Accordion Club of the Redwoods

June 16, 2014

The President’s message

Dear Friends

Well, we’re about two weeks away from the official start of summer and there are lots of accordion activities coming up.

On July 23 – 26 at the Crown Plaza Hotel at San Francisco Airport we have the Accordionists and Teachers Guild, International (ATG) 74th Annual Competition and Festival which will attract accordionists and accordion lovers from all over. If you register before July 2, you will receive a reduced parking rate of five dollar per day. Enter the competition, play in the accordion band or just go and enjoy the ambiance.

Also in July we have our daytime summer meeting which we instituted last year and which was well received by the membership. This year’s event will be on July 26 which is a Saturday. It will take place at Hermann Sons Hall in our usual meeting room and again the menu will be sausage with bell peppers and onions on a roll from the bakery in Sonoma. We will have music of course and there will be room if you feel like dancing. If you would like to play for your fellow members bring your accordion. I will have mine there and there will be singing, good food, and the bar will be open for business. Hope to have an even better turnout than we had last year. See you there.

After these two events it will be time for the 24th annual Cotati Accordion Festival, which has become a highlight of the accordion year for those of us in this part of California and a destination for accordion fans and players from all over the country and even from other countries. Steve Balich and his band will be performing in the big tent again for the 24th consecutive year. Stop by and dance or just say hi to Steve, and the guys. Of course, once again our club will be selling tickets to the festival. There will also be much better parking and a shuttle bus from some nearby parking lots to the festival gates. If you want to save a couple of dollars on your ticket and help support the club treasury see Cathy, Art, or me for tickets.

Finally I would like to send best wishes to our own Jennie Balich who is currently hospitalized by an accidental injury. Steve tells me that her prognosis is good, but that she will be laid up for a while. Get well soon Jennie. If you would like to send her a note or a card, I think that the best place to send it is her home at 12991 Occidental Rd. in Sebastopol.

That’s all for this month. See you soon.

Tony Mustaro

President
Accordion Club of the Redwoods

Filed Under: June 2014, Newsletter

June 16, 2014

Entertainment June 2014

Janet Farris

Janet was a new entertainer to our club. Her mentor/teacher was the late great Frank Marocco. Her play list was “Flick Flack”, “Summertime” and “Picnic” . Great job Janet, we hope to see more of you.

William and Christopher Steffan

William and Christopher have grown a little since we saw them last. They were cute and good then. That has changed, for the better. They are still cute, maybe even handsome, but their playing was great!

Their play list was both individual and duet. William played “Hungarian Dance No. 5” and Christopher played “”Poor People of Paris”. They joined for a duet of “Let’s Dance the Polka”, Just Because” and “The Village Tavern”

Guy Richards

Guy is always a delight. His playlist was provided for the audience which included “True Love”, “My Eyes Adored You”, “Zorba the Greek”, “Blue Bayou”, “Those were the Days”, “Elmer’s Tune”, “Bernie’s Tune”, “Because of You”, “Lara’s Theme”, “Por Uma Cabeza”, “Cest Se Bon”, “Edelweiss”, “Chattanooga Choo Choo” and “Phantom of the Opera”.

Tony Mustaro – Guy Richards

Wow, is there something this Guy does not know? When Guy Got a little lost for words of one song request, Tony helped out a little.

Tony Mustaro and Carlo Solyvan

Tony Mustaro and Carlo Solyvan teamed up for the finally. There play list/duet was “Cantate Con Me” , “Dicitencello Vuje”,“Malafemmena”, “Chitarra Romana”,“‘Na Voce, ‘Na Chitarra, E’O Poca Luna”, “Tango Delle Capinere” and “La Paloma”.

I am glad there was not a Las Vegas talent scout in the audience or we would have to travel there and pay to see and hear them.

Filed Under: June 2014

May 13, 2014

The President’s Message

Dear Friends

Well, we followed up our annual Spring Fling dinner dance with a well attended and very entertaining April meeting. It was nice to see a good turnout again this month, and I hope to keep improving on our attendance throughout the spring and summer. At the April meeting, I had the welcome task of presenting our featured performer, Steve Albini, with an Honorary Membership Award from our club and also to join Steve and Carlo Solivan for a couple of numbers.

It was a great evening of music. There was, however, one disappointment: Guy Richards did not get a chance to play for us. I am hoping that he will rectify that this coming month.

There are two events of note for your consideration. Please mark Saturday, July 26, on your calendars. This is the date of our repeat performance of last year’s daytime summer meeting at Hermann Sons Hall. There will be food, music and visiting with friends. More particulars will be forthcoming, but just be aware of the date and let’s make this year’s turnout even better that last year.

Secondly, I have received a message from Lynn Ewing, President of the San Francisco Accordion Club, informing us that the Accordionists and Teacher’s Guild National Convention is coming to San Francisco at the Crowne Plaza Hotel July 24-26, 2014. There will be a competition and local accordionists are invited to perform as part of an accordion orchestra as well. Lynn has done a great deal of work to promote this event, and I will ask each of you to make an effort to demonstrate our support by attending one or more days as either a participant or a spectator. I will supply you with registration forms upon request. It’s a great way to show your enthusiasm and show our support for accordion music here in the Bay Area and have a good time as we get ready for the annual Cotati Accordion Festival.

