The Most Optimistic Post of the Day
Wednesday, April 25, 2012 at 8:52AM
Accordion joke #1: What's the best thing to play on an accordion? A flame thrower.
Accordion joke #2: What's the difference between a Don Cherry and an accordion? One is loud, obnoxious, screechy and moves people to violence. The other is an ex-NHL coach.
Accordion joke #3: What was Alan Cross' first instru--. Wait, that's not a joke. It's true.
Because I have a personal history with the ol' squeezebox (Purists: I had a three-reed 120-bass Titano), I perhaps have more sympathy for Walter Kuehr than the average person.
Walter not only conducts the Main Squeeze Orchestra (how he found fourteen women to be in his band is a mystery) but included in a book called Squeeze This: A Cultural History of the Accordion in America by Marion Jacobson, a former student of Walter's.
I don't know who's the bigger optimist: Marion or the publisher who decided that this book was a good idea.
Reader Comments (2)
I have to admit a secret guilty thought - I have my late aunt's accordion from long ago (she used to play in a small band), and have considered learning how to play it. Why? I have no idea.. maybe just to keep that connection to her alive in my mind.
Then again, I like bagpipes too so perhaps I'm just warped.
Reminds me of the Tom Waits line: "a gentleman is someone who can play the accordion but doesn't."