Okay, I admit it. I love looking at print ads, the design and content. When I was a senior in high school, I wrote a paper on the psychology of advertising and showed it to my then-boyfriend to look at it. What I found out later was that he copied it word-for-word and submitted under his own name for a college psychology class. (Aaurghhh!)

So I was cleaning out some magazines which have been laying around the house for awhile, and came across this classified ad in the Diapason magazine:

Wanted: Organists visiting Maui. Lahaina’s Holy Innocents Episcopal Church invites visiting organists to play its Beckerath Positiv organ at Sunday services. Built in 1972 by Rudolf von Beckerath and then-apprentice Hans-Ulrich Erbslöh for Honolulu’s Lutheran Church, the 408-pipe Shrankpositiv has a 54-note “split manual, 30-note pedal, 11 stops, 8 ranks, and 6 registers. Holy Innocents acquired the organ in 1977 and moved it to Maui. The extremely responsive instrument fills the worship space beautifully. The parish community offers exemplary hospitality to all visitors, especially to visiting organists. For information: 808/661-4202; holyimaui.org.

In fact, the organist shortage on Maui is so dire that I’ve been called twice recently to inquire whether I would be willing to fly there to substitute. I even went ahead and bought my ticket, then found out that that particular weekend was the memorial service for our business partner, Peter Hallock. So I have a year to cash in on using the cancelled ticket.

Anyway, while we’re on the subject of advertising, here’s an ad by the Associated Pipe Organ Builders of America which defines “insanity” in terms of churches buying electronic organs (euphemistically called “appliances,” or “toasters.”)