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)