To Go Out With A Song??

I know most of you believe that I'm a fairly morbid person and when observed from the passing glance that is more effort than most non-involved people care to give these days.

One would believe that they were correct in that assumption, but said individuals could greatly benefit from learning that they couldn't be farther than the truth with just a little more observation. 

At any rate, I attended a concert by my imaginary mama, Ms. Tina Turner on the evening of June 3, 1997 at St. Louis, MO / Maryland Heights, MO. At *precisely* 01:42 in the following video, when Ms. Tina hit the top of the steps after the intro to the song and made her first appearance in the concert, a gentleman that appeared to be in his late 50's that stood about 4 people down the row from me hit the DIRT!  I mean with a thud!  I am here to tell you that this man must have been waiting years to see this magnificent woman - whom he had most likely seen several times as a youngster in the local St. Louis music decades ago as Tina was getting her start.

My Ex had a BAD habit of being a "rubbernecker".  No, it isn't "human nature" to stare at car accidents, someone who has fallen in a mall or for every head to turn when someone drops a jar of Ragu in the grocery store.  Those people are already embarrassed enough without the "help" of nosy people that need real hobbies to "assist" them.  Even though I'm a nurse, I have rarely happened upon an accident where I was the first responder.  I said "rarely" - not never.  It has happened before, and I have provided help until OTHER professionals arrived on the scene.

HOWEVER, my Ex had this nasty habit of absolutely STARING at an accident until we had driven completely out of sight.  I truly loathe those people.  They will make you a half an hour late getting to work - and you are on the OPPOSITE side of the interstate! At any rate, I told my Ex, "I sure hope one day you actually see what you're hoping to see!" Lo and behold, one day we were driving down a major thoroughfare here in St. Louis (Jefferson Ave) and there were ambulances, police cars and a fire engine.  He was rubbernecking, as usual. Then, he started screaming at the top of his lungs.  A very unfortunate man, most likely deceased, was STILL TRAPPED UNDER THE WHEEL of a car!

Let me assure you that the damned fool Ex REMAINED a damned fool in EVERY OTHER aspect of his life - but he NEVER rubbernecked another automobile accident after that educational day!

Let me cut you off at the past, my gentle and faithful readers:  No, it's not "human nature" to want to stare at such events.  A very famous TV psychologist that has literally kept me from killing people who deserve it wrote in a book that made him a multi-millionaire, all by itself, "Human nature is a poor excuse for bad behavior!"

SO - with that being said, let's move on:

We were standing 4 people down from this poor fella that was waiting for his lifelong idol, Ms. Tina, as I was, and when she FIRST cleared the steps in the posted video, he literally died on the spot.  I did NOT look at him a second time, but nothing is wrong with my ears.  I could hear the paramedics working on him for a full 15 minutes before they removed his body and they never got a pulse on him during that time.  As a medical professional, I'm fairly certain that he was dead before he hit the ground, bless his heart!  I firmly believe that it was on his bucket list to see Tina and THEN, he was ready to go to Heaven!  Although seeing my Mama wasn't the LAST thing I wanted to do, we each do have our lists!

Next up, Mr. Louis Vierne!

This is one tune, "The Carillon de Westminster", from the blind organist, Mr. Louis Vierne that will sound very familiar to people even most unacquainted with organ work.

(It could be subtitled, "How many 49 different ways can you work the familiar Westminster Chimes you hear on a Grandfather clock - with an organ's bass pedals!")

Please keep in mind that the organist's hands are going 100 MPH playing counterpoint, etc, in the background!

Here, we have one of the three titular organists at Notre-Dame, Paris (once she is resurrected again!), the young Mr. Oliver Latry, who assumed this prestigious position in 1985 at the age of 23, which is quite young for a position at one of the world's most famous organs. 

The late, great titular (blind) organist, Mr. Louis Vierne of the huge Grand Organ of Notre Dame, Paris,  had a very similar wish as the fella that just wanted one glimpse of Ms. Tina!

Mr. Vierne had mentioned several times to those close to him that he wanted to die on the bench of that huge pipe organ while playing one of his concerts. Louis Vierne's doctor had given him "stimulating pills" (most likely caffeine - he had a bad heart) to help him climb the stairs to the organ loft that day. 

One Summer afternoon, Mr, Vierne gave his 1,750th organ recital at Notre Dame. He completed the main concert, which members of the audience said showed him at his full powers ("as well as he has ever played"), playing his "Stele pour un enfant défunt" from his Triptyque, Op. 58. The closing section was to be two improvisations. He read the first theme in Braille, then selected the stops he would use for the improv. He suddenly pitched forward, and fell off the bench as his foot thumped the low "E" pedal of the organ. He lost consciousness as the single note echoed throughout the church. (Many people attending the concert that day thought he was just beginning his next piece!)

Mr. Louis Vierne had fulfilled his oft-stated lifelong dream — to die at the console of the great organ of Notre-Dame. Maurice Duruflé, another major French organist (he also became one of Notre Dame's organists) and composer, was at his side at the time of his death.

I have ALWAYS said as a young child that I wanted to play like my childhood mentor, Mr. Phil Willis - just for an HOUR, and I was ready for God to take me to Heaven!  At FIRST, I wanted to play like Phil "for 'just one DAY'.  Then, I realized that I might have been getting greedy, and I changed my bucket list to, "I want to play like Phil just one HOUR, then I'm ready to go HOME!"

I've told Mark, my husband of almost 18 years that, in ALL SERIOUSNESS, if he EVER hears music coming from my 1959 Hammond C3 organ with its Leslie 122 speaker - the self-same rig (down to the serial number!!) in my music studio in our basement (the very same organ that I now own that Phil played in the church we were raised together in Hannibal, MO!), that he SERIOUSLY should dial 911, because I'm about to hit the floor, and I'm "Gettin' ready today, movin' out tomorrow!", as the ole Gospel song goes!!!

This is Mr. Philip R. Willis (1957 - 2013), playing the very first instrument of **ANY** kind that I ever heard in my entire life AND the same organ that now resides in my own music studio along with my 33 other keyboard instruments.  Yes, the Pastor of the Hannibal (Missouri) Pentecostal Church, the Rev. Michael Niffen, delivered this same organ to me on Jan 1, 2910, and the honeymoon is NOT over! 

If I start playing like THIS, get OUT of my way, for my SOUL is HEAVEN BOUND - I'm ready to leave this ole salty Earth!!!

The (MY!) 1959 Hammond C3 that Phil is playing above, sitting in my music studio... It is now against the right-hand wall of this room.

This is Phil's mother, Dorcas, playing the SAME organ, **YEARS** ago, as it sat in the FIRST church in Hannibal, right after they bought it.... in 1962!!!

And Phil playing Part 2 of the above video!!

(BTW - **NOBODY** asked this man to SING!  Can I just tell you that, from the time I was an INFANT until I was 11 yrs old, when his family moved to Chicago and my family moved from Hannibal, MO to Quincy, IL, this man just played the damned ORGAN - no SINGING!  And, can I also tell you that I'm glad he DIDN'T!  I know... I know - that sounds MEAN, doesn't it?  

HOWEVER - IF you listen to him playing when he is NOT singing and THEN, you listen to his playing when he IS singing, you will QUICKLY agree with me that his playing suffers when he is SINGING and PLAYING at the same time.

Just SHUT UP AND PLAY, Phil!

I **NEVER** loved you because you could SING.

I loved you to DEATH and beyond because you could play the DAMNED ORGAN better than ANY OTHER - now,

PLAY ON! 😁😁