On March 2nd, we got the following message from NAMM’s Dan Del Fiorentino:
Longtime music retailer Wally Pikal passed away today at the age of 90.
Wally may have been the only music retailers who played on the Johnny Carson Show! Wally opened his store, Wally Pikal Music, in Hutchinson, Minnesota in 1964. Up to that time he had been a sought-after bandleader and trumpeter in and around the Midwest. One of his tricks, that got the attention of Carson, was when Wally played three trumpets at the same time (using a mouthpiece he created) all the while jumping on a pogo stick! The show (as well as several others such as The Mike Douglas Show) made Wally a local star and put the store on the map.
To view a clip from Pikal’s 2015 NAMM Oral History interview, click here:
