Grass...

I grew up in a house on a large corner lot, the corner of Union Street and Gillespie Street in Schenectady, New York.  My older brother Bill and I had two major duties -- cutting the grass in the summer and shoveling snow in the winter.  We tried various ways of dividing up the work and no matter how we split things up each of us was convinced that the other one got the best deal.

Thus it was that I rejoiced when in 1948 my father bought a 20" Eclipse Rocket gasoline-powered lawn mower.  Suddenly, I wanted to cut the grass!  For the next several years I was the grass cutter.  I loved that machine.  I tinkered with it, putting a larger carburetor on it.  I filed down the detents on the governor to make it run faster.  I rigged it up with a harness to my old red wagon, and having mounted a seat, I drove it up and down the street.  Mike Leding and I argued endlessly whether reel mowers or rotaries did a better job of cutting grass.  That lawn mower was tough and lasted for many, many years.  Only God knows whatever happened to it.  Part of its legacy is that I still love engines and machinery.  I have, however, outgrown my love for mowing grass.

Recently, I ran across this old ad for that great old lawn mower.

Sign of the Season...

Another Great Organ Story...

A couple of weeks ago, Mary Ann and I attended a wonderful concert by the Vienna Boys' Choir.  It was part of the annual series of the Huntsville Chamber Music Guild, of which we have been members for many years.  

Before the concert, I was talking to Dr. Wilson Luquire, dean of the library at UAH and President of the Chamber Music Guild.  I was talking about a young organist I had read about recently when Wilson asked if I had been in Huntsville for the Paul Jacobs concert, part of this year's series.  I informed him that I had been out of town and had missed that concert.  Wilson, who has a Ph.D. in organ performance in addition to his Library Science doctorate, then informed me that in his opinion, Paul Jacobs was the best organist he had ever heard, bar none.

I found this clip of Paul Jacobs playing Bach's "We Thank Thee, God, We Thank Thee" from Cantata 29 on the great organ at the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California.  In spite of his youth, Jacobs is the head of the organ department at the Juilliard School of Music.  Play this clip when you have about ten minutes.  It's only about 9 minutes long, but you'll need a little time to regain your composure when it ends.  It's an astounding and inspiring performance.

An Organ Story...

Before there was "stereo" there was "high fidelity." In the 1950's, we got our first "hi-fi" or audiophile store in Schenectady -- the "House of Harmony" at 1444 State Street.  Remember that it was a city of nerds, with hundreds of engineers and technically savvy craftsmen, the home of General Electric and the American Locomotive Company -- "The city that lights and hauls the world!" The hi-fi store was an immediate success. It was owned by a young fellow named Bob Griswold, the son of a prominent funeral director. I and my technically-oriented buddies became regular visitors to the store.

Bob Griswold had another passionate interest. He loved theater organs. These were instruments that theater owners installed during the silent-film era to attract more clients. They were bombastic, showy instruments that were capable of a great variety of music coloration. And Bob Griswold went the extra step -- he bought a couple of theater organs, including one of the largest in the world, and moved them to a building in Schenectady!

The Marr & Colton 5/24 Before Installation

The large organ was originally built and installed in 1927 by the Marr & Colton Organ Company for the fabulous Schine's Rochester Theater in Rochester, New York. It had a 5-manual console and 24 ranks of pipes and is therefore referred to as a 5/24 organ. The theater was described as, "with over 3500 seats, the largest theater in America between New York and Chicago. The auditorium featured bronze light fixtures, murals, leather upholstery for the box seats, and an enormous Marr & Colton organ."

Bob Griswold brought the organ to Schenectady in an 18-wheeler over a period of several weekends. I was in high school when I first encountered the project and I got to work on some of the restoration work. It ignited a love for these instruments that I still enjoy.

The second organ was a Wurlitzer that Bob acquired from a theater in Utica, New York.

An image of Bob Griswold tuning the clarinet stop in the "main" loft of the combined
organ as it was being installed in a specially-constructed building.  This image appeared
in the July 4, 1958 edition of the Schenectady Gazette.

