Lately, it feels like there’s an accordion festival almost every weekend in the Bay Area. This weekend, it’s Petaluma’s turn to roll out the red carpet — more than 50 accordionists and singers will be performing as part of Petaluma’s annual “Celebrate the Accordion Day”. Events will be held in two locations: Putnam Plaza on Petaluma Boulevard from 11:45am until 5pm, and the Petaluma Museum courtyard at Fourth and B streets from 11am until 6pm. The music is free, so bring the kids and celebrate the last Saturday of Accordion Awareness Month in style.

It seems like every profession or industry these days has an annual convention in Vegas, and accordionists are no different. The Las Vegas International Accordion Convention runs from June 26 to June 29 at the Gold Coast Casino & Hotel. If you can manage to pull yourself away from the craps table, you’ll enjoy three full days of entertainment, special events, and workshops on topics as wide-ranging as “Bellows Shakes,” “Digital Accordion Voicing,” and “Slovenian Polka Styles.” There’s also a dinner/concert each evening during the convention — headliners include Art Van Damme and Dick Contino. And don’t forget all the opportunities to network with fellow accordion players from around the world. That’s priceless!

Well, actually, there is a price: $435 for individuals, $765 for couples, which includes all daily events, meals, and evening concerts (not including hotel). If you still need some convincing, check out some photos from last year and previous years.

Culann’s Hounds at the San Francisco Accordion Festival
uploaded by banjoheadIf you felt an earthquake in the Bay Area on Sunday afternoon, it was probably caused by the foot-stomping, booty-shaking good time had by everyone at the 16th annual San Francisco Accordion Festival. Here’s a roundup of audio/visual highlights from the weekend:

• “Squeeze Play” is a juicy cover story about the 2006 festival from Sunday’s SF Chronicle Datebook (the pink section), with quotes from local squeezebox luminaries like Tom Torriglia (the festival organizer), Big Lou, and Paul Rogers of TDA. Be sure to check out the accompanying photo gallery, too.
• Jan Sluizer from Westwood One Radio did an interview with Tom (MP3, 1.5 MB) at the festival.
• Jamin posted a fantastic short video that includes an interview with Skyler of Accordion Apocalypse and some festival performance clips. (I love the shot of all the bemused onlookers watching from above the courtyard.)
• Flickr user banjohead posted a huge photoset of Culann’s Hounds’ performance. (Renee de la Prade, button box player for the Hounds, also won the festival’s annual Main Squeeze pageant. Congratulations Renee!) He’s since added photo sets of San Francisco Accordion Band, Kielbasia, and Conjunto Romero.
• Flickr user melastmohican also posted a bunch of festival photos, including shots of TDA, Kielbasia, and Bella Ciao.

I’ll update this list as I find more, but it sure looks like everyone had a fantastic time. Tom deserves a gigantic thank you from the local squeezebox community both for putting the festival together, and for his tireless promotion of accordions everywhere. Thanks Tom!

Just in case it isn’t already marked in bold on your calendar, June is National Accordion Awareness Month! Accordion Awareness Month is the brainchild of Bay Area accordionist Tom Torriglia (who also helped make the accordion the official instrument of San Francisco back in 1990). It’s the perfect excuse to pull that ol’ squeezebox out of your closet and make your neighbors, um, “aware” of its existence.

To kick off this important month, the 16th annual San Francisco Accordion Festival will be held this Sunday, June 4th, at the Cannery at Fisherman’s Wharf. The event is free, runs from noon to 6pm, and features some of our favorite accordion-flavored performers, including Those Darn Accordions, Big Lou’s Polka Casserole, Conjunto Romero, Bella Ciao, Culann’s Hounds, Kielbasia, and the San Francisco Accordion Orchestra. As mentioned previously, the festival features the San Francisco Main Squeeze Pageant, a contest to crown the most talented (and colorful) accordion player in town.

We’re planning to be there on Sunday, so if you see us (probably not wearing lederhosen), come up and give us a big squeeze!

Surfing YouTube has become one of my favorite pasttimes and yesterday it paid off when I found a handful of video clips from manic accordionist Jason Webley‘s recent appearance (May 11) in Davis, CA. In this clip, he’s playing “May Day”, though he takes a break in the middle to teach the audience how to dance the “Gnomie” (and play a snippet of “If You Don’t Know Me By Now”):

In other Jason Webley news, his new vinyl EP/bonus CD, “Eleven Saints”, comes out on June 2nd and it’s a collaborative songwriting effort with Seattle poet Jay Thompson. Jason’s also holding his 2nd annual Camp Tomato — a one-day smorgasbord of tomato-themed fun and activities — at Seattle’s Woodland Park on June 3rd.

Accordionist Dan Chouinard is hosting “Mambo Italiano”, an exploration of the Italian roots of American popular music, tomorrow (Saturday) night at the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul, MN. Inspired by the summer Chouinard spent biking across Europe with his accordion, the show features Italian music ranging from peasant songs and opera to postwar hits from the likes of Louis Prima, Antonio Bennett and Concetta Francis. Even if you can’t make it to the show, there’s an excellent preview and interview with some of the performers on the Minnesota Public Radio website. You can also read a review of “Cafe Europa”, a similar (but more autobiographical) show that Chouinard put on last year.

If you’re looking for some cajun flavor in the Bay Area this weekend, check out the Boogie on the Bayou, an annual celebration held in downtown Campbell, CA. There’ll be live music (performers include Motordude Zydeco), cajun food, and the usual abundance of arts and crafts booths that you can’t avoid at events like this. The party goes from 11am to 5pm on Saturday and Sunday, and parking and admission are free. We may be there on Saturday, so say ‘hi’ if you see us!

After talking up the Main Squeeze Accordion Orchestra a few weeks ago, I noticed in Corn Mo’s blog that he sat in at one of their rehearsals this week. Both artists will be anchoring an accordion-heavy lineup tomorrow (Saturday) night at Pianos in New York City. Other acts on the bill include Hang the Lights (solo project of Joshua Camp, from One Ring Zero), Infinite Orchestra, and Jonathan Vincent.

Apparently Corn Mo will be performing Bohemian Rhapsody with Main Squeeze, which sounds like a dream squeezebox collaboration if there ever was one. Drop us a line if you go to the show and we’ll post your review here next week.

The town of Muenster, TX, is holding its 31st annual Germanfest this weekend, an event “where Texas hospitality and German customs meet.” Now that might sound like an odd combination, but Muenster was founded around the turn of the century by German immigrants, whose descendants now celebrate their heritage with a festival filled with food, fun, and, of course, music.

Events include a 5k/15k fun run, a bicycle rally, a sausage and rib cook-off (save me some!), and a number of other competitions including Nagelshlagen — where a spike is hammered into a tree stump by contestants to see who can hammer the spike into the stump with the fewest swings. If you’re looking for accordion tunes, you won’t be disappointed either — performers at this year’s Germanfest include Brave Combo, The Polka Kings (from Lawton, OK), Alpenfest, and more.

It’s also worth mentioning that admission is free if you arrive in “complete ethnic German costume,” so break out that lederhosen and get over to the Germanfest this weekend!