Nancy Bea

I can't believe that I've been writing this blog for over three years and I have yet to devote a daily post to Nancy Bea?

Who, you say?

Nancy Bea, I say.

And she does what, you say?

She plays the organ at Dodger Stadium, I say.

And if you ask me why the hell somebody is playing an organ at a baseball game, I wouldn't be surprised. I'd also be inclined to end our dialogue.

Organ music is as critical to the DNA of a baseball stadium as hot dogs, Cracker Jacks, and overbearing drunks. The sad thing is that, while the last three are either still plentiful or even growing in number (the overserved assholes, I mean), organ music is disappearing at an alarming rate. Nancy Bea Heffley is one of the few left.

I was raised on the Mets and the magnificent Jane Jarvis at the Thomas Organ. The keystrokes touch my heart everytime I hear them. You can hear her play "Meet the Mets" by clicking on the MP3 below.

http://youngmanhattanite.com/music/MeetTheMets_Organ.mp3
She was gone from Shea Stadium by the early 80s. Replaced by the pre-recorded hits of the day. Pure dreck. But, the Mets weren't the only ones. Organists were getting shitcanned in major league parks all across America. It's apparently cheaper to hire some two-bit DJ to keep the crowd entertained. You can then save some dough and sign some washed-up starter whose ERA never dips below 4.00.

The Dodgers were one of the few teams to hold firm. For years here in LA, they had a lady named Helen Dell who might have remembered when Sandy Koufax was wearing pull-up underwear. She retired in 1987 and the Dodgers then found Nancy Bea Heffley. She's still there.

Oh, they have tried to reduce her playing time so they can give our ears malignant tumors otherwise known as rap music. As a matter of fact, by 2004, Nancy was pretty much relegated to two tunes a night. The National Anthem and "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." But, enough complaints came in to, at the very least, let her share the musical interludes with Will.i.am's latest CD.

Going to as many games as I do, I try to connect the tune she is playing to what is going on during the game. When there's a conference on the mound, it might be "Happy Talk" from "South Pacific." If an umpire is arguing with a manager, you could hear the theme from "The Odd Couple." On the day Barbara Bel Geddes died, I heard Nancy Bea play the theme from "Dallas" that very night and I wondered if she was making the connection after seeing the news on-line. If a loss is perfectly devastating, your exit music could be "It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World." Here's just a taste.


The only problem is that there's just not enough of that.

Page down to last Friday night. The Dodgers were saluting their 1955 World Series win in Brooklyn. So, the stadium went retro. Diamondvision was shown in black and white. And they ditched all the pre-recorded crap in favor of Nancy Bea. Playing before the game. Playing between every inning. It was an extreme workout for her. I imagined her shaking her hands by the fifth inning in an effort to get her circulation going again. Usually, before the bottom of the eighth inning, the Dodger Stadium tradition is "Don't Stop Believin'" by Journey and occasionally lip-synced by season ticket holder Jameson Moss. You have not lived until you hear that song played on an organ.

Nobody cared. The evening was glorious. I doubt anybody missed Snoop Dogg. I wanted to walk down to the owner's box and exclaim, "See!."

The woman's been doing this job for over twenty years and she doesn't seem to, pardon the pun, miss a beat. She commutes to Dodger Stadium from her home in Lake Arrowhead and is always on top of her game.

If only there could be more of it like there was last Friday night...

And, if you're like me and you simply can't get enough of Nancy Bea, try this on for size.

If the Dodgers don't let her play more, Nancy Bea just might sue.

Dinner last night: Turkey burger with German potato salad and cole slaw at the NY abode.