NEWSLETTER OF THE

April 2016

SVAS NEXT MONTH’S MEETING SVAS

On May 1, 2016 at Harry’s Hofbrau

VISIT OUR WEBSITE at SVASociety.org and visit us on Facebook Watch our Videos on: youtube

Attn: All Accordionists - This month is Jam Band & Open Play all day. Bring those accordion smiles.

SVAS Spring Fling Entertainment provided by SVAS Musicians and Bands

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Did you miss a meeting performance? You can view some of it on youtube. To View Pam’s Videos from past meetings: Go to youtube.com, type in accordionpam in the search field

(next to the magnifying glass on top) for videos from the club .

Ken Caple President

Bill Tapogna Master of Ceremonies

Marybarbara Zorio SVAS Reporter of the month.

I counted 89 folks in the room at the beginning of the Featured Program. This is a nice turn out for the Club. We all had a good variety of music and some surprises. When I saw Ursala buried under her accordion I thought; “and I complain about my 26 pounder”. Her accordion is almost as big as she is. I heard that this was Ursala’s first live stage performance. We all have something to learn about this. Thanks for playing Ursala, you are an inspiration to us all. Hubert and Frank did a great job for the First Half of the Program. Frank Lima came as himself, although he donned a great new costume for us. Fete Musette from the East Bay were an unusual welcome of Country French Folk music and dance. Gary Breitbards unusual string instruments were all very interesting and sounded great with their song selection. Ken

Call me biased, but when it comes to “all things accordion”, it does-n’t get much better than this! If you joined us for our April meeting, you were treated to an afternoon delight of old favorites as well as seldom heard international tunes. In fact, there were so many of us in attendance, Ken and Bill brought in more chairs to accommodate the overflow crowd! Kicking off the afternoon was a first time SVAS performer, Ursala Ratsch, who regaled us with a medley of European favorites, includ-ing April in Portugal. Ursala was born in Germany and is a self-educated accordionist.

Following Ursala’s premier performance was Eric Scheel. Eric be-gan his set with a George M. Cohen favorite “When You’re Smil-ing” and ended with ”I Left My Heart in San Francisco”. Eric be-gan playing accordion at 16 years old in Brooklyn, shortly after his family immigrated from Guatemala. “Moonlight in Vermont”, “Poor But-terfly” and “Come Back To Sorrento” were among the tunes we heard from

Ron Harris who brought our preprogram to a melodic conclu-sion.

Call to all Musicians:

Bring in your instruments next month to play for us all afternoon.

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Bring your friends to next months meeting

The ‘oh-so-talented’ Hubert Kallabis, who never disappoints, regaled us with tangos, waltzes and, of course, a few German polkas on his beautiful Zupan accor-dion. Not surprisingly, polkas remain a popular folk music genre in many Euro-pean countries. They fare just as well in the back room of Harry’s Hofbrau and Hubert performs them so well. Herbert’s expertise using his bellows correctly is to be envied as demonstrated in his medley of “Yes Sir that’s my Baby/You are My Sunshine”.

Always a favorite with SVAS, Frank Lima, AKA The Great Morgani, played one of his 39 accordions. As “Frank” he demonstrated his smooth ‘jazzy’ technique with “Domino” and “Good Morning Babylon”. As The Great Morgani he played “Dancing in the Dark”, “You Light Up my Life”, “Padam Padam”, and other familiar tunes. He brought us home with the most patriotic of melodies, “God Bless America”. The Great Morgani is a one man show! Whether performing at street festivals, private affairs, or an SVAS meeting he arrives in costume, never failing to entertain. His costumes are all hand crafted and often cover him from his feet to the top of his head, as well as the accordion itself!

Thanks for the delicious treats from Marcia and Bernie, Francis, Dick , and Shirley!

Below are our lucky Drawing winners this month:

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Go to FACEBOOK to make comments and upload your photos

Were you along for the musical Tour de France with Fete Musette? This tal-ented group plays music from all over France. A relatively new band, formed in July 2015, they played their first gig together at Stanford Hospital. The band is comprised of Gary Breitbard (hurdy gurdy and accordion), Jena Rauti (accordion), Karl Franzen (guitar, button box and penny whistle), Sarah Kirton (violin), and Bill O’Harran (rhythm). This group is multi-talented - playing, singing and dancing, demonstrating folk dances from vari-ous regions of France. Starting out with a polka set from the center of France, and wearing authentic costumes, Jena and Gary demonstrated several dances including a fandango, a dance traditionally done on tiptoe requiring complex steps with ballet shoes that lace up the dancers’ calves. Taking up Jena’s invitation to join in, our very own Gloria Tapogna partnered with Jena in several of the folk dances! Our program concluded with a rousing rendi-tion of Vive la Compagnie! Au revoir mes amis! We hope to see you soon again!

With the motivation from listening to so many talented musicians, a chance to interact with other like-minded accordion aficionados, all en-joyed in the homey venue of Harry’s Hofbrau, this was truly a meeting

Fete Musette

Coming Next Month - SVAS “Spring Fling” $ 10.00 Entrance Fee includes meal and entertainment.

We will start off with the Jam Band—Everyone Welcome to join in.

The hurdy gurdy, also known as a vielle a roue, is a stringed instrument that produces sound by a crank-turned, wheel rubbing against the strings. The wheel functions much like a violin bow, and single notes played on the instru-ment sound similar to those of a violin. The melody is played on a keyboard that presses small wedges against one or more of the strings to change their pitch. Gary’s hurdy gurdy was made by an English person, from a gourd grown in South Dakota. Like all hurdy gurdies, Gary’s has multiple drone strings, which give a constant pitch accompaniment to the melody, resulting in a sound similar to that of bagpipes

ACCORDION CLUBS MEETING SCHEDULES IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA

Accordion Club of the Redwoods (ACR) meets on the third Monday of the month. Herman & Sons Hall, 860 Western Avenue, Petaluma CA 94952. Contact: (707) 795-4060. Golden State Accordion Club (GSAC) has three divisions: 1. The Vacaville Club meets the second Thursday of the month at 6:30 PM, Pietro’s N.2, 679 Merchant St, Vacaville, CA 95687. 2. The Humboldt Club meets on the third Tuesday, 7:00 PM., Humboldt Swiss Club, 5403 Tompkins Hill Road, Loleta, CA 95551. 3. The Sacramento Club meets on the fourth Wednesday of the month at 6:30 pm at the Old Spaghetti Factory,12401 Folsom Rd..,Rancho Cordova CA ,95742. Contact for all the GSAC: Carole Enneking (707) 864-2359. Good Time Accordion Club (GTAC) meets on the second Wednesday of the month at 7:00 PM, Escalon Community Center, 1055 Escalon Ave., Escalon, CA 95320. Contact Ed Sciarini (209) 545-3603. Northern California Accordion Society (NCAS) meets on the first Wednesday of the month 6:30 PM 6365 Douglas Blvd., Lutheran Church Social Hall, Granite Bay, CA 95746. San Francisco Accordion Club (SFAC) meets on the third Sunday of the month 2:00 PM . Oyster Point Yacht Club, 911 Marina Blvd. South San Francisco, CA 94080. Contact Lynn Ewing 650-453-3391. Silicon Valley Accordion Society (SVAS) meets on the first Sunday of the month, 1:00 PM at Harry’s Hofbrau, 390 Saratoga Avenue,

♫ Who’s Playing??? ♫

William DeMichelis—Music with an accent, 408-375-0001, accordionist.sanjose@comcast.net

Reno di Bono—plays the second Friday of each month at Montavalle in Scotts Valley, dancing to the Blue Moon Trio. Joe Domitrowich/AlpinersUSA— see www.alpinersusa.com or www.capricious-accordion.com or call 408-255-1259 Mike Zampiceni - Accordionist 408 569-2579, plays on Sunday nights at Paesano Restaruant AbsolutAccord— Schedule Concerts with Marian Kelly  650 954-3711, kelly.marian@gmail.com. Happy Days Band— Schedule Concerts with Ken Caple (408) 892-2760 Due Zighi Baci– Schedule Performances with Sheri Mignano at sfmignano@yahoo.com Ernie Beran— Plays at the Tyrolean Inn Restaurant in Ben Lomond, CA every Saturday 6:00-9:00 pm Sunday 7 Band—Plays every first Friday of the month in Los Altos in front of Le Boulanger bakery on the corner of main street and Second street in the down town area. Schedule Concerts with Bob Stanfield (650) 888-3701

SVAS BOARD of Directors / Officers

PRESIDENT: KEN CAPLE, 408 892-2760

VICE PRESIDENT: BILL TAPOGNA , 408 984-5290

SECRETARY: SCOTT WILLIAMSON

TREASURER: BOB STANFIELD , 650 888-3701

DIRECTORS: DICK SIUDZINSKI SCOTT BADER PAM KAWASHIMA SUE DOUGLAS ART MAGGIO DENNIS JUDD Norma Parsons (Honorary)

WEBMASTER: PAM KAWASHIMA pkawashima@outlook.com

NEWSLETTER Producer: Ken Caple Editors At Large: Bob S, Pam K, Norma P, Bill T, Georgia S, and monthly Reporter

NL Reporters: SUE DOUGLAS , MARCIA COULLAHAN , MARYBARBARA ZORIO, GEORGIA SUTHERLAND

Coming Events at SVAS: Sunday May 1, 2016 Spring Fling

Meeting : Doors open at 1:00 pm 1:00-2:00 pm Begin with the Jam Band

2:00-3:00pm Luncheon and SVAS Players 3:00—3:30 pm Break & Drawing Master of Ceremonies Remarks Continue with our Spring Fling Event

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June 5: Doris Sprugasci, Jana Maas , Rene Sevieri (Feature) July 10: Peter Di Bono Trio Open Jam Band wVic & Barbara August 2 Mike Marotta Band

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ACCORDION TEACHERS:

Peter Di Bono: San Francisco (415) 753-1502 Lynn Ewing: San Carlos (650) 453-3391 Sharon Walters Greyhosky: Daly City (650) 731-6010 Lou Jacklich: San Lorenzo (510) 317-9510 Marian Kelly: Cupertino (650) 954-3711 Richard Yaus: San Bruno (650) 832-1740 Mike Zampiceni: Sunnyvale and Hayward (408) 569-2579 Sheri Mignano , Petaluma (707) 765-1657 Ernie Beran: Aptos, reeds@baymoon.com (831) 238-4961

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Popular Accordion Song History

Roll out the Barrel This most popular song is from the heart of Bohemia. It was composed by Czech musician Jaromir Vejovoda in 1927. Edward Ingris wrote the first arrangement of the piece. After Vejvoda came upon the melody he sought Ingris’s help in re-fining it. It was played without lyrics as Modranska polka . The polka as you know was also created in Bohemia. Its first text was written later (in 1934) by Vaclav Zeman, with the title “Slosdalasky“ (Wasted Love).

This polka became famous around the world. In June of 1939, “Beer Barrel Polka,” was re-corded by Will Glahe and was #1 on the Hit Parade. During the Nazi occupation of Czechoslo-vakia the song was retitled and this German version titled “Rosamunde” sold many copies worldwide.

During this Nazi occupation Czech emigrants fled to many other parts of the world taking this music with them.

During WWII many versions in many languages were created and the song was popular among soldiers, regardless of their allegiances. It was claimed many times that the song was written in the country where it had just become a hit. Its actual composer was not widely known until after the war.

The song became a signature song of the entertainer Liberace. Frankie Yankovic had the most popular version and was played during the seventh inning stretch at the Milwaukee Brewers baseball games, as well as becoming one of the sate of Wisconsin’s unofficial state songs as it is also played at numerous University of Wis-consin sporting events, as well as the Green Bay Packers home games and the Milwaukee Panthers basketball games, including after every home win.

The Australian Rugby League Football Club, Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks has a club song know as “Sharks Forever,” which is sung to the tune of the Beer Barrel Polka.

At San Jose Giants home games, a batter from the opposing team is designated the “beer batter.” If the San Jose pitcher strikes out that batter, beer is half price in the beer only lines for the 15 minutes immediately following the strike out. At this time the PA system plays the “Beer Barrel Polka” whenever the “beer batter” comes to the plate and after every strike during the beer batter’s at-bat for the first six innings of the game. After the sixth inning the beer batter becomes the apple juice batter and if he strikes out, fans get half-priced Martinelli’s apple juice. (Ref: Wikipedia) KC

"Mike Zampiceni is pleased that he has returned to the Bay Area full‐time after having moved to the Sacramento area in 2014. He will be living in Hayward, and looks forward to continuing his teaching business both in the south bay and now in the east bay as well, and also playing throughout the bay area once again. He plays Friday nights on the back patio at Tee Nee Thai on The Alameda, and Sunday nights at Paesano Restaurant on Julian Street in the Little Italy business district. You can check with him at eclecticguy@comcast.net to make sure he's performing on the night you want to attend."

Silicon Valley Accordion Society meetings held first Sunday of each month at Harry's Hofbrau, 390 Saratoga Avenue, San Jose, corner of Kiely. Doors open at 1:00, Music

begins at 1:00 pm, Meeting begins at 2:00 p.m. door fee $5, under 16 no charge.

FIRST CLASS POSTAGE ♫

P.O. Box 1513 Los Altos, CA 94023

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