What do you call it when hundreds of crazy Santas — often fueled by “high octane egg nog” — roam the streets en masse, spreading holiday cheer? It’s not anarchy; it’s Santarchy, an annual tradition that’s grown to include gatherings from Berlin to Tokyo, and numerous places in-between.
The Santas invaded San Francisco on Saturday and, while my suit didn’t make it back from the cleaners in time, I was happy to see these accordion-toting Santas in attendance. Jingle Bells Polka, anyone?
Remember the strange Slovenian polka-rap video (with bikini babes on mini-tractors) from a few weeks ago? Since then we’ve been turned on to Atomik Harmonik, another Slovenian group with a flair for bizarre videos. Mixing traditional Slovenian folk music with a hyper dance beat, Atomik Harmonik is a quartet of two male singers (one who always carries/plays an accordion) and two scantily-clad blonde bombshells.
Check out the video for their first hit, “Brizgalna Brizga”, which was #1 in the Slovenian charts for several months. (It sounds like they later re-recorded this song as “Turbo Polka”, but I prefer the original.)
Thanks abaris!
Now here’s something you don’t see everyday: it’s a stand-up accordion/organ built sometime in the 1940s/1950s. It looks like you can play while sitting or standing behind it and, instead of a bellows, you use a foot pedal to activate the fan inside and drive air through it. The nameplate says “L. Bonvicini” and according to the seller’s description, it was acquired at an estate sale in rural Colorado.
At first, I assumed this was a one-of-a-kind item, but then I found another one that went up for sale on eBay last month. That one was in better condition and included some interesting notes in the description:
“There is an old classified ad taped on it that says only 3 of these were ever made and they called it a chord organ, although it is not like any chord organ I’ve ever seen. The base/pedestal has a fan in it and you hold the foot pedal down to create an air flow. There is a volume adjustment on the pedestal also.”
Further sleuthing led me to a list of recent acquisitions at the University of South Dakota’s National Music Museum. About halfway down the list is this item:
“NMM 10753. Pianaccord (electrified piano accordion) by Diego Gobbi, Piacenza, Italy, for Ernest Bonvicini (1910-1976), Denver, Colorado, the third generation player and owner of Bonvicini Accordions, 3746 Fillmore Street, Denver. Gift of JoEllen Tipton, Vermillion.”
Unfortunately, it doesn’t include a picture of the instrument, but I’m guessing it’s another one of these stand-up accordions. Either way, I’m wondering if these “accordions” were made specifically for Bonvicini’s personal use, or whether they were intended for sale. The keyboard/chord button layout looks awkward to me (and probably explains why there were only three ever made), but if you want a real conversation piece for your living room, the bidding starts at $299.99.
I don’t know where to begin with this one — it’s a video for a Slovenian (I think) group named Skuter. The song is called “Na Pomoc” and can best be described as cheesy polka-pop, featuring accordion and synthesizer melodies over a thumping 2/4 beat. The video, though, takes a page straight out of the hip-hop video playbook — a pool party with bikini babes gyrating around fancy cars — but adds a twist in the form of… tractors. Yup, tractors.
A handful of Let’s Polka stickers to anyone who can provide a English translation of the lyrics, or just explain what the hell is going on here.
You and I know that accordion playing is the key to a happy, healthy life and the admiration of your peers. But how do we convey that message to the youth of America?
Fortunately, there’s In Tune With Fun — a 1950s comic about learning to play the accordion. In it, we follow the story of young Tom, who sees the “Young People’s Accordion Band” perform and decides he wants to be just as happy and popular as those other accordion-playing kids. With the encouragement of his parents, a lot of practice, and many afternoons spent listening to Ernie Felice records, Tom becomes a self-assured young man and a sought-after accordionist. Women want to date him! Men want to be him!
It’s an inspiring tale, with a message that still resonates today. Take it from Tom: “You’ve never really had fun until you start taking accordion lessons.”
[Found via J-Walk Blog]
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One of the acts we caught last weekend at Smythe’s Accordion Festival was the incomparable Duckmandu, aka Aaron Seeman. Despite recently injuring his rotator cuff (he passed around a handout illustrating the injury), he played an excellent set, including one-of-a-kind solo accordion renditions of “Highway to Hell” (complete with flames shooting out of his Donald Duck hat) and “Rocky Mountain High”.
Duckmandu is probably best known for his album, Fresh Duck for Rotting Accordionists, a solo accordion version of the first Dead Kennedys album Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables. Anyone who’s familiar with the original knows that a note-for-note recreation is no easy feat (especially on accordion), but he manages to pull it off. Original Dead Kennedys bassist Klaus Fluoride even sings backup on a few tracks. Check out his cover of “California Uber Alles”:
Duckmandu: California Uber Alles (MP3 download)
accordion
uploaded by malloreighThe hills are alive with the sound of… zombies?!? Zombie mobs invaded the streets of San Francisco and Vancouver on Saturday, stumbling around and searching for fresh brains to feed upon. Looking through the Vancouver photos, I found this one of a zombie accordionist making the rounds. Glad to see that even the undead appreciate good music.
Jo Basile (also known as Joss Baselli) was one of France’s most popular accordionists in the 1950s and 60s. Rising to fame as the principal accompanist to French chanteuse Patachou, Basile later put out his own records as well. Some were formulaic (Rome with Love, Rio with Love… I think you’re getting the picture), but others (like his album with Brazilian jazz legends Bossa Tres) show what a virtuoso he really was.
Accordeon 2000 was a departure for Basile — an album full of futuristic originals with bizarre titles like “Pas de Camembert sur la Lune” and “Galaxie Valse.” Recorded with an electronic Cavagnolo Majorvox accordion, the resulting sound is far more like an organ than accordion, and helps creates a groovy, spaced-out vibe. Picture yourself in a flying car while listening to this track from Accordeon 2000:
Missile a Domicile (MP3 download)
[Found via Whoops]
Sometimes I run across an eBay auction so ridiculous, it makes me laugh out loud. Check out this auction for an old Florino accordion. The description is priceless (as is the accordion, according to the seller):
“I think the gold parts are actual 21 K gold. A man once offered me $32,000.00 for this but I refused his pathetic attempt at a business transaction. Listen, I know this accordion is worth well over $560,000.00, but I am willing to take what I can get. No reserve and a $.99 minimum guarantees that this thing is going to sell. THIS IS THE CADILLAC OF ALL ACCORDIONS! YOU MUST DEMAND THE BEST!
Even after laying it on so thick, the current high bid is just $6.49 (about 1/6 the price of shipping). Can you believe it? For the “Cadillac of all accordions”!
Want to sound like an honest-to-goodness accordion player, but without all that pesky practice and hard work? Well, check out this accordion built by Hessmuller — it looks like a real button accordion but, in fact, it uses a small mini disc player and speakers to play over 100 Bavarian-German songs (including “Beer Barrel Polka”). Here’s the pitch:
“Have your own Octoberfest! You can convince them all that you are a musical wizard. This is a real button accordion built by Hessmuller of Morgenroethe Saxony (Germany), but instead of the usual reed sets it uses mini discs playing professionally sampled accordion solos of traditional polkas, marches, waltzes, tangos etc. played by real German accordion players… All the player has to do is move the bellows and play the buttons (keys are all functional) convincingly and people will marvel at your skills.”
Of course, becoming a “musical wizard” overnight has its price — typically $1,595 when it pops up on eBay. My advice: save your money and put it towards some accordion lessons. [Found via Squeezytunes]