Organists Who Play at Roller Skating Rinks

[Kathie Fry]

Let's talk about the great roller skating rink organ players of the past and present. Have you ever met any of the following organists, or skated to their music? Which of them still play and where? Have any of them recorded albums of skating music? Have any retired or passed away? Please share pictures and videos if you have any.

ROLLER SKATING RINK ORGANISTS

- A -
Al Deluca
Al Michaels
Andy Antonczyk
Andy Divito

- B -
Bob Pine
Bill Clark
Bud Powell

- C -
Carl DeSanti
Corey Fridinger

- D -
Dave Paden
Dennis Harvey
Dominic Cangelosi
Don Born

- F -
Frank Pellico
Fred Arnish

- G -
Gary Russell
Glen Davis

- H -
Harry Garafola

- J -
Jerry Jorgenson
Jimmy Arsenault
John Wiesner

- K -
Keith Fortune
Kenny Ross

- L -
Leon Berry
Lionel LeMay
Lonnie Brooks

- M -
Margie Patten
Marty Dumic
Mike Clemens

- N -
Nick Viscuso

- P -
Paul Gagnon
Paul Grosnick

- R -
Ralph Brown
Randy Steinbinder
Ray Long
Robbie Freeman
Rich Broglio
Roger Johnson
Ron Baldwin

- S -
Sonny Manesco

- T -
Tom Zitkovic
Tony Tahlman

- W -
Wayne Green (I believe he died in 1995)
______________________________________________

Can you tell us anything about these roller rink organ players or share memories of skating to their music? Who did I leave off the list? Maybe we can convince some of them to visit this forum and tell us what they are doing these days!

- Kathie

[Kathie Fry]

I have been able to track down information about where some of the above organists are playing today, or at least where they played fairly recently:

Bill Fellows
- The Rink in Montvale, New Jersey
- United Skates of America in Woodbridge New Jersey

Carl DeSanti
- Orbit Skate Center in Palatine, Illinois

Corey Fridinger
- RollerMotion in Macungie, Pennsylvania
- Sportsman's Hall in Maryland

Dan Padden
- Scooter's Rink in Marlton, New Jersey (no Web site)

Dominic Cangelosi
- Moonlight Rollerway in Glendale California

Frank Pellico
- Aurora Skate Center in Aurora Illinois

Jack Greer
- Spinnations in Port Richey, Florida (no Web site)

Keith Fortune
- Oaks Park Roller Rink in Portland Oregon

Lonnie Brooks
- Fantasy Skating Center in Reading, Pennsylvania

Marty Dumic
- Olympic Skating Center in Enola, Pennsylvania
- Sportsman's Hall in Maryland

Ralph Brown
- Sportsman's Hall in Maryland

- K

[NaNaDo]

Hi Kathie... many fond memories of the Organist and the good times they created for all of us... and some still make the good time for us today!

Ralph Brown: also play at Holiday Skating Center in Delanco NJ. I believe it would be what you would call his "Home Rink"???
http://www.holidayskatingcenter.com/mainframe.htm
When we lived in Philadelphia 30 some years ago we would go down and skate 2nd session on Saturday nights at Holiday and he played there then.
It's such a pleasure to skate to his music again today at Sportsman's Hall.


Marty Dumic: My husband and I first met Marty about 33 years ago when he moved to the Philadelphia area to play at Pike Rollerena in South Hampton. He moved to the Harrisburg area about the same time we did and we skated to his music at Fountain Blu in the 70's. And again, it's such a pleasure to still be skating to his music Tuesday evenings at Olympic Skating Center in Enola, Pa.


Lonnie Brooks: is also a buddy of ours... Fun time for all of us at Fantasy! He also heads down to Florida in February each year to play for the Extravaganza.


and Corey: So happy we get to skate to his music on a more regular basis now at Sportsman's Hall. Before Sportsman's started this special program we only go to skate to Corey's music when there was an Organ Jamboree.


Wayne Green: Sadly, he has passed away. I don't remember what year but it's more than 10 years ago because I still had my old shop and the Viewing was right accross the street. Besides playing the Organ he was a realator and helped us get our first house!

[retread]

You can add Kenny Ross to the list. He played for many years at Baltimore's Carlin's Park Rink, moving to North Point Rollarena around 1966. He played there until a change in ownership around 1974. Bill Clark was then played via tapes at least untill I stopped running the floor around 1981. We still pulled out the Kenny Ross tapes on Sunday Nights for the old timers though.

Here's some current pictures to go with some of the names on your list:

Corey Fridinger

and in action:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woqBMCb61OA


Great thread Kathie!!!

Bob

[retread]

And some more

Marty Dumic




And Ralph Brown!



Playing Sportsmans Hall!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hn2z_XKoFCQ

[batterin' gram]

I'm pretty sure that the name of the organist at Northland in Detroit back around 1970 was Bruce Versen. I moved away from the Detroit area a long time ago and don't have any idea what happened to him. I don't remember what he looked like or have any clue as to how old he was then or would be now if still alive. I do remember that one of our favorite songs was Malaguena - that was the one we skated fast (but not racing) to.

[Gypsyjuggler]

Rich Broglio used to do organ at Brookpark Skateland in Cleveland, but I think he retired (I'll have to ask next time I'm in there.)

Currently Mike Clemens plays organ there.

Gypsyjuggler

[retread]

I just got the Organist line up for May at Sportsmans...

May 4th Ralph Brown
May 11 Ralph Brown
May 18 Marty Dumic
May 25 Corey Fridinger

I just got back from my dentist, told him about the organ sessions, and, he said he'd be there Sunday! Another return to the rink!!!

Bob

[music2skateby]

Lest we forget John Corey from Arizona!
Music to Skate By

Amazing how soon we forget!

[gluefish]

I was a member of the Pasadena club (Moonlight Rollerway on Colorado near Rosemead) in the sixties. It was owned by Millie and Cliff Neschke, and Dick Madigan was the pro. His brother Bill Madigan won Sr. Men's Singles in the '61 nationals. Bill went on to teach at the Moonlight in Glendale/Burbank later on.

I think I have a picture of that club taken in '62 somewhere.

Dominic was the organist there at the time. During evening sessions there was always a trios session, during which some of us would go up into the organ loft with Dominic and sing old standards - it was called Singing Trios. Does he still do that?

[Nostalgic]

I was a semi-regular at the Thursday night sessions at Pasadena in the late '70's and it wasn't going on then. I don't know about any other sessions.

[retread]

Here's the October organist schedule for Sportsmans in Maryland.....


Oct 5 - tapes
Oct 12 - Ralph
Oct 19 - Corey
Oct 26 - Ralph
Notice the tapes on the 5th....still the greats, Ralph Brown, Marty Dumic, Cory Fridinger and Bill Clark, but not quite like having live organists. People, if we don't start to support these sessions, I'm afraid we may lose them!

Bob

[SAGEBRUSH]

Originally Posted by Kathie Fry

Let's talk about the great roller skating rink organ players of the past and present. Have you ever met any of the following organists, or skated to their music? Which of them still play and where? Have any of them recorded albums of skating music? Have any retired or passed away? Please share pictures and videos if you have any.

ROLLER SKATING RINK ORGANISTS

- A -
Al Deluca
Al Michaels
Andy Antonczyk
Andy Divito

- B -
Bob Pine
Bill Clark
Bud Powell

- C -
Carl DeSanti
Corey Fridinger

- D -
Dave Paden
Dennis Harvey
Dominic Cangelosi
Don Born

- E -
Eileen Poole

- F -
Frank Pellico
Fred Arnish

- G -
Gary Russell
Glen Davis

- H -
Harry Garafola

- J -
Jerry Jorgenson
Jimmy Arsenault
John Wiesner

- K -
Keith Fortune
Kenny Ross

- L -
Leon Berry
Lionel LeMay
Lonnie Brooks

- M -
Margie Patten
Marty Dumic
Mike Clemens

- N -
Nick Viscuso

- P -
Paul Gagnon
Paul Grosnick

- R -
Ralph Brown
Randy Steinbinder
Ray Long
Robbie Freeman
Rich Broglio
Roger Johnson
Ron Baldwin

