BLIND-SIDED BY A THOMAS ORGAN...
...strange, sometimes, the things that seize one's mind...
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I was in the local Goodwill Store last week; hardly a week goes by that I don't go into some type of thrift store somewhere; it's a good rainy-day activity when I feel like I'm being cooped up by the Fairly Eternal Rains of Southwest Oregon. Sometimes it feels like it's raining all over the world. But, I keep telling myself, "hey, it's fairly warm and you don't have to shovel rain." Eternally thankful am I for that. So much for the present; let's delve into the past as I take you upon yet another Psychic Journey...
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One really big childhood memory I have is of Organ Music; my Mom being the spiritual lady that she was, whenever her fancy dictated, she'd be playing Hymns on her Thomas "color-glo" Organ in the Living Room. She could also play a bit of boogie-woogie. The "Color-Glo" feature was operated by an on-button underneath the keyboard, on the underside, and when it displayed, it actually illuminated the lower keyboard with various colors along with names of the notes, and somehow this made it easier to play chord patterns in songs. I'm a total klutz when it comes to keyboards, and those who know their way around a piano or organ absolutely fascinate me. I can't make my hands jump around like that. Mom never had to use the color-glo function. She didn't need to. She could think of a song, and just play it. How'd she do that? With guitar, there's only one hand to finger the notes, but keyboards, well, they're another story altogether...
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When I was a kid, Mom & Dad had me take piano lessons, which was absolutely excruciating. I couldn't do finger-patterns for both hands at the same time. It was just too hard. These were the same parents who forced Violin Lessons on me. I took a lot of crap from other kids because I had to lug a violin to school. I was fairly good at it, although I topped out in 7th grade. Like everything else in life, I reached an average degree of competency and then could rise no further. That's me, all right. It's the same on guitar. My fingers are too clumsy to play a lot of single-notes; I've seen really great guitarists, and I'm just not that talented. So I've taken instead, to learning as many songs as possible, and I put my own 'spin' on them. I can bash out guitar chords, sing halfway decently, but if I was gonna be filthy rich by playing guitar, I'd be filthy rich by now. So what comes forth from my guitar is a whole-lot of rhythm, plus various 'shadings' of chords so I'll sound more proficient than I actually am.
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I don't understand at all, how someone can Play Keyboards by Ear. I just don't get it. There are so many keys, and I've tried over and over to play keyboards, but I just don't have the feel for it. When a person plays by ear, how do they know where the right notes are? There are, after all, 88 keys on a keyboard, and in the case of a double-tiered organ, there's two sets of keyboards, or 178 keys total. Plus on a keyboard, while your hands are busy jumping around independently of each other there are the Bass Pedals under yer feet that ya gotta operate, independently of both independent hands. I hated organist Bob Ralston on the old Lawrence Welk shows; he made it look so easy and he'd smile right into the camera, probably thinking, "I can do this and you CAN'T." Well, Duh...
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As I was browsing through the Goodwill Store's contents last week, I went into the furniture section of the store, where amongst the various chairs, sofas, CD storage racks, and TVs, I came upon a Thomas Organ. And even though it wasn't the same model as my Mom played, it stopped me dead in my tracks. Wow, a Thomas Organ. I must have stood there for a good 10 or 15 minutes as memories of organ music she played long ago began to swirl around inside my head. I could almost see Mom, in her satin-frilled housecoat, swaying back and forth as she played, with her feet doing hopscotch patterns on the bass pedals. She could play anything by ear, mostly in the key of B-flat. This wasn't just a memory; it cut to the core of the Very Person I Am today. It was difficult to continue my day; I was literally frozen in my footsteps, not wanting to leave the Thomas Organ, with memories of Mom, my early life, and the house we lived in, inundating my consciousness. In the end, I gently touched the top of the organ, and then slowly walked away.
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I miss you so much, Mom...


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This is the model of Thomas Organ she played. This March 27th, she will have been gone nine years. Almost a decade. And time just keeps on marching forward. She made a tape herself singing and playing organ or ukelele for me in 1988. I haven't heard it in a while. But I remember.