Al Melgard, My Vision
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 18 сен 2012
- This is my gift to the older viewers who used to visit the Chicago Stadium. This was Al Melgard's final song after every event. It was written for Sonja Henie as a tribute. Enjoy because there are not many copies of this anymore.
Видеоклипы
Al had retired in 1974, and this song wasn't heard after that for twenty years. The organist played "My Vision" in tribute to Al Melgard and "the Grey Lady" after the last Blackhawks game in the Chicago Stadium, a 1-0 loss to Toronto that eliminated them from the 1994 Stanley Cup Playoffs 4 games to 2. I had heard Al play it after every game since my first as a little boy in 1958. No one wanted to leave the Stadium that night for the last time, and hearing the song again moved me to tears.
That was my grandfather and I just cried hearing it again!
@@andyw.2021who was
My mom played the piano and the organ and Al Melgard was a friend of her father and family. When we would go to the stadium, my Mom would ask the usher to let Al know that she was there. We would go up a stair and into an area where Al was also able to view what was going on below. It felt really special as a child to be able to meet someone as important as Mel, and to see and hear that music being played. My mom would have been 96 this May, so it was a long time ago.
That's a wonderful story!
As a teen, whenever I would listen to the Blackhawk games on the radio, as Lloyd Pettit was doing the final wrap up, you could hear this in the background. It lended a sort of distinct aire to the surroundings and made the Stadium all that much more magical. When I first played this on the organ from memory, my father was amazed and wanted to know where I got the music. Good music just stays in your head. The old barn is truly missed.
The sad thing is the building could have been kept intact had the owners wanted to.
The organ could also have been moved to the new building where it would still be used today.
If enough wanted to and the money could be raised perhaps all the pipes could be recreated and the organ installed in some other large arena or stadium or convention hall.
Do you know if they still play My Vision at the United Center?
JorgeCat78 they do
Great story! Indeed!! I remember, also!!
Brings back alot of memories. Written by Al Melgard for the great Sonja Heine. I played this song for my wife's fathers funeral in 2014. They really appreciated it. At the Blackhawk's Convention, Frank Pellicoe played it, & this fan broke down, reminded him of his late father & his younger days of going to the games. We all feel the same!
I will never forget this song as long as I live... Such a calming song after a great night at the Old Chicago Stadium...! Fantastic memories of the Stadium, Al Melgard and the Blackhawks!!!
So beautiful. Like a song from heaven. I miss the old stadium. I miss the old organ. My dad would take me and my brother to Blackhawks games at the old stadium when we were in our teens and I feel so fortunate and lucky to have been able to experience it. Wayne Mesmer singing the national anthem and that old pipe organ that was truly unique and sounded like nothing else in the world because it was one of a kind. Oh the good 'ol days! Gone forever but remaining in our memories.
As a 20 year old who missed the Stadium by two years, I have to say this is beautiful. The junk the play today is total garbage...
How I always enjoyed hearing this wonderful song. Have two 331/3 s of Al and the sheet music to this wonderful song MY VISION written by Al . So now can play it on my Yamaha keyboard at age 83.
How did you get the sheet music ?
Boy do I remember this. Back in the late 70's I was working in a store in Mesa, Az and an older gentleman came in, and we got to talking and it turned he was one of men who helped build the mighty Chicago Stadium organ.
A sincere thank you from a dyed-in-the wool habs fan...rivalries never grow old....
Thank you for the "gift". It is the Chicago Stadium as much as the Blackhawks and Bulls
Ive got all the records of mr.melgard 1 2 3..i spin them once a yr..good old days.of hockey..after a game played..ice shows..he was the best..the old gal could sing..miss the old barton..
My dad & I would not leave the Chicago Stadium after the college basketball doubleheaders in the '60s until Al Melgard signed off with this amazing song!
We all need more Al Melgard and the chicago stadium Bartin Organ. It gave us better times ahead; a future to look forward to. Not like today.
as a kid, I always stayed in my seat until this was over. then it was time to leave. I think this recording or similar is played on occasion after Blackhawk games at the UC
i remember the roar!!
