North End MusicAnna and I just got back from a long weekend in Boston, where we enjoyed plenty of great Italian food, coffee, and hospitality in Boston’s North End. We also ran into a few accordionists in the neighborhood, including this guy who was playing on Hanover Street this morning. We tossed a couple dollars in his case and remind our readers to do the same whenever you see another accordionist busking. Support your fellow squeezers!

History was made last Sunday at the Cotati Accordion Festival. I won the grand prize in the raffle: a brand new Hohner Corona button accordion!

Now, I’m a piano accordionist, but I had always wanted to learn button accordion. After initially pricing them, I realized I couldn’t afford one. So, for years, I had been eyeing them longingly, unsuccessfully searching eBay for deals, and hoping that some day I could get one.

Fast-forward to the Cotati Accordion Festival. Shortly after Chris and I arrived, there was an announcement: “Buy your raffle tickets for the Hohner Corona button accordion!” and I knew right away that I had to take a chance. Chris, knowing I’ve always wanted a button accordion, encouraged me to go buy a few tickets. I got 6 tickets for $5. What a deal! I was really excited. I felt lucky.

Chris and I walked around, browsing the accordions for sale. I mentioned that I wanted to check out some button accordions and he said “Don’t buy one. You might win the one in the raffle!”

And he was right! When they announced my name as the winner, I was completely stunned! I ran up to the stage and showed them my tickets. I couldn’t believe I won! I was ecstatic! When I looked back into the crowd, I saw Chris practically rolling on the ground with laughter. The kind and helpful Cotati Accordion Festival folks said “Congratulations!” and boxed up the accordion for me. Chris took a photo.

After much squeeing, I showed my new win to some people and was introduced to a potential new teacher. Chris helped me carry the squeezebox out to the car and we drove home to show everyone. I think my mom was the most blown away by my great luck. We took it out of the gig bag and saw that they included straps and a lesson book. Awesome!

I’ve been doing the lessons and just having a great time trying to play. I love my new accordion. It is a really cool, unique color, and it sounds really good! So I have just been thrilled to have won it.

Many, many thanks to the folks at the Cotati Accordion Festival, and to Hohner, who donated the accordion!

A few months ago, Anna asked me how I wanted to spend my 30th birthday. A big party? A quiet dinner? Just ignore it and pretend I’m still 29? Fortunately for me, the answer was easy. So last Sunday, I spent my birthday with a couple thousand fellow accordion enthusiasts at the annual Cotati Accordion Festival just outside Santa Rosa.

For those who’ve never been, the festival is an accordionist’s dream — two days of non-stop music, numerous accordion-related vendors, and a dance tent with polka and zydeco music. We arrived around 11am on Sunday and spent about nine hours taking in the sights (see photos) and sounds. Some of the highlights:

• Meeting Dick Contino
  I’ll admit, I’d been looking forward this for a long time. Dick and I share the same hometown (Fresno), and he even went to school with some of my relatives. He was as nice as can be; he talked to us for a few minutes, signed a poster, and then went on to play an excellent set (see video).
• Joel Guzman and Aztex
  It didn’t take long to recognize that Joel Guzman can make his accordion do pretty much anything he wants it to. Add in a tight band (Aztex) and a great singer (his wife, Sarah Fox) and it’s no wonder he’s a two-time Grammy winner. (Update: I found a great video of Joel’s performance on YouTube.)
• La Familia Peña-Govea
  Going into the festival, I didn’t know much about them, but they’re probably the band I had the most fun listening to. Really fun and lively. And the crowd agreed — there were more people dancing during their set than at any other time on Sunday.
• Lady of Spain ring
  Every year at the festival, in the middle of the day, all accordionists are invited up to the stage to play Lady of Spain together. Then, as they play, dozens of white doves are released over the park. Seriously. You can’t make this stuff up.
• Promising young accordionists
  At 76, Dick Contino can still bellows shake with the best of ’em. But on the other end of the age spectrum, the festival featured some great performances by young accordionists like Ben Creed and Gino Bagala. The future looks bright!
• Anna’s raffle prize
  I’ll let Anna tell the story herself but, needless to say, we never expected a $5 investment in raffle tickets to pay off that well!

