Text Box: I got my musical start at the early age of three, when my parents got a player piano from my Uncle. My uncle restored player pianos, nickelodeons and band organs for several years. Many times, I would go to his house and watch him work on the various music machines and was fascinated with how they worked. I also loved the music that they produced. My playing style today is very heavily influences from these mechanical music marvels. I started taking piano lessons when I was five years old from Mr. Harry Brown. He helped me learn to read music, and to improve my ability to play by ear. I took lessons till I was nine years old, but remained in contact with him for several years later. He has since passed away, but I will always remember the days that he would come to the house for my lessons. My interest in the piano started to dull when I was about twelve, and I almost stopped playing completely. It was when I was fifteen that I started taking a notice of the organ at my church, Champion Presbyterian Church. The organist then was Dorothy Reynolds. She was a wonderful lady that was an incredible musician, not only on organ, but on the piano as well. My interest in playing came back even stronger than before. I started practicing on the organ and piano. I soon was playing at church for preludes and offertories. I was getting lessons from Dorothy and another organist that was a friend of hers, Gordon Brooks. Those two helped me learn my way around an organ console, with all the keyboards and the pedals, as well as learning what the different stops (sounds) were. I continued playing the organ at my church, but the sound still wasn’t what I was looking for in an instrument. I started improvising many songs at church on the organ, and this was noticed by several people that enjoyed the jazz and big-band influence of my playing. It was then that Dorothy Reynolds told me about the theatre pipe organ at the Akron Civic Theatre. It also turns out that there was an organ concert coming up soon that she wanted me to go to. It was an event that I can honestly say changed my life. The organist’s name was Lyn Larsen. The organ was the Mighty Wurlitzer theatre pipe organ. The experience? WOW! I couldn’t believe that all of that music, drums and all, came from one person at one organ console. I had to get my hands on that organ. And get my hands on it, I did. At the age of 16, after getting my drivers license, I drove back and forth to Akron for days (alright, a week) until they finally let me in to play the organ. After playing it for about twenty minutes, I went home a very happy guy. Less than a week later, I was offered a job as house organist at the theatre. I remained organist there for three years, playing for several shows a week. My love of classic movie palaces came from working at this theatre. From there, I went on to play at several other theatres across Ohio, eventually the country, and even overseas. I also played at several restaurants that had theatre pipe organs in them. Today, I live in Westland, MI, a suburb of Detroit. I am one of the house organists a the 5,100-seat Fox Theatre there. I also play regularly at the Redford Theatre in Detroit. I also play at my church in Livonia, St. Timothy Presbyterian Church. There is a lot more to the story, but this is the main highlights for now. Want to know more? Ask me!

Dave Calendine

Who is that guy?