The 4th annual Art Pahl Accordion Fest will be held Sunday (tomorrow!) in Le Mars, IA, at the Plymouth County Historical Museum. The festival honors Pahl, a local accordionist known for playing at civic events, who passed away in 2003, and includes a lineup of midwestern accordionists from five states, including Pahl’s daughter, Marie Bender. Pahl’s last wish before dying of cancer was to have an accordion jam, and he participated in the first festival just before he passed away. Although players have already signed up to perform, walk-ins are welcome and anyone who plays the accordion is encouraged to show up and jam the afternoon away.

Things have been so crazy around the Let’s Polka household lately, that we forgot to wish our readers a happy Dyngus Day on Monday. Dyngus Day is a day for celebrating both Polish-American culture and the end of Lent, emphasizing Polish heritage and traditions. Polkas are played and danced, kielbasa and pierogis are eaten… you get the picture.

Buffalo, NY is the king of Dyngus Day festivities, though it’s also observed in other Polish communities, including South Bend, Chicago, Pittsburgh, and even The Villages, FL, where people came from miles around to listen to Orlando Polkamagic. Needless to say, any party that involves polkas and sausage is one that I can wholeheartedly endorse.

Want to liven up your lazy Sunday? Bay Area accordion supergroup AbsolutAccord will be playing at the San Francisco Accordion Club’s monthly meeting this Sunday, April 23rd at 2pm, at that legendary, rockin’ venue — the South San Francisco Senior Center. AbsolutAccord’s repertoire includes jazz standards, French, Italian, and Russian music, tangos, and classical music — here’s a sample:

El Choclo Tango (MP3 download)

I’ve been meaning to write about the Main Squeeze Accordion Orchestra, and after reading this great insider’s view of the group by Main Squeezer Rachel Zoll, I can’t hold back anymore. Main Squeeze is a 15-woman, all-female, all-accordion band from New York City that plays everything from Bach to Kurt Weill to Queen. If you’re thinking to yourself, “Wow, that sounds like the best thing ever!”, you are absolutely right.

The orchestra was founded in 2002 by Walter Kuhr, owner of Main Squeeze Accordions in New York, when “one night, after attending an accordion festival, Kuhr dreamt he was the conductor of an all-female accordion orchestra… not just any all-female accordion orchestra, but an orchestra of unsurpassable quality.” It sounds like the dream, complete with glossy accordions and pigtails, has been realized.

If you’re in the New York area, you can catch the Main Squeeze Accordion Orchestra on Friday, April 21st at Moe Pitkins. If you’re not so fortunate, you can settle for these audio and video clips (check their site for more):

Love Will Tear Us Apart (Joy Division cover; MP3 download)

Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite (Beatles cover; Quicktime video)

If you’re in the Portland (Oregon) area tonight, check out the Big Squeeze, an all-accordion event at P.P.A.A. with international flavor. The lineup includes Johnny B. Connolly (Ireland), Leonid Nosov (Ukraine), Gheorghe Borcea (Romania), and Milen Slavov (Bulgaria). After they perform, Too Loose Cajun Band will provide the soundtrack for a cajun dance party. The cost is on a sliding scale, anyone under 15 gets in free, and here’s a map if you get lost. Have a great time!

The 7th annual Vienna Accordion Festival wrapped up last weekend and, judging from this post on rec.music.makers.squeezebox, there were some stellar performances. The month-long festival brought together performers from all over the world — over 160 artists from 28 countries — and also included films, workshops, and plenty of squeezebox networking. A handful of Americans made the trip and performed this year, including Frank Marocco, Jason Webley, and CJ Chenier and the Red Hot Louisiana Band. Check out some photos from this year’s festival, and then start making your plans for 2007.

Zydeco legend Buckwheat Zydeco is on the road again, with his white accordion in hand, starting instant zydeco parties from coast to coast. Recently, he’s been garnering rave reviews in such exotic locales as Harrisburg, Grand Rapids, and Morgantown. Check the tour dates to see when he’s coming to your town; we may try to catch him at the Monterey Bay Blues Festival in June.

In the meantime, here are a couple Buckwheat tracks to get you ready:

Hot Tamale Baby (streaming)

I’m Gonna Love You Anyway (streaming)

The annual South by Southwest (SXSW) music festival just wrapped up in Austin and there were plenty of performances by talented, independent bands featuring accordions. Here are a few bands to check out (with MP3 samples):

• Madagascar
  This Baltimore band incorporates the accordion, ukulele, and musical saw into hauntingly beautiful, mostly instrumental tunes. Their first album, “Forced March”, was released this last June.
  All That Spring You Could See Halley’s Comet
• Very Be Careful
  VBC brings rollicking, make-you-dance Colombian vallenato rhythms to the masses, via Los Angeles. If you like cumbia, you’ll like these guys.
  El Camionero
• The Theater Fire
  They tell stories about “drifters, hangmen, brothers, and lovers grappling with their own honor, trust, guilt and loss,” over music that combines country with mariachi, folk, and blues influences.
  Swimming
• Noahlewis’ Mahlon Taits
  A unique, jazzy instrumental group from Tokyo, featuring some great musical saw playing. (The musical saw must be making a comeback… or maybe it never left.) Very mellow and ethereal.
  Street of Dreams

Tom Torriglia wanted us to spread the word about the 16th Annual San Francisco Accordion Festival — Saturday, June 4th from noon to 6pm at the Cannery (at Fisherman’s Wharf). It’s a fun, free event held to celebrate National Accordion Awareness Month, with numerous accordion-based bands performing and a raffle to raise money for Music in Schools Today.

One of the festival highlights is the Main Squeeze Pageant, where contestants are judged based on talent, costume, and the answer to the question “Why should you be San Francisco’s Main Squeeze?” Last year’s winner, Kielbasia, wowed the crowd with her spunky “Pierogi Polka.” To enter this year?s pageant, contact Tom and start working on your costume!