Month: June 2003

If you don’t watch eBay like a hawk, you miss out on the gems. For instance, I missed out on this accordion bar set:

Here’s the description, taken verbatim from the eBay auction page:

THIS AUCTION IF FOR AN ACCORDIAN BAR SET. COMES WITH TWO DECANTER BOTTLES AND FOUR SHOT GLASSES. HAS MUSICBOX THAT PLAYS “HOW DRY I AM” WHEN ONE OF THE BOTTLES IS LIFTED UP. NO MARKS TO INDICATE AGE OR MAKER. GLASS BOTTLES ARE SMOKED WITH GOLD TRIM.SHOT GLASSES ARE AMBER COLORED. SHIPPING WILL BE DETERMINED BY ZIP CODE. ITEM W/O PACKING MATERIEL WEIGHS 7 POUNDS.MADE OF BLACK PLASTIC WITH GOLDTONE METAL TRIM.

Accordions and alcohol are so often intertwined in my life — why, oh why did I miss this auction?

If you’re in the radio listening area for WBT 1110 AM News/Talk radio — that’s Charlotte, NC and the surrounding areas — I’ll be on the Keith Larson Show between 11:35 a.m. and noon Eastern Daylight time. I’ll be talking about National Accordion Awareness Month, accordion-related adventures and hijinks and other squeezebox-related silliness.

(I’ll just let today’s Achewood comic explain the title.)

It’s me, me, ME! tomorrow on the Keith Larson Show on WBT 1110 AM News/Talk radio between 11:35 a.m. and noon Eastern Daylight Time.

The topic? Well, actually, I don’t know. I suppose I’ll talk about what it’s like to be a guy who carries an accordion about town and gets into all kinds of hinjinks.

Unlike most middle managers, when Muhammad Saad Al-Beshi says “heads are gonna roll”, he means it literally. He’s the leading executioner in Saudi Arabia.

When asked if the job had social drawbacks for him, Al-Beshi said that “There are no drawbacks for my social life.” As the lead executioner in a country where justice is meted out Klingon-style, he probably gets treated exceptionally well wherever he goes. I’ll bet he doesn’t get the crappy retail treatment when he goes into stores.

[Link via MetaFilter]

My schedule for the next week looks like this:

8:00 a.m.: Wake up. Breakfast.

8:30 a.m.: Shower.

9:00 a.m.: Start programming.

2:00 a.m.: Stop programming.

I still try and squeeze in twenty minutes of accordion practice somewhere in there, and I’m currently working on Electric Six’s lovely rocker, Gay Bar. If you haven’t heard the song, you can hear it at Joel Veitch’s rather good rathergood.com, where he’s turned the song into a video with flying puppies and viking kittens.

Here’s some accordion justice, just in time for National Accordion Awareness Month. I’m still quite busy, so I’ll just quote the AFP story…

BORDEAUX (AFP) – A French lawyer and accordeon player who was suspended from the bar association for busking in the streets of southwestern France has successfully appealed against the decision.

Valerie Faure, from the town of Bergerac in the southwestern Dordogne region, was suspended in November after two colleagues spotted her playing accordeon to a street audience, with her case laid open on the floor for tips.

But the appeal court in southwestern Bordeaux overturned the decision on Tuesday, on the grounds that Faure was not wearing lawyer’s robes at the time and could not therefore have undermined the dignity of her profession.

“I am happy that outside the courtroom a lawyer is allowed to have an artistic life,” Faure told AFP after the appeal hearing.

“I was simply following my passion,” said the lawyer, who performs accompanied by her husband on the violin, adding: “It’s not the money that counts but the pleasure of performing.”

Faure, who had ignored a first warning about her musical pursuits in 1999, said the verdict was a step in the right direction.

In 1826, a French lawyer was disbarred for performing in the theatre, while another was booted out in 1841 for taking part in a workers’ meeting.

[A big shout-out to Dylan Adams for bringing my attention to this story. Thanks!]