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”:
The Broken Spoke in Austin, TX, is a legendary honky-tonk country music dance hall, a place where names like Strait, Tubb, and Acuff have all graced the stage, and Willie Nelson still stops in for chicken-fried steak (reportedly the best in town, possibly the state). On the last Tuesday of every month, it’s also home to the Austin Accordion Roundup hosted by Debra Peters.
At each Roundup, a guest accordionist shows up to play a few of their favorite tunes, followed by more accordion music from Debra and her band the Love Saints, who specialize in blues, zydeco, classic country, and Tex-Mex. Debra also teaches accordion lessons in the Austin area, and has recorded a blues accordion basics DVD. So if you’re in Austin this Tuesday, head on down to the Broken Spoke for some accordion music and chicken-fried steak. Mmm…
Posted September 24th, 2006 in Events, Profiles · Comments off
Let’s jump into the time machine and set a course for the 1940s, when pop accordion/guitar/organ trio The Three Suns were topping the charts with “Twilight Time” and their cover of “Peg o’ My Heart.” Now a favorite of lounge music aficionados, the group had a very successful run through the mid-1960s, spawning imitators and even appearing in the feature film, Two Gals and a Guy.
Check out this video of the group’s original lineup (Artie Dunn on organ/vocals, Al Nevins on guitar, and his brother Morty Nevins on accordion) performing “Beyond the Blue Horizon.” For more on The Three Suns, don’t miss Michael Toth’s exhaustive history of the group.
It’s time to break out the lederhosen, dust off your beer steins, and roll out the barrel. Oktoberfest season has begun and it’s a busy time for accordionists. Just ask Nick Ballarini who played at Addison Oktoberfest last weekend and was profiled in the Dallas Morning News. In the piece, he talks about the variety of musical styles available to an accordionist:
“It’s a great way to express yourself. You can get a different feeling out of it by controlling the bellows or even the way you attack the keyboard. If you want to sound like a Frenchman, you put on a beret.”
Nick is a veteran of the accordion scene, having performed with Luciano Pavarotti, Mel Torme, The Chieftains, among others. Along with Frank Marocco, he also runs the annual Marocco-Ballarini Accordion Camp, which takes place January 24-28, 2007, in Mesa, Arizona.
Dubbed “El Hurac?n del Valle” (“The Hurricane of the Valley”) due to his lightning-fast playing, Narciso Mart?nez is considered “the father of Texas Mexican conjunto.” Mart?nez grew up outside Brownsville, Texas, and was eventually drawn to the accordion music played in the Rio Grande Valley. After taking up the accordion in 1928, he moved to Bishop, where he became steeped in the accordion-playing traditions of local Czech and German immigrants. His pioneering innovation was in the way he focused entirely on right-hand melody (trills, cross-row runs, and vibrato) and left the rhythm and bass to his excellent bajo sexto player, Santiago Almeida. Their style and sound became the blueprint for the generations of conjunto musicians who followed.
Opening your own small business can be incredibly challenging; even more so if your business is in the underappreciated field of accordion repair. Fortunately Skyler Fell, who runs the Accordion Apocalypse Repair Shop in San Francisco, is up to the challenge.
Skyler started out as an apprentice at Boaz Accordions in Berkeley (where I bought my used Weltmeister) and, after they closed, opened her own shop in an Oakland garage before moving to a warehouse studio in Hunter’s Point earlier this year. There, she rebuilds and repairs old accordions, sells accordions, books, sheet music, cases, and stands, and dispenses free accordion advice to all. The San Francisco Examiner recently profiled Skyler and she talked about her passion for old, hand-built instruments:
“It’s really a rich history, and I feel blessed to be carrying the new torch… I really like these older accordions. They’re from the 1940s. Each accordion has so much chutzpah, charm and personality.”
In addition to selling and repairing accordions, Skyler hosts a monthly music jam/potluck at her shop; the next one is this Sunday at 7pm. Accordionists are especially encouraged to attend, but all instruments are welcome. Kielbasia, San Francisco’s favorite Accordion-Playing Drag Lunch Lady, will make a special guest appearance at 8pm. Check the Accordion Apocalypse site for directions and more info.
Years ago, Michael Hearst and Joshua Camp worked together as repairmen at Hohner’s warehouse in Richmond, VA, fixing accordions and marveling at the strange instruments that crossed their paths. Today, the duo puts many of those offbeat instruments — including the claviola, vocoder, glockenspiel, and accordion — to work in the music they create together as One Ring Zero. Often categorized as “lit rock”, the band is best known for the critically acclaimed album As Smart as We Are, which was a combination book/CD featuring their music combined with lyrics contributed by authors like Margaret Atwood, Dave Eggers, Neil Gaiman, and many more.
