Read the December 2004 issue of the Walnut Hill gazzette. Click here to read the current issue.
Walnut Hill Productions Hot Links For Theatre Organ Lovers The Mighty MidiTzer Project What's New At Walnut Hill? The Walnut Hill Organ The Walnut Hill House Organist The Walnut Hill General Store The Walnut Hill Recording Studio The Walnut Hill Organ Club
The Walnut Hill Mighty WurliTzer Walnut Hill Productions Rummage through the Walnut Hill Archives Featured Artists at Walnut Hill 50th Annual ATOS Convention Walnut Hill Website Credits Frequently Asked Questions - F.A.Q. Featured Organ of the Month The Walnut Hill Mighty WurliTzer

Go back to The Walnut Hill General Store main page. Go back to the November, 2004 page. Go to the Walnut Hill Graphical Website Map Go forward to the January, 2005 page. Go forward to the Walnut Hil Website Credits page.

Grandma's olde pump organ. Click here to return to the main Archives page.

Volume One - Issue Nine

Contributing Editors

The Control Room - Richard Mogridge - Webmaster
Console Up! - Tom Hoehn, Lead Editor
The Skandia WurliTzer - Per Olof Schultz, Associate Editor
MidiTzer Boot Camp - Russ Ashworth, Associate Editor
Mighty Hauptwerk - Jim Reid, Associate Editor
Desktop Goodies - Fred Willis
NYTOS Field Reporter - Eugene Hayek

Office of Operations

Walnut Hill Productions
1233 Sims Street
Ridgecrest, California 93555
Phone - 1-727-230-2610
10AM to 6PM PDT
Email - slowdog294@yahoo.com

DAILY NEWS

12/30/2004

Greetings from the Bone Doctor.

I want to thank the 7,755 visitors to our site.

God bless all who come here.

A new Yahoo! newsgroup was created today, dedicated to the Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Click on the following link to join this group:

Radio City Music

Featured Organ for January, 2005

Click here to see the featured organ for the month of January, 2005!
The console of the Mighty WurliTzer at Shea's Buffalo

12/29/2004

Greetings from the Bone Doctor.

I want to thank the 7,718 visitors to our site.

God bless all who come here.

Happy New Year! May all your Pipe Dreams come true!

12/28/2004

Greetings and Happy New Year to all!

I want to thank the 7,680 visitors to our site.

God bless all who come here.

We have added a stop list to the Featured Organ for the Month of October 2004 page featuring the Jasper Sanfilippo 5/80 Mighty WurliTzer. This was submitted by Michael Gagne, Owner of PIPE ORGANS EXCLUSIVELY at Yahoo!.

12/27/2004

Greetings and Happy New Year to all!

I want to thank the 7,630 visitors to our site.

God bless all who come here.

We have added new thumbnail tables to the Desktop Goodies page. This will allow us to display more pictures in less space. Stay tuned as we add more wallpapers in the days ahead.

Enjoy!

12/26/2004

Greetings and happy holidays to all.

I want to thank the 7,600 visitors to our site.

God bless all who come here.

We have added more information to the Jasper Sanfilippo 5/80 Mighty WurliTzer feature page. Stay tuned as we add even more later.

New Wallpaper!

A work in progress by Fred Willis featuring the Detroit Senate 4/34 Mighty WurliTzer Theatre Pipe Organ

Mountains Waterfalls Trees and Pipes
by Fred Willis, TOSF Member

Download Fred Willis' Mountains Waterfalls Trees and Pipes, a 1024x819 Wallpaper of the Detroit Senate 4/34 Mighty WurliTzer Theatre Pipe Organ high in the mountains with trees all around and flanking chambers.
The Detroit Senate
4/34 Mighty WurliTzer
Theatre Pipe Organ.
Art by Fred Willis, TOSF Member.

12/23/2004

Greetings and happy holidays to all.

I want to thank the 7,490 visitors to our site.

God bless all who come here.

New Wallpaper!

A work in progress by The Bone Doctor featuring the
J. Tyson Forker Memorial 4/32 Mighty WurliTzer Theatre Pipe Organ

Download a 1024 x 768 wallpaper featuring the J. Tyson Forker 4/32 Mighty WurliTzer console sitting in the woods!
WurliTzer in the Woods

We now feature thumbnail images of the featured free wallpaper images on our Desktop Goodies page at the General Store. This will let you see what you are getting beforehand. Enjoy!

