introduction
In July of the year 2009 a childhood dream came true: I became the owner of my first Dutch street organ. I was fortunate enough to purchase a wonderful piece of craftsmanship from Johnny Verbeeck. The 36-key Johnny Verbeeck street organ, built in 2001, soon got its new name: "de Javaan" (Dutch for "the Javanese"). Up until March of 2014 "de Javaan" resided within in The Netherlands. In April of 2014 the organ was shipped to the United States and made its debut at the 2014 annual COAA Band Organ Rally at Lake Winnepesaukah, located in Rossville (GA). In August of 2017 another dream was pursued, but in order to realize that dream "de Javaan" had to be sold. After "de Javaan" was sold, another, slightly bigger piece of craftsmanship from the late Johnny Verbeeck - the 45-key Johnny Verbeeck street organ "De Waterjuffer" - replaced the void of "de Javaan".