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November 17, 2014

ReedWOODER, Vol. 221, November 2014

The Presidents Message

Dear Friends

I would like to start out this month’s message with some well-deserved thank yous to the members who supported out booth at the Rootstock Italian Festival in Santa Rosa last month. They are (in alphabetical order) Ann Albertoni, George Bachich, Frank Divita, Elmo Fama, Kris Nelson and Carlo Solivan. Thanks to these folks generously donating their time and talent our club made a very good impression on the eight hundred or so people who attended the first occurrence of this annual event. I was hoping for a better turnout from the club’s general membership, but maybe we can remedy that next year.

Those of you who attended our October meeting and Gumbo feed had a very good meal and some very good entertainment as well. I would like to thank Annette, Jane, and Sterling for their hard work in serving the meal and cleaning up after the meal. Kris, our chef, also worked as part of the clean-up crew. Our entertainers last month were Joe Chiesa, Frank Divita, Guy Richards, and Steve Balich (Jr.) All of the comments that I heard about the meeting were positive and I hope that you will let all of the volunteers at the festival and the gumbo feed know that you appreciate their efforts on behalf of our club. With entertainment like this I can’t understand why our meetings aren’t always packed to capacity.

This month’s meeting will continue with more great entertainers. For our November meeting the featured performers will be Steve Albini on accordion, Jim Lehman on drums and Carlo Solivan on vocals, so once again we are in for an evening of fun and great music. You can let these musicians who donate so generously of their time how much you appreciate their efforts by attending the meetings and encouraging your friends, relatives and fellow ACR members to attend the monthly meetings. A good turnout and an appreciative audience is all that they ask in exchange for entertaining us and we certainly owe this to them. If we cannot provide this, I find it very difficult to ask musicians to perform for us.

As you know, next month is our annual Christmas Dinner Dance. There will be great food and wine again this year and great dance music from the Steve Balich Band. Please get your reservations in early. As you know this is now a catered event and as we no longer have the luxury of in house cooking from Donald and Steve we have to give the head count to the caterer ahead of time. Hope to have a good turnout this year and look forward to seeing you and your friends and family there to enjoy this annual holiday event.

In closing I want to send get well and hurry back wishes to Jan Terribilini. Hope to see you at the November meeting Jan.

Tony Mustaro

President
Accordion Club of the Redwoods

News, November 2014

October meeting and Gumbo feed

The Chef and his crew that made this happen.

Entertainment

Joe Chiesa

Joe was in great form that night. He wowed us with “Quando – Quando,” “My Shawl (a Xavier Cugat theme song),” “New York New York,” “Bella,” “Mia Caninol” and “I Just Called to Say I Love You” Great Job Joe.

Frank Divita

Steve Balich Jr.

Frank played his usual greats. It was a bit hard to keep up with his numbers but here is what I got. “Iupali Iupali,” “The Lady is a Tramp,” “Sentimental Journey,” “Chesarima ( a mazurka),” and “Aristide.” It is always a pleasure to hear Frank.

Guy Richards

Guy is a hard one to follow. He goes rapidly from one song to the next. Here is what I got and I hope I got it straight. “Stars Fell on Alabama,” “Hello Dolly,” “O’ Sole Me,” “When You are Smiling,” “Marina Marina,” “La Cumsasita ( tango),” “Jumba Laya,” “Iupali Iupali,” and so many more. Guy was outstanding as usual.

Steve Balich Jr.

Steve played easy listening and dance music. His playlist was easy to follow. I would sneak up and look at the sheet music for the titles. You probably did not know that I could read sheet music. His list was “The New York Polka,” “Westphalia Waltz (Westphalia is a German state),” “Sioux City Sue,” “I’m Dreaming” “Domani,” “Quando Quando,” “Bachiniari” and “Hermuno Carino.” Great as usual Steve, and the dancers will agree!

