Monday, September 1, 2014

The Invasion of the Accordions (a local color post)

It's that accordion time of year again, the time of the Cotati Accordion Festival, the 24th one. That's The Great Morgani in the picture above. This year, I managed to get pictures of 3 out of 4 of his costumes. More of those in a moment.

For those of you not in the know (and for those who have just forgotten), my daughter plays the accordion, for a number of years, now, so we've been going to this event for a while. In fact, you can see my previous posts about it, and the associated pictures, at the listed dates:
2011
2012
2013
They're worth checking out just for the pictures of Morgani (except the 2011 post; I didn't have my camera with me, I guess).

As one might guess, the accordion festival is largely populated by, shall we say, an older crowd. I get that. It's not like I grew up with any ideas about the accordion being in any way cool. But it is cool. My daughter has taught me that. It's a wonderful and complex instrument, and I love to listen to her play it. But I digress... What I was going to say is that this year there was a much larger younger crowd. I don't know if it's because the accordion festival is becoming "something to do" or if, maybe, hipsters have decided accordions are cool. Or something. It was nice to not be among the youngest people there, though.

Here are some more pictures of Morgani:
The most impressive part (to me, anyway) is that the accordions are also "in costume" but he is able to play them anyway. After my daughter played this year, he came and told her what a good job she'd done and that she'd be taking over for him any year now.

My favorite performer this year, other than my daughter, was Vincenzo Abbracciante.
He was pretty incredible.
My wife liked Alicia Baker.
At just 22, she sang amazing opera while she played.

You can't have an accordion festival without accordions!
And things playing accordions!

Also, I just have to add, you have to appreciate a festival which keeps naked ladies on its stages! You can see them on the stage with Alicia Baker, above, and here are more.

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13 comments:

  1. UnknownSeptember 1, 2014 at 1:45 AM

    It's amazing how our children end up teaching us new things. Glad you and the family had a grand time of it!

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  2. The Armchair SquidSeptember 1, 2014 at 4:51 AM

    Accordions are way cool. We have one in the family. Not sure where it is at the moment, though.

    My daughter's just started the saxophone. A new adventure begins...

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  3. JoSeptember 1, 2014 at 5:47 AM

    Not had much to do with accordions but it looks like that festival was fun. Unfamiliar with naked ladies, pretty though.

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  4. Hart JohnsonSeptember 1, 2014 at 9:46 AM

    HA! I never would have guessed there was such a thing as an accordian festival. I have two friends who play, both hip, but one decidedly 70. The other though, is a young woman I worked with who made it look very cool.

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  5. E. M. ProkopSeptember 1, 2014 at 9:56 AM

    My mother used to play the acordian, when she was younger and had no kids. I remember it being around for my whole childhood, but I only ever heard her play it once.

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  6. A Beer for the ShowerSeptember 1, 2014 at 10:28 AM

    Sounds like a fun time! And hey, I think accordion is cool. We have a local band here making a splash, called KONGOS, and I think they make accordion sound pretty damn cool (in particular, their hit song "Come With Me Now."

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  7. BrianeSeptember 1, 2014 at 1:14 PM

    I enlarged those pictures about a zillion times before figuring out that "naked ladies" must mean the flowers. THIS HAS BEEN ONE BIG TEASE.

    Me and the boys were down on State Street (a pedestrian mall here) yesterday afternoon, and one of the street musicians had an accordion. We listened to her for a while. It's a neat instrument. How great for your daughter to catch the attention of one of the stars of the show. Sounds like she's pretty awesome at this. You should get her to let you post a video of her playing.

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  8. Andrew LeonSeptember 1, 2014 at 3:12 PM

    Anne: It was a good time. And it's always interesting.

    TAS: What does it do in the family?

    My younger son has wanted to play the sax, but we've never been able to find a good teacher.

    Jo: Naked ladies are pretty.
    heh
    They grow all over the place around here.

    Hart: You know, they probably have a festival for everything. There's a crawdad festival in Louisiana.

    Eva: That's too bad that you only ever got to hear her play it once.

    ABftS: I listened to that song; it is pretty cool. I'll have to check them out.

    Briane: I took a video of her playing, but, well, it requires excessive work to post it since it's too large to just upload it. I'm trying to decide if I want to put it on youtube or not.

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  9. J E OneilSeptember 1, 2014 at 3:44 PM

    Wow, it's that time of year again already? What crazy costumes. I can't imagine how long they took to make.

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  10. Andrew LeonSeptember 2, 2014 at 2:10 PM

    Jeanne: It is, indeed, that time of year again.
    My question is, "Just how many costumes does he have?"

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  11. Maurice MitchellSeptember 2, 2014 at 2:41 PM

    Weird Al plays the accordion and that's good enough for me! Wild costumes.

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  12. Jean DavisSeptember 2, 2014 at 3:11 PM

    While I can't say that I've taken the time to stop and appreciate any accordion playing lately, I have to admit that those costumes are very impressive!

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  13. Andrew LeonSeptember 2, 2014 at 5:02 PM

    Maurice: That's true; he does. He's awesome.

    Jean: Morgani's costumes are one of the highlights of the event for me.

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