Organs
Bernie Capicchiano was coached from the Accounting world to manage a new music retail store for the Brash Group in Australia in 1973.His long career in the industry includes a strong relationship with the Hammond-Suzuki Company as well as Johannus Organs, Schimmel, Hailun and Bernstein Pianos....
Scott Russ grew up in the music business, crawling around the floor. His parents opened a music retail store in 1947, before Scott was born. Growing up, Scott fell in love with the Hammond Organ and the daughter of Bob Seidman, the founder of the wholesaler Seidman Sales. Both loves followed him...
Cliff Unruh has a background in marketing and was pursuing such a career when he was given the opportunity to sell Hammond Organs –and he jumped at the chance. He fell in love with the instrument as well as the history of the product. He enjoys bringing music and the sound of the Hammond into...
Jimmy Vivino wanted to be a blues guitarist when he first heard “Foxy Lady” by Jimi Hendrix! He has since been a successful musician both on stage and in the studios. He and his brother played the Crown Lounge in New Jersey (Jimmy on B-3) and backed up all the groups that came to club, such as the...
John Waltrip began being involved in music as a small child and in fact, became the main pianist for his church as a teenager. He played in the school bands and studied music in college. He taught music after college before being drafted. Even in the army, John sang in the choir group, which...
Thomas Austin was a key part of the Sherman Clay team for over 40 years! The store chain focused on pianos; however, Thomas recalls the home organ boom in the 1970s as the company was a Hammond Organ dealer. The company was formed in San Francisco in 1870 and grew to be the biggest (for a time)...
Carma Lou Beck was an active musician and teacher when she began working in music retail in Iowa in the 1960s. She opened her own store in Cedar Rapids in 1967, after working for a few other stores, including one owned and operated by the Wurlitzer Company. By the time Carma Lou's House of Music...
Jim Foster had worked for a few piano stores before opening his own store, with his wife Marilyn, in Bettendorf, Iowa. Foster Family Music focuses on piano and sheet music for pianos and has come to be known throughout the area as a center for musical events, recitals and a strong supporter of...
Marilyn Foster supported her husband's idea to open a music store in her home state of Iowa. From the beginning, she looked after all of the books and accounting for the store. She enjoyed the work and especially enjoyed getting to work with her husband and now, daughter Christi, on a regular...
Christi Foster-Nunnally grew up in her parent's Iowa piano store and recalls with fondness getting paid a nickel to dust each piano. She became a buyer for a local chain department store and traveled frquently to New York for a few years until she decided she missed the music business. Christi...