Accordionist's Past & Present

[JIM D.]

A nice history of accordion artists from Weird Al Yankovic to Pee Wee King .
https://accordionamericana.com/

 

[TomBR]

Thanks Jim, interesting stuff.
Cheers,
Tom

 

[EMan]

Thanks for that Jim.

Always loved Van Damme. Tried to play like him when I was young. There are some really good names missing tho, such as Angelo Di Pippo from originally from Providence (I was too !). My Guerrini came from his Dad's store in the little Italy section of Providence vack in the early 60's. Silvio DiPippo's Music ! Even Dick Contino is missing ! Myron Floren, just to mention a few.

Can't get them all, tho. Wish I knew you were in Western Ma when I lived in RI !

Thanks for the link !

Ed

 

[larry richards]

Thanks for that Jim.

Always loved Van Damme. Tried to play like him when I was young. There are some really good names missing tho, such as Angelo Di Pippo from originally from Providence (I was too !). My Guerrini came from his Dads store in the little Italy section of Providence vack in the early 60s. Silvio DiPippos Music ! Even Dick Contino is missing ! Myron Floren, just to mention a few.

Cant get them all, tho. Wish I knew you were in Western Ma when I lived in RI !

Thanks for the link !

Ed

Youre right ! Dick Contino was one of the favorites when I was a kid back in the 50s. He would have gone a long way if he hadnt tried to avoid the draft! Im looking for the record I have of him but not much luck after 3 moves. I started to play when I was 7 and just loved his work during my growing up. You mentioned Myron Floren. I have a CD of his sister plying with a group out of Sacramento California and I got it from the accordionist that overhauled my La Melodiosa as he played with another person and Myrons sister. I didnt know he had a sister that played the squeeze box!

 

[EMan]

I remember Contino in the 50's also; being on the Ed Sullivan show numerous times. I also started when I was 6-7 years old. I, too, did not know that Myron Floren had a sister who played. I remember my parents used to be glued to the TV set watching Lawrence Welk and Myron Floren. One thing I had always noticed about M. Floren is that I don't ever remember him playing a chord in a song. Excellent technique and execution, but never a chord. Do you remember that also ?

 

[JIM D.]

Reading the post's here I fell I should chime in on the misconception of Dick Contino's history of draft dodging. I've in the past met with Dick some 4 times and the last time was 10 years back when he was performing at the Orlean's in Vegas. In the 50's as some of you may know there was a overblown communist scare in the US and many performers,entertainers, and well known actors and writers were defamed and black-listed. Dick wasn't a draft dodger but did show up 4 days late for his induction and charged with being AWOL and the press made a big deal of this and his career was severely damaged.
Dick served with the US Army from 1952 to 1954 , spending 16 months entertaining the armed forces in Korea . He left with an honorable discharge . During His career, he has also entertained servicemen Europe and Viet Nam, as well as in veteran's hospitals throughout the country.

 

[JIM D.]

Well when your working with a full orchestral playing all the chords you only need to play a lead note to impress. I see we have member that's posted Myron playing more than one note.

 

[larry richards]

Reading the posts here I fell I should chime in on the misconception of Dick Continos history of draft dodging. Ive in the past met with Dick some 4 times and the last time was 10 years back when he was performing at the Orleans in Vegas. In the 50s as some of you may know there was a overblown communist scare in the US and many performers,entertainers, and well known actors and writers were defamed and black-listed. Dick wasnt a draft dodger but did show up 4 days late for his induction and charged with being AWOL and the press made a big deal of this and his career was severely damaged.
Dick served with the US Army from 1952 to 1954 , spending 16 months entertaining the armed forces in Korea . He left with an honorable discharge . During His career, he has also entertained servicemen Europe and Viet Nam, as well as in veterans hospitals throughout the country.

Thanks Jim for the update on Contino. Too bad he didnt get more records out during the 60s. And trying to find them today will be a tough go.

 

[Ganza]

[/quote]
You're right ! Dick Contino was one of the favorites when I was a kid back in the 50's. He would have gone a long way if he hadn't tried to avoid the draft! quote]

Just read about him on Wikipedia.... Such a shame his career suffered because he couldn't / wouldn't go to war.

I have always thought draft dodgers are heroes who should get a medal!

 

[landro]

OK, I ran across this article:http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1951/07/25/page/1/article/draft-dodger-dick-contino-sent-to-jail

The damage was done in the beginning as usual. It was rather well publicized at the time. The initial news most often gets imbedded into readers minds . The chances of subsequent news of the same subject that might exhonerate are slim that it would warrant the front page . That kind of news isn`t front page material.
I was a youngster in the early 50`s and had seen him on (TV) and known Dick Contino was an accomplished accordionist. My father had told me that Dick Contino avoided the draft and went to jail and that it pretty much ruined his career. I cannot ever recall my father telling me he eventually did serve and was honorably discharged. My father might not have seen anything but the front page where he was charged. Life isn`t always fair.

 

[JIM D.]

As always - Get charged with a crime it hits the front page. Get found not guilty - the same paper will post it on the pages after the cartoon section.

 

[Glenn]

Indeed we should never forget that a newspaper's primary objective is to make money.

 

[JerryPH]

That news paper article is damned hard to read but from what I can gather he did dodge the draft for a short period of time thats not mentioned, had a court trail that is a bit bizzare in terms of content and was then sent to jail for an inexplicably short period of a mere two weeks. He then did join the armed forces willingly , served time and was honorably discharged.

It seems to me that if Cantino's carreer were destroyed, the fault was more because of the uselessly sensationalized story presented by the newspaper than anything else. Yes, he avoided the draft (draft dodging), but when confronted, went willingly. I am sure that scenario had happened hundreds of times and went undocumented from public scrutiny and did not destroy other's carreers.

A bit sad and a big loss for the accordion world.

 

[JerryPH]

I found another article there that is very interesting.

Now its the mid 70s. Time and maybe and a lot of frustration are obvious in this Contino interview. It saddens me to see where he was 25 years later.

http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1975/05/25/page/21/article/one-mistake-keeps-contino-down

Man, what a movie his life could make!!