I was in High School back in the late 60's. It was a time of Vietnam war worries and the Free Love Era...all of which none of us knew anything about, but we towed the church's line on any subject as devoted Mormons.

But I did get a great deal of joy out of playing the Church Organ. Since I was in the Church Choir, I got to go in early enough that the Organ was powered up awaiting practice.

Being early enough, I soon found myself at the keyboard, playing some of my favorites, like "Light My Fire" and "Ina Gadda Da Vida." The teen-agers loved it, but the adults quickly frowned and made me go sit in my place. Great memory though.

I like it! What area of the world was this?

You know what would be totally awesome?

If somebody sat down at a chapel or tabernacle organ and played the intro of Mr. Crowley by Ozzy Osbourne! BTW: Yes, those two songs: Light my Fire and In-a-Gadda-da-Vida, are damn good organ songs. And so is California Girls by The Beach Boys.

That reminds me of that one day during my teenage years when I ran away from home just for the day and took a walk to downtown Brigham City. The front door of the tabernacle there was wide open and I could hear the sound of its organ coming from within, as though some kid was just messing around on its keyboard, so I went right in to check it out.

Inside, I saw some lone bishopric-kind of guy there, and I guess that kid on the organ must have been his son. Anyway, he called his kid down from the organ bench and invited me to go up there and try it myself for some reason. Maybe I must have mentioned that I was a student of music then? "Well, I don't know how to play any hymns," I told him. But he told me that it doesn't have to be hymns, he just wanted to hear what I can play I was mainly learning how to play violin and guitar, and I had very little if any keyboard experience, but I accepted anyway.

I don't remember what I did wind up playing on that tabernacle organ that day; I might very well have tried playing a little bit of Cal Girls, or maybe I just played a bunch of random notes just for the sheer thrill of actually being in control of that wall of pipes! But now that I think back to that day, it really would have been so awesome if I knew how to play the Mr. Crowley intro then. Just imagining the very thought of rocking that Bishop's world with that tune brings a mischievous smile to my face, let alone the additional thought of Ozzy himself showing up and shouting "Lemme see your f*ckin' cigarette lighters!!!" just like in his Live & LOUD concert album!

Oh, one more thing that I forgot to mention:

Did anybody see that Simpsons episode where Bart sells his soul to his best bud for five bucks?

In that episode's intro, Bart tricks the congregation of his church into singing In-a-Gadda-da-Vida as an opening hymn, cleverly disguised as "In the Garden of Eden, by I. Ron Butterfly."

It would be totally bitchin' to hear the Tabernacle organ and Orchestra rockin' Iron Butterfly's In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida!!

Ron Burr



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/05/2014 05:38PM by Lethbridge Reprobate.

Around 2001, I went to Kansas City, MO to attend a rock concert. While there, I went to Independence, MO to the Community of Christ (formerly RLDS) headquarters to attend an organ recital in their auditorium. Afterward, I visited with the organist and his wife for quite awhile. They gave me a tour of the temple (which is a cathedral, not a secret ceremony facility.) They let me play the brand new temple organ for a few minutes. I think I played the opening riffs of "Jump" and "Love Walks In" by Van Halen and "The Final Countdown" by Europe, and the only full song I had memorized: "Rainbow in the Dark" by Ronnie James Dio. It sounded awesome!

When my son got married, his bride entered to "In-a-Gadda-da-Vida!" As converts, I thought it was exceedingly cool, lol. I guess I should have known that my time in the church was coming to an end. Off topic a bit, but a cool memory.

I loved the "In-a-Gadda-da-Vida!" bit on The Simpsons. I would love to play rock music on a church organ.

Just thinking about In-a-Gadda-da-Vida on the tabernacle organ - crank that bitch up to "11" and blow the roof off the mutha!!
HA!

Lurch was cool. He played the harpsichord.

I always wanted to hear 2001 space odyssey on the Tabernacle organ.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 04/05/2014 05:43PM by madalice.