A Mad, Mad World

My much loved, much played gold Weltmeister Rubin (30/60/II/3)* accordion is home again after several weeks at Smythe’s Accordion Center.

9+ years solid of playing had taken its toll on some of the keys around the low D. Kimric Smythe diagnosed that some parts had to be replaced. I and my poor squeeze had to endure waiting for those parts to come from the Weltmeister factory in Klingenthal, Germany. Once they arrived Kimric performed a successful surgery. Sigh of relief.

Now I can look forward to many more gigs with my old gold friend.

Kimric is an inventor, builder and all around clever guy. He recently distilled plums and roses into a delectable 60 proof liquor — one of the many perks of visiting the accordion center

* 30/60/II/3 means 30 keys on the keyboard, 60 bass buttons, two sets of reeds on treble side, three sets of reeds on bass side.

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GDub and I met Stefan Hiss and his band “Hiss” back in 1997 when we were in Germany visiting my sister who is a friend and fan. In fact, Stefan played her wedding 2 years later in 1999. They dished up a rousing night of music and I danced like a wild woman.

We’ve stayed in touch since and whenever we travel to my sister’s home outside of Stuttgart we usually get a visit in with Stefan to talk “music” and swap our current CDs.

Stefan’s latest band is “Los Santos” and he just mailed me their new CD entitled “Blue in Hawaii”. It’s a Western/ Tex-Mex celebration performed by stellar musicians. Instrumentation includes pedal steel, ukulele, dobro, banjo, and of course, accordion – Stefan Hiss is an amazing accordionist!

The fifteen tracks include, “My Wife Thinks Your Dead”, “Rag Mop” and “Deja Que Salga La Luna” plus three Hiss originals, “Blue Hawaii”, “Twisting in the Taiga” and “El Mezquite”.

One of my personal favs on the album is “Johnny Guitar” (a great tune written by Peggy Lee and Victor Young for the 1954 movie). They’ve capture just the right amount of “Out West” surrealism.

And their version of “Rag Mop” swings!

So LISTEN to THIS: “Blue in Hawaii” by Los Santos.
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Los Santos play “Rag Mop”:

Stefan Hiss playing one of his original tunes: “Tanz aus meinem Grab” (Dance on My Grave):

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