Categories
Accordion, Instrument of the Gods Tampa Bay

I’ll be playing at Clearwater’s Ukulele Fest in the District on Saturday, April 23rd!

"Ukulele Fest in the District" logo.

Two Saturdays from now, I’ll be the one of the distinctly non-ukelele players at the Ukulele Fest in the District, which will happen at the District on Cleveland Street in downtown Clearwater on Saturday, April 23rd from noon and straight on through to the evening!

The event is free to attend — come on down to Clearwater and enjoy some music!

Afternoon jams

Ukulele Fest in the District acts: Spirit Band, Ukulele Russ, Chris Tracy, Roaming Busker, Connie Mason Project, Moon Dog, Tom Hood and the Tropical Suns, and Joey Davilla [sic] The Accordion Man
I’ve tried to get them to correct my name a couple of times, but I’m honored to be in the lineup!
I’ll be playing with Tom Hood and the Tropical Sons from noon to 3 on Cleveland Street, along with a lot of other fine bands:

  • Spirit Band
  • Ukulele Russ
  • Chris Tracy
  • Connie Mason project
  • Moon Dog

Just listen for the accordion!

Evening concert

The evening concert starts at 6:30 with Steve and Amanda Boisen…

Steve and Amanda Boisen publicity photo.

…and The Birdwatchers:

The Birdwatchers publicity photo.

Come and play ukulele! "Strum and stroll" ukulele players playing on Cleveland Street in Downtown Clearwater.

You don’t have to be a spectator at this event — there are many opportunities for you to play the ukulele in a group, or learn how to play!

  • There’s a “Breakfast Jam” session at 11:30 where you can get started with your fellow ukulele players with some warm-up numbers.
  • At noon, the first “Strolling the District” walk will begin, where you’ll stroll through the District and make a few stops to play a number or two. If you have a ukulele and can play the chords C, Am, F, and G, you’ll be good to play along with most of the songs. Emily Stehle, Mike Stehle, and Cosmos Sagristano will lead this one.
  • There’ll also be a “Happy Hour Jam” session at 5:15. Once again, it’s a chance to warm up with your fellow uke players.
  • The second “Strolling the District” walk starts at 5:30, and once again, it’s a walk roll through the District with stops to play a number or two. The stroll winds up at the Peace Memorial Lawn where you’ll play the last medley at the pre-concert reception. Cosmo Sagistrano and Two Happy Ukers will lead this one.

Learn how play ukulele!

There will be three 45-minute “Introduction to the Ukulele” classes — they’ll be held at 12:30, 2:00, and 3:30. Bring your ukulele if you have one, and they’ll have some ukuleles on hand if you don’t.

Are you an experienced ukulele player looking to sharpen their skills? There’ll be a couple of classes for you:

 

Categories
Accordion, Instrument of the Gods It Happened to Me

Four years ago today…

Southwest Airlines jet landing
Photo via pxfuel. Tap to view the source.

Four years ago today, I was flying into Washington, DC to both attend and give presentations at RWDevCon, a conference for mobile app developers.

The winds were high that day, and as the pilot made their first attempt at a landing, the gusts hit the plane with enough force to make it obvious that we’d have to do a go-around.

On our second landing attempt, the gusts were still there. There was a nervous vibe throughout the cabin, and one of the flight attendants decided to lighten the mood by making an announcement over the PA system:

“If we need to do another go-around, I’m getting the accordion man to play us a song.”

Categories
Stranger than Fiction

You know what day it is…

Ayn Rand and Jordan Peterson are brilliant philosophers...FOR APRIL FOOLS!
Tap to view the joke at full size.
Categories
Stranger than Fiction

What I think when I see frilly coverings in people’s bathrooms

Toilet with frilly white coverings. Caption reads “How dare you speak to me with such disrespect — on this, the day of my toilet’s wedding!”
Tap to view the “bride” at full size.

This ensemble was actually available for purchase at one point — the toilet ensemble and curtain were available for…$225?!

Categories
Accordion, Instrument of the Gods It Happened to Me

What happened with the accordion on Saturday night

Photos of Anitra and Joey posing in front of a neone sign that reads “Odd Birds / It’s ok to be odd”.
It’s OK to be odd. Tap to view at full size.

To celebrate our seventh anniversary, we took a a Thursday-to-Sunday road trip to St. Augustine. We had a great time, mostly because we had each other for company, but also because we brought this lucky charm, which made for an interesting Saturday night:

Joey deVilla’s blue “Valenti” 120-bass accordion.

Celebrating another anniversary

We started the evening here — Sainte-George Restaurant:

Exterior of Sainte-George restaurant in St. Augustine, Florida.

It’s a place known for its European cuisine and its outdoor deck with a view of St. Augustine’s fortress, Castillo de San Marcos, and the Matanzas River.

Anitra, smiling with a glass of wine, while sitting at an outdoor table on Sainte-George restaurant’s deck.

We’d lucked out with our early reservation and were able to get an outdoor table with a view of the fort, river, and partygoers wandering (or stumbling) down the pedestrian-only St. George Street.

Joey, smiling with a glass of wine, while sitting at an outdoor table on Sainte-George restaurant’s deck.

“What do you want to do now?” Anitra asked after we finished dessert.

“I figure we should walk around and see where the night takes us,” I said.

With that, we got up and started making our way out of the restaurant. We was starting our way down the stairs when someone called out: “Hey, you with the accordion!”

