See video of Carl performing live on organ

Carl Parks

(The pin on my lapel identifies me as a past-dean of the Sarasota-Manatee Chapter of the American Guild of Organists.)

I pursued two careers. I began as an organist-choirmaster at age 12, and I have been a Detroit automotive writer for some 30 years. Now, I am mostly retired.

Following graduation from East Lansing High School in 1963, I enrolled as a pipe organ major at Albion College. I had sung before I could talk, played piano by ear at age 3, was given classical piano and boys choir at age 5, and began playing organ in a big downtown church at age 12. As a high school senior, I was playing on a par with most college seniors. Albion offered a vastly superior course of pipe organ study than that offered by Michigan State. Unfortunately, the social climate was too much like high school. So, in 1964, I moved back to East Lansing and MSU, quit music studies, and earned my undergraduate degree in political science. Meanwhile, I played the Episcopal liturgies in Alumni Memorial Chapel, directed choir for a little church east of East Lansing, and began working with regional pipe organ builders, as an organist, later as a technician.

I graduated with my undergraduate degree just as my student deferment ran out and was whisked off to Fort Dix, NJ. There, I was needed as an organist -- defending our country at Hammond C3s -- while also performing clerical duties as a chaplains assistant and accompanying on the piano for Special Services. My ex wanted no children. Following my honorable discharge, I returned to the Lansing area.

I re-enrolled at Michigan State, where I earned a master of arts degree in journalism with help from the GI Bill. I also served on a Lansing city board, became a precinct captain and state convention delegate, and was assistant media director for the first successful campaign of US Congressman Bob Carr.

After graduation, I took a job as organist-choirmaster for the big Catholic church in Northville and eventually moved to Birmingham. Because I was a pipe organ technician, I championed the big west gallery organ in Detroit's Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament. Built in 1925, the Casavant had fallen into disuse and disrepair. I was given the titular position of artist-in-residence and played the cathedral's solemn celebrations. This gave me a base for recital work. The archdiocese gave me rigorous training in Vatican II liturgy, but there were no good jobs at the parish level. So I spent several years as organist-choirmaster for a Lutheran church and hung out my shingle as a free lance writer.

Mostly steady writing work followed, and I served as director of public relations for two advertising agencies and the gage house of a supplier to the machine tool industry. Finally, my undergraduate studies in poli-sci were paying off because the statistical methodology is much the same. Then the bottom fell out of the whole Rust Belt. I dusted off my organ shoes for a Lutheran church in Southfield. In 1994, I moved to Florida with a lady friend.

The Tampa Bay region has no advertising and PR industry of any merit, but big, free lance writing assignments came in from Detroit. After moving down here, I served as organist-choirmaster for the big Catholic church on Siesta Key. That lasted only one year, so I spent the next 13 years as organist-choirmaster for the Lutheran church on Anna Maria Island. Living and working on resort islands sure beat Detroit! After moving down here, I also served four years as dean of the Sarasota-Manatee Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, served on the boards of my homeowners associations, and continue to serve on a citizens advisory board in Bradenton Beach. When the Island's Lutheran church started falling apart due to reckless spending, I substituted for various other churches that have since gone belly or are going belly.

I served for six years at a United Church of Christ that used to have a nice pipe organ and a 20-voice choir. Under the new pastor, membership fell from over 200 to less than 50. Nowadays the church rarely gets even 20 people on Sunday mornings. After the pastor's particularly inept Easter service of 2013, my whole choir walked out. Many members have dug up the ashes of their loved ones from the memorial garden. So, the pastor is selling the 7-acre campus and 20,000 square feet of indoor space. This should help pay his $100,000-plus salary until he retires. Under his command, the really nice Reuter pipe organ was sold to somebody up in Tampa. It's like this all over the Tampa Bay region. At a recent executive board meeting of our Guild of Organists chapter, only two out of a dozen fine organists were working for churches or temples. So, I am retired, but still practice scales and other piano exercises at home.