A few years after I got to know him, Bob Griswold died in an automobile accident while he was still a young man. I wondered for years whatever became of that magnificent pipe organ after his death. Now, through the magic of the Internet and Google, I know the "rest of the story."

Here's part of an article I recently ran across on the Website of the Puget Sound Theater Organ Society in an article about member Bill Blunk:

In 1961, the 3/9 Marr & Colton instrument was replaced with Bill's new purchase: the 5/24 from the Rochester Theatre in Rochester, New York. It was one of the largest instruments ever produced by Marr & Colton and the only five-manual.

Bill purchased the large organ from Bob Griswold who removed the instrument from the theatre in the early 1950's and installed it in his Schenectady music store.

The installation in the former Viking Theatre was completed with the help of Leonard Vernon and Dick Chase. Leonard Vernon did the refinishing job on the console.

Bill had hoped that the Viking would be a permanent home for the organ, but in 1964, the building was sold and on May 17, 1964, a final concert was held.

The 5/24 was removed shortly thereafter. During the Fall of 1965, Bill moved the organ to Portland where it was installed in a private studio which he rented. The instrument was featured at the 1966 ATOE Annual Meeting in Portland. The organ was later moved to Sherwood, Oregon and installed for several years in the Sherwood (Robin Hood) Theatre.

It was removed from this location and is currently in storage in the Portland area having been donated to the Columbia River Organ Club (CROC) by Bill Blunk several years ago. CROC is actively working to find a suitable location for re-installation.

The console as I remember it, in its original white finish
with gold leaf embellishment

It pleases me to know that the organ is still intact, even if not still in use. The experience that I had of working on it and hearing it inspired me in later years to restore a pipe organ for my own church, but that's a subject for a future post.

Historic Times...

We have witnessed a remarkable moment in the history of this great nation. Let's unite in support of our newly-elected President and offer him our prayers.

The events of the past few months have caused me to reflect on the path that the country has taken within the brief instant of my lifetime.  In 1960 I hitchhiked from Corpus Christi, Texas, to upstate New York.  I purposely took a route across the deep south to witness a culture that I had never seen.  I saw segregated drinking fountains and rest rooms, signs on businesses that read, "No Negroes," and was shocked at some of the rural poverty that I saw.  That experience made a deep impression on me.

In the 1970s, I was living and working in southern Mississippi.  By now, the civil rights act and the voting rights act had brought about enormous change.  Nonetheless, when I invited a black friend to move in with me after he had gone through a difficult divorce, my neighbors let me know they were outraged that I would invite a person of color to live in their "safe" neighborhood.

In the 1980s, I befriended a gentleman who lived in Indianola, Mississippi, in the heart of the delta.  During several visits to his home, I concluded that the Mississippi delta hadn't gotten the word yet on equal rights.  It hearkened back to what I had witnessed in my 1960 pilgrimage across the south.

And yet here we are, a nation that has overwhelmingly elected a black man to its Presidency.  Something of enormous significance has taken place.  I don't understand it, but I welcome it.  This marvelous republic never ceases to amaze me with its resilience and ability to reinvent itself.  I love this land and its people!  God bless the U.S.A.!!!

An Interesting Trip Back in Time...

This weekend I drove to the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum near Vergennes, Vermont. As I mentioned in an earlier posting, I wanted to see the reproduction canal schooner Lois McClure, the type of boat my great-grandfather George Neddo built. I arrived at the museum around noon on Saturday only to learn that the canal schooner had been moved to Burlington a week earlier to be prepared for winter storage. I chose to stay at the Vergennes site for the rest of the afternoon and had a wonderful day of learning.

I asked the volunteer who was at the admissions counter, Lisa, how to best see all the exhibits, especially since it was starting to rain. She recommended that I start with a video presentation describing the Battle of Valcour Bay and that I then proceed to the waterfront to visit the Philadelphia II.


The museum focuses on all kinds of watercraft that have been important in the history of the lake and also on the importance of Lake Champlain in the history of our country. One exhibit that is especially important is the reconstructed revolutionary gunboat Philadelphia II.  The story that unfolded for me is worth retelling.

