The Rise and Fall (and Rise) of the Ukulele

Two, actually. One's a teacher and he actually has students, plural, so - it's still around. But nobody ever talks about the Accordion Boom or the rise and fall of it, at least not that I know of... :)

Random Lawrence Welk apropos-of-nothing factoid: I live in a house formerly owned by one of the Lennon Sisters; they were big real estate investors in my town. I'm definitely old enough to remember the show but it seems I encounter fewer and fewer people who get the reference!

Accordion players are actually pretty common.
But the first rule of Accordion Club is that you never talk about Accordion Club.

I think that they are going to become widely popular again. There I said it.
http://squeezeboxgoddess.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0P0EvJOfRQ
 
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Accordion players are actually pretty common.
But the first rule of Accordion Club is that you never talk about Accordion Club.

I think that they are going to become widely popular again. There I said it.
http://squeezeboxgoddess.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0P0EvJOfRQ

Are you in Mound? I grew up there. My folks and everyone I knew knew the Andrews Sisters, and watching Lawrence Welk on Sunday night (after rassling) was as obligatory as Sunday morning church. Maybe moreso.
 
Great article.

Jim Beloff told the beginners. “There are no ukulele police.”

That Jumpin' Jim quote is pure gold.

Irish Traditional Music definitely has the Trad Police.

Not to mention the Bluegrass police. Come on! Mandolin yes, ukulele no?
 
Are you in Mound? I grew up there. My folks and everyone I knew knew the Andrews Sisters, and watching Lawrence Welk on Sunday night (after rassling) was as obligatory as Sunday morning church. Maybe moreso.

I don't know Mound, sorry.
I do remember watching Lawrence Welk during prime
time on the back and white 12" TV.
 
While it does look like fun... Minnesota in November does sound a bit too cold. I would think an event like this in the Summer would be a little more appealing.

John
 
Accordion players are actually pretty common.
But the first rule of Accordion Club is that you never talk about Accordion Club.

I think that they are going to become widely popular again. There I said it.
http://squeezeboxgoddess.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0P0EvJOfRQ

Accordions are very common in folk music over here. Mostly diatonic in England but the piano accordion is probably more common in Scotland. We call diatonic accordions Melodeons over here, though in Ireland they only call,the one row a melodeon. Go to a folk session in England and the melodeon is often the most common instrument, even more so than the fiddle.
 
While it does look like fun... Minnesota in November does sound a bit too cold. I would think an event like this in the Summer would be a little more appealing.

John
It is held in a convention center. Last year they had the first snow of the season while we were there, but it was nice and toasty inside. Anyway, it is very interesting to see the ukulele culture and the bluegrass culture colliding. You can definitely tell who is who.
 
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