Volume 26 Issue 2 February 2019

Newsletter

ALSI - Accordion Lovers Society

International

The San Diego Accordion Club

Hello to everyone! Happy February to all, may it be a good month for music and

friends. ALSI brings it all together for us. Those who went to Yuma

had a wonderful weekend making music with the Yuma accordion

club (Jan. 19th. and 20th). The performance went well and it was a

sunny and warm weekend so everyone was smiling, just check out

the pictures.

Sunday, Feb. 10th. , will be our very special dinner and accordi-

on concert. I look forward to seeing many of our club mem-

bers and friends attending this meeting. Bring yourself and friends

to eat and enjoy accordion music on this special day. Let us have a

heart-warming Valentines event.

NAMM museum of music will be featuring Frank Petrilli Italian

Jazz artist and Creosote with both Jamie Maschler and Gabriel Ro-

drigues in accordion performance Friday March 22nd at 7 PM.

These accordionists are exciting and worth an evening out for dinner and a concert. You will

be amazed in their keyboard velocity and bass hand usage.

Happy days are filled with music. Enjoy the experience of playing accordion.

Gordon

Harold & Helen Estok

Founders of A.L.S.I.

President: Gordon Kohl

619 395-0454

Presidents Emeriti:

Harold Estok,

Ron Griffin,

Kjell Holmes,

Gloria Ensign

Meeting Coordinator:

Bob Warner

Treasurer & Band

Director: Vicki Eriqat

Recording Secretary:

Sharon Marotte

Correspondence

Secretary: Lois Lahoud

619 582-1427

ReedBlock

Newsletter/ Webmaster:

Bob Page,

Lois Lahoud,

Al Piselli,

Ted Hill

President’s Message

Gordon Kohl

Happy

Valentine’s Day

Gordon Kohl Plays Casuals, Wedding Dances and Special

Events. Gordon’s Combo is noted for their

repertoire of ethnic music such as Italian,

French, German and Latin. Their specialty is

Private Parties & Dancing Music. For more

information and availability, please call Gor-

don at: (619) 395-0454.

ALSI membership and general information

MEMBERSHIPS: ALSI memberships run from January through December. Please contact Lois Lahoud for

mid-year subscription rates ($2 an issue). The REED BLOCK is published once each month.

DISCLAIMER: Unless otherwise indicated, all articles were written by the Editor. Unless so stated, no arti-

cle is to be construed as an endorsement and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editor or ALSI.

Submissions for the Reed Block: Your input to the REED BLOCK is invited and should be sent to Lois La-

houd.

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The REED BLOCK

c/o Lois Lahoud

6225 Snowbond St. San Diego,

CA. 92120 (619) 582-1427

Email loislahoud@cox.net

STEERING COMMITTEE, next meeting will be on

Wednesday, February 13th. We meet at Marie Callen-

der’s 6950 Alvarado Rd. (Hwy 8 and 70th. next to Den-

nys) at 10:30 AM for breakfast to discuss upcoming

events for ALSI. This meeting is open to anyone interested, so please join

us. We drink a lot of coffee.

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Yuma Octoberfest on Saturday January 19th.

with Gordon Kohl and our folk dancers

Page 4

Yuma and San Diego accordion bands performance

on Sunday January 20th at Rancho Rialto RV park in Yuma

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WWW.TomEskolaMusic.com

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ALSI Happiness by Sharon Marotte

January 12, 2019- a bit cool but not bad considering the rest of the country

is really cold!!! We suffered without a sound system because Jack Marotte

wasn’t feeling well and Ron Griffin was in Houston, TX. Bob Warner was

our MC and Bill Barr was our receptionist, greeting people.

Lois Lahoud and Sharon Marotte started off the Open Mike time.

Their songs were: Kentucky Waltz/Tennessee Waltz, Home on the Range, and Isle of Capri.

