A Year Without Summerfest ...

Somehow it just doesn't feel like summer when we don't make the trek to Milwaukee to play Summerfest. Luckily, Bill from Milwaukee dropped me a line to give me a little taste of the Big Gig and share his favorite "Summerfest moment" of 2007. (Next time I hope he e-mails me a bratwurst, too.)

Writes Bill:

Saturday was a nice toasty day on the grounds, 95 degrees and high humidity. Just my kind of weather (not). Anywho, I'm watching this interesting band called The Scarring Party. They have an eclectic lineup of musical instruments: accordion, banjo, tuba, xylophone, church bell, typewriter, bassoon and didgeridoo. (No kidding.)

So, my best Summerfest moment came when the bandleader asked the soundman: "Can I get more didgeridoo in my monitor please?"

Sweet.

I wore the tattered old TDA squeezebox T-shirt to Summerfest this year. Must've had about 50 people ask if you guys would be playing.

Maybe next year Bill will be able to say "Yes."

Let There Be Lights

We don't tout a million stupid things here on the Wall of Wheeze. But I can heartily recommend the Mighty Bright XtraFlex Duet Super LED Music Stand Lightyou see here. The twin-LED gadget is easy to pack and perfect for lighting up your music stand in a dark club. Plus, they look like aliens or something. Frankly, I wish I had invented the Mighty Bright.

Accordions: Hipper Than iPhones

The accordion is set to explode, according to New York Sun writer Lenore Skenazy, who has penned "An Ode to the Squeezebox" in honor of the upcoming NYC Main Squeeze Accordion Festival.

Her thesis -- that American hipsters are catching on to the accordion in a big way -- sounds right to me. As San Francisco's self-appointed accordion ambassadors, we've been doing our share to pump up squeezebox awareness for almost two decades now, and we've seen a steady rise in the instrument's popularity over the years.

With a new Those Darn Accordions record in the chute, it's time to make the call: 2008 will be the Year of the Accordion. Brace yourself for a wild ride into the free-reed future!

What's That Sound?

If you're near New York's Pier I tomorrow, the racket you hear could be the Second Annual NYC Main Squeeze Accordion Festival, which The New York Post says "may sound like mating walruses coming from the Hudson." I bet it sounds a lot more radical than that!

Man Wolfs Down 66 Hot Dogs in 12 Minutes

Lots of folks eat hot dogs on the Fourth of July. Joey Chestnut hogged down 66 in 12 minutes to set a new world record in Nathan's Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest in Coney Island, N.Y.

Former champ Takeru Kobayashi took down 63 franks, and frankly, he doesn't look so good in the picture.

(For the record, Suzanne and I split a cheeseburger.)

In Lithuania, Protesters Carry Accordions

"Accordion-playing radicals" encouraged "mostly elderly" protesters to storm Vilnius' Independence Square on July 3. The reason for the squeezebox-fueled ruckus? Lithuanian lawmakers' decision to boost pension benefits for former members of Parliament to a level far higher than for the average citizen.

The accordion protest seems unique, but sadly the politicians' feeling that their type deserves more than the simple commoners seems to be universal.

Happy Fourth of July!

Hope you have all kinds of fun this Independence Day! (If you're in Wisconsin, please down some extra bratwurst for us.)