In 1775, the colonial separatists attempted unsuccessfully to take the city of Quebec.  The British launched a counteroffensive in 1776 in which they intended to drive south from Quebec and take control of Lake Champlain and thence the Hudson River valley.  This would split the colonies in two, separating New England from the remaining colonies.  Then the British could defeat each half individually.

The colonial army understood the importance of maintaining control of Lake Champlain, so in 1776, General Phillip Schuyler built a small fleet of 16 gunboats in Skenesborough, now the location of Whitehall, New York.  At the same time the British built a somewhat larger fleet at the north end of Lake Champlain.  According to Wikipedia, "The British had adequate supplies, skilled workmen, and prefabricated ships transported from England, including a 180-ton warship they disassembled and rebuilt on the lake.  All told, the British fleet (30 vessels) had roughly twice as many ships and twice the firepower of the Americans' 16 vessels." General Benedict Arnold, who came from a seafaring Connecticut family, was in command of the small American fleet in October of 1776 when the two forces finally clashed.

The details of the battle are described in a Wikipedia article.  The most interesting part of the story is that by nightfall of October 11, the Americans had lost several gunboats, had suffered significant casualties, and were almost out of powder.  Most commanders would have abandoned their ships and escaped into the woods or surrendered to the British.  But Benedict Arnold, one of the colonies' ablest commanders before he became a traitor at West Point, hatched a plan to sneak out of Valcour Harbour under cover of darkness and get south of the British fleet to fight another day.  It almost worked, but the British ships caught up with the American fleet (such as it was) a couple of days later and sank several more ships.  The rest were purposely run aground or burned to prevent their use by the British.  General Arnold and his surviving forces made their way to Crown Point and Ticonderoga and the British fleet returned to the north to spend the winter of 1776-77.

The military significance of this obscure battle was immense.  The presence of this small fleet on Lake Champlain prevented the British from proceeding unchallenged toward New York to divide the colonies.  The resulting one-year delay enabled the colonies to assemble the army that would defeat Burgoyne at the battle of Saratoga and bring France in on the side of the colonies.

One of the vessels lost during the battle in Valcour Bay was the Philadelphia, a 54-foot gunboat.  Amazingly, she was preserved by the cold pure waters of Lake Champlain (in an era prior to the presence of zebra mussels) and was located and salvaged in 1935, some 169 years after being sunk!  Her description is given in the nomination for designation as a National Historic Site: "The Philadelphia's hull is 54 feet in length, 15 feet in beam and approximately five feet deep.  Construction was almost entirely of oak and sap still remained in the bottom planking. The mast, almost 36 feet high, was found intact except for the top portion, and the hull timbers were still in place.  Three shot holes were visible in the hull and in one of them a cannon ball was lodged.  Considering the punishment it took in battle and its long years underwater, the Philadelphia is an exceptionally well-preserved survivor of this important Revolutionary War naval battle."  The Philadelphia is now on exhibit at the Smithsonian -- the only surviving vessel that participated in the American revolution.

The Lake Champlain Maritime Museum built a precise replica of the Philadelphia which is moored at the Vergennes site.  It is amazing to see how small and crude these vessels were that confronted and delayed the British forces.  As I boarded the replica, I was greeted by a couple of museum staff members.  A gentleman named Peter was in full colonial garb as an historical interpreter.  On board the gunboat was a set of artifacts from the period that included eating utensils and other utilitarian objects.  The ship is really a wonderful teaching tool.

I proceeded through several buildings housing other parts of the museum's collections.  All were impressive, but the thrill of the day was learning in such a tangible way about how a handful of courageous colonials in a remote corner of upstate New York changed the course of history for all of us.

The Great Communicator... More Relevant than Ever

“Are you better off now than you were four years ago?  Is it easier for you to go and buy things in the stores than it was four years ago?  Is there more or less unemployment in the country than there was four years ago?  Is America as respected throughout the world as it was? … If you answer all of those questions “yes,” why then I think that your choice is very obvious as to who you will vote for.  If you don’t agree; If you don’t think  that this course that we’ve been on for the last four years is what you would like to see us follow for the next four, then I could suggest another choice that you have.”

-- Ronald Reagan, 1980 Presidential Debate --