Good Job!!!! Carlos Meneses played two Mexican songs: Felicidad and Cerva del Mar. Thanks for

playing, Carlos. You are making improvements!! Loren Gardner is always ready to play for us. His songs were: Styrmans waltz, Henri-

etta polka and Emil’s polka. Vicki Eriqat made a rare appearance playing. Her songs were: Edelweiss, Everywhere

You Go, For All We Know, Do Ra Me, and her version of Daisy/Elmer – the words were very

entertaining.

Daria Doering played Auld Lang Syne. Thanks for playing a song for

us… please come back again and play more.

Coffee Break – Thanks to all for bringing goodies to share. Thanks

to Ted Hill for making the coffee.

Juergen Rosenfeld played a medley of international songs from several countries –

Mexico, USA, Germany, France, Italy & Russia. He closed with Auf Wiederseh’n.

The ALSI Ensemble closed out the day with several songs.

Gordon Kohl joined us and also made several announcements.

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Road Trip to Yuma, 2019

by Sharon Marotte

On the Road Again….on January 19 four hearty souls started

out on the road to Yuma, AZ to attend several events. Vicki Eriqat was

the driver/chauffeur extraordinare, Jerry Odling who can’t spell but

knows a lot about a lot of things, Vivian Steger who is a member of the Clean Plate Society

and Sharon Marotte, the Introduction Queen.

The first stop was at the Yuma German Fest at Desert Sun Stadium. We joined Gordon Kohl and his band, Ted Hill and his dancer friends. We had a good time

sitting around, watching people dance. We also stood in line for 30 minutes or so to buy a

Brat Plate from a food truck. We talked to a German guy in line with us. He was entertain-

ing. After we got our Brats, we talked to a couple from Wisconsin who sat across from us

at a table. We spotted Loren Gardner and Marilyn there also. We checked into our rooms at the Shilo Hotel, found the Cracker Barrel for dinner.

The hotel was nice to let us practice our accordions in one of the rooms in the lobby – we

practiced some of songs for the next day. Sunday morning we were up and out the door to find the Rancho Rialto RV park

where our concert was being held. We practiced from 10-12 noon. The Yuma Accordion

Club furnished sandwiches, chips, water for our lunch. Our concert started at 1 pm with about 300 people in attendance. They took up a

collection to benefit the Yuma Food Bank and collected over $1100, which was better than

last year!!! Our concert was pretty good – Gordon Kohl joined us, also his drummer, Ed

Ducharme, played with us. For this concert, the San Diego accordion club joined with the Yuma accordion club

and played music that was selected by both groups half and half. It worked out pretty well.

Joe Colombo played with our group – his wife and son were in the audience. After our concert, Gordon Kohl played really good music. His drummer, Ed Du-

charme, accompanied him. We started back to San Diego and drove straight thru. We got

home before it got dark. We had a really good time and can’t wait until next year, to do this

all over again. San Diego players that played in the concert: Joe Colombo, Ted Hill, Jerry Odling, Viv-

ian Steger, Vicki Eriqat, Sharon Marotte, Loren Gardner, Gordon Kohl & Ed Ducharme.

ALSI Meeting Calendar

February 10th. Valentine Dinner with Guest Artist Gail Campanella at Mangia

Italiano restaurant in Chula Vista. RSVP Gordon 619 395-0454 March 10th. Guest artist Gene Kolosney from the Chicago Accordion Club will present

a showcase

April 13th. ALSI meeting

May 12th. ALSI meeting

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Other Accordion Events

February Birthdays

Bob Warner 2-4

Helen Schoell 2-11

Sharon Marotte 2-13

Sharon Wilkinson 2-20

Bonnie Barr 2-2 1

Kathtyn Morefield 2-22

Anniversaries

Penny and Bob Page 2-2

Sharon and Jack Marotte 2-14

Helen and Ron Schoell 2-14

Bill and Bonnie Barr 2-16

March 7th-9th NAA Accordion Convention, Richardson (Dallas), Texas

March 22nd NAMM Museum of Music will be featuring Frank Petrilli

April 4th-6th San Diego Accordion Camp with Gordon Kohl, Chula Vista, California

May 14th-16th Camp Concerto with Paul Pasqualli, Salt Lake City, Utah

(March 22nd—Museum of Music) Creosote is the accordion duo of Jamie Maschler and Gabriel

