St. Joseph Catholic Church, located in Ponchatoula, Louisiana, is home to a truly unique instrument, a Little TPO that could.

We dedicate this month's feature to all the players of the Mighty MidiTzer, for all too often these smaller instruments are overlooked.

Early in the Church's history, a local theatre owner made a decision to transplant a five rank two manual Mighty Wicks Theatre Pipe Organ from his local movie palace to the church. The organ plays today thanks to the efforts of Father Justin Kauchak, O.P. and Mr. Rene Folse. These men have cared for the instrument since 2004.

According to the Encyclopedia of American Theatre Organs, this instrument is Wicks Opus 838, originally built for the Ideal Theatre in Ponchatoula, Louisiana. It is a model referred to as a "Jackson".

The following pictures were taken by Featured Artist Tom Hoehn during a trip he made earlier this year to play the wonderful little organ.

Tom was genorous enough to take time out to get some close up shots of the console and many more of the chapel and some of the exposed pipework duing his brief visit. There were no shots taken of the chamber, but on the official website for the instrument, there are many pictures of the church, the console and the pipework, along with a complete stop list. Click here to learn more.

Here, we see the pedal stops located in the left bolster of the console. Not the aged yellowing of the stop tongues and the white newness of the keys.

To the right of the Pedal stops, we find those which control the Accompaniment manual.

To the right of those are the Solo stops, some of which are seen above.

Here, we see the rest of the Solo stops. Note that the back rail has no stops fitted and no provisions were made for them in the console.

Here, we are looking out at the chapel as viewed from the loft in the rear of the sancuary where the organ console is installed.

In the shot above, we are looking up at the Chimes mounted on the wall of the sanctuary.

On the afternoon of April 30, 2006, and in front of an audience of over 200 attendees, Father Justin Kauchak introduced nationally acclaimed Tampa, Florida organist Tom Hoehn who played the final recital on the former Ideal Theatre organ before it was relocated to the new church building.

1. That's Entertainment
   Playing time = 3:17, file size = 3.05MB, bit rate = 128KB/sec.
2. Crazy
   Playing time = 5:12, file size = 4.82MB, bit rate = 128KB/sec.
3. Finnian's Rainbow
   Playing time = 13:12, file size = 12.10MB, bit rate = 128KB/sec.
4. Roller Coaster
   Playing time = 4:01, file size = 3.71MB, bit rate = 128KB/sec.
5. Unforgettable
   Playing time = 4:58, file size = 4.60MB, bit rate = 128KB/sec.
6. Take Me Out To The Ball Game - traditional
   Playing time = 0:49, file size = 798KB, bit rate = 128KB/sec.
7. Take Me Out To The Ball Game - classical
   Playing time = 3:15, file size = 3.01MB, bit rate = 128KB/sec.
8. My Fair Lady Medley
   Playing time = 10:38, file size = 9.81MB, bit rate = 128KB/sec.
9. Ava Maria - variation
   Playing time = 4:46, file size = 4.41MB, bit rate = 128KB/sec.
10. Armed Forces Medley
    Playing time = 8:00, file size = 7.39MB, bit rate = 128KB/sec.