Speaking of Cotati, our club will once again be selling advance tickets at a discount price for this event so be sure that you and your friends get their tickets through the club. You can see Art or Cathy or me. More details will follow.

Finally, I will take this opportunity to remind you that if you have not yet sent in your annual dues for the coming year, they are now past due. We try our best to keep the club financially sound. The annual dues are our main source of income. Please get your checks to John Pordon if you haven’t already done so.

Hope to see all of you at the May meeting.

Tony Mustaro

President
Accordion Club of the Redwoods

Filed Under: May 2014, Newsletter

April 15, 2014

The Presidents Message

Dear Friends

Spring is here and the weather is turning nice at last. We welcomed spring with our annual Spring Fling which was a very nice event. We had a respectable turnout, and I believe that everyone had a good time. Many thanks to all of the usual wonderful volunteers who gave their time and efforts to bring this about for 2014. Thanks again to Phil and Cheri Marcucci for their generosity with their excellent red wines – Pinot Noir and Zinfandel, which topped off a very nice meal. I saw a lot of happy dancers, and we have to thank Steve, Steve, Art and Scott for this. All in all, I think that we welcomed in spring in style.

April is the month when we choose our officers and board members for the coming year. So far, the response to our call for potential candidates has been underwhelming. On an optimistic note I suppose that this could mean that the general membership likes and approves of what your officers and board members have been doing. I hope that this is the case, however it’s still not too late to throw your hat into the ring.

For our April meeting, which is on Monday the 21st , we have a very talented old friend and a past president of our club as our featured entertainer. Steve Albini will be taking some time from his busy schedule to entertain us this month. He is a great ambassador for the accordion. Steve performs regularly at Francis Ford Coppola’s restaurant in Geyserville every Tuesday night along with various musical engagements throughout the country in addition to his position with the Roland Corporation. I know that he just got back from a gig in New Jersey, my home state. I don’t know if he will be playing his Roland FR-7X, his Roland FR-8X, or his Concerto this time around, but whichever one he chooses, he will make our evening’s music memorable. Steve is a multifaceted musician and singer who is well versed in many genres of music from classical to jazz along with rock, polka, tango and a variety of ethnic music as well. This would be a good meeting to invite a friend to attend. There may also be one or two other surprise performers as well, but this is not yet definite so I’ll just leave that thought with you as a teaser and you’ll have to be at the meeting to see if that comes to pass.

Before I close I would like to remind everyone that our monthly meetings are always held on the third Monday of the month unless there is a special event for that month which we will actively publicize. The special events take place in March, July, and December unless you are informed otherwise.

Hope to see a great turnout for the April meeting.

Tony Mustaro

President
Accordion Club of the Redwoods

Filed Under: April 2014, Newsletter

March 6, 2014

The Presidents Message

Dear Friends

Here it is March again and that means it’s time for our annual Spring Fling dinner dance. The meal will be catered by Lombardi Catering of Petaluma and we will be serving Italian style roasted chicken along with their excellent Caesar salad and penne pasta. Once again also to accompany the meal will will have great red wines from Marcucci Winery courtesy of Cheri and Phil Marcucci. White wine will also be available.

Dance music will be provided by the Steve Balich Band following dinner and there will be a no host bar and music provided before dinner as well.

Please note that time is quickly running out to make your reservation for this event. Please do so at once before it is too late! We must give a count to the caterer in advance of the event as I am sure you realize, so don’t be left out. Our dinner dances are the best entertainment, dining, and dancing value available today.

Speaking of great values, we had a great turnout for our last meeting Gumbo feed and I would like to thank all of our wonderful (and usual) volunteers for making this event such a success.

Another year has brought us to the annual elections also. Once again the officers and board members of the Accordion Club of the Redwoods invites you to throw your hat in the ring if you would like to become one of the planners and doers in our club. Please contact one of us if you would like to run. If you don’t want to jump right into it, become a volunteer, attend a board meeting, give us your ideas, donate your time, donate your services, help a member who no longer cares to drive at night by driving them to a meeting. In short, do something.

We have even stopped serving food at most meetings because after doing it for years and years Jan could no longer do it. For months I asked for volunteers to take her place. Instead, the club voted to discontinue serving food rather than come up with even one person to take on this task. Now we are hearing complaints because we are no longer serving food.

That small group of people which actually keeps the club running and financially sound is treated to comments that it is a closed group. If it truly is a closed group it is because no one is willing to come in and join the group not because it seeks to keep people out. That’s the end of my rant. I thank all of those who have worked so hard to make this club successful.

Hope to see everyone at the Spring Fling this year. Please attend and support the club by bringing a guest.

Tony Mustaro

President
Accordion Club of the Redwoods

Filed Under: March 2014, Newsletter