We begin the month of April rebuilding the office of operations at our new location 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 continuing to let Doc stay at his place during the rebuilding of the company. Many new friends are being made and connections that will boad well for the King of Instruments in the days ahead, so stay tuned as the story unfolds.

The main data server at Walnut Hill Productions has received some new hardware and a new operating system. We have installed two Western Digital 250GB EIDE hard drives, with the intent to install four more identical units in the days ahead, bringing the total storage capacity of the massive machine to 1.5 terabytes. We have also installed Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition with Service Pack 2 in order to take advantage of the larger hardware requirements our new projects are necessitating.

In the picture above, we see the powerful computer sitting on the front stoop at Fred's place, with the side doors removed to show the inner workings of the beast. Sitting on the tarmac in front of the tower are the two new Western Digital hard drives, still in their boxes, awaiting installation after a thorough cleaning of the case. Near the boxes are some mounting brackets to adapt a 3.5 inch device to a 5.25 inch drive bay. All the bays in the server are of the 5.25 inch size, and there are thirteen bays total. One of the 80mm output fans on the rear panel has been taken out to facilitate cleaning and checks in the buss area.

After the new drives were installed and the OS loaded, booted and tuned, the production software went in. This software included Microsoft Office Professional 2003 Enterprise Edition, DirectX 9.01c, Internet Explorer 7, Adobe Photoshop CS2, Poser 7, DAZ Studio, Sound Forge 6, Sonar 2.0, Waves Platinum Bundle, Jasc PaintShop Pro 7, MidiTzer 216, jOrgan 2.0, and a bevy of security programs and server-side tools too numerous to mention here. We are planning to update the page about this computer in the near future. Houston, we have a go!

Here in the city of Ridgecrest, California folks love organs of all kinds. Many have electronic organs in their homes. There are enough of these in the area that a club has been formed for the local enthusiasts to get together and enjoy great music and fellowship while gathered around the organ to play.

The Ridgecrest Organ Club meets twice a month on every other Tuesday. The meetings are held at a different member's home each time, by whomever chooses to host the meeting for any particular Tuesday. The last March Club Meeting was held on the 27th at the residence of Edward and Eleanor Winnemore in Ridgecrest.

Cyrus Roton came to pick up Doc at Fred's place, and they took the Samson Zoom H4 digital recorder and the Canon Powershot S2-IS digital camera along to aquire new material for the Walnut Hill website.

Unfortunately, Doc only took one tripod, which the camera was mounted to, and the recorder was placed on the coffee table near the organ. In some of the tracks, listed below, you can hear cups being sat down on the table. Yup, that Zoom H4 has good ears!

Also, since this is totally unrehearsed music, there are a number of mistakes, but hey, it's live and impromptue. We had lots of fun. After all, isn't that what playing the theatre organ is all about? Enjoy!

Members of the club took turns at the console, and when Cyrus Roton took the bench, we recorded his performances consisting of two nice medleys of great music.

1. South Pacific Medley
   Playing time = 6:48, file size = 6.30MB, bit rate = 128KB/sec.
2. International Medley
   Playing time = 9:01, file size = 8.33MB, bit rate = 128KB/sec.

The first medley contains the following songs:

• Some Enchanted Evening
• Bali Hi
• Dites Moi (Tell Me Why)
• Younger Than Springtime

The second medley contains the following songs:

• I'll Never Love Again
• Jada
• Five Foot Two, Eyes Of Blue
• Hernando's Hideaway
• Waves of the Danube Tango
• Come Back To Sorento
• The Song Of India

1. Somewhere My Love (Laura's Theme)
   Playing time = 4:22, file size = 4.05MB, bit rate = 128KB/sec.
2. The Tennessee Waltz
   Playing time = 1:53, file size = 1.76MB, bit rate = 128KB/sec.
3. Sweet Georgia Brown
   Playing time = 2:51, file size = 2.64MB, bit rate = 128KB/sec.
4. Never Grow Old
   Playing time = 2:57, file size = 2.73MB, bit rate = 128KB/sec.
5. The Old Rugged Cross
   Playing time = 4:23, file size = 4.06MB, bit rate = 128KB/sec.
6. Old Time Religion
   Playing time = 2:17, file size = 2.12MB, bit rate = 128KB/sec.
7. When The Saints Go Marching In
   Playing time = 3:12, file size = 2.95MB, bit rate = 128KB/sec.
8. My Father's House/Just A Closer Walk
   Playing time = 5:51, file size = 5.41MB, bit rate = 128KB/sec.
9. Hopscotch
   Playing time = 2:39, file size = 2.47MB, bit rate = 128KB/sec.
10. I Couldn't Love You Any More
    Playing time = 2:14, file size = 2.08MB, bit rate = 128KB/sec.
11. Ain't No Thaing
    Playing time = 2:42, file size = 2.51MB, bit rate = 128KB/sec.
12. Tumbling Tumble Weeds
    Playing time = 3:45, file size = 3.47MB, bit rate = 128KB/sec.
13. Norwegian Wood
    Playing time = 3:28, file size = 3.22MB, bit rate = 128KB/sec.
14. Saint Louis Boogie
    Playing time = 2:49, file size = 2.61MB, bit rate = 128KB/sec.
15. Somewhere Over The Rainbow
    Playing time = 4:17, file size = 3.97MB, bit rate = 128KB/sec.

