Monthly Archives September 2007

Posted in Monsters of Accordion On September 28, 2007 Comments: No comments

Some friends and I went to the wharf to wander. Rich was teaching his wife the blues box, so from time to time they go to a bar in the Fisherman’s Wharf and watch the blues bands that play all day.

Papa’s Garage. Note the drink holder on the mic stand.

I got a ride to Oakland, back to Aaron’s place. We were to go on an errand for Kimric, the guest of the evening. He owns the accordion shop that is in the building that houses 21 Grand, the venue of the evening. He was at the local accordion festival and needed us to get a car airbag. All of the info given to me was piecemeal so I wasn’t sure what we were doing. We ended up at Ace Autoparts. Then, I started to figure it out...

Posted in Monsters of Accordion On September 26, 2007 Comments: 2 comments

The plan after the show in Eugene was to drive straight to San Francisco. Aaron (Duckmandu) would be doing that. I had uncomfortable sleep but at least I got sleep. I don’t know how he did it. On the morning of the 24th, we stopped somewhere near Mt. Shasta and it was beautiful.

somewhere between Eugene and Oakland is beautiful

convenience store wisdom I didn’t take. I got whoppers and jerky.

We arrived in Oakland at Aaron’s place which is a converted furniture store. It has a nice stage in the living room for his band to practice. I took a nap one of five couches and woke up to a call from my friend who told me he’d had dinner with Mel Brooks and watched him drink too much Grapa, giving him courage to do his act from his Catskills days. Gold. I went to the bathroom that ho...

Posted in Monsters of Accordion On September 21, 2007 Comments: No comments

We drove to Eugene in a swift manner. I don’t think I’ve been here since I was with the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus back in 2002. We played at Sam Bond’s Garage. No one knew or remembered we were doing two shows. The sound guy they called was recovering from eating a case of marinated meat seared on a grill. The show started weird but ended up being good. It may have been better than the second show. Someone told me that a cat had sprayed on my accordion case but I can’t smell anything. The bar staff was kind and gave us everything for free.

Geoff in the first show

Geoff in the second show

Duck

Posted in Monsters of Accordion On September 17, 2007 Comments: One comment

We stayed with Devin and Kiri, a couple from Portland with a big place. They made us crepes in the morning that featured tomatoes, basil, and strawberries from the front yard’s garden. Afterwards, Geoff went to visit his 90-year-old grandmother. Duckmandu went to the 76 station to get his van looked at.

circus door to the house. camera phone trumps efforts to prove it.

Devin had RBI Baseball on Nintendo. He knew that’s where I first used the name Corn Mo. Corn Mo was the name I had given my pitcher for my Nintendo baseball team. I haven’t played that game in a while. As I destroyed my opponent, he felt a bit let down, not from my bad ass pitching but because he thought the name came from the game. “Nope.” In the next phase of our time together, he brought out Dr. Mario...

Posted in Monsters of Accordion On September 11, 2007 Comments: No comments

On Wednesday morning, we met up and went to the international district of Seattle. Jason took us to a great Chinese restaurant. These accordion guys are great to hang out with. There was a bit of satisfaction being together after a sold out show.

We drove on to Portland in Aaron’s van. The destination was The Kennedy School, a school converted into a restaurant, bar, movie theater, showtime room, etc. It was a nice place. The show was sold out. People were turned away at the door. That’s always sad. Again, it dumbfounds me to see a room of people that want to hear 5 accordionists. But that was the room and they loved it.

Geoff
Duckmandu
Last song together
nice folks

It was all ages. I tried not to go blue, as they say. I somewhat succeeded. I’m glad my dad introduced me to Peter Selle...

Posted in Monsters of Accordion On September 4, 2007 Comments: No comments

The show was good. It was in an old church and was run by volunteers I think. They were really, really nice.

This was the first time I’d seen Geoff or Aaron perform. Both were fantastic. Geoff’s songs are haunting, funny, smart, and beautiful. Aaron does a lot of Dead Kennedy covers very well. I’d say he’s the most accomplished player in our group. He also does a fantastic “Stars and Stripes Forever” cover. I love John Phillip Sousa. Vladmir Horowitz does a great cover, also. So do The Residents. Jason went on last. He can hold a crowd in his hand like a street performer with no final trick. He’s a great showman.

My friend, Nick, came. His show just got cancelled. We were going to drink after the show to his show’s demise. They didn’t have beer at church and...