A year after the death of Stan Kann—"our goodwill ambassador ... the gadget guru of stuff that never worked," as Mary Strauss calls him—the Fox (fabulousfox.com) brought back its public tours, with these five organists giving it a whirl on the theater's historic Wurlitzer.
KEN IBORG
Other Gig: IBM program manager
Hobbies: "Perennial house tinkerer"
Stan Kann Moment: "When I was 8. He was coming out of the pit on that organ, I ran down to the rail, and you couldn't pry me away until he'd disappeared."
JACK JENKINS
Other Gig: Music therapist specialist; music-therapy professor
Hobbies: Granite City council member; writes organ scores
Stan Kann Moment: "When I was 14, he suggested I get serious about music. I did, and it changed my life."
JACK MOELMANN
Other Gig: Retired U.S. Air Force colonel
Hobbies: Electronics—"you push buttons, and my house moves"; once rented out Radio City Music Hall to play its Wurlitzer organ
Stan Kann Moment: "He'd come over to my house and play the organ. I'd put coffee on, and he didn't know how to work the sink handle. This was real with him."
DENNIS AMMANN
Other Gig: Insurance sales
Hobbies: 1928 Barton Theatre pipe organ at home, where he hosts guests—and "it shakes the whole house."
Stan Kann Moment: "I accompanied Stan at the first silent movie at Belleville's Lincoln Theatre. He blew my mind when it was over—afterward, he came up and said, 'You did a first-class job.'"
ED PLITT
Other Gig: Registered piano technician
Hobbies: Classic cars, electronics, traveling
Stan Kann Moment: "This is the paradox of Stan Kann: Stan could get mixed up and trip over things and couldn't figure something out. Sit him down at that huge organ, and he was the master of it."
