Well, now that major league baseball has heeded the outcry from the fans and
withdrawn the plan to post commercial messages on the bases at inter-league
games this season, we can feel free to enjoy our national pastime in the good,
old-fashioned way, but perhaps not for very long.   I say not for long because,
of course, we can still expect to see advertising now on the jockeys riding
thoroughbreds at the horse tracks, since the recent court decision allowing the
riders to wear advertising on their racing silks. It's only a matter of time,
perhaps, before all sports bear the same resemblance to the extensive
advertising logos worn by NASCAR drivers and posted all over their racecars.

Perhaps it's also only a matter of time until THE ARTS catch on to these vast
marketing possibilities: commercial advertising space sold on opera singers'
costumes, on the shields of the spear-carriers in the chorus, on the raised
lid of a grand piano, or on the back of the conductors' tailcoats.

So why shouldn't organbuilders and organists reap the benefits of selling
advertising space to help support our activities, also? Just imagine it: the huge
Pepsi medallion hanging in front of the display pipes, case pillars shaped
and painted like Budweiser bottles, a logo on the back of the concert organist's
flowing cape. And why stop there? From the concert hall into the church:
choir robes covered with patches advertising Bible publishers, candle makers, or
holy water bottlers. The money rolling in from these sponsors will support
professional choir singers, organ concert series, enormous new instruments. Why,
the potential is endless!! (I'm eagerly awaiting suggestions from some of the
wags on this List for the most appropriate sponsorships.)


Hey, let's pursue this idea. The infusion of money could revolutionize the
organ world, and besides, it's the Murican Way!!

Cheers,
Agnes Armstrong

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