Organist transplanted from church to Coliseum

Right after the closing hymn, “Nations, Hear the Prophet’s Word,” organist Paul Cartier from the choir loft could hear a volley of polite, enthusiastic applause below. The parishioners at Our Lady of Hope Roman Catholic Church in Carle Place appreciated his work at the 5 p.m. Saturday Mass.

Little more than an hour later, Cartier was sitting in another perch, at the twin keyboards of another impressive organ, and his playing again stirred a response. No sooner had he banged out five notes than his listeners volleyed their hearty, enthusiastic refrain, “Let’s Go Islanders!” It was music to his ears, up in the far corner of the Nassau Coliseum press box.

This is how it goes on most Saturdays during hockey season. Cartier, 51, of South Hempstead, plays Long Island’s unique doubleheader. First, he inspires worshipers with traditional liturgical songs and preludes and postludes by Bach. Then, he makes the 10-minute ride down Meadowbrook Parkway, takes off his sports jacket, grabs a hot dog and inspires the Islander faithful with popular hits, jingles and a bouncy number composed with lyrics that few people other than Cartier know:

“Come see the New York Islanders play,” he sings, when asked how it goes, “come see them play today. . . .” The composer is unknown, the title is simply “The Islanders Theme Song,” and the genre is pure “Meet the Mets.”
 
Born to play
It all falls within the range of the man who fell in love with music the day he sat down at his aunt’s little Magnus organ.

“I said, ‘Wow, I like this.’ My parents, the next day, went out and got me an Estee chord organ. It had speakers in it and everything,” he said. “I just took to it like a fish to water. They never had to make me practice. I still did everything else a kid does.”

Versatility remains his best number, given the many hats he wears atop that crew cut. He has a full-time job as an air traffic controller in Ronkonkoma (on that Saturday evening last month, he had a triple-header because he went right to work from the Coliseum). Cartier also is the organist at Yankee Stadium. He is a husband, father of two, an emergency medical technician, a volunteer firefighter and a fire commissioner in the South Hempstead district.

But his Saturday night life stands out because, for starters, the church is in his blood. He was named for his uncle, a priest. His mother was a devout volunteer at her parish in Yonkers, regularly helping out at cleaning the altar (that’s where she was when she felt a twinge and had the first inkling she was pregnant with Paul).
Cartier’s first organ performance came on the eve of his 11th birthday, after the family moved to Long Island, at Queen of the Most Holy Rosary in Roosevelt. He worked his way through Hofstra playing at services in Methodist and Catholic churches in Uniondale.

And the Islanders are in his bones. He attended the first game they played in 1972 and was hooked. He often went with his brother, a season-ticket holder. Cartier loved to play street hockey with his teenage buddies on their block in Baldwin. The games couldn’t start without Cartier. “I’d go upstairs, open the windows, play the  anthem, play the Islanders theme song, close the windows and go down and play street hockey,” he said.
 
His big break
He applied to be the Islanders organist, then a county job, at age 15. “They laughed at me,” Cartier said. His big break came a few years later, though, when he was in college. Fred Mendelson, one of his music professors, was the Coliseum organist. He invited Cartier to visit during a game, when the organ was in a metal mesh enclosure above Section 306. Cartier played a song during an intermission and impressed Mendelson. He won an audition to play for the Arrows, an indoor soccer team, at the Coliseum in 1978 and succeeded Mendelson in 1980 with the Islanders.

Cartier was undaunted when various Islanders management groups replaced him. For a few years, he was supplanted by Eddie Layton, the noted Yankee Stadium organist. Back for good since the early 1990s, Cartier is similarly unruffled by the fact most music at Islanders games these days is recorded rock. He plays when he is asked or in emergencies, such as a delay caused by a problem with the glass or boards. On that Saturday in December, he played “Winter Wonderland” and “The Dreidel Song.”

“I would say that having Paul here keeps us to our traditional and classic hockey roots. When you hear an organ at a hockey game, it sort of oozes tradition,” said Tim Beach, vice president of game operations and events for the Islanders. “The great thing about having Paul here is not only is he a great musician but a great Islanders fan as well. He understands what we’re trying to do here on a game night, trying to keep the fans involved. He’s not the artsy type who thinks it’s all about him.”

Through his work at the Coliseum, Cartier landed the Yankee Stadium gig following Layton’s 2004 retirement. He still is a bit awed by that and by the perks: He used to drive legendary public address announcer Bob Sheppard to and from work and played during Game 6 of the 2009 World Series. “As soon as the game was over, I just stood in the booth with my camera,” he said.
 
Honored by the diocese
His work at Our Lady of Hope isn’t as glamorous, but it is important to him. Cartier recently was honored by the Diocese of Rockville Centre for 35 years of service.

Other musicians ask him how he makes the transition from the choir loft to the upper deck so quickly on Saturdays. “I just can’t describe it,” he said. “It’s a job, and I do what I have to do.”

He is an ardent believer in the separation of church and skate — almost always. There was the day when he played at his nephew’s wedding. Before the ceremony, he was doing what church organists call “liturgical doodling” — performing soft religious music while people gather in the pews. Only his brother, the groom’s dad, recognized one familiar tune, being played slowly. The brother knew that Paul was singing along, inside his head: “Come see the New York Islanders play, come see them play.”