Accordion book club?

[Gatorcheesehead]

Have y'all ever had or organized an accordion book club in this forum? Has it ever been discussed that you are aware of?

Here are some titles that I have come across and began downloading samples of to read:

-Accordion Crimes by E. Annie Proulx
-Accordion Stories from the Heart: A collection of accordions from around the world and their stories, inspired by the extraordinary people who played them (1) (Accordion Stories Volume #1) by Angelo Paul Ramunni
-The Accordion in the Americas: Klezmer, Polka, Tango, Zydeco, and More! (Music in American Life) by Helena Simonett, María Susana Azzi
-Squeeze This!: A Cultural History of the Accordion in America (Folklore Studies in Multicultural World) by Marion Jacobson
-Accordion Revolution: A People’s History of the Accordion in North America from the Industrial Revolution to Rock and Roll by Bruce Triggs

I'd imagine there are others. I wouldn't be surprised if some of you in this forum may have written some.

 

[Tom]

Yo Cheese,

Yup, the lists of books have been made, but no reason not to do it again! I've read all of these.

Just to add a couple:

"The Accordionist's Son," Bernardo Atxaga. A novel, takes place in the Basque Country of "Spain." The main character is an accordionist.

There are also biographies available of the "big 3" from the glory days in America, and probably others from other lands and languages. I don't know the authors off hand:

Dick Contino
Myron Florem
Frankie Yankovic

What else you (all) got?

 

[Squeezebox Of Delights]

Not necessarily suited to everyone here, but The Murderer's Ape by Jakob Wegelius is a lovely novel that features the accordion as quite a significant subplot. Gorgeous illustrations too.

 

[LibraryJoe]

"The Book Thief" by Marcus Zusak
It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will become busier still. Liesel Meminger is a foster girl living outside of Munich, who scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist - books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement. (from Amazon blurb)
"Dick Contino's Blues" by James Ellroy R-rated Noir, which may offend some... Contino's real... the story's fiction.
Dick Contino - 50s accordion player, a star in the making, is destroyed by a draft-dodging scandal. His life is on the skids until he comes up with the idea of resurrecting his career with a fake kidnapping scam. Meanwhile a serial killer is on the loose in Los Angeles...a killer who is closer to Contino than he suspects - a killer who wants in on the kidnap - for real...Plus five previously unpublished short stories. (Amazon blurb)

 

[AccordionUprising]

I hate to support Amazon's monopoly but made a list of Accordion-History related books on their Goodreads review site. I haven't updated it in a while, but it's about 100 squeezebox books.

Mostly books I used in researching my Accordion Revolution: People's History. (Edit, I left out some fiction, kids books, comics and at least one book of erotica. ("Concertina: the life and times of a Dominatrix," by Susan Winemaker/2007. Can't say I've read it. Totally worth my $5.)

My recommendation is to look there and ask your favorite library if they can purchase them. Order any that excite you through your local bookshop, or anywhere but Amazon. But that's just me.

 

[Gatorcheesehead]

I hate to support Amazon's monopoly but made a list of Accordion-History related books on their Goodreads review site. I haven't updated it in a while, but it's about 100 squeezebox books.
Mostly books I used in researching my Accordion Revolution: People's History, but a lot of fiction and other stuff I came across in my research too. Some kids books, mysteries, other strange stuff, and at least one erotica.
My recommendation is to look there and ask your favorite library if they can purchase them. Order any that excite you through your local bookshop, or anywhere but Amazon. But that's just me.

I'm so grateful that you shared your list! Thank you!

 

[Gatorcheesehead]

It nice to see that we have a goodly amount of readers among this forum. Down the road, if anyone is interested in discussing and exploring any of the books, I'd be happy to be included.

 

[MasonHerb]

The Myron Floren autobiography is a great read! His playing philosophy is quite interesting and revolutionized my playing on all instruments. My trumpet professor got to play with him once up in Nebraska and said that he could really play. Only a couple bucks on Thriftbooks too.

 

[Tom]

Concertina dominatrix? I prefer mine to have bayan reeds, don't know about you.

 

[JerryPH]

-Accordion Stories from the Heart: A collection of accordions from around the world and their stories, inspired by the extraordinary people who played them (1) (Accordion Stories Volume #1) by Angelo Paul Ramunni

The photos in that book were taken by me... a super memorable event, TONS of fun!

 

[vivdunstan]

Rob Howard compiled a 4-part set of books covering the history of the accordion in A-Z format. Very varied content. Here is a picture of the books on my bookshelf:


There‘s more info about the individual books and their contents at http://www.musicforaccordion.com/boutique/inform/robaccord/ Click on each book to see more details about it eg http://www.musicforaccordion.com/Boutique/inform/robaccord/robaccord02.htm

 

[Gatorcheesehead]

Rob Howard compiled a 4-part set of books covering the history of the accordion in A-Z format. Very varied content. Here is a picture of the books on my bookshelf:


There‘s more info about the individual books and their contents at http://www.musicforaccordion.com/boutique/inform/robaccord/ Click on each book to see more details about it eg http://www.musicforaccordion.com/Boutique/inform/robaccord/robaccord02.htm

Thank you! I will definitely take a look. Looks like a must have and must read!

 

[Tom]

I don't know. Women in Scotland followed by Scottish Country Life, followed by Lord Cockburn. Maybe it's me, but it seems you Scots got it going on! Wow, talk about your Bayan reeds in cassotto!

 

[Mr Mark]

I'm going to throw in a wee contribution from my accordion jedi master, Mr. Edwin Erickson. Published earlier this year, it is the tale of a lad with strong Scandanavian heritage growing up in Alberta, Canada - and undertaking the accordion learning from his mentor, and Norwegian turned Canadian, Olaf Sveen. Knowing Edwin, this book has some funny little excerpts that I get an extra kick out of for sure - it is a fairly light read I powered through one evening but is well written, and gives an interesting insight to the major players of the accordion realm in Alberta's history, including the beginnings of the world famous Kimberley International Old Time Accordion Championship. Olaf Sveen has a few claims to fame, approximately 250,00 albums sold on over 30 records made and the first ever lp released in Saskatchewan. The book has a pretty cool ending with Edwin regarding a long lost accordion that I won't spoil any further.

Go here to read for yourself : https://buckmountainpress.ca/?fbclid=IwAR1-lV2kSmZ94MtnfsIIF7SU4D3fz-wN-I-8jmoOjpvWnK5uRW_vxvLQNgg