We have added a new wallpaper featuring the J. Tyson Forker Memorial 4/32 Mighty WurliTzer Theatre Pipe Organ set agaist a pastorial woodland scene for your holiday enjoyment.

12/21/2004

Greetings and happy holidays to all.

I want to thank the 7,400 visitors to our site.

God bless all who come here.

We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. May all your Pipe Dreams come true!

12/20/2004

Greetings and happy holidays to all.

I want to thank the 7,320 visitors to our site.

God bless all who come here.

This was posted by Bruce Miles, creator of the Cinema Organ SoundFont, at TOSF today:

From: Bruce Miles
Date: Mon Dec 20, 2004 1:55 pm
Subject:
corg_r106

Greetings all,

I have now posted the latest version of my Cinema Organ SoundFont, corg_r106, on my website. This is for both and MidiTzer.

It is configured so that you load it into Bank 25. will access the new percussion sounds from bank 25 and MidiTzer will use percussions from the default GM soundfont in Bank 0, (as in versions prior to corg_105). In neither case will any of the GM sounds be affected.

The only other changes from previous versions are that the Viol d'Orchestre has been reconfigured to be closer to the WurliTzer sound. It is quite a bit more - er - pungent than the old rather bland Viola and its effect can be very dependent on the swell opening, as for real. Comments on this please - is it a bit too -er- pungent ??

Anyway the Viola is still there and continues to be available in the corg disposition file.

Also one or two other untidynesses have been put right.

Bruce

website - http://brucemiles1.mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/

Well, there it is, folks. Better go get it!

12/19/2004

Greetings, Folks from the Bone Doctor.

I want to thank the 7,300 visitors to our site.

God bless all who came here.

We are nearing the completion of the tutorial How is a Theatre Pipe Organ Different from a Church Pipe Organ? as a one page section in preparation or separating it into many sub-pages. Stay tuned as we carry this out in the coming weeks.

12/18/2004

Greetings, Folks from the Bone Doctor.

I want to thank the 7,220 visitors to our site.

God bless all who came here.

We are still tweaking the How is a Theatre Pipe Organ Different from a Church Pipe Organ? page, correcting some misinformation contained therein and fixing some compositional errors.

Thanks for bearing with us as we put this tutorial together. Comments and suggestions are welcome.

12/17/2004

Greetings, Folks from the Bone Doctor.

I want to thank the 7,150 visitors to our site.

God bless all who came here.

The following story was posted at the Theatreorgans.com mailing list last night:

Curtain Up! at Tennessee Theatre
~ January 15th, 2005 ~

Curtain Up! at the Tennessee Theatre in Knoxville, Tennessee
The $23.5 Million restoration is now complete.
The beautiful Tennessee Theatre is ready to shine!

Finally, after 18 long months of the Tennessee Theatre being closed for its $23.5 Million renovation and restoration, the grande dame of downtown Knoxville is ready to open her doors again. In this event, rather than one performer or performing group featured, the Theatre itself is the "star" of the show.

Be among the first to walk into the spectacular lobby and magnificent auditorium and experience the Tennessee Theatre in all its glory - once again.

Enjoy a live stage show - "The Tennessee: Waltz through Time" - featuring the region's top performers on the all-new Tennessee stage! Performers include Robinella and Cruz Contreras, Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, R.B. Morris, Knoxville Opera, Tennessee Children's Dance Ensemble, Bethel AME Church Choir, Knoxville Swing Dance Association, UT Opera Studio, Bill Snyder at the Mighty Wurlitzer Organ, and many more!

You'll be wowed from the minute you see the new, lighted Gay Street marquee and enter the beautifully restored Grand Lobby. Sit back in plush new seats, marvel at each magical detail of the exquisitely restored auditorium, and enjoy the evening's festivities!

Ticket Information

Tickets On Sale Date: 20 Dec 2004 8:30 AM
Ticket Prices: $25 plus surcharges
Tickets available at all Tickets Unlimited Outlets
Call 865-656-4444 or online at the link below.
Tickets website: Buy Tickets
Sponsored by: Denark Construction MHM, Inc.
Parking info: FREE parking at the State Street Garage,
courtesy of the City of Knoxville

12/16/2004

Greetings, Folks from the Bone Doctor.

