What a wife!

The other day I was driving with my wife, talking about looking at a new Organ. 

See the one I have doesn't have a chime or tubular bells setting... and for some spooky songs you just can't beat that.

So I mentioned that I might be able to pick up a new organ for $50, and it might cost more and be too difficult to add that functionality to my Gulbransen when she said the following:

But I'm kind of attached to that organ now,  and I'm sure you can figure out how to add that. You can do anything.

It was sincere. And she said it without even thinking.

Besides you always like to have a project to work on. 

Wow. Knock me out. What a sweet thing to say.

So no more looking for a new organ. Now it is full speed ahead with adding MIDI to my Gulbransen Pacemaker Custom (1921KM) making it my own FrankenOrgan the 1921KM-MIDI)

To begin with I found a MIDI chip on a breakout board to be the MIDI soul.

Sparkfun Breakout Board for VS1103 

 
Then discovered they were out of them so I had to find another source. 

Next I needed to figure out how to connect the keys of the organ to the VS1103. I found a site called Midi-Hardware.com. Here is a link to the products they have:

midi-hardware.com tutorial   

Scroll down a little more than half way and look for the section called 3 keyboards and pedals.

So that is the path I am on. I will keep you posted. That's it for tonight from 1313 El Potro.

Halloween Playlist (Songs I know)

So now that Professor Johnson, Organ Donor AKA The Mad Organist is born..... Time to plan for next years playlist.

To be considered songs have to meet one of these criteria:

• Must be associated with Halloween 
• Must be spooky or dealing with death, funerals, monsters, vampires etc...
• Must be best known as a song played on the organ

  As I see it there are three categories of songs to play on the organ for Halloween..

1. I already know
2. I have the means to learn
3. I am still searching for a way to learn

Lets check out category 1, I already know:
  Haunted Mansion Foyer Music
  The Shining
  Dark Shadows
  Tales From The Crypt
  Phantom of the Opera

Not a bad list to begin with.

Now let's check out category 2, have the means to learn. First I'll define "means to learn". First off I can't read sheet music. 

One way I have learned these songs is through "How to play ****" postings on YouTube. These are basically someone playing the song on a piano or organ with a camera pointed down on their hands. 

Here is what I looked at to learn my Category 1 songs:

How to Play Haunted Mansion  

[How to play] Haunted Mansion

How to play The Shining

Tales From The Crypt (scary part at the end) 

Phantom of the Opera (EASY VERSION)

Phantom of the opera
EAE GFF DGD E
EAE GFF DGD E
ACE DDD GDE
EAG FED CBA G#
FF EE

How to play Phantom of the Opera [Piano Hero] 

Another way I have learned is to find a midi file of the song I want, then play it through Synthesia.

Synthesia on YouTube

Synthesia, Piano for Everyone Website 

A great source for MIDI files is Omar's Haunted Trail.

Here is the MIDI for Dark Shadows I used to learn that song:

Dark Shadows-1.mid  

Next time, my Category 2 songs. That's it for tonight from 1313 El Potro.

Gulbransen Organ

The Gulbransen Organ.

Funny how I had never heard anything about them last year. Now I find myself trying to learn all I can.

My Gulbransen cost me $35. It came from an estate sale. The model I have is the Pacemaker Custom. I don't have the Pacemaker.

This is a Pacemaker:

This is a Pacemaker Custom:

The Pacemaker has toggle switchers while the Pacemaker Customer has levers that make it look more like a theater organ. Here is the Gulbransen Rialto:

While I love my Pacemaker Custom, I keep my eyes open for a working Rialto.

Here's why.... There are a few sounds my organ doesn't have (such as chimes..)

And the Rialto just has some nicer sounds. Take a listen to the Pacemaker Custom:

 Pacemaker Demo

 

Pacemaker Demo 2

Rialto K Theatre Organ - Puttin on the ritz 

Rialto K - These Foolish Things

Another Rialto Owner

Phantom of the Opera

All I Ask of You 

So I'm hooked. Will I ever find my Rialto II? I will keep you posted. That's it for now from 1313 El Potro.

 

The Carnival of Souls Sheet Music

Verne Langdon wrote and recorded a haunting song called "The Carnival of Souls" It was released on an album with a version played on calliope, one on music box, one on harpsichord, one instrumental, one sung like a movie title song and one as a pop vocal.

Yet with all those versions of the song, there seems to be no place on earth to get the sheet music.

Take a listen to a few versions here.

Carnival of souls, harpsichord


Anybody have some ideas on where to find the sheet music?