Rodrigues. Together they play a dynamic array of original and world music. Maschler and Ro-

drigues are both seasoned musicians and have individually and collectively mastered their craft of

performing, arranging and composing on the accordion. Expect to hear clever yet elegant ver-

sions of new and old Brazilian and world music tunes. The instrumental duo recently released

their first self-titled album. The evening will also feature a performance by jazz accordionist

Frank Petrilli. Based in Los Angeles, Petrilli is highly active in both the accordion and wider jazz

communities on the West Coast, and throughout the US. A protégé and close friend of the late

great jazz accordionist Frank Morocco, Petrilli has performed with renowned artists like guitarist

John Chiodini, at top venues such as Herb Albert’s Vibrato Grill, and at many of the major accordion festivals and clubs in the US. In

2011, he appeared on the TV series Mad Men and in 2012, recorded his debut CD, Totally Frank.

This event is presented in conjunction with the Accordions: Expanding Voices in the USA special exhibition.

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http://www.accordions.com/naa

2019 National Accordion Association Convention

March 7th. - 9th. Hyatt Regency Hotel in Richardson, Texas

GENE KOLASNY - ACCORDIONIST ALSI will be blessed with a real treat at the monthly meeting to here an accomplished accordionist. Gene has been a member of the Chicago Accordion Club since 2002. He was born in Buffalo, New York in 1937. He was first in-troduced to the accordion in grade school and took basic lessons for about 3 years utilizing the “Saddon Method”. Gene’s amazing aptitude for the accordion enabled him to perfect his unique style and capabilities on his own. He has been asked to play at the Chi-cago Accordion Club on many occasions for pre-meeting solo work as well as with being featured on the main program with bass and drums accompaniment.

He played weekend gigs in Western New York until 1963. Business opportunities moved him to Cleveland and later to Chicago in 1968. Gene ran the Chicago operation for Pacific Life for 30 years. During that time he continued to perfect his playing primarily for friends and family He didn’t know much about harmonic theory until the mid 90’s. At that time he connected with a classical vir-tuoso and Julliard graduate, Paul Holmes. Paul introduced him to the circle of 5ths, trip tones, sub-stitutions, etc.. He shared a book he authored on Harmonic ideas. This opened up a whole new world of creativity and improvisation. Most of Gene’s musical feel and knowledge comes from listening to music of all kinds. He is able to replicate and improvise without music. The accordion and piano are his lifelong personal hobbies he enjoys Previn, Ramsey Lewis, Oscar Peterson and more. He plays a wood Victoria; similar to Frank Morocco and currently spends winter months in Scottsdale Arizona. Note: Steve Halpern heard Gene play in Chicago and was blown away. He was able to convince him to come to play for ALSI on March 10th.

Gene Kolasny - guest artist coming to ALSI March 10th.

Arranged by Steve Halpern

Quick Notes: February 10th.

We meet at Mangia Italiano restaurant in

Chula Vista from 1:00 to 4:00 for music

and lunch.

Do not go to our usual place at

Bailey Hall, Mt. Miguel.

ALSI is on the WEB at

www.accordion-club-sandiego.org

Restaurant in Chula Vista on Feb. 10th. Meeting will be held at Mangia Italiano

on Third Avenue from 1 PM to 4 PM.

There is parking behind the restaurant,

use the back door to enter the private

room, where we will enjoy playing our

music and having some pizza and spa-

ghetti together ($17). Please RSVP to

Gordon Kohl, so he can get a head count

and see who is interesting in playing. 619

395-0454

Gail Campanella