I enjoyed hearing this played.at the games ending .as we went down the stairs going out into the cold winters nights..as a kid..with my father..miss the staidum...
Thanks for putting this up on RUclips. I heard this song for the first time on November 2, 1960 in the aftermath of a 4-4 tie between the Blackhawks and the Rangers, my very first in-person hockey game. I can remember listening to to Al Melgard's rendition as my father and I slowly worked our down to street level from the second balcony. I've seen hundreds of NHL games since then, but I'll always remember that first one.
Beautiful
This video brings back lots of memories. When I was a child, during the Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita years, my parents would take me to a couple Blackhawks games each season. After each game was over, my mother would not leave until Al Melgard was done playing this song. As an adult I became a Blackhawks season ticket holder and heard other assorted organists play this organ, but none could compare. Unfortunately, William Wirtz was too cheap to have this magnificent instrument transferred over to the new United Center.
Would be at Chicago Stadium 2 1/2 hours before puck drop. Standing room only would be the only people in the building then My Vision would come on and I knew where and. Why I was there . Then right after the hawks pulled out a win . Al would play it as we were trying to file out. Such great memories for me felt so lucky to see Mikita and Hull. That will stay with me forever
This is beautiful and priceless. I, too, was that kid that grew up listening to the organ and knew My Vision by ear. I play My Vision at the end of all my practicing and playing.
What a beautiful song, and Al Melgard was able to play My Vision so well bringing
out such a sweet sound from the Barton Organ I never tire listening to him playing
his good night song.
Al in fact wrote this for Sojna Heine.
WOW, does this bring back memories of the end of those Blackhawk games, as I'd be walking out of that great Chicago Stadium...! After the battle it had such a calming effect and then I would walk down to Gate 3 1/2 to see if I could get a few autographs....! You could never explain to anyone what it was like at the Chicago Stadium with Al Melgard at that great organ...!!! The greatest hockey venue on earth.... I didn't realize I commented on this 5 years ago in a different post.... LOL
I LOVE HIS PLAYING. ONE OF THE BEST.
Amazing. Memories flooding back
He knew the song and the unique instrument were composed for him equally. Lovely registration.
My parents met at the Chicago Stadium in 1954 during a public ice skating session. Thank you for posting this video. It's sweet to think of them skating together to this music.
I grew up in the 40's thru the 70's in Chicago going to Blackhawk games and for the most par listening to Al Melgard on the fabulous Chicago Stadium Organ. What a great sound.
Going to the Stadium and hearing the organ was almost an event in and of itself. I recently found the video I recorded at the last regular season Hawks game in 93, also a loss to Toronto. Brings back great memories. Miss the Stadium and its near complete lack of amenities.
Is it on RUclips?
Will you be posting this old video?
Great song to exit the Chicago stadium after a Blackhawk victory!!!
Sometimes, it would be the first song he'd play as people came in for a Blsckhawks game.
Wonderful!
By the way.. My folks took me to see Sonja Hennie at the Stadium and that was my first visit there and afterwards they took me to "The Stockyard Inn" for a steak.. What a thrill.. I will never forget that night and I was very young probably 6 or 7.. And of course as he was from 1930 to 1973, Al Melgard at the organ!!!
From what I've read online the only thing left of this organ is the console the rest from what I read having been destroyed in a fire where it was stored. The console survived because it was stored somewhere else.
Most likely will never hear this organ play again and sound as it did unless one can exactly recreate the pipes and everything else including the stadium.
What a shame....this was a piece of history
That is correct, a propane tank exploded and the resulting fire destroyed all of the pipework/chests/etc. The organ console was restored and installed in the residence of Phil Maloof, in Las Vegas, NV, and is commanding a different set of pipes. Phil died in April of 2020, and I am not sure whether the console still remains in his home or not.
