A few days ago, we held the annual meeting of the Hawaii Chapter American Guild of Organists (AGO) at our condo, and for various reasons, the attendance was about half of what it was a year ago. One of our members, Winfred Hancock, told me that he wasn’t able to come, but at age 93,… Read More Dwindling ranks
When I gave my speech on April 14th at the celebration of my 35 years at LCH, you may recall that I recited a litany of my other careers: statistical typist, preschool secretary, handbell teacher, notary public, computer specialist, wedding coordinator, parish administrator, etc. In that regard, I’m no different from many other church musicians… Read More Dual careers
I received so many positive comments about my last post (concerning the story of my retirement in the newspaper) that I thought it only fair that I share Carol Langner’s original news release about Mark Wong. And today happens to be his birthday! Lutheran Church Announces New Organist Mark Wong has joined the staff of… Read More The unpublicized story
Nearly two weeks ago, Carol Langner sent out a press release announcing the appointment of Mark Wong as the next organist of the Lutheran Church of Honolulu. She sent me a courtesy copy which included Mark’s biographical details, but also mentioned that Mark was the successor to my 35-year tenure. Well, this is how reporter… Read More Overshadowed
The world yesterday was abuzz with the words spoken at the Vatican: Habemus Papam “We have a pope.” So it is somewhat coincidental that the following announcement was made by the Lutheran Church of Honolulu office: Organ Recital with Selected Candidate Wednesday, March 20, 5:45 pm After much prayer and deliberation over materials from and… Read More Ironic switcheroo!
I can’t believe it! What a terrible loss! That was my first reaction when I read the news on FaceBook about the death of Yoshi Nishimura, considered THE piano technician in Honolulu. Chances are, not many people in the pews and the concert hall audiences knew about this quiet, unassuming man. But I dare say… Read More Aloha, Yoshi
With the church organist shortage situation reaching critical mass, I guess it was just a matter of time before someone would come up with a technological solution. When I was sick with stomach flu a couple of weeks ago, apparently a few people went into panic mode. I wonder if they would feel better had… Read More Replaced by technology?