At the last minute I decided to make a day trip to north Los Angeles,
a six-hour drive from where I live.  I arrived at the Descanso Gardens
on Sunday just after 9 AM.

I must say this is one of the nicest rallies I have been to.  I had
attended two years ago but I missed last year due to being out of state.
I had really been looking forward to this year.  Having a family event
to attend on Saturday meant that I could not attend both days.

While not the large three-day event of the MID-AM rally, this event is
becoming the premier West Coast event.  The TV program, "California's
Gold", filmed a segment at it last year with with John Howser
narrating.  This segment was shown again on PBS TV this last week
and it really boosted he attendance of the general public.  Having
done crowd estimates when I was a National Park Service volunteer,
I estimate that there was between one and two thousand people in the
park on Sunday.  I am told that the place was really packed on
Saturday.

Many of the people I talked to were there for to see and hear the
organs -- and what a selection: from Bill Klinger's Castlewood organ
and his new John Smith busker organ to Mike Ames' Decap Dutch street
organ and David Wasson's ever-reliable Trudy, there was an organ for
anyone to enjoy.

The Descanso Gardens cover over 100 acres, mostly know for their
camellias.  Most of the organs were around the rose gardens.  Each one
was in a little grotto so that there was not much if any interference.
It takes 45 minutes to make the short tour around this part of the
park.  This was really good for organs, like Ralph and Gloria Schack's
wonderful-sounding 42-key Rudolf Bruns crank-organ.  Up the hill, just
out of range of the others, was Lloyd Osmundson's Wurlitzer Caliola.

There was a good mix of MIDI and traditional systems.  Jim Wescott had
a nice one with a Dutch flavor.  Frank Nix had his Limonaire playing
the book music.  Bill Blair has a Wurlitzer 103 in a 105 case that
plays rolls, and next to it is his Pell with electronic chip memory.
Lots of young children were there who were more fascinated with watching
the rolls or the books move through the reader.  In talking with Frank
Nix, I do think that it is important to preserve the music books or
other paper media for the music.

As Matt Caulfield points out, a music book or roll will last more than
100 years.  How long will a disk or chip last and be readable?  This
is not to say that MIDI does not have a place -- for new work I think
it is entirely appropriate.  What we do not want is for MIDI to replace
the books and the books to get lost.

A few members with smaller organs are working on MIDster punches.
I think this is great, and it's how MIDI should be used on older
instruments, that is, to make more books and more rolls.  It is also
great for making new arrangements of popular tunes.

Many of the same people and organs attended this year.  I am looking
forward to next year where I too will have an organ to show off.
I forgot my camera this year, however I have photos from two years
ago still on my web site. These can be accessed at
http://www.delectra.com/rally/

Too soon it was 4 o'clock and time for me to make the six-hour trek
back home.  What a wonderful day it had been, well worth the time spent
driving across half the state of California just to hear the organs
live again.

Julie Porter

 [ The videocassette of "Organ Grinders", program 1006, is available
 [ from Huell Howser Productions at http://www.calgold.com/calgold/