Accordion Club of the Redwoods

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

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.