From Trauma to Tunes

This morning we were joined by Bret Goss in front of an abandoned Walmart at an undisclosed location. (Why? Read on…)

Bret had a harrowing “Home Alone” story to tell, when, at the age of six, he was accidentally left behind at the Organ Grinder after a large family celebration (each group leaving thought that Bret was already in a different car), and he decided to walk home – many miles – at night – on his own. Fortunately, some kind passers-by were able to help him call his family and get reunited.

That experience didn’t in any way diminish Bret’s love of the organ grinder. In fact, as an adult, he became a ballpark organist, even using a scissor lift to reproduce the effect of a theatre organ console rising up out out of the orchestra pit.

Sadly, Bret’s ballpark was bulldozed to build a Walmart.

So, when Bret was passing through Portland and offered to share his Organ Grinder memories on-camera, we selected an abandoned Walmart as an ironic and fitting backdrop.

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