Soul Stream

Yeah, but you're half-serious.

THAT'S THE GUY!!!!

Before I got ripped off on my original shitty 56 B3 which sucked, they dealer (snake) said he had a beautiful cherry 63 in mint shape he was bringing to me, but the guy from Vanilla Fudge came in and bought it the day before. F Vanilla Fudge!

Man, I am too honest. My dad, who is a piano technician, got this call about 2 summers ago from someone who bought a house and moved in only to find an organ in the basement. The previous owner, who was now in a home for the elderly, told them they could keep it. So this guy called my dad to ask if it was worth anything. My dad gives him my number and my wife go over there to look at it. Sitting in this guys basement, in the exact spot that it was delivered and dropped off almost 50 years before, is a MINT condition 1956 dark cherry B3 with matching cabinet. I mean absolutely MINT. No scratches anywhere. No marks on the pedals, no marks on the bench, NOTHING. It looked like it came right off the showroom floor. The guy had no idea what it was worth. It played beautifully, too. Gorgeous tone, even though the Hammond cabinet. But I looked at him and his wife and their two young kids (probably 2 and 4 years old) and thought to myself, "This guy just bought a house, has two kids and wife, two cars, he probably needs the money." So I told him what it was really worth. I could've just as easily said, "Ah, they ain't worth anything. The tubes are worth some money to guitar players. I'll give you $200 for it and haul it out for you." But I didn't... THAT's why we don't have mint B3s w/matching leslies. We're too nice. People that do are usually snakes or original owners or rich.

I don't think this guy even had a phone at his house! Kind of country bumpkin lookin' cat. I think the funk made him doubt his tight-wrangler masculinity.

Honestly, my top 5 JOS is constantly rotating. He never made a bad Blue Note.

You know, I'd love to have a really, really beautiful mint B3 and matching 122. I would love that.

Hey, you guys can't beat my crowd-winner last night. Finish a song, and a guy walks in front of the stage and screams "THIS IS TERRIBLE!!!!!" And fast walks out the back door!

It's very tough. The thing I find disconcerting is that gig money has remained the same (like Jim said), but everything else, even gig-related costs have gone way, way, way up. 1. It's less and less a cash business, here comes the checks and the w2s. 2. Gas is so high now, out of town gigs pay less and the gas eats you up. plus fewer places want to put you up in a hotel now, so it's drive there, do the gig, and drive back. A nice 12 hour trip that ends about 6am usually. 3. Just plain fewer places to play. 4. Places pay less. 5. Older musicians I play with can't believe the money anymore. It's degrading to them a lot of times. But hey, it's REALITY.

O.K. I'll throw down a little vent. Something I'm noticing more and more. Maybe it's because I live in a town full of musicians, but I'm beginning to see the light. How come the industries that service the musician, (ie, instrument repairmen, soundmen, clubs, music stores, rehearsal halls, festival promotors, doormen, recording studios, cd manufacturers,....hell, EVERYBODY) all make PLENTY of money. Mostly charging outrages prices for there "services". Yet we as musicians make jack squat for a gig. What suckers we all are. God, if we could only all go on strike for about a year and put everything back in perspective.

Must be $400-worth nice to be in that position. Anyway, actually I've had the same guy out before, doing more and he charged about $180. Now his price is over $400??!!! He says there's not as much work as there use to be, churches have switched to digital keyboards....seems like I'm all of a sudden making up the difference for him. Well, just 8 gigs and I'll have that covered! Playing organ is REALLY profitable.

Somehow, the thread asking whether or not there were any blacks on the board has dwindled into a thread about an episode of "Yes Dear".... ...so to answer your question...Yes, dear. This is a board full of white guys.

Just got the bill from the organ repairguy who came a couple of days ago....$443.00!!!!!!!!! Goddamn what a f'n rippoff. He hardly did shit and wants to charge out the ass for this stuff. To hell with these guys.