God bless all who came here.

Lee Christopherson's
Massive 5-Manual Hauptwerk Organ

Download a large screenshot of  Lee Christopherson's Massive 5-Manual Hauptwerk Organ.

Download a large screenshot of Lee Christopherson's
Massive 5-Manual Hauptwerk Organ

I congratulate Lee Christopherson for doing such a wonderful job making music on his giant 5-manual Hauptwerk organ!

I finally got time to check his site out and it is impressive. Here is the link that will take you back in time to when the pipe organ was majestic and huge:

http://www.leochristopherson.com/five_manual_mp3_files.htm

It is classical. And it is truly awesome. The voices sound so real it is scary.

Lee plays with uncanny precision and the recordings are incredibly life-like. You can hear the laguids of the Diapasons chiffing at each note. The Pedal is a tangable woof that will stir your very soul.

There are Salicionals that travel to the stars and back again. And the Reeds are fire filled marvels. The Flutes are sweet and detailed.

You owe it to yourselves to go out to Lee's site and give his material a listen. If you want to hear a really BIG organ, this is it!

Lee is very generous, listing over thirty songs that open up in Windows Media Player as MP3 files that are of fine quality.

Visit his home page to see all the good stuff for Hauptwerk artists that he has assembled. You'll be glad you did.

http://www.leochristopherson.com/

We give his Hauptwerk performances five stars for excellence.

Enjoy!

12/15/2004

Greetings, Folks from the Bone Doctor.

I want to thank the 7,100 visitors to our site.

God bless all who came here.

We hope all are having a great holiday season.

12/11/2004

Greetings, Folks from the Bone Doctor.

I want to thank the 7,000 visitors to our site.

God bless all who came here.

We have revised the Links To Interesting Places page to include new banners for the websites featured here.

We have added a banner and link to Somewhere In Time, a sydicated radio show from Bloomfield, Michigan. This show features music from the King of Instruments and is available for broadcast on your radio station. Go to the site to learn more.

12/09/2004

Greetings, Folks from the Bone Doctor.

I want to thank the 6,940 visitors to our site.

God bless all who came here.

The Tennessee Theatre Mighty WurliTzer
Returns to the Theatre!

Bill Snyder at the Tennessee Theatre 3/16 Mighty WurliTzer Theatre Pipe Organ.

Bill Snyder at the
3/16 Mighty WurliTzer Theatre Pipe Organ.

The Tennessee Theatre's 3/16 Mighty WurliTzer Theatre Pipe Organ began the process of reinstallation on Wednesday with the return of the console to the theatre. Ken Crome's boys were at the theatre today, along with Bill Snyder and the voicing crew, hard at work getting the instrument ready for the January opening. More on this as the story developes, so stay tuned and come back often.

12/05/2004

Greetings, Folks from the Bone Doctor.

I want to thank the 6,870 visitors to our site.

God bless all who came here.

Get ready for the return of the
Tennessee Theatre Mighty WurliTzer!

Bill Snyder, House Organist at the Tennessee Theatre since 1979, takes the bench of the 3/16 Mighty WurliTzer Theatre Pipe Organ.

Bill Snyder, House Organist, at the
3/16 Mighty WurliTzer Theatre Pipe Organ
Tennessee Theatre, Knoxville, Tennessee.

The Tennessee Theatre 3/16 Mighty WurliTzer is to begin the process of reinstallation in preparation for its first feature since the reconstruction and restoration of the theatre. The organ is scheduled to open in mid January, 2005.

This coming Wednesday, weather permitting, the console will be moved from its current resting place at the old Miller's building at the corner of State and Gay Street to the Tennessee Theatre on Gay Street in Knoxville. Ken Crome is sending two of his techs, along with the voicing crew, to get the Princess going.

The console was placed in the entrance lobby of the building, now one of Knoxville's municipal structures, to keep it safe during the heavy construction at the theatre, and to give the public a better look at this Mighty WurliTzer.

There are to be two shows on January 14th and 15th. The first show is RSVP, but the second one is open to the general public. Tickets are $25 per seat, to include many major acts, and the Mighty WurliTzer played by Bill Snyder, House Organist at the Tennessee since 1979. Doors open at 6PM and showtime is at 8PM. Console up!

