Oh my! Speisekammer owner Cindy Johnson just realised that she had accidentally double booked the evening, Saturday 2/6/10.
She is offering us other dates. When we work out which ones work will let you know.
And we hope to see you there next time!
February 6th – Saturday 8:30PM – Speisekammer Restaurant, Alameda.
GDub (guitars), Johny Blood (tuba), Rhian (whistles/clarinet), Adrian (alto sax) and yours madly on accordion.
Come early and eat — the food is simply stellar at the Speisekammer Restaurant. And their selection of German beer is outstanding!
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February 13th – Saturday 2:00PM – Down Home Music Store, El Cerrito — an Accordion Babes happening. GDub & I will be playing along with several of the 2010 Accordion Babes.
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This will be a good CD! “San Patricio” – the Chieftains with Ry Cooder on Hear Music.
I’ve always found the story of the San Patricios fascinating for the cross cultural aspects and also the way the story shows how history is viewed depending on the side writing it.
Paddy Moloney and I are on the same wave length. 
When the Irish arrived in America they were met by army recruiters at the docks who promised the immigrants a paycheck and opportunity if they signed up. Once they enlisted the Irish found themselves very poorly treated by the, mainly English descended, Americans who pretty much thought of the Irish as a sub-species. In the American Land Grab Mexican war (1846-1848), many of these Irish soldiers deserted to fight besides the Mexicans, their fellow Catholics.
The members of the “San Patricios” battalion were mostly Irish and German Catholics but also Canadians, African Americans, Italians and others. They fought bravely and at the war’s end many were hanged — a violation of the then “Articles of War”. To this day the San Patricios are much loved and revered by the Mexicans and honored with a national day, September 12.
In American history they are reviled as deserters and traitors.
Watch this short YouTube introduction.
Our tune “Luna Marie” from Crazed and Enthused was rated #5 by listeners in the Online Folk Festival’s Top 35 for January 2010
Download and enjoy this fine Mad Maggie’s song for free.
Weird Al Yankovic is an accordion loving man!
We Accordion Babes get around. Yes we do
Get yours here.
Oh my, this night was a wild one. When we arrived at 8:45 to set up the Sleeping Lady was packed and it stayed packed all the way past the last note of the Hounds’ set. We began to play at about 9:50 and stirred up a nice batch of tunes including some good rebel songs — “Óró ’sé do bheatha ‘bhaile” and our own “Rough Music.” We tried out our new (and soon to be recorded) version of the ska classic “A Message to You Rudy” and we sang the “High Seas Lament” for those who have passed in the recent earthquake in Haiti. Hounds’ drummer Chris sat in on snare about halfway through our set. (Thank you, Chris!) Toes tapped, beer bubbled!
The Hounds took the stage at around 11:20 and kicked into a rousing set full of reels, jigs, original tunes and stalwart Pogues covers. Our whistle player, Rhian sat in on a few tunes. People pushed tables aside to make more dancing room. There was at least one woman who really did know how to Irish step-dance so she took Renée’s challenge to do a Riverdance imitation seriously
The windows fogged up completely from the heat of bodies having a good time. We sold Accordion Babes Calendars, CDs and most definitely made new fans. Yep, a very good night!
There’s talk of doing this double-bill again. You won’t want to miss it.
We’d love to hear from you on the subject. And we’re making it easy for ya. Our pal, Sean Pete of It’s Not Art has set up a survey to take a look at what motivates, encourages, drives and/or deters music fans to attend live music events.
All answers are confidential. We absolutely will not use your info for any other reason but to help us discover what gets a music lover out of the house and into a club, festival, concert or other venue.
Please take the Live Music Survey and share your thoughts on what makes a show worth attending.
Live Concerts. Better than staying at home.
Return of the Accordion Babes
Accordionist, Renée de la Prade with Culann’s Hounds just asked us to join them on Friday, January 15th at the Sleeping Lady in Fairfax. We’ll be a Mad Maggie’s “Lite” for this show. GDub (guitars), Johny Blood (tuba), Rhian (whistles & clarinet), Miguel Ashby (bass) and yours madly on squeeze.
Come early and eat — the Sleeping Lady has great food. Stay late for the show which will run from 9:30 to 1. This is a rollicking, foot stomping double bill, sure to shake off any post-holiday dreariness! Definitely worth pulling yourself off the couch and venturing into the night air
First things first. We’re still here making music largely because you all come to shows, listen to our tunes, buy swag and generally cheer us on. Thank you!
Please enjoy this free mp3 of our hit “High Seas Lament” as we say good by to 2009.
‘09 was good to us, geo-political turmoil and collapsing financial markets aside. We played the most gigs in a year so far. Several of our shows gave us the opportunity to rock very large crowds of revelers. We released our third CD, “Skull & Magpies” to good reviews and garnered radio airplay across the US and in Canada, Australia, UK and Europe. Our online and digital sales have been respectable. We’re still receiving residuals for our 2007 TV show placement. Not bad for an oddball, rowdy folk, roots indie band.
We will begin 2010 in the recording studio working on the first of two CDs planned — a collection of choice vintage tunes. After that we’ll continue our adventures on the high seas in a follow up CD to “Skull and Magpies“. Look for release parties and related excitement. Of course we plan to play as many gigs as we can throughout the Bay Area. And we’re working with a booker to set up mini tours outside of California to expand our circle of friends and fans. Plenty of crazy, good fun ahead.
Wishing you a new year filled with music and love,
Mags
from the American Museum of Natural History
The Known Universe takes viewers from the Himalayas through our atmosphere and the inky black of space to the afterglow of the Big Bang. Every star, planet, and quasar seen in the film is possible because of the world’s most complete four-dimensional map of the universe, the Digital Universe Atlas that is maintained and updated by astrophysicists at the American Museum of Natural History. The new film, created by the Museum, is part of an exhibition, Visions of the Cosmos: From the Milky Ocean to an Evolving Universe, at the Rubin Museum of Art in Manhattan through May 2010.
* from our song “Navigate” on Skull & Magpies
Take a clue from those seafarers
They know how to set a course
To see where you are
take a look at the stars
and count those log line knots