Our August Concert
Our August Concert started with Rebecca Parker playing Moon River, Bianca Capanna and Glamour Girl. Our next player Ann Parker gave us My Florence, Bel Viso and Yodelling Polka, it was now Bernard Bambers turn to entertain us with You Are My Sunshine, Walking My Baby Back Home, Lassie From Lancashire, Roll Out The Barrel, Tipperary, Pack Up Your Troubles and Don’t Dilly Dally. Colin Ensor then took to the stage, he started with Reine De Musette, The Blacksmith, Music Maestro Please, Play To Me Gypsy, The Mist Covered Mountains, Secondary Waltz, Cruising Down The River and Shanty Town. It was then my own turn to have a go, I started with Triste Sourire then asked for requests, the two that came in and which I played were Blackpool Bell and Sailors Hornpipe Medley. Sara Daly was next on stage, she played A Granddaughters Dream, The Scottish One, Petit Fleur, Envikens Waltz and Norwegian Waltz. It was now time for the break and the usual chat and merriment that we normally have in the break times. After the break we started the second session with Bernard Bamber and Patrick Halpin playing Galway Bay, When Irish Eyes Are Smiling, My Wild Irish Rose, Old Flames, Danny Boy and Do You Want Your Old Lobby Washed Down. Our next player was Bernard Belshaw playing La Vie En Rose, You Made Me Love You, Blaze Away, Ave Maria, Nessun Dorma, Overhead The Moon Is Shining, If You Love Me, Jealousy, Strangers In Paradise and Spanish Gypsydance. The players were coming thick and fast with Arthur Frankland playing Moonlight and Roses, Andantino, Edelweiss and The Carnival Is Over. We were then entertained by Albert Draper reading Monolgues, these were Ticket To a Contract In The Sky, The D-Day Dodgers and Little Aggie. We returned to the accordion playing with Colin Ensor who finished the night playing Forget Me Not Lane, What More Can I Say, Dream (When your Feeling Blue), Yesterdays Dreams, Conquest Of Paradise, You Are Everywhere and Who’s Taking you Home.
David Batty
This Wednesday
This Wednesday is a Guest Artist Concert with Julie Best and Jean Corrighan, Anyone who has seen this pair at the club will know this is going to be a good night. One video of Julie playing that we put on YouTube has now been watched 80,500 times! Remember to bring any friends or family who might like a night out. Doors open at 7.30 for an 8pm start. Make sure you get there early for a good seat and a good chat with others before the concert starts. See you there.
Facebook Video List
We have now added a new tab to our Facebook page, this has a video player built in to the page to allow you to watch videos of our guest artists. The videos are set to automatically cue the next one up when one ends, this means you could visit the page, click play and then sit back and watch an hour or two of our guest artists playing. Visit www.facebook.com/accordionclub then click on the ‘Accordion Videos’ tab.
Christmas
I think its about time to mention that Christmas is not far away! Time to start thinking about learning a few Christmas carols.
Black Diamond Summer Special Offer
Nine months on from the birth of Black Diamond Accordions and they feel they definitely found their place in the market. This is with the smaller piano and button accordions and melodeons. These accordions are also selling well to beginners & ‘downsizers’ in the accordion world. So Black Diamond Accordions have taken the decision to destock some of their larger instruments by offering them, for a limited period only, at a Summer Sale price. 120 Bass Piano Accordion, 41 Treble keys, 120 Bass buttons, 4 Reeds/voices, 13 Treble couplers, Weight – 11kgs, Straps and hard carrying case included, Sale price £800. 120 Bass Double Cassotto Piano Accordion, 41 Treble keys, 120 Bass buttons, 4 Reeds/voices,11 Treble couplers, Weight – 14kgs, Straps and deluxe hard carrying case with wheels included, Sale price £1500. for more information telephone 07801308054 or visit www.blackdiamondaccordions.com
Professional Accordionist Wanted
Strangeface Theatre Company seek professional musician. Award-winning mask company Strangeface are looking for an inventive musician to tour with their adaptation of The Amazing Adventures of Pinocchio this Winter and Spring. This is an ideal opportunity to work with live performance with opportunities to develop an existing score. We are looking for someone with excellent accordion and keyboard skills and experience of working with singers. The company takes performances to a range of venues including theatres, arts centres and community spaces with the support of rural touring schemes (see www.nrtf.org.uk for more details of this work) In rural venues the musician also runs a plot of simple technical cues from their station. Rehearsals begin on 8th October for 4 weeks, the composer will prepare the successful applicant in advance. The production then tours from 4th November to the beginning of March 2013. Email General Manager Bethan Tomlinson on bethan@strangeface.co.uk to find out more about this project. For more information about Strangeface, including tour dates and a link to a clip of our work go to www.strangeface.co.uk Bethan Tomlinson 01892 458023 or 07590 962602 bethan@strangeface.co.uk
A Quiz Just for Fun
This month we are having a quiz about the club, the answers to the quiz will be read out at the concert night and also published in the newsletter next month. This is just a bit of fun, all the answers can be found on our website, so everyone has a fair chance of getting some of the answers.