To find out more, visit the Tennessee Theatre website at:

http://www.tennesseetheatre.com/

See you at the Tennessee!

12/04/2004

Greetings, Folks, from the Bone Doctor.

I want to thank the 6,840 visitors to our site.

God bless all who came here.

This was posted by Bruce Miles, creator of the Cinema Organ SoundFont, at TOSF at Yahoo! today:

From: Bruce Miles
Date: Sat Dec 4, 2004 3:14 pm
Subject: jOrgan - Major Upgrade and Revised SoundFont

Hello All,

jOrgan version 2 has just been released. It is now a really comprehensive and totally flexible Midi console emulator suitable for both theatre and classical organs.

I have updated my website (Midi Consoles page) with screen shots of consoles which include 2 and 3 manual theatre organs and a four manual classical organ. The 'Disposition' files for jOrgan 2 and these consoles are included. There is a WurliTzer Style 216 disposition as well.

jOrgan now has percussion stops, and transferable stops and divisions added to other existing goodies like multiple in and out ports, second touch, etc.

Sven Meier's website doesn't begin to do justice to the present version of jOrgan and there is no helpfile. So do read the current jOrgan notes file - it's not very well organised but I think it is complete. It contains instructions on installation, how to use or modify my specimen consoles and on how to make your own.

To take advantage of jOrgan's ability to handle percussions I have enlarged my corg_r soundfont (now corg_r105) - see the revised patch list. jOrgan can access all the sounds in the patch list. The soundfont is arranged so that Miditzer can continue to use percussions as before. **This has necessitated a change in the installation proceedure for everybody. **corg_r105 must be installed in bank 0. All the sounds except the percussion **duplicates used by Jim Henry will automatically be offset to bank 25. So the jOrgan bank/patch settings will be unaffected.

Go to it !!!

Cheers everybody,

Bruce

PS There was a problem with the first corg_r105 posting so if if you've downloaded in the last 24 hours, please do it again. Sorry !.

PPS And - just in time for Christmas, we have - - -- - Sleigh bells !

website - http://brucemiles1.mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/

Thanks, Bruce, for a job well done. Okey dokey folks, there it is. All the MidiTzer users in the world better get poppin'.

This was posted by Jim Henry, creator of the Mighty MidiTzer earlier today at TOSF on Yahoo!:

From: Jim Henry jim_henry@iname.com
Date: Fri Dec 3, 2004 11:06 pm
Subject: Re: MidiTzer Newsletter

Bruce Miles has just released a new version of the sound font. The MidiTzer will need to be modified to take advantage of some of the new sounds Bruce has added. I am going to create an "interim" release to use the new sound font but it will be an exclusive for MidiTzer newsletter subscribers. So be sure you sign up for the newsletter if you haven't already done so.

Jim Henry

If you have not signed up for this great newsletter, we strongly urge you to do so at VirtualOrgan.com! Thank you in advance.

A final note: the Walnut Hill website is almost ready to go to version 5. All the groundwork has been laid out, with nice grey backgrounds and tweaks galore everywhere on the site. Enjoy!

12/03/2004

Greetings, Folks, from the Bone Doctor.

I want to thank the 6,800 visitors to our site.

God bless all who came here.

We are working on the Walnut Hill Virtual Theatre Pipe Organ section, refining the How is the Theatre Pipe Organ different from the Church Pipe Organ? page. This page is under heavy developement and we will eventually separate it into multiple pages.

Enjoy!

12/01/2004

Greetings, Folks, from the Bone Doctor.

I want to thank the 6,750 visitors to our site in the first eight months of operation.

God bless all who came here.

We begin our nineth month with a feature on the Tennessee Theatre 3/16 Mighty WurliTzer Theatre Pipe Organ. We are expanding the Walnut Hill Virtual Organ page to include an illustrated tutorial in the making on the King of Instruments.

We still have lots to do in the days ahead in order to make this one of the great stops along the "theatre organ highway". Come back often to see the changes unfold.

Go back to The Walnut Hill General Store main page. Go back to the November, 2004 page. Go to the Walnut Hill Graphical Website Map Go forward to the January, 2005 page. Go forward to the Walnut Hil Website Credits page.

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