Category: It Happened to Me

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Accordion, Instrument of the Gods It Happened to Me Music Tampa Bay

Tampa Bay Ukulele Getaway 2022 (or: Birthday stretch 2.0)

Tampa Bay Ukulele Getaway banner with added photo of Joey deVilla on accordionLast year, the Tampa Bay Ukulele Getaway (TBUG for short) took place on my birthday. The 2022 edition happens this weekend, and we’re going to be there!

Anitra wanted to go, and I thought it would be a fun birthday activity to try my hand at a stringed instrument, which I’m normally terrible at playing. (My “keytar” period, and later the accordion, stem from being a frustrated attempted guitar player.)

TBUG takes place at the Sirata Resort on St. Pete Beach, right next door to where we got married:

Joey deVilla and Anitra Pavka on St. Pete Beach.

It turned out better than expected. For starters, Anitra won the grand prize at the raffle…

Anitra Pavka and the ukulele she won.

…I found a very reliable local purveyor of high-quality aloha shirts in Emily and Mike Stehle (my old go-to had closed up shop…

Joey deVilla in one of his new aloha shirts.

…and I also found Tom Hood, who invited me to join him and his band, Tom Hood and the Tropical Sons, on a number of local gigs!

Joey deVilla playing accordion on a pier with Tom Hood and Tropical Sons.This year, I’m not just an attendee, but part of the lineup of evening performers. I’ll be playing originals and classic rock/blues covers with Tom Hood and the Tropical Sons, as well as helping out with the special ’80s jams — mostly on accordion, but maybe a little ukulele as well.

Best of all, I’ll get to be on stage on Saturday, which happens to be my birthday. For me, that’s a great birthday treat.

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It Happened to Me

Scenes from birthday dinner #1

Gin flight 1: Waterloo Ant, Tanqueray Sevilla Orange, Farmers Organic, F.E.W. American.
Gin flight 1: Opihr, Malfy Lemon, The Herb Garden, 6 O’Clock Brunel.
Short ribs, with mashed celery root, cipollini onions, crispy bacon, and sautéed mushrooms.
Catch of the day on black rice.
Flourless chocolate torte and coconut crème brulée.

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Accordion, Instrument of the Gods It Happened to Me Tampa Bay

I’m playing at Bayou Bistro in Tarpon Springs tonight!

Collage of photos of Joey deVilla and Tom Hood and the Tropical Sons playing on the dock at Bayou Bistro
Tap to view at full size.

I’m playing with the house band — Tom Hood and the Tropical Sons — for open mic night at Bayou Bistro in Tarpon Springs from 5:30 to about 8:30 or so tonight! If you’re in the area and like seafood, beer, and great live music, come on over! If you want to play with us, bring your instrument!

If you’re curious, here are photos from last week’s gig.

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Geek It Happened to Me

Tell your kids this was Daft Punk

Happy halloween! Also, tell your kids that this was Daft Punk.

Curious about the glasses? They’re “louvered”-style glasses lined with electroluminscent (EL) wire, a phosphor-coated wire that glows blue-green when you apply an AC current to it. The trick to making EL wire glow in different colors is a simple one: you cover it in colored plastic.

We won an Amazon gift card at a recent local tech event and bought these EL wire rave glasses for a mere US$13. They’re powered by two AA batteries that connect to the glasses via a cable. The batteries are in a  pack that acts as a DC-to-AC transformer, as EL wire requires alternating current.

The glasses have three “on” modes:

  1. Continuously on
  2. Flashing on and off slowly
  3. Flashing on and off quickly, a.k.a. “Pokemon cartoon seizure mode”
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Accordion, Instrument of the Gods It Happened to Me Tampa Bay

Scenes from last night’s gig

I arrived a little early for last night’s gig with Tom Hood and the Tropical Sons. We were the house band for open mic night at Bayou Bistro in Tarpon Springs, which gave me the chance to get some work (writing an article about developing apps for Android phones) in this setting:

It was mid-afternoon when I arrived, which made me the youngest person in the bar, not counting the staff. Florida can be youth-affirming in that way.

In just over a week, it’ll have been a year since I met Tom, who was one of the organizers at the 2021 Tampa Bay Ukulele Getaway, which I attended as part of my birthday celebration that year as a “birthday stretch”. I had a great time, and while I did learn a little ukulele (despite being historically terrible with stringed instruments), I was a big hit with the accordion and ended up playing it most of my time there.

Since then, I’ve had regular invitations to play accordion at various ukulele events, including gigs with the Tropical Sons. It’s mostly classic rock and some blues, which nobody expects to hear coming from an accordion, but the band likes how I round out the sound.

When the rest of the band arrived, I pulled out my gear — the “street” accordion, the “dress” accordion, my amplifier (a 15″ Electro-Voice powered speaker), mic and stand and set up:

I managed to get some photos between numbers, but not many. Most of these were shot with the same one-hand technique for playing accordion while drinking beer: do everything with the left-hand chord buttons, leaving the right hand free.

Gigs at sunset are fun…

…but it really helps to bring sunglasses. It also works with the band’s “tropical” theme:

The place filled up during our first set…

…and then, break time! One of the customers bought a round of beers for the band, and I thanked him on behalf of the band and musicians everywhere.

I put in an order for a mahi-mahi sandwich, chatted with some folks at the bar, and listened to some of the local musicians who stepped up to the open mic.

A sandwich, a beer, some music, and open water. Can’t argue with that!

We played until just before nine and called it a night.

This happens every Wednesday, and Tom invited me to next week’s show as part of rehearsal for our gig on the Saturday night show at this year’s Tampa Bay Ukulele Getaway. I think I’ll go!

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It Happened to Me Tampa Bay

Spaddy’s is open!

Spaddy’s Coffee in Seminole Heights, as seen from the parking lot on Nebraska Avenue. Tap to view at full size.

Seminole Heights’ seal, which depicts a two-headed alligatorHooray! It looks like Spaddy’s, my regular coffee place, made it through the hurricane. The only damage seems to be a lack of bread for their fantastic Cuban toast with cheese, which should be coming back later this week.

Spaddy’s Coffee in Seminole Heights, as seen from the table at the back by the old rusted VW vanagon. Tap to view at full size.
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It Happened to Me Music

Underappreciated Canadian rock tune of the day: “Armageddon” by Prism (1979)

Last night, I had a dream where Armageddon, a 1979 song by Vancouver-based band Prism — a song I haven’t even thought about in a very long time — featured prominently. If you grew up in Canada in the early 1980s and listened to FM rock station, you’ll recognize the tune as soon as you hear the horns playing the opening march. If you’re not from that place or time, prepare to be rocked:

It’s an over-the-top number, clocking in at a few seconds under 8 minutes, but it doesn’t feel like an 8-minute drag. In fact, if you didn’t pay too close attention to the fact that it’s a song about nuclear annihilation, you might think it was the perfect tune for driving down the highway with volume cranked and the top down — and it is! It’s catchy orchestral classic rock that would fit in perfectly in a set with the Moody Blues, Led Zeppelin, and Queen.

I will admit to once owning this button and proudly wearing it on a denim jacket:

I’ve used Armageddon as an example song to teach people how to play by ear. Even if you’ve never heard the song before, it’s catchy enough that you want to learn it, and just complex enough to give you a little challenge. (In case you’re wondering, the intro, outro, and chorus are in the key of E, and the verses are in B.)

I’m definitely adding this to my “having beers on the front porch” playlist.