1) What year did the club start?
2) Who was the first Guest Artist at the club?
3) What was the first tune played at the club?
4) What was the name of our Guest Artist that lives in Boston, USA?
5) Can you name the 3 different venues the club has been held in?
6) What computer programme on BBC1 did the club feature on with the tv presenter Kate Humble?
7) What TV programme filmed us in 2012 at the club?
8) In what year did we record two audio cassettes of our players
9) What charity concert did we supply the players for in Longridge
10) Name one of our former players _ _ _ _ _ _ Hicks
11) What radio station featured our club Quiz team.
12) How many Picnic/concerts have we held
13) Name the accordion club in Australia that was set up after reading about our club and contacting us.
14) How many nights a year do we meet on average.
30 Accordions Stolen From Northern Ireland
Ken Hopkins, who has a large collection of accordions, has had 30 Accordions Stolen from his home in Northern Ireland. Ken was visited by two men on 4th August who said they wanted to buy an accordion for their grandfather. They arranged to meet in west Belfast a week later but failed to show up. When Ken returned home he discovered 30 instruments were gone. The thieves who had Southern Irish Accents had also taken a motor home and jewellery. In an interview with the BBC Ken said: “They phoned me to say they were running behind time, but they didn’t turn up, at the same time they were clearing my house out.” Ken said the stolen accordions had been very rare and valuable “They got the keys to the motor home, filled it up with accordions and away they went.” He said he realised what had happened when he returned home to find the house ransacked. “Those accordions were quite rare and quite valuable. They were the cream of my collection and I think they might have been stolen to order. Some of them were one-offs, made for certain people.” Although the 1950s accordions were stolen in County Down, police believe the instruments could be offered for sale anywhere in Northern Ireland or further afield. A police spokesperson said: “These items are rare and specialised. They are not the sort of thing you would normally see in a pawn shop or being offered for sale door to door or even on web sites. “You would not pay a couple of hundred pounds for an instrument like this and anyone who wanted one knows what they are looking for and knows a reputable seller. ” We would appeal to anyone who has information on the whereabouts of these instruments, or is offered something similar for sale in suspicious circumstances, to contact police.” Police believe the Fiat Ducato white six-berth motor home, registration W91 PVM, may have been driven out of Northern Ireland. These accordions will most likely be offered for sale without cases, if you or anyone you know are offered high end accordions such as a Hohner Golas, Scandalli Super V1 etc without cases contact the Police Service of Northern Ireland on 0845 600 8000 or contact your local police. Lets hope that some of these Accordions are recovered. Please pass on this information.
New Guiness World Record
Zoran Zorko a Slovenian accordionist has set a new Guinness world record for his marathon accordion performances lasting 35 hours and 32 minutes. Zoran set his record during his performances in Ljubljana’s Congress Square, and an accordion festival in the border town of Brezice. The Previous Record was held by Finland’s Anssi Laitinen playing for 31 hours and 25 minutes in 2010. Under Guinness world records rules, Zoran had to play the accordion continuously with a maximum of 30-second pauses between songs. He was not allowed to improvise and all his songs must be recognised by authors, a song could only be played once within a four-hour period. Every hour of playing earned Zoran a five-minute break. Zoran is self taught and cannot read music.