This sounds like April Fools!!
Hi Dnj and Tony,

The convention was great. Attendance was down about 10%, so, not too bad!

Some Great Performers!! And good mix of accordion cultures.

Thursday Night:
Accordion Fusion, Nick Ballarini: Musical Variety Show.

Brian and the MetroTones: Rock 'n Roll with a touch of C&W.

Dee Langley and the Accordion Band:
Popular tunes and dance selectons.

T-Richard and the Zydeco Stringrays: Zydeco with a touch of jazz.

Texas FolkLife Accordion with Shelia: Folk music.

Friday Nighe:
Sound Connection: Polka festival music
(Good Band from Houston).

Chris Rybak: Texas Dance Music (strolling)

Fourth Generation: Tex Czech dance music

Chris Rybak: "Strollin' with the Roland"

Pivovar Trio: Cleveland Polkas

Saturday night:
Gene Van Accordion Orchestra & Entertainment Showcase
(This guy does wonders with an accordion orchestra)!!

Joe Natoli, Mary Tokarski, 2Accordions Duo

I went specifically to get a first-hand look at the Concerto Accordion made by Accordion's International of Salt Lake City. Spent a lot of time with it. It is one fantastic instrument!! It is a top-of-the-line acoustic accordion with state of the art electronics. SORRY, no auto rythms. YET?

All you Ketron Audya guys listen up. Price range for the Concerto from $10,000.00 to 16,500.00! Yep, thats why I don't have one.

Tony, don't know about the American Accordionest Association. This convention is sponsored by National Accordion Association, Formerly the Texas Accordion Association. They do get good national coverage.

About keyboard configuration, you must be talking about chromatic? I havn't a clue.

Don P

Don, perhaps you can help me...

Several years ago, I read about an accordion manufacturer (I think they said it was American) that was making good accordions out of lightweight composite materials, considerably lighter than traditional ones. I think the article was in Keyboard magazine, to boot. But I no longer have it, and am having fits trying to track this down..

Do you have any idea about this product?

I think accordions make great fire wood. Any accordion player playing "Lady of Spain" should be shot on sight.

Tom

[This message has been edited by Tom Cavanaugh (edited 04-01-2009).]

GOSH, TOM!! Such violence on the ZONE.
I'll take "Lady of Spain" out of my repertoire; IMMEDIATELY. Sure would hate to get shot for my second best performance! I play TICO TICO much better.

Dicki, I'm not familiar with the material or the article to which you refer. I am not an aficionado of accordion history in the US, although, there were several compainis here. Excelsior and Imperial for sure.

The quest has always been for lighter weight. A first-rate acoustic accordion will weigh between 22 pounds for a stroller, and up to 30 pounds for 4/5 piano accordion.

Of course the reedless accordions are much lighter; SEM CIAO at 14lbs. and Roland at about 18lbs.

Don P

Don... I would like to know what the accordion orchestra played ... Back in the day the accordion orchestra I was part of played primarily classical music - Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Rossini, - Mussorgsky's Night on Bald (Bare) Mountain was a favorite - We played a concert in NY's Carnegie Hall featuring Tchaikovsky's Capriccio Italien ....

Hopefully there is someone out there who can explain the chromatic set up to me ...

And Tom ... I USED TO consider you a friend ...

t.

Diki,

Check out the FR-1 (new cheaper model) looks like just the ticket for what you want.

Thing is, as much of a fan of electronics as I am, there's still nothing QUITE like the real thing...

I simply remember some article about a REAL accordion, where the manufacturer was using modern space age composites, hence it not being really a historic accordion. I love my 120 bass monster, but not if I have to stand and stroll for long!

I'd be happy with a nice light 72 bass model...

And Don, don't worry about the anti-accordion angst... in all fairness, most people hate bad arranger players at LEAST as much as bad accordionists!

Speaking of accordions, and sorry for sidetracking the topic, but could any of you tell me the value of an Imperial Lindo C30 with hard shell case in excellent condition? The body is pearl white and the sharps/flats as well as the two tabs on the bass section are pearl blue.

Thanks for any help you can provide.

Dave

------------------
Wm. David McMahan
LearnMyKeyboard
JazzItUp Band

I think you can find some real nice accordion patches on certain keyboards. Here is an example of an accordion patch on my Fantom G7..

Paris in the Summertime

Doesn't quite compare to the real thing but - Ooh La La!! Not too bad for a keyboard in my humble opinion.

All the best,
Mike

http://acclab.com/accordionlab/mall/preown/lindo/lindo.htm