O Farfisa Where Art Thou?
John here. Though I’ve primarily played bass guitar in my collaborations with Brian over the last 10 years, I started out as a keyboard player. And the first keyboard I ever played (in the first band I was ever in back in 10th grade) was the Farfisa Combo Compact. The sound could be harsh, but the keyboard itself had a great feel, and was awesome for both rhythm accompaniment and solos, especially when paired with a Mutron Phasor II, which I also owned.
Sadly, I never liked that keyboard when I had it — there was another (a Crumar something-or-other) I lusted after that I could have afforded, but that my parents forbade me to buy (confession: my friend Tony and I spent one afternoon cutting wires in the Farfisa guts, in hopes of rendering it unusable so that my parents would relent and permit me to purchase the Crumar — note to kids out there: THIS DID NOT WORK). A few years later, I bought a 3 octave organ/string synthesizer and gave away the Farfisa.
Gave it away.
But if I hadn’t, I believe in my heart that I would have eventually created this video: