Grapevine, Texas has some new characters in town. The interesting thing is, you have to look upwards 75 feet toward Grapevine’s Glockenspiel Clock Tower to see them.
Grapevine recently dedicated its 127-foot-high Clock Tower featuring two larger-than-life, 9-foot tall Glockenspiel characters, known as the Would-Be Train Robbers, Nat Barrett and Willy Majors. Located 75 feet in the air within the Clock Tower, these figures emerge each day shortly before the stroke of noon and 6 p.m. to attempt the perfect heist. Just as Glockenspiels in Europe are rooted in history, Grapevine’s Clock Tower figures reflect the Western lore that many visitors from outside Texas find interesting and entertaining. The debut was featured as part of the dedication of the Grapevine Convention & Visitors Bureau’s Headquarters and Museum Complex during the City’s 28th Annual Main Street Days festival.
To view Multimedia News Release, go to http://www.multivu.com/mnr/56257-grapevine-glockenspiel-clock-tower-debuts-28th-annual-main-street-days
Me at the Burton-on-Trent Wurlitzer theatre organ playing "The first time I saw you" which makes use of the Glockenspiel and Xylophone used together.
The organ was originally installed at the Forum Cinema in Wythenshaw - a suburb of South Manchester - not far from the airport. There are 8 ranks of pipes and as standard on British theatre organ layouts, these are divided into 2 enclosed chambers as follows:
CHAMBER 1: Open Diapason, Flute, Violin, Violin Celeste
CHAMBER 2: Tibia, Tuba, Trumpet, Vox Humana.
And of course there are the usual percussions and novelty sound effects such as Fire Bell, Bird Whistle etc. This instrument does not feature a piano.
Playing "La Mer" which I always associated with the film "Mr Beans Holiday"!!! I used the organs upright piano attachment for most of this piece but the camera microphone was unfortunately not able to pick this up. Like all theatre organs the organ works on the "extension" principal with 20 ranks of pipes in 2 chambers laid out as follows: CHAMBER 1 Open Diapason Flute Clarinet Viol D Orchestre Voix Celeste Quintadena Dulciana Tuba Horn Tibia 1 Solo String 1 Marimba Harp Vibraphone CHAMBER 2 Tuba Mirabilis English Horn Saxophone Trumpet Solo String 2 Tibia 2 Orchestral Oboe Oboe Horn Kinura Vox Humana Xylophone Glockenspiel Chimes Drums, Cymbals, Novelty effects etc Unenclosed is the upright piano and the "master" xylophone. I couldnt help but include a couple of clips of my favourite comedian!!!
