Nathan Avakian in front of the camera about to be interviewed. He is sitting in a small chair in his parent's living room, in front of his childhood practice organ console.

Early Inspiration

ByAdmin

Yesterday we interviewed Nathan Avakian, who was so inspired by his visits to the Organ Grinder starting at 4-years-old that he made a career of being an organist and composer.

Nathan spoke about that inspiration, what it’s like to be a young organist, how new people come to discover and enjoy organ music in their own ways, and his thoughts on the future of the instrument. Check out his Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/N.AvakianMusic , Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/avakianmusic , and web site: https://www.avakianmusic.com/

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That Final Night

That Final Night

ByAdmin

It was Sunday evening, February 4, 1996. The last time the Organ Grinder would be open to the public. People had heard the news, and were showing up to experience it one last time. Ironically, like the early days, there were once again people queued up on the ramp behind the console, waiting their turn…

“The Calm Before the Storm”
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“The Calm Before the Storm”

ByAdmin

Yesterday, we returned to the Architectural Heritage Center in Portland, Oregon. The AHC had just unearthed a set of slides from the architecture firm Martin, Soderstrom and Matteson (now Soderstrom Architects), originally co-founded by Will Martin, the architect who designed the Organ Grinder building. The slides feature the Organ Grinder building in 1973 around the…

Behind-the-scenes photo of Don Feely being interviewed on-camera. Don is standing beside his grand piano. On top of the piano, an array of drums, percussions, and traps from the original Organ Grinder are on display.

Performers and Percussions

ByAdmin

The Organ Grinder experience wouldn’t have been possible without the talented performers who worked there. We’ve been in touch with several, and now the first of them has been filmed. Here’s a behind-the-scenes photo from our interview on Saturday of Organ Grinder performer Don Feely. Regular patrons may recognize the percussions & traps that Don…

A table-height A/V rack cart containing various vintage tape players, test equipment, and a small waveform monitor. An audio mixer sits on top.

A Very Fine Vintage

ByAdmin

The vintage videotape rig has been activated! Time to digitize some precious memories with the highest-possible quality. A number of people have provided us with videotapes from back-in-the-day. If you have something Organ-Grinder related, please reach out to us, we can digitize most consumer (and some pro) formats and provide you with a digital copy…