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Accordion, Instrument of the Gods It Happened to Me Music

A Scene from Saturday Night

While taking AKMA and Margaret on a tour of College West, AKMA was telling me about his surprise at how much I like AC/DC’s Back in Black (presumably based on his reading this article). I was about to answer when we passed by a sidewalk patio where my friend Erik Mohr,

his wife Tanja and some friends of theirs were enjoying a late dinner

and some drinks. Erik called me over to their table, introduced me to

his friends and asked if I could play a number for them.

“Any number in particular you’d like to hear?” I asked.

Erik turned to his friends. “He doesn’t do polka, but rock. He can play anything,” he said, which isn’t true.

“Okay, then…how about some AC/DC?” his friend asked, apparently believing that he’d thrown down a gauntlet.

“Sure,” I said. I could see AKMA rolling his eyes.

I started into You Shook Me All Night Long

which always gets laughs from new listeners and got the rest of the

patio either singing or clappong along. During all this, AKMA captured

a moment, pictured below:

Photo: Joey deVilla playing accordion for some friends on a patio on College Street West, Toronto.

Click the picture above to see the photo from AKMA’s Flickr collection.

As for AKMA’s musical tastes, you can get a feel for them by checking out this blog entry of his.

(AKMA, dude, you’re probably an AC/DC fan who doesn’t even know it.

I mean, you throw the horns…even in church! If that’s not an AC/DC

fan, I don’t know what is!)…

Photo: AKMA throws the horns!

Documented proof that AKMA throws the horns. “Hells’ Bells…Satan’s comin’ for you…” Click the picture to see the original photo from AKMA’s Flickr set.

Categories
Music

"I’ve got a fever, and the only prescription is more greased-up cub scouts…er, um, I mean cowbell! COWBELL!"

[via “The Colbinator”] I knew that Michael “Bad Touch Scout Troop

Leader” Jackson owned the rights to a large chunk of the Beatles’

catalogue, but didn’t know that he had a 50% share in Blue Oyster Cult’s

Don’t Fear the Reaper.

Here’s a list of the other songs for which he is half-owner:

  • ’65 Love Affair, Paul Davis
  • Alone Again, Naturally, Gilbert O’Sullivan
  • Bad Case of Lovin’ You, Robert Palmer
  • Blue Bayou, Roy Orbison
  • Burning Love, Elvis Presley
  • Clones (We’re All), Alice Cooper
  • Crazy, Patsy Cline
  • (I Just) Died In Your Arms, Cutting Crew
  • Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It, Will Smith
  • Here Comes the Night, Them
  • Hit Me With Your Best Shot, Pat Benatar
  • Hush, Deep Purple
  • I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry, Hank Williams Sr.
  • Let It Ride, Bachman-Turner Overdrive
  • Long Tall Sally, Little Richard
  • Positively 4th Street, Bob Dylan
  • Radar Love, Golden Earring
  • Stop Your Sobbing, The Pretenders
  • Sometimes When We Touch, Dan Hill
  • Son of a Preacher Man, Dusty Springfield
  • Suspicious Minds, Elvis Presley
  • Sweetest Taboo, Sade
  • Wonderwall, Oasis
  • You Really Got Me, The Kinks
Categories
In the News It Happened to Me Music

Me on CTV News Last Night

Photo: Still from Joey deVilla's interview on CTV News, June 8, 2005.

Smoothest Asian on TV since Mr. Sulu! Click the photo to see the high-definition video or here to see the low-definition video.

I did an interview with CTV News yesterday for a David Akin piece on

upcoming changes to Canada’s copyright laws. I was the “Internet user”,

copyfighting lawyer Michael Geist was the legal voice of reason, Jay Thomson of the Canadian Association of Internet Providers was the technical voice of reason and Graham Henderson of the Canadian Recording Industry Association was the Sith Lord.

The story is summarized on this web page, and if you’d like to see the piece, here are a couple of links:

Yes, that is a “Snoop Doggy Dogg” mechanic’s shirt I’m wearing, and yes, I wore it just for the interview.

The piece closes with me, delivering a pretty nice off-the-cuff quip. I am the sound-bite king! I can do anything!

Categories
In the News Music

It Was Always in MY All-Time Top Five!

Photo: Album cover for AC/DC's 'Back in Black'.

I was 13 years old when AC/DC’s best-known and best-loved album, Back in Black, came out. When I was a DJ at Crazy Go Nuts University’s Clark Hall Pub, its biggest single, the rock anthem You Shook Me All Night Long was

a surefire way to pack the dance floor — even the most hard-core

alt-rock music snobs would do a jig and “throw the horns”. I was 31

when I first performed You Shook Me on accordion. I will not reveal the ages I was when I got to live out those lyrics. Even today, a good 25 years after the album’s release and probably thousands of plays, Back in Black still is on high rotation on my iTunes.

It makes me quite happy to know that Back in Black has, according to this CNN story, made it into the top 5 biggest-selling albums of all time. Congrats, Angus and boys!

Categories
Music

Sgt. Cosby’s Lonely Hearts Club Band

Photo: A younger Bill Cosby.

While I’m posting oddball covers of pop tunes, I thought I’d throw in

this one for good measure. You may not know it, but Bill Cosby also

does jazz/funk performances. Some of them are quite good, and some of

them are…odd. Here’s an odd one: Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band! [2.1 MB, MP3]

Categories
Music

The Worst Line in "Revenge of the Sith"…

…is this one:

Comic panel: 'NOOOOOO' scene from 'Revenge of the Sith'.

…and now someone’s decided to replace “whatever” in Liam Lynch’s My United States of Whatever with it, creating a new single, My United States of NOOOOOOOOOOO! [2 MB, MP3]

It made me laugh.

Categories
Music

Richard Cheese Album Out Tomorrow

Photo: Album cover for Richard Cheese's 'Aperitif for Destruction'.

Speaking of humourous lounge-y covers of pop tunes, Richard Cheese’s

new album, Aperitif for Destruction, hits the stores tomorrow.

The album will feature lounge-versions of the following pop/rock tunes:

  • Me So Horny
  • Man in the Box
  • Let’s Get It Started
  • You Oughta Know
  • Brass Monkey
  • Welcome to the Jungle
  • People Equals Shit
  • The Girl is Mine
  • Add it Up
  • Do Me
  • American Idiot
  • We are the World
  • Been Caught Stealing
  • Sunday Bloody Sunday
  • Enter Sandman
  • Somebody Told Me

For a sample of some of Mr. Cheese’s work, give his cover of Puddle of Mudd’s She Hates Me [explicit language, 2.4 MB, MP3] a listen!