Obituary

Leo’s wife Marcella J. Tastsides, 87 of Vallejo, passed away Sunday, Oct. 19, at the Kaiser Hospital of Vallejo. Marcella was born on Wednesday, Feb. 9, 1927 in Ely Minnesota. Marcella had been a Vallejo Resident since 1951. She is survived by her son, Michael; four grand-children; five great grandchildren; nieces and nephews.

Filed Under: Newsletter, November 2014

October 5, 2014

The Presidents Message

Dear Friends

I hope that you were here to listen to our special guest performer, Alicia Baker, at last month’s meeting. If you weren’t, you missed something really special and if you were you know what I mean. If you did miss Alicia’s performance, several of the members purchased her CDs so maybe you can find a friend who will share her music with you.

There are lots of activities going on this month for the Accordion Club of the Redwoods and its membership. First off, Kris Nelson will be cooking his famous GUMBO for our next meeting on October 20. I will be once again serving as his sous chef, so if you really enjoyed the meal last time you have another opportunity to really enjoy it again. Let’s try to have a good turnout for this event before the weather turns colder and the meeting time turns darker.

In addition to this our club is sponsoring a booth and a performance stage at the Italian (Rootstock) Festival on Sunday October 12 at Santa Rosa Vintner’s Square 1301 Cleveland Avenue (Between College Avenue and Steele Lane). This event replaces the Festa Italiana which in the past has been held at the Santa Rosa Veterans Building. Performers from the club who will be playing on our stage are: George Bachich, Joe Chiesa, Keith Church, Elmo Fama, and Stanko Pecavar and yours truly. We would like to see more of our members performing here for the public. If you would be willing to share your music for the benefit of the club please contact me and I will schedule you to play. If you don’t want to play but are willing to assist in setting up the booth and manning the booth please contact me as well. This is a great opportunity to promote our club to the general public to help insure that it will continue even after we are gone.

This festival should be a great deal of fun. There are several great musicians playing here on the main stage also: Steve Albini and Tatiana Seminastchaya, (Las Vegas and Cotati Accordion Festival, among many other venues) Carlo Solivan, The Coro Allegro, and a surprise wonderful female vocalist who will amaze you. Italian food and drink will be available and there will be a grape stomp for the youngsters as well as many vendors.

Hope to see many of you there. This is another chance to support your club so please take advantage of it.

Tony Mustaro

President
Accordion Club of the Redwoods

Filed Under: Newsletter, October 2014

October 4, 2014

News, October 2014

Arthur Seebach

Arthur after a little coaxing and arm twisting, played “Irish – Man of the House (reel)”. Arthur is partial to the Irish and we are glad for the cultural input.

Janet Farris

I chose SHADOW BOXING because it was the third of the John Gart songs on my itinerary. Gart was an accomplished player and composer who never achieved the recognition he merited. He was born in Poland in 1905, and was an established musician at the age of 7. He discovered the accordion in 1931, but he was primarily a radio/TV organist for the next 30 years. He was a founding member of the AAA in the late 1930’s, but even then he was absent for the group photo. His SNOWTRAIN SHUFFLE will always be a favorite of mine, and a lot of other accordionists. The theme from PICNIC was chosen because it’s a beautiful arrangement by Gary Dahl. I never got into Dahl music until after the passing of Frank Marocco. As Marocco finished a composition, I immediately started playing it, and my attention was always to his music. With no more new music from Marocco, I turned to Gary Dahl’s compositions because I had never really experimented with his arrangements. I can still buy them online, so am constantly trying something new by him or what is new to me. It keeps my interest up that way.

Tony Mustaro and George Simko

Tony and George teamed up as a duo and played and sang “I Wonder Why”, “Echoes of Vienna” and finished with “Valger Allegro”. What a Treat, keep them coming!

Alicia Baker

Accordion Pickin’ Polka – This is just one of my favorite polkas. I love starting my program off with a polka to start with high energy, and this one does the trick!

Rivalite and Sul le ciel de Paris Medley – I would play all musettes for my program if I could. =) So I always program a fair amount of them in my concerts. I found that by making little medleys, it’s a nice way to get a variety of different musettes in one go. I learned Rivalite at a young age, and it still has such a beautiful melody in my mind. I chose Sul le ciel de Paris because it’s so widely known, and I love when the audience can connect to my music since they’ve heard it before.

