There are times when I can say something wittier than the manufacturer’s ad copy. This is NOT one of those times:
The Bottle Organ is a real showstopper! It plays by blowing across the tops of real beer bottles, which are permanently tuned. And the music is so lovable! Driven by contemporary MIDI technology, the Bottle Organ is ideal for pubs and restaurants with a reputation for fun, where the past is respected, and where patrons appreciate the rare and unusual. Custom fabrication assures quality of the highest standard.
Sing along everybody: Take one down, pass it around, and there’s 99 MIDI-controlled singing bottles of beer on the wall . . .
Of course, you could get 100 drunken friends together to blow on beer bottles and save the $22,900 price of the bottle organ, but I betcha it won’t be permanently tuned.
The company also makes player pianos, nickolodeons, and, when you need to ask God for forgiveness after a particularly wild night of MIDI-controlled beer drinking, the Digital Hymnal. Best of all, they also make a MIDI-controlled, self-playing violin (Thanks, LeMel!)
Updated: This organ has a better-known rival (mentions on TapeOp, Boing Boing) from Chicago, which also features a keyboard and has downloadable sounds and for-sale CD
For more odd stuff, see Oddmusic’s Instrument Gallery