Anna and I spent our holiday weekend in Fresno — catching up with family, eating pumpkin pie, and even doing some antique shopping on Christmas Eve. While we’re still kicking ourselves for passing up the accordion-shaped bar set (with shot glasses!), we did bring home this novelty record featuring Fresno accordion legend Dick Contino and comedian Bobby Volare.
Recorded in 1983 as a tribute to the Fresno State men’s basketball team — which won the NIT that year and brought Fresno some rare positive press — the single features two songs: “Bulldog Polka” (a cheesy reworking of “Beer Barrel Polka”) and “New York, New York” (I’m surprised Sinatra didn’t have Volare “whacked” for this rendition). Contino’s playing is solid, but given the material, neither tune will be appearing on his greatest hits record.
If you’re a fan of bad novelty records, go ahead and listen to “Bulldog Polka.” Otherwise, steer clear of the link below. You’ve been warned.
Led by Louisiana accordion maker Marc Savoy, the series covers the whole process step-by-step — from building the reed-mounts to fashioning the keyboard on through to attaching the bellows. Even if you aren’t planning to build your own box, it’s a fascinating look at how button accordions are built.
I couldn’t find any video clips, but there are extensive summaries (with photos) of each episode online. Did anyone out there catch the show? If so, leave a comment and let us know what you thought.
How can you go wrong with a band that claims to “make music to bake pies by”? After all, what household couldn’t use more pie-baking music?
Sure enough, you can practically smell the apple pie on the window sill when you’re listening to Yard Sale — an all-female country/folk trio from Oakland. Accordionist Melanie de Giovanni, bassist Jill Olson, and guitarist Denise Funari each take turns writing and singing on the band’s debut album, Everything’s a Dollar. Nothing fancy here — just honest, heartfelt lyrics, great harmonies, and a laid-back vibe that begs you to put your feet up and crack open a beer.
“I’m coherent in my art. I tell my story with the accordion.” Those are the words of legendary Brazilian accordionist/composer Sivuca, who passed away last week.
Born Severino Dias de Oliveira in 1930, Sivuca played and composed in a number of genres, including forró, bossa nova, folk, and jazz. Over the course of his lengthy career, he collaborated with musicians from around the globe — artists ranging from Harry Belafonte to South African singer Miriam Makeba to jazz harmonica player Toots Thielemans.
Here’s a video clip of Sivuca performing his forró classic “Feira de Mangaio” with samba singer Clara Nunes. If your hips don’t move even a tiny bit while watching this clip, seek professional help.
A few weeks ago, the Corvallis (OR) Gazette-Times ran a seemingly innocuous profile of accordionist Gene “The Polka King” Sadowsky, leader of the Little Bohemian Band. In the piece, Sadowsky boasted about his band’s recent appearance on the “Big Joe Polka Show”, their packed touring schedule, and his brand-new, $12,500 Diamond accordion. Nothing too controversial, right?
This past Friday, however, the paper printed a follow-up in which a former bandmate of Sadowsky’s — Richard Kadrmas of the R-K Polka Band — stakes his own claim to the Oregon polka crown. Kadrmas claims Sadowsky “only knows how to play 10 or 15 songs… [and is] just doing it to make a buck,” and has even challenged him to an accordion duel.
Now I like a good feud as much as anyone, but come on — these guys are old enough to know better. Isn’t the Willamette Valley big enough for two polka kings?
Next year’s Grammy Awards will include 108 categories ranging from Best Rap/Sung Collaboration to Best Surround Sound Album. And yet, despite the proliferation of categories over the years, there still isn’t one devoted to cajun or zydeco music.
Over the years, only a handful of cajun/zydeco musicians have won Grammys. Clifton Chenier, Queen Ida, and Rockin’ Sidney each won for Best Ethnic Or Traditional Folk Recording during the early 80’s, and Beausoleil won for Best Traditional Folk Album in 1997. This year, singer Ann Savoy (of the Savoy Family Cajun Band) was nominated for her collaboration with Linda Ronstadt, Adieu False Heart.
Establishing a cajun/zydeco category, though, would go a long way towards promoting and preserving the genre. Fortunately, there’s a campaign underway to create a Grammy category for cajun/zydeco. Led by Cynthia and Terrance Simien, the effort has gained steam recently as the number of cajun/zydeco recordings submitted for Grammy consideration rose to 40 this year.
According to Cynthia Simien, Grammy officials have recognized the campaign’s progress and promised to reconsider adding the category when they meet again in May. That’s great news and hopefully at this time next year, we’ll be previewing the first-ever nominees for Best Cajun/Zydeco Album.
This year, make it a Li’l Wally Christmas. Head over to the Record Robot, where they’ve posted a couple MP3s from an old Christmas record by Li’l Wally and the Harmony Boys. The tracks are “Merry Christmas Mom and Dad” (a Wally original) and “O Christmas Tree”.
If you want to pick up some holiday polka albums, check out the selection Jimmy K. Polkas. They have Christmas recordings from Li’l Wally (including two albums of Polish Christmas carols), Eddie Blazonczyk, Lenny Gomulka, Jimmy Sturr, and more.
A few months ago, I wrote about an Italian accordion school (called Accademia del Mantice) that was offering diatonic accordion classes online. I couldn’t find any sample videos at the time, but I recently found this clip of a lesson called “Tarantella Riggitana”. It’s no substitute for a live, in-person accordion lesson, but it looks promising. If you can’t find a teacher in your area, this might be a worthwhile alternative.
What do you call it when hundreds of crazy Santas — often fueled by “high octane egg nog” — roam the streets en masse, spreading holiday cheer? It’s not anarchy; it’s Santarchy, an annual tradition that’s grown to include gatherings from Berlin to Tokyo, and numerous places in-between.
The Santas invaded San Francisco on Saturday and, while my suit didn’t make it back from the cleaners in time, I was happy to see these accordion-toting Santas in attendance. Jingle Bells Polka, anyone?
While Best Polka Album may be the most accordion-friendly category, those weren’t the only nominees who featured accordions in their work. Julieta Venegas was nominated for Best Latin Pop Album, the Klezmatics for Best Contemporary World Music Album, Weird Al for Best Comedy Album, and pretty much every group in the Best Norteno Album category has an accordion player. The full list of nominees is on the Grammy website.
The awards ceremony (hosted by Stephen Colbert) will air live on CBS on February 11, 2007. Of course, since there are 108 categories, most awards — including Best Polka Album — will be handed out in a ceremony before the televised show.
Between now and the awards ceremony, we’ll post an in-depth review of each Best Polka Album nominee. Will Jimmy Sturr walk away with his 16th Best Polka Grammy or will someone else get a taste of Grammy glory? We’ll find out in February!
Posted December 7th, 2006 in Events, News, Polka · Comments off
Can’t afford a brand-new Cajun button accordion? Try building your own! The DIY Network show 