Santa Lucia – This is my favorite Italian folk song that I’ve come across so far in my learning. It has a simple, beautiful melody and the lyrics are lovely.

La Vie en Rose – This is my favorite french folk song. It’s fun to play, it’s fun to sing, and it’s so well known that it always pleases the crowd.

Joss’s Song – This is a newer piece to me, having learned it just a couple months ago. I love listening to jazz, and this piece really caught my attention the first time I heard it! It has some tricky chord progressions, providing a neat opportunity for cool improvisation, and I love the quick bossa beat.

Take Five (looper – end of jazz set) – I chose this piece strictly because I was playing the Roland. I love using the looper feature, and TakeFive is perfect for creating a little backing track and then improvising on top. Plus, it’s a joy to play!

Reine de Musette – Xavier asked me to play this piece, having heard Michael Bridge and I perform it in Vegas. I was happy to add it to my program, as it has been one of my favorites for many years now!

Meadow Land – I included this piece so that I could share a bit of what I worked on for the Coupe Mondiale, the World Championship of accordion. It’s an exciting piece, as it is essentially a theme and variations on a famous Russian melody. I love the drama of the tempo changes and speedy ending.

O Mio Babbino Caro – I wanted to sing some opera, so of course I had to do this classic! It’s a beautiful aria that people connect with.

Pretzel Polka – I chose to play this polka because it is my original composition. I like to try to share some of what goes on in my head – so this is a good way to do that!

After You’ve Gone – This is another jazz standard that I’ve always loved. I heard an awesome arrangement of it, and once I got my handson the sheet music, I learned it right away! It’s lively with difficult/cool runs, and I love to play it!

Blue Paris Waltz – This piece was composed by my favorite player, Ludovic Beier. When he sent me a bunch of his original compositions, I was ecstatic! This one stood out to me, and I learned it first. I like including one of his pieces since he’s been such an inspiration to me.

C’est si Bon – I love the old-fashioned nature of this little song. I’m obsessed with the French language (even though I don’t speak it..), so I love to learn as many French songs as I can.

O Sole Mio – This is such a well-known, popular Italian folk song, that I like to include it in my programs for the audience. I also really enjoy singing the chorus.

Skinny’s Polka – I wanted to finish with a polka, because it’s such a fun way to go out! I learned this polka about 7 years ago, and it’s been one of my favorites ever since. I love the funky A-section, with the flying runs.

Cumana – I thought this would be a good encore because it’s short, fast, exciting, and fun!

Filed Under: Newsletter, October 2014

September 11, 2014

The Presidents Message

Dear Friends

Please take note and tell your friends that the monthly ACR meeting has changed from the third Monday to the fourth Monday for this month only. Remember that the September 2014 meeting will take place on Monday September 22, 2014. The reason for the change is so that we can book Alicia Baker as our principal entertainer for the month of September. She was not available for the third Monday date. Whether or not you’ve seen and heard Alicia sing and play you are in for a musical treat. She sings beautifully and is an amazingly talented musician whether she is playing piano, her Borsini accordion or her Roland V Accordion. This is a rare appearance here in the North Bay so invite friends and relatives to come experience the music of this talented performer.

Another bit of good news that I learned this week is that our Vice President, Steve Balich has returned home from his period of convalescence. I know that Steve is very happy to be back home with Jennie and the rest of his family. I am hoping that he will be at the September meeting as well.

I wish that I could give you more good news in this message but sadly I have two other pieces of very sad news to convey to the membership. We have lost two more of our own. It is with great regret that I tell you of the passing of Kay Newburg and Donald Agresti.

Kay along with her husband Tom was a founding member of the Accordion Club of the Redwoods. She and Tom have often entertained us with their Austrian button box duets, and Kay was also blessed with a great singing voice which she shared with us from time to time as well. Heartfelt condolences go out to Tom and all of her many friends and family members. Memorial service details appear elsewhere in this issue.