Their latest album, Wake Them Up, comes out today and includes songs about Siamese twins, marching mannequins, and decrepit trailer parks over music that’s alternatingly haunting and enchanting (and sometimes both at the same time). I highly recommend checking out The Morning News profile of the band, written around the time that As Smart as We Are came out (mid 2004).
If you’re in New York next week, you can catch the One Ring Zero’s CD release party for Wake Them Up at Joe’s Pub on Thursday, September 7th. In the meantime, enjoy this track from one of their earlier albums, Memorandum:
Earlier this week, the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat ran a fun profile of Gino Bagala, an 11-year-old accordionist from Santa Rosa. Gino is passionate about his playing: he practices twice a day, performs in public weekly, and is a member of the Accordion Club of the Redwoods. In his spare time, you can find him surfing eBay for deals on accordion sheet music, listening to Frank Sinatra records, or serenading his dog with the theme song to The Godfather. All of this as he pursues his dream:
“When I grow up, I’d like to be a professional accordion player, own an Italian restaurant and on the side, be a professional wrestler.”
Now that’s a dream. Go for it, Gino!
Posted August 19th, 2006 in Kids, Profiles · Comments off
Rock and roll had Elvis. Polka had Li’l Wally Jagiello, pioneer of the Chicago-style polka, who passed away yesterday at the age of 76. The son of Polish immigrants, Li’l Wally was a self-taught drummer and concertina player who revolutionized polka music by taking the frantic pace of traditional polka and slowing it down. In Charles Keil’s book Polka Happiness, Li’l Wally explained his approach:
“You see, a polka was never supposed to be played fast. If you play it fast, you modernize it. I went to Europe, all different villages. I never heard a fast polka there. So why should I hear a fast polka here? My beat is more ethnic. They used to tell me this is too slow… Actually, it’s not slow. It’s a bouncy beat, but not fast… Eastern style may be musicians’ music, but I don’t play for musicians, I play for the public. The public wants to hear melody, lyrics. They want to hear a song with a simple, real pretty story behind it that they can dance to. Real bouncy.”
Li’l Wally promoted his music tirelessly with live shows (as a trio — trumpet, concertina, and Wally on drums), a morning radio show, and his own record company, Jay Jay records. He wrote over 2000 songs — including his hits “Wish I Was Single Again”, “Chicago Is a Polka Town”, and “She Likes Kielbasa” — and during his 1950s heyday, he recorded between ten and twelve albums a year. Unlike most bandleaders, Li’l Wally eschewed sheet music; instead, he wanted his musicians to have room for improvisation and focus on their most important job: pleasing the audience.
One of the charter members of the Polka Hall of Fame (along with Frankie Yankovic), Li’l Wally was a polka legend and he will be sorely missed. To learn more about his life, check out this excellent in-depth feature from the Miami New Times, written in 1999. And make sure to drink a beer (or two) for Wally tonight.
This week, Anna and I went to see Little Miss Sunshine and as soon as the movie started I recognized the sound of one of my new favorite bands, DeVotchKa. It turns out DeVotchKa teamed with composer Mychael Danna to do most of the film’s soundtrack and their lush, dreamy sound adds the perfect backdrop to an already charming movie.
Devotchka is a Denver-based quartet with a smart, unique sound that crosses borders. Sometimes billed as Eastern European indie rock, the band blends gypsy, folk, mariachi, and rock influences effortlessly. No instrument is off limits, either: violin, sousaphone, trumpet, double bass, theramin, bouzouki, and, of course, the accordion (played by Tom Hagerman) all take turns on center stage. Meanwhile, frontman Nick Urata’s haunting voice soars above it all.
Their latest EP, Curse Your Little Heart is an eclectic mix of covers ranging from Frank Sinatra (“Something Stupid”) to Siouxsie and the Banshees (“The Last Beat of My Heart”). The Denver-based band is currently on a West Coast tour and are playing in Seattle tonight and San Francisco and Los Angeles next week. Their live show sounds like a blast, so catch them if you can.
The 
Years ago, Michael Hearst and Joshua Camp worked together as repairmen at Hohner’s warehouse in Richmond, VA, fixing accordions and marveling at the strange instruments that crossed their paths. Today, the duo puts many of those offbeat instruments — including the 
Rock and roll had Elvis. Polka had