Although 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:

Name Tom Hoehn Gareth Howells James Reid Cyrus Roton William Spalding Larry Chamberlin Kent Allman Fred Willis Joseph Loewy Ronald Shreve Dan Rowland Eleanor Winnemore

Amount $ 50.00 $ 50.00 $200.00 $500.00 $100.00 $100.00 $100.00 $200.00 $ 50.00 $ 25.00 $ 50.00 $100.00

Method PayPal PayPal PayPal Check PayPal Check PayPal PayPal PayPal PayPal PayPal Check

Funds received to date: $1,525.00

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
Member ATOS/President WHOC
House Organist and Webmaster
Walnut Hill Productions

"It's all about the King of Instruments!"

• Richard Mogridge - The Control Room
  All about recording the King of Instruments
• Tom Hoehn - Console Up!
  How to play the Mighty Theatre Pipe Organ
• Per Olof Schultz - Skandia WurliTzer
  The last WurliTzer Theatre Pipe Organ in Sweden
• Russ Ashworth - Mighty MidiTzer
  Playing the Theatre Organ virtualy every day!
• Jim Reid - Hauptwerk
  Martyn Dyde's highly accurate virtual organ from Crumhorn Labs

On Saturday, May 5th at 8AM, the doors of the Granada Theatre in Old Town Kern, Bakersfield will open to greet theatre organ enthusiasts to a first time annual event of historic perportions. Theatre Owner Jim Spohn has this to say about the event. We quote him in blue text below:

Hear Ye Hear Ye: First Annual Poor Man's Pipe Organ Convention, May 5th, 2007...

The Theatre is at 616 Kentucky Street in Old Town Kern, Bakersfield.

The Walnut Hill Production Team is attending this event and will have cameras and recorders rolling to document the event. Look for this instrument to be featured in August 2007, although there will be recordings posted for everyone to enjoy long before the feature goes up.

Representing Walnut Hill will be Cyrus Roton, the Bone Doctor, Russ Ashworth. If all goes as planned, this will become an annual event not to be missed.

On April 10th of 2007, our very own featured artist Eugene "Don" Hayek sent in some new material done on the fabulous Lafayette 2/11 Mighty WurliTzer Theatre Pipe Organ. There are now a total of twenty-one great songs from this gifted organist for you to enjoy! Click here to listen.

The 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 50,665 happy campers in the Land of the King!

04/01/2007 - 49,481 04/02/2007 - 49,502 04/03/2007 - 49,549 04/04/2007 - 49,582 04/05/2007 - 49,635 04/06/2007 - 49,661 04/07/2007 - 49,728 04/08/2007 - 49,766 04/09/2007 - 49,825 04/10/2007 - 48,888

04/11/2007 - 49,917 04/12/2007 - 49,996 04/13/2007 - 50,040 04/14/2007 - 50,078 04/15/2007 - 50,107 04/16/2007 - 50,160 04/17/2007 - 50,204 04/18/2007 - 50,259 04/19/2007 - 50,262 04/20/2007 - 50,305

04/21/2007 - 50,338 04/22/2007 - 50,379 04/23/2007 - 50,417 04/24/2007 - 50,445 04/25/2007 - 50,487 04/26/2007 - 50,520 04/27/2007 - 50,558 04/28/2007 - 50,601 04/29/2007 - 50,620 04/30/2007 - 50,669

ADVERTISEMENTS

Below are to be found links to the folks who sponsor this site and also those who freely promote the King of Instruments, the Mighty Theatre Pipe Organ. To find out how you can get an ad placed here, see the contact information for the Walnut Hill Office of Operations shown above.

Richard "Kent" Allman at the console of his Symphonic IV Virtual Pipe Organ for jOrgan.

Mighty MidiTzer Style 216 Version 0.8 Now Available!

Download MidiTzer Version 0.84 Did you ever imagine you could put a Theatre Pipe Organ inside your computer? Well, now you can, with the Mighty MidiTzer by Jim Henry and Crew Glazjev. Best of all, it is absolutely free! Just click the picture to the left to get started on your way to playing the Style 216 2/10 Mighty WurliTzer Theatre Pipe Organ virtually every day! Listen to the Mighty MidiTzer! Below are some cuts from various Featured Artists here at Walnut Hill that will give you an idea of what the Mighty MidiTzer sounds like. The Bone Doctor - Higher Ground Tom Hoehn - Crazy Gerhard Kletchowitz - Little Orphan Annie Frank Vanaman - The One I Love

Pinellas Park Mighty WurliTzer

The stop sweep of the 2/9 Mighty WurliTzer Theatre Pipe Organ installed at the Pinellas Park Auditorium in Pinellas Park, Florida.

The 2/9 Mighty WurliTzer Style 140B Theatre Pipe Organ Opus 1968, installed at Pinellas Park Auditorium in Pinellas Park, Florida is featured on the October 2005 Featured Organ of the Month page. It is the first small instrument to get a feature at Walnut Hill, and rightly so because it is not far from Tom Hoehn's residence, the first location for the Walnut Hill Productions Office of Operations during our year-long stay in Clearwater. This organ, under the care of the Central Florida Theatre Organ Society, is in the process of being restored and we need your help. If you would like to contribute funds or volunteer man hours to see this task come to completion, call the Walnut Hill Office of Operations at 1-727-230-2610 Monday through Friday from 10AM to 6PM EDT. We would be very glad to talk with you and tell you how to get involved in returning this great instrument to her former glory.