dick Smith, New Featured Artist! Dick Smith at the console of Black Beauty.
We were very fortunate to aquire a recording from Mike Phillips, proud owner of an Allen GW319EX Digital Theatre Organ, featuring the talent of Dick Smith, who played 31 songs on this magnificent instrument. To listen to this concert, click here.
Hit Count Since 04/02/2004The figures below represent the approximate daily hit count for the site since going online on April 2nd of 2004. Counter checks begin around ten in the morning and end around ten in the evening. Currently, that total stands at over 48,125 happy campers in the Land of the King!
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