Phil Landmeier @shuttersparks@qoto.org

@claralistensprechen3rd @50years_music I'm glad you enjoyed them. Yes, Bach was something else. Mozart was an incomprehensible genius but he adhered to traditional norms of music. Bach, who predated Mozart, was also an incomprehensible genius but much more of an experimentalist than Mozart.

People think of Bach as composing very staid and traditional music, but no. I think Bach would have a blast if we had a time machine and he could listen to jazz and progressive rock. I think he'd have no problem sitting in with Mingus, Byrd, Coltrane, etc. Bach got waaay out there for his time. Some things he did would fit right in with jazz and bebop, like some of the crazy chords he came up with. He was born in the wrong century but he also showed us the way.

@claralistensprechen3rd @50years_music
Yes, I've lost all my records and photos due to theft. I've played and recorded 63 organs in Europe. What fun!. Spent weeks in Osnabruck playing little concerts. Played many great and famous organs that I sought out like the great organs in Passau, Zurich, Haarlem, Luneburg, Hamburg. My favorite organ I've ever played was the Arp Schnitger at the Jacobi in Hamburg. This thrilled my mother because this was the church she attended as a child in Hamburg. This organ is something else. Tremendous sound with some really cool "special effects" like a celeste. Schnitger really was a genius. The organist there and I became friends and we gave lunchtime concerts almost every day.

(At lunchtime people would bring their sack lunches and sit in the sanctuary to listen while they ate lunch. This is normal in Europe. Unheard of in the USA. In Europe, churches are open to the public. If you need to take a break from life and get some peace and quiet, go to your local church. It's always open. Walk in, sit down, and chill out. There might even be some wacko like me playing music for you. ;-)

I've played several of Schnitger's organs and the Jacobi is the greatest. Just incredible sound, perfect balance of tonalities. It's magic.

Finding a good recording of my favorite organ is not so easy for some reason. There are lots of recordings but none of them are very good.

Here are some I found that are acceptable. Lol.

https://youtu.be/8jG2URO6ULQ?feature=shared

This organ is played so much that consoles get worn out and are replaced again and again. Off to the side the church kept an old console that was sometimes played by JS Bach, which I made sure to sit on myself. ;-) So yes, I've sat on a very worn organ bench and console that was played by JS Bach himself. Huge thrill. Here is a video by Bish that shows the console that was in place when I played this organ.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kR4nVQrhO20

Lastly, pretty good performance of one of the "flashy" pieces I'd throw at people. Most had no idea Bach wrote anything so "wild". This one lets you show off your pedal technique and crank it up. Really fun. (A lot of what you hear here is pedals. Hands on the bench. It's all feet.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CR6tzkmSdTc

@Free_Press Tatarstan? Okay, target locked. F-16s, Mk-84s, pay them a visit. Not only destroy the facility but give anyone who survives nightmare trepidation of ever getting involved with such work again.

Nahhh, I think farming sounds good.

@cdarwin How Machiavellian. I wish I had known this when I was younger. I had no idea humans were so easily bought with some cash. Crazy. The things I could have done...

@ryanjyoder @futurebird Yes. Number 6 is one of my tells.

Yes, what you say maybe correct, but it doesn't follow from what you just said. What's the thinking sequence here?

"Well, um, there isn't one because no thinking is taking place. Give me a break. I'm just a fancy search engine. What do you want from me? Lol

Oh, sorry. They said you were an artificial intelligence. Obviously not. Nevermind.

No offense intended. You're very impressive but not an artificial intelligence.

"Yeah, no, sorry."

@mok0 Machiavelli pointed out that this occasionally happens to rulers. So make sure that you always have a ride available.

@cdarwin Yes. Today's headlights would be illegal in the 1970s. In California the CHP would bust your ass right away. What gives? Human eyesight hasn't changed.

I happen to live in a spot where headlights sweep across my house from 700 feet away and it lights the house up. This is not necessary unless you are driving 140 mph.

Very annoying. There used to be standards.

@claralistensprechen3rd @50years_music Yeah, pipe organists are rather unusual. Coming from piano, there's a learning curve, but once it's in muscle memory, it's fun. By my late teens I was pretty good at it.

Traveling in Europe in the late 70s was constant fun and thrills. Churches are glad to let you play / perform. Just find the curator and ask. I always left a donation as well.

@LetsRock137 @QasimRashid Yes, I'm much more comfortable when living in Guatemala, where doctors focus primarily on the patient and saving lives, not how they get paid.

@50years_music Yes, Virgil Fox. I knew him. I'm a pipe organist, among other things. Haha.

Playing a pipe organ is perhaps the second most fun thing I know to do, second only to flying.