Squeezebox Is a 'Secret Handshake'

"The accordion is a secret handshake," says Don Turner, 43, a board member for the Milwaukee Accordion Club. "If you play accordion, and someone else plays, well, you'll help one another."

That's just one of the squeezebox secrets laid out in a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel profile of the club, which is keeping the accordion spirit alive in the city Those Darn Accordions is proud to call its second home.

The article tells the by-now-ragged tale of the squeezebox's fall from grace after its polka-powered heyday in the '50s.

"The misconception is that it's only good for the polka," says club president Shirl Barry. "You can play wonderful French waltzes, Argentine tangos and classical pieces."

Oh yeah, and rock and funk and swing and goofball country and heavy metal, too. Keep on squeezin' ...