The Doors Forum

What do you remember of the Amsterdam show? Was it you who informed the crowd that Jim wouldn't be performing that night?

Yes, I did make the announcement at the request of the Manager, Bill Siddons. Why he did not do it is a mystery - as manager it was his responsibility. He foisted it off on me.

I think it was a good show. I certainly demonstrated the skills and flexibility of Ray and Robby. The crowd liked it and the critics who were in attendance wrote good reviews. Personally I liked the show. I enjoyed it. Yes, it did not have the dynamics that jim might have brought out with his gymnastic activities. However, it was good musically and went smoothly.

I read a few weeks ago that Concertgebouw in Amsterdam is ranked as one of the three best sounding concert halls in the world.
Nice lookin' place too.
Probably not the kind of place where shows get cancelled because a member of a group is passed out.

52°21'22.56"N 4°52'45.05"E
For the Google Earth fans out there..

The acoustics in the building were a result of the builders following natural laws. The builders of such places learned empiricly what made good sound. It is natural that sometimes the frequency responce of the building was not flat and they did not know how to trim that. The Modern day designers build these cavernous halls and in their efforts to make the harmonics respond they utterly destroy the entire acoustic spectrum.

Most of the building like the Concert Hall require electronic enhancement. The latest abortion is the Disney hall in LA.


The organ, of course my principal interest, as a disaster visually and tonally.

It is strange that the original concert hall, the Dorothy Chandler Pavillion - never had an organ installed. Why they Disney hass was built is beyond me. The DCP was doing fine. Probably because a lot of people made a great deal of money.

Whether in Europe or US when the motive for any project is sought - follow the money trail.

Nice photos of that beautiful building. I hope the organ remains as it was when I played it.

Did you get time to fiddle around on the organs a lot?
I've been doing a lot of research about the venues, and most of these places have these grand old organs and gigantic consoles, there's even some footage (Boston?) in the NTTTE video of a large organ somewhere..

Vince,
What got you interested in organs and organ building. What school did you go to to learn about organ building or were you an apprentice?
Thanks.

I came from a musical family. When my parents, and I as a child, grew up it as almost mandatory to learn to play piano or guitar or some similar instrument that could be part of home party entertainment.

My Morther played Piano and so did I. I gradualted to accordian when 13 or so. It was bigger than I. An epiphany in Scarboro Main in the Summer of 1949 led me to Arthur Howes, the beautiful Casavant in Phillips Academy and studies in organ.

It was difficult for a young person to find a place to practice. and a Birthday gift of "The COntemporary Organ" from my Grandmother opened the door to the mysteries of how organs are built. From there to meeting Thomas Byers, founder of Andover Organ Company, and adventures into builing chests and such then working with other builders and service people and finally the establishment of our own company in 1955.

and 51 years later, here I are.

I guess that most of my work in the US, like many others of even the most famous builders, has been destroyed by the rush to the tracker fad. This organ will by my great work, I guess.

We are working on two other restorations - donations from US churches to Korean churches. These are slightly less rewarding than building something entirely new and original but it is still a work of art and rebirth of an organ that might otherwise suffered the humiliation of being scrapped or broken up for parts. Whe we are through with them they are just like new.

Vince,
Thanks for the history lesson, i think you have lived an amazing life.
good luck
Terry