And there was so much more! Finally seeing Polkacide live… hanging out in the Golden State Accordion Club’s jam tent… watching the crazy rubboard player in Mark St. Mary’s zydeco band… what a day. Needless to say, I already know where my 31st birthday party will be.

We’re back from Cotati and we had a fantastic time! I’m ready to crash right now, but over the next couple days I’ll post a bunch of photos and write up some highlights, including the amazing story of how Anna won the grand prize at the festival raffle — a shiny new Hohner Corona II diatonic accordion. Really!

In the meantime, check out a set of festival photos from Flickr user mudpieblues, as well as this short video I took during Dick Contino’s performance on Sunday:

polka
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la vida comoMost people probably don’t think of Bethlehem, PA, as a musical mecca, but for 10 days every August, the town is home to one of the biggest music festivals in the world: Musikfest. More than one million people come to Musikfest to listen to over 300 performers on 13 different stages playing in nearly every musical style imaginable.

Thanks to the area’s German heritage, the polka has always been at the heart of Musikfest; though there was some controversy last year when organizers allowed non-polka theme nights at the Festplatz (the main Musikfest polka venue). Nevertheless, the accordion is well represented at this year’s Musikfest, with performances from Jimmy Sturr, Steve Meisner, C.J. Chenier, Oriek, Big Lou’s Polka Casserole, the Al Meixner Trio, and many more.

If you want to follow Musikfest from afar, try some of these links:

• The official Musikfest site has everything you need to know — performer bios, event schedule, photos, and an inline music player with tunes from most of the acts playing this year’s ‘Fest.
• You’ve got to love a festival that’s so big that there are two blogs devoted to covering it. Mergedigital’s Musikfest blog and the Morning Call’s Festblog have both been reporting multiple times daily on festival highlights (such as where to find the best beer service).
• And, for those who love impromptu cameraphone shots like the one above, keep an eye on the latest photos tagged with ‘musikfest’ on Flickr.

Nice Accordion
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laterent2000From organist/accordionist Jon Hammond comes this wonderfully strange photo of an accordion so gigantic that it takes two people just to squeeze it. The photo was taken in Castelfidardo, the name of the Italian town known as the center of the Italian accordion industry since the late 1800s. These days, Castelfidardo is also home to an accordion museum and an annual accordion festival and competition (where Those Darn Accordions famously took fourth place — out of two bands — in 1990).

Nice Accordion
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This Year’s LoveI came across this photo — probably from the late 1950s/early 1960s — and couldn’t help but wonder if this boy kept playing into adulthood, or if he was forced to take lessons, quit a short time later, and this is the only known photo of him smiling and holding the accordion at the same time. Either way, he’s got the right idea with the bow tie — regular ties always get caught in the bellows.

In Case of Emergency
uploaded by lizhenryIn case of a fire, businesses are required to have a fire extinguisher somewhere on the premises. Silicon Valley institution, Buck’s of Woodside, though, takes it a step further; they have a couple accordions secured behind glass with the message: “In case of emergency, break glass — save accordions.” That’s good advice for anyone, and part of the reason why, at our house, we keep the accordions near the door.

I scanned in this photo from a recent issue of the University of Nevada-Reno magazine, Silver and Blue. (Thanks Ellen!) The photo was a contribution to UNR’s Oral History Program and is part of a project to tell the story of the influence of Italian Americans on northern Nevada’s history:

“If you were an Italian American growing up in the early to mid-20th century, chances are that you or a sibling or one of your friends was forced to play the accordion. So it was for 9-year-old Al Lazzarone, seen here (third row, third from left) playing with a band in Sacramento in 1932.”

Looking at this young accordion army, I’d like to think that they were the Those Darn Accordions or Main Squeeze Accordion Orchestra of their day. What was their repertoire like? Did any of them go on to accordion stardom? How many of them kept playing later in life? So many questions…