Interior of Sainte-George restaurant’s upper floor, with arrows pointing to where I was and where they were.It turned out to be a table of eight, two of whom were celebrating their twentieth anniversary. We told them that we were celebrating our seventh, and it was congratulations all round.

“Here, let me play something for you,” I said, playing the first fitting song I could think of — Praise You by Fatboy Slim. It got applause not just from the table but the rest of the room, and the couple insisted on giving me a $20 bill by way of saying thanks.

“Looks like they covered the first round of drinks!” Anitra said as we walked out.

Bagging a discount

St. George Street in St. Augustine, at twilight.

We started walking southward on St. George Street and saw that Cotton St. Aug was still open.

“Do you want to take a look?” Anitra asked.

“I’d love to check out their aloha shirts.” I replied, and we walked in.

Interior of Cotton St. Aug store.

We were greeted by the manager, Bridget, and struck up a conversation. Of course, the question came up — “Could you play me a song, please?” — and I went with the crowd-pleaser, Britney Spears’ Baby One More Time, which she recorded on video with her phone.

Anuschka “Lighthouse” handbag.

After the performance, Anitra started checking out their sizable selection of Anuschka hand-painted leather handbags. She picked out the “Lighthouse” design pictured to the right. As Bridget rang up our purchase, she looked at us, said “for the entertainment”, and gave us a discount.

“We’re on a bit of a roll tonight,” I said. We continued on our way south.

Turning music into free drinks

Exterior of Casa Monica hotel.

As we walked past Casa Monica (pictured above), a guy came up to us and talked about a friend of his who played classic rock on the accordion and asked if I did the same. I answered by playing AC/DC’s You Shook Me All Night Long.

A couple overheard the performance and asked if I could play it again so that they could capture it on video for their friend. I obliged, and they invited us inside to buy us a drink at Casa Monica’s lobby bar, the Cobalt Lounge: 

Casa Monica hotel’s lobby bar, the Cobalt Lounge.

We enjoyed our drinks, and after a day that included climbing to the top of St. Augustine Lighthouse, touring Flagler College and the Lightner Museum, and miles of walking, we figured that we’d quit while we were ahead and call it a night.

Categories
Music

R.I.P. Gerry O’Kane

Gerry O’Kane onstage with guitar, holding up a bodhran (Irish hand drum) with the Queen’s University Bands logo painted on it
Gerry with a bodhran with the Crazy Go Nuts University’s bands logo, which he painted on it.

T-shirt design: Photo of Gerry in sunglasses, with the text “Sex and Drugs and Traditional Folk Music”.

If you were a local in Kingston, Ontario, Canada in the ’80s and ’90s and enjoyed a pint (or more) of Guinness, chances are you saw Gerry O’Kane play a couple of sets of traditional Irish tunes, along with some of his originals.

I love live music as well as dark and rich beers served in cosy pubs, so I managed to catch Gerry during my first year at Crazy Go Nuts University, at a then-new pub called The Toucan. A couple of years later, I’d live in an apartment above that very same pub, which was near another pub called The Wellington, and Gerry played both places often.

Sooner or later, if you were a student at Crazy Go Nuts University and had any semblance of a life, you’d end up at a Gerry O’Kane show, where you’d learn to shout “Macintyre!” at the appropriate moments of The Old Dun Cow…

Later on, when I graduated and moved back to Toronto, I was still able to catch him when he came to town and played at places like The Monarch:

The exterior of the Monarch Tavern (Toronto) at night.

The Monarch Tavern’s (Toronto) distinct front door, at the corner of the building.

I learned a lot watching Gerry: how to read and banter with the audience, handle the usual cock-ups that will happen during a live musical performance, and of course, I also got a feel for what made traditional Irish music distinct.

Gerry O’Kane onstage, standing with his hands in the air.

It’s largely because of Gerry that I’m familiar enough with the Irish folk repertoire that I can passably back up Irish trad bands when called upon to do, as I’ve done a handful of times, including a couple of numbers with The Jackdaws:

Gerry suffered a stroke in late January, and he passed away earlier this week. Requiescat in pace, Gerry, and thank you for all the music.

Gerry O’Kane in blue shirt and jacket, smiling.

Gerry O’Kane, playing guitar in a small venue in front of a fireplace.

Gerry O’Kane, sitting on a rock by the water, playing guitar.More about Gerry O’Kane

Categories
The Current Situation

A message from Arnie to the Russian people

Arnie posted a video of an intense, impressive, and impassioned speech to the Russian people and government. It cites his connection to Russia through his idol, Yury Petrovitch Vlasov, multiple world record-breaking weightlifter, his work on Red Heat — the first American film to shoot on location in Red Square (and hey, who doesn’t remember “COCAINUM!”?)…

…and he even cites the story of his father, Gustav Schwarzenegger, who was a Nazi Brownshirt and took part in the attack on Leningrad in WWII:

Now let me tell you: When my father arrived in Leningrad, he was all pumped up on the lies of his government. And when he left Leningrad, he was broken, physically and mentally.

He lived the rest of his life in pain. Pain from a broken back, pain from the shrapnel that always reminded him of those terrible years, and pain from the guilt that he felt.

He also commends the people in Russia who are protesting the war, commending them for their courage (remember, protesting the war can land you a 15-year jail sentence).

The video is subtitled in both Russian and English. It was originally posted on Twitter, but copies have been floating around in various places online, and it will probably become hot “samizdata” if it hasn’t already done so.

As long as we’re watching Arnie sending important political messages, let’s watch his message on the Capitol riot of January 6th, 2021: