In the United States, the fourth thursday of November is Thanksgiving. I love this holiday and love having the opportunity to express my gratitude for the extraordinary blessings in my life, many of which center on the accordéon, its music, and its masters.
- Speaking of masters, first on the list would have be my wife, who has been generally and genuinely supporting of my accordéon efforts during the course of our marriage. Just as one example, she did NOT send back the Castagnari Nik when it arrived in the post last February, when I was at work. Instead, she sent a picture on my phone, and called me up so I could hear how it sounded.
- Thanks to the folks who have willingly discussed with me things accordéon related, including Frédéric Paris, Sylvain Piron, Dave Mallinson, Alexandra Brown, and, most recently, Andy Cutting.
- Thanks to the friends of this blog -- whether they know it or not -- who have been willing to discuss issues with me as I developed posts. Some have actually written stuff that I've published here. Thank you, Andy of Vermont, Chris Ryall, Geoff Wooff, Owen Woods, Steve Mansfield, Chuck Boody, et many al. Tom McDonald -- despite being a non-accordéonist -- has been a real help just on the blogging and inspiration front.
- Thanks to melodeon.net! Not enough to be said about that friendly, squeeze congregation's influence on my quality of life! Just today, a quorum from that parish helped talk me off the ledge over a reed that seemed to be going sour.
- Thanks to everyone involved in the collective effort to bring the "La Bourrée" tune book out, a huge important task! The folks at concertina.net really stepped up for this one.
- Thanks to my kids -- Max, Brigid, Emma, Julia, and Sarah -- who somehow think that it's cool that their old man plays obscure accordéon music. They continue showing up to my gigs.
- Thanks to Amy and Rob, at the Water St. Cafe, in Gardiner, who have given me a place to play regularly in the past few months, so that I could get my chops into shape.
- Thanks to everyone who reads this blog. Having just crossed the 40,000 hits line, I have no idea, really, who you all are (the occasional comment would go a long way!) ... and I monetize the blog in only a very minor way ... but this blog was started because I wanted to talk about accordéons with people who wanted to listen to me talk about accordéons. Thank you.
Labels: Alexandra Browne, Andy Cutting, Andy from Vermont, Castagnari, Chris Ryall, concertina.net, Dave Mallinson, Frédéric Paris, gigs, La Bourrée, melodeon.net, owen woods, Sylvain Piron