"Music Is My Way of Life!" Part 1

Hi Folks! Will here with an "Upbeat" look at a force that has helped propel me throughout my life - Music. Some of you might recognize this title as one of Patti LaBelle's biggest hits from a few decades ago. With this title, I recognize and celebrate her talents along with my own lifelong love of music. 

Some of my earliest recollections of music were sitting on my mother's lap and learning to harmonize with her singing. I would have to guess that was around age four or so. My mother had a great voice and used to sing at most family gatherings back in the 50s. Like I said, my musical participation began with hearing a harmony part in what she sang and "chiming in" to the best of my young ability. And, according to the applause we used to get, I guess we did a pretty good job.

As far as playing instruments, it all started one Christmas morning with a toy clarinet by the Eminee company. I think my parents initially regretted buying this for me, thinking I would be blaring it all around the house making a racket. But, much to everyone's surprise, by the end of that day I had figured out how to play "When the Saints Go Marching In" and a couple of other standards. Before I knew it, clarinet lessons were booked for yours truly. A musical "door" had opened that continues to usher in the wonder and joy of playing music.

It should be mentioned that the house we moved into in the mid-50s came with an upright grand piano in the basement. It was a huge and wonderful instrument. My father used to love to dabble with it and even took some lessons. Monkey see, monkey do. I started to have regular sessions with that keyboard and found it much easier to navigate than the holes and levers of the real clarinet that replaced my Christmas toy. Once again, with my picking out melodies on that piano by ear, music lessons soon followed.

I was a bad student, in that I easily drifted from my lessons to messing around with tunes by ear. My parents were not pleased by my straying from the printed page. So, after a year or so, my lessons were suspended. That didn't stop me from banging away and discovering more about music... especially chords. (It seemed like the harmonizing I did with my mother was showing up again.) 

It was about 1963 or 1964 when a musical arrival completely changed my life. My mother and father used to like to go out "clubbing" with their friends from our new Jersey Shore home location. In their travels one Saturday night, they dropped by the Hammond Organ store in Asbury Park (about ten miles south of our new home).

It was late one Sunday morning when a rather large delivery van pulled up in front of our house. Sprawled on the side of it was (you guessed it) Hammond Organ of Asbury Park. Instantly, I knew what was going on. They bought an organ: a beautiful Hammond A-102, a full-sized console organ in French Provincial cherrywood finish! I guess the style and finish were to appease my mother, as everything in our new house was of that ilk.

The delivery men eased in the three large pieces - the main console, the pedal clavier and the handsome matching French Provincial bench. I was not only awestruck, but I couldn't wait to get my hands (and feet) on this beautiful instrument. It fit beautifully into a corner of our rather large living room opposing a lovely Mason & Hamlin baby grand. My father and mother finally came down from their slumber to see the new musical entry. After being shown how to turn it on, I was well on my way to picking out some of my piano favorites... even using the pedals... as these were obviously just another keyboard - just for your feet!

My mother and father were once again spellbound watching me dive into the musical unknown without missing a beat. I was sorry to say that upon the organ's arrival, I never looked back at the piano again seriously. These instruments are really two separate universes, and I had chosen mine.

I was about twelve or thirteen when the organ came into my life. It rocked my world. A dozen or so complimentary lessons came with the organ's purchase. I took to this instrument like a duck takes to water. My musical world was further broadened by the available LPs that were sold at the organ store. I quickly started an organ record collection... mostly theater organ with a few classical organ records, too. I learned to play a lot of songs by listening to these albums. My musical "ear" was on the move!

Once again, music lessons followed. Although I was grateful for these lessons and the enhanced ability to read music that came with them, I mostly liked to play by ear and read what I needed. Unfortunately, the same pattern followed. I was not the best student in terms of practicing my lessons. As a result, my rather prestigious organ teacher gave me the boot. 

An unfortunate financial time befell my father and our family. One day, that French Provincial beauty disappeared from our living room. Soon, we moved out of that house altogether. We relocated to the small shore town of Spring Lake about fifteen miles south of our prior West Deal location. I was in high school by this time, and was totally pissed off about moving and leaving my school and friends that I loved. There was one small caveat - my father did get another, albeit smaller, Hammond L-101 spinet. With our family's financial climate, even that spinet only lasted for a couple of years. Alas, we were totally instrument-free in our household!

In all my teen years that I had been listening to theater organ records, I had promised myself that, by hook or by crook, I was going to have either an Allen or Conn electronic theater organ. They really sounded a lot more like the theater organs that I heard on my records. But, it wasn't until my early thirties (and with the help of my new "porn income") that I finally purchased the first of three Conn 651 three manual theater organs. I was in heaven!

One of three Conn 651s

It took all my will and determination to get one of these behemoths into my tiny one bedroom apartment on 10th St. in San Francisco. Not only did the apartment door have to come off its hinges, but the frame had to be dismantled, too. Then, with some furniture blankets and a dolly, I turned the organ on its side and rotated it into my little abode! I bought this beauty from a priest in the East Bay with the understanding that if I ever sold it, he could buy it back. And, that's the way it wound up almost ten years later - back in his hands. This was shortly before I moved back to the East Coast in 1991.

