• Everybody Must Polka When Brave Combo Comes to Town
  Carl Finch of Brave Combo lists five polka albums which “helped shape the face of polka in this country.” In addition to classic albums by Scrubby and the Dynatones, Steve Jordan, and Happy Louie, his list of essential polka artists ranges from the Connecticut Twins to Polkacide.
• Tony Loved to Learn
  A new children’s picture book on the life of master accordionist and teacher Anthony Galla-Rini, who passed away in 2006. Written by Sharon Riddle and Nancy Sanders.
• Accordion Noir: Best of 2007
  Vancouver’s finest all-accordion radio show celebrates its first year with a recap of their 2007 favorites. The perfect soundtrack for a long winter’s night, you can download the shows directly from their website.

Gilbert Reyes of Reyes Accordions recently shared some photos of the new diatonic accordions that Hohner will unveil at the NAMM Show later this month. These three new “Xtreme” models have 34 buttons (the standard Corona has 31) and include reed switches — three on the Tex-Mex Corona II Xtreme and five on the norteño and vallenato tuned Corona III Xtremes. They certainly seem designed to compete with Gabbanelli accordions, which have long been popular in the Conjunto/Tejano scene.

Hohner Corona II Xtreme

Continue reading ‘New Hohner Accordions for 2008’ »

No, we haven’t joined the writers’ strike; we’ve just been in hibernation for the past couple weeks. Now we’re rested and ready to squeeze into 2008 with more accordion news, reviews, and events than ever before!

But first, let’s look back at some Let’s Polka highlights from the past year:

• In addition to launching our calendar of accordion events, we covered local events like the Monsters of Accordion and Cotati Accordion Festival, and recapped events further afield, including the Coupe Mondiale in Washington, the International Accordion Festival in San Antonio, and South by Southwest.
• We interviewed accordionist (and Monsters of Accordion organizer) Jason Webley, and profiled a number of hard-working accordionists, ranging from Frank Marocco to Eva Ybarra. We said goodbye to legendary teacher Maddalena Belfiore and our writeup on the Big Joe Polka Show has become a popular destination for Big Joe fans.
• We’re not as prolific as Rolling Stone (yet), but we did review a bunch of new accordion albums. Some of our favorites included new releases by Those Darn Accordions, Acadian accordionist Elly Kelly, Tom Hagerman (of DeVotchKa), and Zevy Zions.
• Once again, we spent (too many) hours on YouTube watching how to build a diatonic accordion, an incredible accordion performance of Flight of the Bumblebee, classic clips of Those Darn Accordions, Johnny Pecon, an all-star Tejano accordion jam, and much more. We also contributed to the drop in productivity with our own video of Corn Mo’s “We are the Champions”.
• And there was plenty more… fantastic accordion photos, the debate over online polka radio, a polka book/CD giveaway, and the mysterious disappearance of a Texas polka star.

And we have even bigger plans for 2008 — so stay tuned, keep squeezin’, and have a happy New Year!

I recently came across a children’s book called The Octonauts and the Sea of Shade, by Meomi. I was delighted to find out that the main character, Captain Barnacles Bear, plays the accordion!

Check it out to see how the Captain and the Octonauts save the Sea of Shade. (I’ll give you a hint: the Captain’s accordion is involved!) This is a great book for kids. And definitely a great last-minute holiday gift for your favorite accordion-loving kid-at-heart, too!

• Honoring Zydeco’s King
  Remembering the King of Zydeco, Clifton Chenier, on the 20th anniversary of his death. “Sometimes, if I’m stuck on one of his songs and I can’t figure it out, I’ll go out there [to Chenier’s tomb] and just kind of play it,” said Corey Ledet. “In about 30 minutes, I’ll be playing it.”
• Grand Royal: King Creosote Charms Up a Storm
  San Francisco Bay Guardian’s music blog profiles Scottish singer/songwriter King Creosote, known for “graceful accordion-and-piano-driven tearjerkers and quirky ’60s-inspired pop.” Check out the video clip, “My Favourite Girl.”
• Mr. Accordion Man
  At age five, Walter Lawrence received an accordion for Christmas. More than fifty years later, he’s still playing — now serenading customers four nights a week at a local restaurant. “By day, he shuffles paper at an office job. ‘But this is what I am,’ he says. ‘This is my love.'”

We are not amused, uploaded by Ginger Sarah

I’ll admit — as much as I love an accordion-playing Santa, I feel a little sorry for that dog. I hope they make enough money busking to buy him a really tasty bone or chew toy. He certainly deserves it.

Talk about an accordion crime. Police in Costa Mesa, CA, are on the lookout for thieves who stole an antique accordion from a crowded parking lot on Sunday. Gigi Rabe had the accordion in the trunk of her car when she pulled into the Plaza West shopping center. She got out of her car, opened her trunk, and then stepped away to greet some friends who pulled up. When she returned, her accordion was gone.

Rabe is an accomplished accordionist working on a Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology at UCLA, and the accordion — a rare, vintage Dallape — is valued at $10,000. Police think it’s an “opportunist-type crime” and doubt the thieves knew they were stealing an accordion. Keep your eyes peeled; if you see a classic Dallape accordion on Craigslist, eBay, or your local pawn shop’s window display, you might want to give the Costa Mesa police a ring.

The nominations for the 50th annual Grammy Awards were announced this morning and there are plenty of accordions in the mix. (Really!) First, the nominees for Best Polka Album:

• Polka’s Revenge by Brave Combo
• Bulletproof Polkas by John Gora & Gorale
• Polka Freak Out by Bubba Hernandez and Alex Meixner
• Dueling Polkas by Walter Ostanek and Brian Sklar
• Come Share the Wine by Jimmy Sturr and his Orchestra

It’s no surprise to see 16-time winner Jimmy Sturr nominated again, but he’ll face stiff competition from one of the few non-Sturr artists to take home the polka Grammy, Brave Combo.

Meanwhile, this year marks the first time the Best Cajun/Zydeco Album Grammy will be awarded. Here are the nominees:

• Le Cowboy Creole by Geno Delafose & French Rockin’ Boogie
• King Cake by Lisa Haley
• Live: Á La Blue Moon by Lost Bayou Ramblers
• Blues De Musicien by Pine Leaf Boys
• Racines by Racines
• The La Louisianne Sessions by Roddie Romero And The Hub City All-Stars
• Live! Worldwide by Terrance Simien & The Zydeco Experience

Seven great albums and it’s especially fitting that Terrance Simien — who worked so hard to make the Cajun/Zydeco Grammy reality — is one of the inaugural nominees.

In other categories, Tejano accordionist Sunny Sauceda is up for Best Tejano Album, while the legendary Los Tigres Del Norte are nominated for Best Norteño Album again after winning last year. They’ll square off against Intocable, Conjunto Primavera, Pesado, and Los Rieleros del Norte.

Just like last year, we’ll have reviews and clips from each of the nominated albums in the weeks leading up the awards ceremony, which will be held on February 10 in Los Angeles.

We’ve seen people attempt to break world records for the fastest accordion player and largest accordion band, so it’s only natural someone would go after the record for marathon accordion playing.

Last week in Bochingen, Germany, Thomas Schmelzle set out to break the record of 28 straight hours of accordion playing set by Dutchman Hennie Hulk in 2002. Under the rules set forth by Guinness, Thomas could take a five minute break each hour, but could not repeat a tune within four hours. In the end, Thomas smashed the old record with a performance lasting 29 hours and 16 minutes. Of course, he won’t be able to feel his fingers for a few weeks, but it’s a small price to pay for enshrinement in the Guinness Book of World Records. At least, until the next marathoner comes along…