The House on the Rock Museum is _art_, and it is _entertainment_ and it
means _jobs_.  Just like Six Flags, Silver Dollar City and Disneyland.
It is not a collection of fully restored mechanical musical machines.

I, for one, know, if wonderfully restored original instruments were
used, as is, they would be junk in a very short time, with the number
of plays they would get in just one season.

I agree with Art Reblitz -- Alex Jordan and his staff originally created
a big, and an interesting, "Fantasy" at the House on the Rock.

Many of us have boxes of stuff we will someday do something with.
The difference between many of us and Alex Jordan is he did it.
We talk about it.

I have been to many museums where music boxes sit on a stand in the
corner, and street organs sit with ropes around them, both mute.  Are
these instruments that much better off?  Mechanical music machines were
intended to be played, not just looked at.  I don't enjoy museums where
you just look at the instruments and wonder what they would sound like.

I'll step out on a limb and say, "Yes, the House on the Rock _is_
a museum", albeit a strange one.  At the House on the Rock, the
difference is that you can at least be teased by ears and eyes into
thinking everything is real.

Those who have fully restored instruments that really play, and play
very well, are lucky to have them, and so are we, as there are only so
many still around.  The House On The Rock collection only makes these
instruments that much more wonderful.

As for me, I like the place, I have been there many times, and yes, I
have enjoyed it every time I have been there.  You just have to
remember to go there with an open mind, lighten up, and have fun.  Too
many collectors and hoarders take this stuff far too seriously.

If some collector wants to see a given instrument fully restored and
in their personal collection, maybe they should offer the House On The
Rock some obscene amount of money and have it restored properly for
their collection.

House On The Rock owners are business people and any amusement display
should be changes or rotated anyway.

As for the hoarders with the best of intentions, they should let these
instruments where they are so the rest of us can at least see them and
hear what they might have sounded like in their heyday.

Gary Stevenson
St. Louis, Mo.