Friends gathered in the San Francisco apartment with looming Conn 651 organ in profile.

I was shell shocked after my move back to NJ. Arriving in the "Garden State" after fourteen years of "Sodom and Gomorrah" in San Francisco was like hitting a brick wall!

Thank God for the speed and arrival of my new job on the East Coast... selling organs! It is one of two fulltime jobs in my life that fit like a glove!

The brother of my sister's fiancé was working at a piano and organ store. And, they were looking for sales people. I don't quite remember the interview. But, what I do remember was that I was hired on the spot. I did quite well with that company and managed, sold and taught elementary organ lessons for them until my move in 1994 to South Beach.

At a client's house, invited to dinner and to play the Lowery console that I sold them.

Let's fast forward to my move to the Southwest with my spouse from our NYC apartment in 1999. As soon as I arrived, I started scouting out music stores where I might attain gainful employment. There were only a couple of organ stores in a sixty mile radius from where we lived, and no one was hiring. But, I did manage to find a nice little Lowrey spinet organ. Back at the keyboard(s) and having laid some groundwork, another Conn 651 three manual console organ became available from the same dealer, and I snatched it up. That Conn stayed with me for about three years until I made the (permanent) switch to Allen Organs.

My first Allen was a two manual model, and was quickly followed by two three manual models. Once you have three manuals, it's hard to go back to two! All of these models were purchased through an eBay seller who was a franchised dealer in upstate NY. My last and grandest Allen three manual was purchased in 2015 and is still with me.

My current Allen three manual organ.

So, here I am some sixty years later with my dream come true. I have my beautiful (and third) Allen three manual theater organ. Now retired, I have the time to play to my heart's content. No, I am not a concert organist. But, I play for my friends and my own pleasure. I cherish the moments when this huge, majestic instrument can either bring the house down or sing like an angel. I am grateful to have travelled this musical journey!

An after work organ performance video! (Click to play.)

 

Bio of Will Seagers:

Will Seagers (also credited as Matt Harper), within his multifaceted careers and participation in numerous gay communities across the country in the '70s and '80s and beyond, worked as a print model, film performer, and DJ, just to name a few. He made iconic appearances in releases from Falcon, Hand in Hand, Joe Gage, Target (Bullet), J. Brian, Steve Scott, and more, including in lead roles in major classics like Gage's L.A. Tool & Die (1979) and Scott's Wanted (1980). He brought strong screen presence and exceptional acting to his roles and was scene partners with many fellow legends of classic porn.

Will Seagers, present day

You can read Will Seagers' previous blogs for Bijou here:

Welcome Matt/Will | What's For Dessert? | On and Off the Set of L.A. Tool & Die | Wanted, Weekend Lockup and Weekends in Hermosa Beach | Honeymoon in the Palms | Birds of a Feather | The Stereo Maven of Castro Street | The Pass Around Boy | The Ecstasy and the Agony | Fitness and Fantasy | Chasing the Boys and Chasing the Sun | Becoming Invisible | The Reverse Story of Dorian Gray | Pin Money | One Organ Leads to Another! | The Wheels of Steel | Feast and Famine | An Alphabet Soup of Powders and Pills | Merry Christmas (and Getting Re-Organized) | Now and Then | DEEP INSIDE THE CASTRO: The Badlands | DEEP INSIDE THE CASTRO: Moby Dick Bar | DEEP INSIDE THE CASTRO: "Just Another Stroll Down the Castro!" | Diving Into SoMa/Folsom: Hamburger Mary's | Diving Into SoMa/Folsom: Long Live the Stud! | Diving Into SoMa/Folsom: Club Life..."Hit me with your Rhythm Stick!” | A "Split Ticket": SoMa/Folsom and The Haight! | Staying Vanilla in a Flavorful Culture | A Little Secret | Recollections of the 1977 S.F. Gay Pride Parade | Life's a Beach | Flora & Fauna | Once Is Just Not Enough! | A Love of Cultures – A Knack for Languages! | For the Birds | It's About Time! | The Perfect Storm | Hello Chicago/Adieu Fire Island Pines! | Sex in the Woods! | My Life at the Gym | The Last Picture Show | Cumming Attractions! | The Peter Pan Syndrome | Valentine's Day Reflections | The “Idus Martias” and a Peacock! | Taxing I.M.H.O. | Nope...This Sure Ain't Kansas! | The French Connection | Water Baby | Pride: You Wear It Well! | Life Goes On... | The Dance Floor and the Booth, Part 1 | The Dance Floor and the Booth, Part 2 | The Dance Floor and the Booth, Part 3 | A Christmas Haiku | It's My Party & I'll BLOG If I Want To! | "Werk!" | It's My Party & I'll BLOG If I Want To! | Heart Throbs from the Past! | Traveling the Arc