Well, last week I had the sad experience of listening to what passes
as 'band organ' music up at the carousel in Tilden Park in Berkeley,
California.

I had taken my 2-1/2-year-old grandson a month or so earlier to the
steam trains at Tilden Park and we had a good ride on the merry-go-round,
with very soft music in the background; I asked them about organ.
They said it drove people out of the building, and that there had been
complaints from nearby houses, but that they would turn up the CD for
me if I wanted.  I declined.

This current trip was a disaster.  We got there just as they opened and
my grandson, being a big train enthusiast, headed straight for the
Thomas train table.  I suppose since this was the last Friday of the
season there were very few in attendance; school had already started,
etc.  But it was a bright sunny day and the music, even though soft,
was at least welcome.  Until... at some point things began to sound very
wonky.  I realized to my dismay that I was listening to a very unhappy
_cassette_ -- probably the cassette player hadn't been cleaned or
serviced since the dawn of time -- who knows.  No one responded.
I finally couldn't stand it anymore.  I had to tell somebody.

The resulting investigation was straight out of a Laurel and Hardy
film.  One park employee putting tape after tape into the machine with
even worse problems; at one point she put in a CD, but it turned out
to be a standard Christmas Music Box variety of cylinder tunes.  That
didn't work!

Meanwhile another fellow came back with a screw driver (?!) with the
intent of fixing the player, I guess.  I couldn't see.  At every turn,
I was blocked from seeing what was going on in the Chamber of Horrors.
They called the 'owner'.  (As far as I know, there is no owner; the
carousel is part of the Berkeley park system now, with designation as
an Historical Place.)   Someone came over eventually, but I was not
introduced.  Finally they gave up and the carousel continued, sans
music.  My grandson got a ride, but seemed somewhat bored this time.
Maybe he was tired.  I certainly was.

I spoke to several visitors on both of these trips; everyone agreed
that the music was pretty sad for a carousel experience.  And of course
as we were leaving on Friday, more people were coming up the path and
noticing the rather obvious silence.  I told a few that the music was
busted for the day and people seemed disappointed.

I left my name and number, told the park employees where they could
look for decent CDs of band organ music, but I betcha nobody's done
anything.  Maybe they need some phone calls, too.

Claudine Jones
San Francisco Bay Area

 [ Some photos and history of the Tilden Park organs and carousel
 [ are at http://www.mmdigest.com/Gallery/Pictures/tildenPark.html
 [ -- Robbie