The Birth of the Mad Organist

Reposted from November 16th. I accidentally deleted it. Hard to get good help when you are doing your own blog. :)

How did it all start.... Well to bring you up to speed, I have a Gulbransen Pacemaker Custom organ that I have learned to play (well 5 songs anyway....) as part of a Halloween Yard Haunt. I needed a character.

I didn't just want to dress as Dracula . I wanted to be something unique. So to paraphrase steve jobs (lower case on purpose... if you ever met steve you would understand) 

"The Great Ones Steal"

So I looked at a few great characters from the movies and TV... So here is the recipe...

Take a little of the wit and charm from Seymour Larry Vincent

Mix a little Lon Chaney from London After Midnight

AKA They Hypnotist

 Mix in a little Michael Cane and The Continental for the Ascot or Cravat

 

The cape with a design from Zombo on the Munsters

 This came from the good folks at classicmoviemonsters.blogspot.com

Plus some of the humor of Count Floyd 

Mix up a stove pipe hat 

 

Some makeup from Party City

Plus one crazy obsessed Yard Haunter and you get this:

Here is how I looked on Halloween morning (We can wear costumes at work.)

And here is what I looked like out front on Halloween night.

Here is a video of me playing on Halloween night at dusk.

Professor Johnson Organ Donor

It was a great night for all. I turned up the organ to full volume. You could hear it three streets away. While my repertoire isn't very deep (Haunted Mansion, The Shining, Tales from the Crypt, Dark Shadows, and Intro from Phantom of the Opera) the organ gave me so many variations of sound it kept crowds entertained. 

Yes I said CROWDS! People out trick-or-treating were amazed I was playing it and were surprised it wasn't a recording. I even had soccer moms come back with their wine after their husbands finished taking the kids around. I had parents ask to have their kids pose with me for photos. What a great time. I would send the kids to the front door for their candy (my wife and grown kids gave the candy out) and keep on playing. I even had young couples (teenagers) hang in front of the organ while I played for them.

The Mad Organist was born this Halloween. And his official name is:

Well that's it for tonight from 1313 El Potro.

The Haunted Organ

Don Knotts stared in a great 1960's silly spooky movie called "The Ghost and Mr Chicken"

In the movie there is an old house a murder was committed in. Upstairs there is a blood stained organ. The killer played the organ after killing his wife. Here is what it looked like.

Don Knotts character spends the night on the anniversary of the murder. Take a look at this clip. Move to 5:12 and you will see the organ come to life as the ghost plays the organ:

The Haunted Organ Comes Alive

Or try this:

The music was composed and played by Vic Mizzy. He also composed the Munsters, The Addams Family and a gazillion others.

It is the perfect organ piece for Halloween. And it can be found all over YouTube. Here are some samplings.

The Ghost and Mr Chicken Haunted Organ.
A great rendition by Cyberboy63

Cyberboy63 The Ghost and Mr Chicken


Or here

In Dallas Texas on Swiss Avenue there is a great show that features this music. Here is a taste:

Here are two more clips that show the whole show. He appears every 15 minutes and does a wonderful show.

 Swiss Avenue Halloween Show

or here

And another

Another Swiss Avenue Clip

The 2012 Swiss Avenue Show:

First Phantom of Swiss Avenue 2012 Clip

Another clip. Says this family has done this show for 16 years. What a great bunch Yard Haunters.

Final Show of the night

So you are in love with the Haunted Organ. How can you learn how to play it?

Look no further:

How to play The Ghost and Mr. Chicken Haunted Organ

How to play the haunted organ 

And finally... I saved the best for last

The GREAT Dan Dembicki showing us how to play the Haunted Organ. He even offers to share the sheet music. What a GREAT artist.

Haunted Organ Dan Dembicki

 

That's it for tonight from 1313 El Potro.

 

The Spookiest Place On Earth

It began with Deadwood Dick.

Disneyland may be the "Happiest Place on Earth" but growing up in southern California Knott's Berry Farm held the award for the "Spookiest Place" on Earth.

Knott's had Boot Hill. You first saw a grave on Main Street. 

Eventually you ended up in Ghost Town and visited the Boot Hill Cemetery.

To the left of Boot Hill you had a beautiful backdrop, painted on a building. 

To the right there was the wide open spaces of southern California.

The Rio Grande railroad came through the back of the cemetery completing the illusion. There was even a casket open where you could pose for a photo.Even today it is a rite of passage. 

Today there is a roller coaster in the back of the cemetery. And as you try to listen to the funeral march you hear screaming from the Pony Express.

Even the tombstones are fading away.

This one is just a memory.

Perhaps this is a good time to say goodnight from 1313 El Potro.