The Adventures of Accordion Guy in the 21st Century

It would seem to be that way: MetaFilter reports that Salam Pax, the pseudonymous (Salam and Pax are respectively Arabic and Latin for “peace”) blogger from Baghdad with fans from both the Left and the Right (just like yours truly…I think) has new postings. As always, very interesting reading.

I didn’t know this until I stumbled across it: June is National Accordion Awareness Month. Established in 1989 to promote awareness of the squeezebox, this month is a celebration of the much-maligned instrument, which is enjoying a resurgence in popularity thanks to a wide array of artists ranging from the Dixie Chicks to Nirvana to They Might Be Giants to Yours Truly.

Some accordion facts:

• The piano accordion is the official musical instrument of the city of San Francisco and has been since 1990. This year is the 13th anniversary!
• Actress Lucy Liu plays the accordion.
• The accordion is a member of the reed family, not the keyboard family.
• The first United States-made piano accordion (the ones with the keys on it) was manufactured in San Francisco back in 1907. It was at the Guerrini Accordion Company on DuPont St. (Grant Ave., near Columbus Ave.)
• When people think of an accordion, they usually envision that large, black monstrosity with piano keys on one side and about a thousand buttons on the other side. However, the accordion family also includes Cajun button boxes, chromatic and diatonic button accordions, the concertina, the bayan, and the bandoneon.
• Isn’t the accordion just being used at weddings and Bar Mitzvahs? Heck no! Shania Twain’s immensely popular Come On Over CD has accordion on a couple of tracks. Los Lobos. Bruce Hornsby plays the accordion and uses it in shows. Counting Crows use accordion a lot. In San Francisco, the show Forever Tango was a huge hit and featured two bandoneonists.
• China is the largest manufacturer and exporter of accordions in the world — the “unknown super power of accordion“.

You know, I still don’t know how to play Lady of Spain. Maybe I should learn.

In The Happiest Geek on Earth: It’s synchronicity — Paul Graham and Eric S. Raymond write on the relationship between the hacking and painting and writing.

I’m not obsessed with “Which X Are You?” tests — Kelly’s actually the queen of that — but I couldn’t resist the Which FARK Cliche Are You? test.

(If you’re not familiar with FARK, check it out.)

My result:

Other possible results include Domo-Kun, Admiral Ackbar from Star Wars, The Guy From Memento, The Mustard Guy and of course, The Too-Cute Kitty. Notably absent are those poster children for spoiled kids trying to act “street”, the Icy Hot Stuntaz.

Okay, it’s a dumb title. It sounded clever to me in the shower. (And yes, that’s the way you spell it.)

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve received about a dozen emails asking if I’m doing anything differently as a result of the SARS outbreak. With all the coverage of Toronto and SARS in the media, I suppose it’s easy for someone to think of Toronto as a city beseiged by plague, but from it doesn’t seem that way to me.

I live a mere two blocks away from Queen and Spadina, an intersection of two of Accordion City’s most interesting streets that forms a nexus of several neighbourhoods: the bohemian boutique-y neighbourhood to the west, a yuppified boutique-y neighbourhood and the financial district to the east, the club district to the southeast, the warehouse loft conversion district to the southwest, the waterfront to the south, the University of Toronto to the northeast, downtown Chinatown to the north and Kensington Market, Little Italy and Little Portugal to the northeast. This corner is under the ever-watchful eyes of Max’s hot dog cart, which is open twenty-four hours a day, closing only for Christmas (Toronto’s hot dog carts easily trump those of New York City — ours are real sausages as opposed to their piddly Oscar Mayer offerings; while they boil or steam theirs, we barbecue ours; in New York, you’re lucky if you get more than just ketchup, mustard and relish, here in Toronto, we get dozens of toppings). If you want a gauge of Accordion City’s leisure mood, just come to my neighbourhood on a Saturday afternoon or evening.

The weekend was gorgeous, with spring-like temperatures, budding trees and cloudless skies. I spent Saturday afternoon wandering about my neighbourhood and part of Sunday afternoon in High Park. Both were filled with teeming crowds, and I didn’t see a single N95 mask.

SARS didn’t scare away anyone from the opening of the X-Men 2 movie this weekend. The theatre was pretty crowded. (I saw it on Friday with Paul and Hector and on Saturday with Paul, Deenster, her boyfriend Chris, Possum and Cory Doctorow. Great fun.)

I did a little busking over the weekend, and I’m pleased to report that the accordion is still more infectious than SARS.

Not everyone was out enjoying the gorgeous weather, but they were outside, in a manner of speaking:

…nobody, that is, except for Mr. T, in Mr. T.’s Storm Chase School. Funny and educational!

[Thanks to FARK for the link.]

Last night, after the 2003 edition of Iron Chef White Trash (where I played the role of Chairman Kaga — here are the 2000 photos), the friend whom I brought along turned to me and said “It’s nice to have a funny evening out with someone who isn’t…broken.”

Things have been a little twisted lately. While I’m pretty sure I’m not broken, I’m certainly feeling dinged. Or would the correct word be scratched? Or scuffed?

Perhaps I should hit the pub and get bent or hammered. (It is Cinco de Mayo, after all…)