- S -
Sonny Manesco

- T -
Tom Zitkovic
Tony Tahlman

- W -
Wayne Green (I believe he died in 1995)
______________________________________________

Can you tell us anything about these roller rink organ players or share memories of skating to their music? Who did I leave off the list? Maybe we can convince some of them to visit this forum and tell us what they are doing these days!

- Kathie

[Gypsyjuggler]

Another person who regularly played organ at Brookpark Skateland in Cleveland Ohio (Along with a few other rinks in northeast Ohio) was Johnny Sharp.

If you do a search for "RollerRewind" on Myspace or youtube, you will find some videos of rinks he played at. Most of the videos are from the late '80s through 2000.

Gives me good memories to watch them... I do recognize some of the people in the videos. Haven't been able to find me yet.

Here is one link:
http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fusea...deoid=40752658

Gypsyjuggler

[Organ Grinder]

Many skaters may remember the organ music of Jerry Baker. Jerry never played live in a rink, but he provided skating music to hundreds of rinks in the 1960s through his company Rink Reels. He was known for "double-tracking" his organ music - recording the song through once, then playing along and harmonizing with himself. He had a very unique style. I knew him very well up until his death in 1991 at the age of 91. Speaking of Jerry Baker, I have a box of about 50 different old reel-to-reel dance and session tapes of Jerry Baker from the 1960's that need a good home. All you have to do is pay for the shipping charges. I've collected organ music from various rink organists over the years and still sell CDs of my music along with Bill Clark's, Jerry Baker's and David Lowe's from England. But, I'm trying to downsize my collection and would like to see them go to somebody who is as passionate about organ skating music as I am. If anyone is interested, let me know.

Marty

[retread]

Originally Posted by Organ Grinder

Many skaters may remember the organ music of Jerry Baker. Jerry never played live in a rink, but he provided skating music to hundreds of rinks in the 1960s through his company Rink Reels. He was known for "double-tracking" his organ music - recording the song through once, then playing along and harmonizing with himself. He had a very unique style. I knew him very well up until his death in 1991 at the age of 91. Speaking of Jerry Baker, I have a box of about 50 different old reel-to-reel dance and session tapes of Jerry Baker from the 1960's that need a good home. All you have to do is pay for the shipping charges. I've collected organ music from various rink organists over the years and still sell CDs of my music along with Bill Clark's, Jerry Baker's and David Lowe's from England. But, I'm trying to downsize my collection and would like to see them go to somebody who is as passionate about organ skating music as I am. If anyone is interested, let me know.

Marty

Welcome to the forum!
You don't get much more passionate about organ skating music than me, just check out my posts! You aren't the Marty I'm thinking of, are you (picture in post 5)

Bob

[Organ Grinder]

Originally Posted by retread

Welcome to the forum!
You don't get much more passionate about organ skating music than me, just check out my posts! You aren't the Marty I'm thinking of, are you (picture in post 5)

Bob

Yep!

[retread]

Cool! Welcome aboard. I need some Bill Clark to fill out my collection, I just can't remember which ones, after all, it's been what, 28 years since I ran a session? If I can talk the wife into making the trip to Harrisburg to skate to you and Ralph (I'm working on her), I can talk to you then maybe?

Bob

[cindysk8s]

Welcome -

See you at the Turkey Skate @ olympic. I'm bringing my skater-daughter Taryn along again.

Cindy (hagge) Landis

[retread]

Bumping for this:

"An Evening with Ralph & Marty"
Wednesday - November 26th - 8:00 'till 11:00
$6.00
Olympic Skating Center, Enola, Pa
This is gonna be a blast!

And to announce a better picture has been posted of Corey Fridinger....Kathie, could you update his fan page?
Bob