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An Organ Grinder Documentary Project Special Feature As part of our return to the Midwest in September, 2025, one of our stops was in Kenosha, Wisconsin, for a visit with Jeff Baas, owner of the Kenosha Theatre. Jeff and his brother purchased the derelict theatre in the 1980s, with plans to restore it and reopen…
(With the recent relaunch of The Muppet Show, the article title seemed appropriate. For those who don’t get the joke, here’s the reference.) In the late 1970s, Science Fiction/Fantasy and Superhero movies were making a big comeback. Blockbuster hits like 1977’s Star Wars (before it was called “A New Hope”) and Close Encounters of the…
Dave Moreno describes himself as an organ technician, organist, designer, and builder. Top photo: Dave working on the console of the Fair Oaks Community Clubhouse’s Wurlitzer-Morton organ in Fair Oaks, California. When you’re one of the few people around for miles that knows the ins-and-outs of a theatre pipe organ, your skills are sought after…
During our Southwest Road Trip, we passed through Palm Springs, stopping in to interview Rik DeRose. Rik shared some amazing stories from his musical career, ranging from a stint as a “pipe organ & pizza” performer, to Las Vegas glitz. Rik’s musical development and early interest in playing the organ started, like it often did…
While visiting the Phoenix area during our Southwest Road Trip in November, we interviewed Martin Meier, who has a fascinating story about how he came to acquire the Denver Organ Grinder instrument, and then sadly had to let it go. Martin and his partner Tim Stoddard owned a bed and breakfast, the Pikes Peak Paradise…
(Updated December 22nd with additional information, more photos, and clarifications/typo corrections.) During the 20th century, over 100 restaurants with theatre pipe organs were established, most of them pizza restaurants. But where was the very first pizza restaurant to have a pipe organ? How did this all get started? As part of our Southwest Road Trip,…
In the early years of the Organ Grinder, the restaurant was an undeniable success. This allowed two of the original founders, brothers Paul and Jerry Forchuk – already from an entrepreneurial family – to enjoy a lifestyle in keeping with a high-income earner in the 1970s & 80s. Fortunately for the staff at the Organ…
Last week, the documentary’s Southwest Road Trip commenced. The first stop on that journey was a somewhat solemn affair, despite being a visit to what is normally a location created to be beautiful and joyful: A pilgrimage of sorts to the Egyptian Theatre in Coos Bay, Oregon, where organist Paul Quarino performed on, maintained, and…
This is a big update about everything that has happened with the Organ Grinder documentary over the past 22 months, plus what’s coming next, and how people can help me complete principal photography. Correction: In the video I refer to Howard Vollum as the “founder of Tektronix”. There were in fact four original co-founders of…
As mentioned in our post about the Kenosha Theatre, the story of the Organ Grinder is also the story of the movie palace and the theatre pipe organ. We’ve previously been lucky to obtain and restore rare footage of the Oriental Theatre in Portland, Oregon. The Oriental’s Wurlitzer was the basis of the instrument in…
Jeff Baas is a man on a mission. A mission to save one particular movie palace, and a broader mission to preserve the history of all of them – and the legacy of one of their greatest proponents. You can’t tell the story of the Organ Grinder and all the other “pizza and pipe organ”…
Inside a warehouse in Franklin, Wisconsin, belonging to Carma Labs, Inc. (the makers of Carmex), is the world’s largest theatre pipe organ. As part of the Organ Grinder documentary project, and our return to the Midwest in September, we visited Carma Labs to see what weird and wonderful things people are doing with theatre pipe…
Last Wednesday, during our revisit to the Midwest, we spent the whole day with Fred Hermes, Jr. at the “Basement Bijou” – a private home in Racine, WI, which notably features a movie palace, complete with balcony, in the basement – it really is a sight to behold, and as you walk down the stars…
Now Available for Preorder! When we surveyed the members of our Facebook Group as to their preference for the next crowdfunding perk, T-Shirts were the top choice! Through a special arrangement with the beloved restaurant’s owners, and hours of work by a volunteer graphic artist who accurately reconstituted the Organ Grinder logo from source materials,…
(*Or, “Nerding Out about Credits” Part II) It takes a lot of people to make a movie – including a documentary. This film may be very lean on the crew side (often it’s just me doing the shoots), but it’s especially heavy on the participant side, whether its the long list of interviewees, or people…
Sometimes little things help a lot… Our YouTube channel has hit 400 subscribers with 1,366 “watch hours” in the past year, which is great – but, if we reach 500 subscribers and 3,000 watch hours, the channel becomes eligible to raise money and take contributions via YouTube. [Update 2026-06-07 – We are now at 699…
What do you do when you’re interviewing folks in Denver about the Organ Grinder, but one person you’d really like to talk with doesn’t live there anymore? Well – if you’re lucky – you just wait a bit and then they come to you! In June, we interviewed Los Angeles-based performing artist John West while…
DeLoy Goeglein was about ten years old when his musical journey began, learning to play both piano and organ. He would play in church and go on to play at venues all around the Denver area. During our Denver Road Trip, we sat down with DeLoy at his daughter’s home in a Denver suburb, to…
(*Editor’s note: The title of this piece is a poorly-constructed pipe organ joke. Explanation at end.) You wouldn’t guess from his tough, tattooed, motorcycle-riding aesthetic today, but Frank Perko III holds the distinction of having been the youngest-ever staff performer at the Organ Grinder, hired to play at the Denver location at the age of…
Justin Adams had an early and indelible introduction to the Organ Grinder restaurant in Denver: “My earliest memory of being at the organ grinder was when I was five years old. This was around 1977, 1978, the same years as Star Wars came out. My whole world exploded with wonder and awe, and the mighty…