Donald was our resident/guest chef for most of our dinner dances, picnics and pasta feeds. I use the term resident/guest because Donald would drive all the way from his American Hog Farm ranch in Ceres (a Hog, Cattle and Almond farm founded in 1965), which is south of Modesto to come cook wonderful food for us. He did this out of his love for people and his love of bringing people pleasure by cooking for them. He asked for no reward or compensation for this generous action other than knowing that we enjoyed what he prepared for us. He was a generous man and a good friend. Once again, our condolences to his many friends and family members. As of this writing I have no details on Donald’s memorial service.

Both of these fine members of our accordion family will be sorely missed and remembered in our thoughts and prayers.

Tony Mustaro

President
Accordion Club of the Redwoods

Filed Under: Newsletter, September 2014

September 10, 2014

Entertainment, September 2014

ARTHUR SEEBACH

I like these tunes a lot. They take me through a range of emotions.

They make you feel happy and sad!! They move you. They have soul! Judge for yourself. I also played ‘Waltzing to Mongolia” and “The Drunken Sailor” I hope this helps. Waltzing to Mongolia.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuNWYNSPr9Y

“The Ships are sailing” and “Toss the Feather” (both Edor). Sound is one semi tone lower than on the original video…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P26i_g_RjE4

“The King of the Fairies” a Scottish folk tune
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-6UlEud-Gc

JANET FARRIS

“Snowtrain Shuffle” I chose that song because it is my husband’s favorite that I first played for him when I was 15 years old. He requested that I play it for the August 18 accordion club meeting.

“Rhythm in the Reeds” – I chose this song because it was composed by John Gart, the same composer who wrote Snowtrain Shuffle.

“Georgia on my Mind” – Chosen because it is a good arrangement, done by Ron Ostromecki, favorite accordionist arranger, engraver and just a fine person whom I have never met in person, but have gotten to know online. He did all of Frank Marocco’s engraving for the last number of years until his untimely death.

“By the Light of the Silvery Moon” – This is a very old (1945) arrangement by Robert Carreno that has stood the test of time. It remains a catchy arrangement even in our modern day times (2014). I bought this arrangement in about 1951, put it aside, and never learned it until recently.

“Perfidia” and “Quizas Quizas Quizas” both of these arrangements are by Gary Dahl. Dahl gives his arrangements a modern sound, some unusual chords, but they can be appreciated for their style and sound. His arrangements are available online under

http://www.musicforaccordion.com/inform/garydahl/index.htm

Note that Quizas…has the S at the end. My Spanish dictionary shows Quiza or Quizas meaning perhaps or maybe.

ELMO FAMA

Elmo gave a great foot tapping performance with his play list of”When You are Smiling”, “Whispering”, “Old Shanty Town”, “Marianna”, “You Belong to My Heart”, “Jealousy”, and lastly “Every Day of My Life”.

Elmo, you always deliver

KRIS NELSON

Kris sang “Because of You” with some emotion; it was his parents’ song, followed by “As Time Goes By”, then ended with “I Left My Heart in San Francisco”. Great selection and voice Kris!

PAULETTE HRUSKA

Paulette sang “Parlez Moi d’Amour” which translates to speak to me of love .The other one was “La Chanson du Bonheur “. When sung in English is “You Belong to My Heart”.

Let’s hear from you more often Paulette!

Filed Under: Newsletter, September 2014

August 16, 2014

The President’s Message

Dear Friends

I hope everyone who turned out for our July afternoon meeting had a good time and a good meal. I want to thank all of those who worked to purchase, prepare and serve the food: the Patton family, Del, Cathy, and Johnny also Elmo, Steve (middle Steve Balich), Kris, Annette, Jane, Ann and Jan. It was a great group effort and it was fun to work with such a fine group of people. Thanks also to Xavier, Steve, and any others who played for us. Hopefully we can do this again next summer.

Kris is planning on cooking his famous Gumbo for us again – probably at the October meeting. More on this later.