It is a shame that this organ wasn't moved over to the new United Center. They settled for a custom Allen Organ Digital Theatre Organ designed to sound like the original Barton, although I am sure it doesn't come close to capturing the sound of the Barton.
@@sdiubw8943f unless it had the same exact stop tabs and number of manuals it couldn't possibly have sounded the same.
Not to mention back then digital computer organs weren't as advanced.
Had it been done now it would have sounded very close but not quite the same.
Nothing can quite match pipes.
There's just something about moving air like pipes do that no speaker can 100% do.
From what I understand this was the largest theatre organ ever made.
Wonder if it would be possible with enough money to duplicate the original pipework provided there's enough documentation on the stops?
However technology is so advanced now that the original sound could be pretty much recreated with a computer and would be reasonably close.
One cannot possibly get the exact sound even if the pipes were 100% recreated like the originals because the organ wouldn't be in the space it was designed for.
In my opinion they could have found some other use for the Chicago stadium versus just tearing it down.
However if a new stadium was being built today with how people are all about saving things the Chicago stadium might have been saved and repurposed or at minimum the organ would have been moved to the new stadium or at least properly stored.
Who in their right mind has anything that can explode near storage buildings and who in their right mind stores anything in a building near a tank of propane.
Also read where a fully restored organ for a church was also in the same building and was lost as well.
Nor sure exactly why the organ wasn't moved to the new stadium. Think there's several stories out there as to why, although i did read where there were organ chambers on the original plans of the new stadium.
Shit, makes this all the more poignant.
Thank you so much for this!
It was probably played by Nancy Faust or Frank pellico but I definitely remember this song walking out of the old barn. The only thing missing the sound of cups popping all around the building. Sure wish they would've moved the old organ across the street. "The fans won't know the difference" my ass!
It's because of that overfed frank pellico that this wonderful instrument is no longer with us. He didn't like playing it and convinced the Wirtzes it was going to cost 11 million to move it across the street.
@@aandrus7 Yup. Love the guy but I can't ever forgive him for that.
Such a relief from the heavy metal trash they pump in your face today. Thanks for posting this masterpiece!
Must have been one of the finest theatre pipe organs ever built? Looking very much like Barton were going for the Wannamaker organ style here? This organ has been saved in part but it will never sound again like this? Its now like a caged animal! In a private collection i believe
I tend to think of this as the "Well the Hawks just lost again" song because it seems a bit melancholy
It transcends winning and losing
thank you @william hayes
mabe mr.rocky w..can get the old Barton console back ...to finish the healing process...put it back in the uc. since it was restored in someone's home in vagas..ibefor it ends up in the new hockey venue there in vagas...it will be a slap in face if it happens...Tampa Bay lighting have the best elc organ in all of sports..it's sad to be in there when the Hawks are in Tampa ..u see lighting fans enjoying there organist in the crowd playing for there team. Frank sits in a booth now. 20 some yrs now.time to make a change and bring home our Barton ...console..back into the crowd...so our young organist can enjoy. what Mr.melgard did ..
You're 100% right sir. It WOULD be a travesty if some upstart team, ESPECIALLY in a place like Las Vegas, ended up with this magnificent instrument!
"Martial Law"'s statement below says it all. Thank you so much for posting this. Do you know whether it is available on any LP or CD?
I have seen several Al Melgard LP's (Vol. 1 on the REPLICA label) for sale on ebay. It's the only one that contains My Vision. Occasionally a CD set comes up.
Thanks Albert
@@arn1b7 If you're still looking I may be able to help you get one
@@aandrus7 I appreciate the thought, but I think I can access enough of Melgard's work on RUclips, etc. Thanks again.
@@arn1b7 Yes, now I'm seeing a lot more of Al's stuff on YT.
Should have been played at Rocky's Memorial Service on Wed 8/9/23 at the UC
They should play this at Bobby Hull's funeral service. The memories.....
Once again, for you Chicago Stadium old-timers: My Vision is now available in a much cleaner rendition on Spotify. Type in Al Melgard and enjoy all of the old classics but especially My Vision, his trademark finale.