Sure, but you get into dangerous territory imho unless you know A LOT about hammond organ and their models. B2s and C2s, you can buy optional percussion added later, ect. But all that costs money. There's BVs, and on and on.... But if you ask me...look for an A100. You can find them at VERY reasonable prices sometimes because people don't know they're really b3s in different cabinets. Or a steal on a b3 or c3.

scott, ebay is outrageous price-wise. chances are you will come across a b3, c3 or a100 in your local classified ads if you just keep an eye out. b3's are the most valuable, followed closely by the C3 and lastly by the A100 (usually 1/3 to 1/2 of the price of an b3 or c3) if you keep an eye out, you can find a deal if your lucky. i got a beautiful a100 for 500 bucks out of the paper a few years back. mint shape, 1 owner. if you don't get lucky, a b3 or c3 WITH a 122 or 147 leslie should run you a 2 to 4 grand locally. those are complete ballpark figures for texas, northeast or west coast may run considerably higher, don't know. midwest should be cheaper i'd guess. Be sure whatever you buy comes with a 122 or 147 or one of their shorter or older brothers (145 or 21h something like that. Hammond Tone cabinets are worthless basically, don't let them tell you it's good enough, it ain't). Otherwise, it's HARD to find just a leslie by itself. And it's usually expensive as hell that way. But don't be fooled. My first b3 was $3500 w/ no leslie, a 1956 that was dogged out and sounded like shit. The manuals were so worn I had to eventually replace all the guts...manuals, preamp, tone generator.... It's my road organ now and still isn't all that great. Probably dropped 5500 into that dog by now. So DO NOT get ripped off because you don't know anything (like I did).

Jim, when do you think it will be out? Ballpark....

Whaaaa? Dr. Smith is the master, it's hard to imagine him being on some "roller skating rink" stuff. If so, that's one hip skating rink.

Sounds like you just need an AUTHORIZED hammond serviceman to come out. Try and find the OLD guy around town. Someone who's been doing it a long time. These guys usually service all the churches in town along w/personal organs. Young guys don't seem to know as much, charge more, and don't really fix the problem to satisfaction half the time. The hammond's a complicated instrument that needs special care. On one hand, they're built like tanks and rarely need major work. On the other hand, keeping it in tip-top shape all the time is a real payoff in how it will sound for you.

Jimmy has a nice, even touch on the footpedals. Very, very smooth. You won't hear a lot of overt bass pedal blasting from him. However, I think "Angel Eyes, ballads and blues" on Verve showcase his pedal work and left hand bass nicely. Of his older stuff, I always love his bass feel on the 1960 stuff. Chicken Shack, Midnight Special and Crazy Baby to name names.

Yes. This is definately a "must have" (overused word I know) organ record that is a modern day classic. Lonnie is at the peak of his powers, and this album more than any other shows it. Buy it, so Lonnie can sell enough to warrant a second CD on Palmetto.

Well, to me one of the most beautiful versions of "Laura" is on Lou Donaldson's "The Scorpion, Live At The Cadillac Club." (Sorry to those who hate that LP). Eric Alexander also does a nice version in his live act these days.

The Sermon Live At Small's Paradise Midnight Special Organ Grinder Swing Crazy Baby

uhhhhh..... I pretty much agree with Allen.... bye bye "license to greeeeaze" Yes, you're banished. Only Andrew Hill for you guys.

Same here. Only moreso. Same here, except even more than your moreso. I'm SO not watching this, that I didn't even know this crappy show was still on except I keep seeing Randy Jackson on talk shows. 5 years ago, you wouldn't have this, but now all of the sudden, Simon, Paula, and Randy Jackson have all had E True Hollywood Stories done on all three. Damn, those must have been some boring E true hollywood stories. Maybe if we can get that wrestler Chyna all cracked out to judge THEN I'd watch that goddamn show. THAT would be a good true hollywood story.

OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD. BLASPHEMY...LOU DONALDSON 'LIVE AT THE CADILLAC CLUB'...ALMOST NOTHING HAPPENING?....OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD. Mike, I agree with you wholeheatedly. About this record and that this thread is a drag. Nothing happening on The Scorpian. Wow. I'm still speechless on the previous assessment of "A New Sound, A New Star". Yes, Jim. I'm still huddling in the corner, clutching "The Scorpion" and my "Jimmy Smith New Star" and bawling like a baby. Words hurt! To heck with sticks and stones. And then Allen called my friend Lou an "uninspired soloist!" WAAAAAAAaaaa!