I saw Steve Balich (the elder) yesterday and he is on the road to recovery from his recent surgery. We are all looking forward to having him back at full strength in the next few weeks.

The Cotati Accordion Festival is upon us and I would like to thank Cathy and Art for selling tickets to raise funds for the club treasury. Our club has a booth at the festival again this year so please stop by and chat with a few prospective members if you’re at the festival.

Please remember that there WILL be a regular meeting on the third Monday this month. There was some confusion last year about whether or not we would have our regular meeting in August. We always have a third Monday monthly meeting with the exception of March, July, and December when we have special events.

There is sad news for our club this month. We have lost two of our members: Bill Ferrari and Dick Velloza. Services for Bill will be held at Parent-Sorensen Mortuary and Crematory, 850 Keokuk St., Petaluma on Sunday August 10 at 11 AM. There will be a Funeral Mass for Dick on Saturday, August 9, 2014, at 10:00 am at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Olema, CA. Our condolences go out to the loved ones and friends of these two fine men.

Bill was one of the founding members of our club and continued to be a staunch supporter even after he was no longer able to attend regular meetings. Dick along with his lovely wife May was a regular at our meetings. Please remember them in your thoughts and prayers. They will both be missed.

Tony Mustaro

President
Accordion Club of the Redwoods

Filed Under: August 2014, Newsletter

August 16, 2014

Special Guest Performer for September Meeting

Alicia Baker

Alicia Baker has been a passionate musician since early childhood. She began studying the piano at age 4, the accordion at age 6 and vocally at age 14. Alicia recently graduated from Oregon State University, and now holds a bachelor of arts degree in Music Education, Piano Performance, and Vocal Performance.Alicia has found her most tangible success with the accordion. Most recently, she was awarded 3rd place at the Coupe Mondiale accordion World championships in the digital division, taking place in Victoria, BC this past August. Alicia has also won several other International competitions, including the Happy Hans Open and the Leavenworth Open. In 2009, she won the privilege of representing the USA at the Roland International V-Accordion Competition in Rome. This turned out to be the beginning of her current relationship with Roland; one that continues to provide opportunities to share her love for the instrument. Aside from competitive events, Alicia has performed solo accordion concerts at many notable festivals. These include the American Accordion Association Convention, Cotati Accordion Festival, the Accordionists and Teachers Guild International Festival, KIOTAC, Leavenworth Old-Time Accordion Festival, and the NAMM show. In 2011, she was privileged to join the Corvallis symphony as the soloist for Nikolai Chaikin’s Accordion Concerto in B-flat Major.

Vocally, Alicia thrived as an opera student all throughout college, as she discovered a new passion. Her college operatic performance experience included the role of “Queen of the Night” in OSU’s production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute in April 2012, as well asmultiple roles in various scenes throughout four terms of Opera Workshop at OSU. Alicia performed two solo vocal recitals in fulfillment of her vocal performance degree. Competitively, Alicia was the vocal scholarship recipient of the Brookings Friends of Music Annual Scholarship Competition, in addition to winning the NATS competition for classical voice in 2012 and 2013. More recently, Alicia was selected as a finalist in Classical Singer’s National Vocal Competition.On the piano, Alicia performed two solo piano recitals in fulfillment of her piano performance degree, and accompanied many musicians and singing groups to fund her college education. She loves the art of collaborative piano, and will always enjoy working as an accompanist.

In addition to her three instruments, Alicia also discovered a passion for musical composition. She has composed many solo accordion pieces, a few piano solo pieces, and two works for choir. Alicia won the KRAFT composition competition held at OSU in 2011, and was honored to have her composition “The Unseen”, written for choir, cello, and piano, performed by the OSU Chamber Choir. She plans to continue composing, and hopes to become a published composer someday.

As a recent college graduate, Alicia can now begin fulfilling her dreams, which include promoting and sharing her love of accordion to younger generations, as well as performing on all of her instruments. She currently works for Roland Corporation, where she enjoys sharing her love and knowledge of music with others.

Filed Under: August 2014, Newsletter

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