TDA Goes Dark for Earth Hour

Last night, Paul Rogers of Those Darn Accordions pushed the Earth Hour concept to the max.

"I just really felt I could do better than only one hour of darkness," said Rogers. "I thought about it all day and around 10:30pm last night, it came to me. It was almost like I was being guided by some kind of outside force. I was sitting in a chair watching Beowolf and as soon as it ended, BAM! I jumped up and started going around the house turning off all the lights. I even took it a step further and backed the heat down to 45 degrees!

"My wife and kids saw what I was up to and they all started doing the same thing! It was amazing! Like some kind of silent communication that can only come from living together with people for many years. The next thing I knew, I was lying in bed in the dark with my eyes closed. That's about all I remember. When I opened my eyes, there was light streaming through the windows. I looked at the clock and it said 7:30AM! I couldn't believe it. We had stretched our 1 Earth Hour out to 9!

"It was such an easy and natural thing to do. I think tonight we might shoot for 10!"

Pierdiego & His Deficient Crew

This might be my new favorite band. The front man is our old pal, Hamsterman. I can't stop listening to it. And I thought TDA was wacky.

Accordion: Perfect Instrument for Earth Hour

Want a little music when you shut out the lights for Earth Hour tonight? A Canadian writer has the perfect instrument for the environmental event: the accordion.

Corey Larocque, writing in The Niagara Falls Review, lays out the plan: "Personally, busting out and dusting off the accordion are in store."

Come to think of it, the accordion is a pretty "green" instrument (although maybe not the way it's wielded by Those Darn Accordions, what with the Marshall stacks and wah-wah pedals and all).

Played acoustically, the squeezebox is loud enough to be heard above a dancehall crowd, even without amplification. Of course, who knows where that mother of pearl comes from ...

Time to Celebrate National Corndog Day

Today is National Corndog Day. Who knew?

The holiday is tied to the start of March Madness, according to the official National Corndog Day website. More importantly, it's the only holiday celebrated with corndogs, tater tots and Pabst Blue Ribbon.

Thanks to Flickr user Iason, who took this awesome picture of a surprisingly delicious-looking corndog pizza.

Bingo + Chicken + Honky-Tonk = Texas Tradition

Anybody's who's hung out with Those Darn Accordions over the past couple decades knows we love a little local color. In Milwaukee, we love to hit Koz's Mini Bowl and Art's Concertina Bar. In Monroe, Wisc., we love the Turner Hall and the Baumgartner Cheese Store & Tavern.

Well, next time you're in Austin, Texas, on a Sunday afternoon, head over to Ginny's Little Longhorn Saloon for a dose of real honky-tonk flavor.

At Ginny's they play a game of what might politely be called "chicken bingo." (The official name's got a third word in the middle, a four-letter number that rhymes with "wit," but the Wall of Wheeze frowns on blue language.) Get an eyeful of this crazy Texas institution in Wired.com's photo gallery.

Top 20 TDA iMix -Update

Thanks to all the folks that have emailed their top 20 TDA picks. Here's an update on the top 20 picks so far. (We'll post the full finished list on our site in April). If you haven't emailed your picks, not to worry. We're going to keep the voting booths open for another week so please let us know your TDA favs ASAP!

1. Them Hippies Was Right 50%
2. Mothra 41%
3. Deathbed Confession 41%
4. Frankenstein 36%
5. We're An Accordion Band 36%
6. Behind the Bellows 36%
7. First Bratwurst of Summer 36%
8. Hotsy Totsy Polka 36%
9. Mr. Slagle's Revenge 36%
10. I Think About Stuff 36%
11. Baba O'Riley 32%
12. Hamsterman 32%
13. Hippie With A Banjo 32%
14. Wall of Gum 32%
15. My Friend Jim 32%
16. Back in Black 27%
17. The Story Of Lawrence Welk 27%
18. Do Ya Think I'm Sexy 27%
19. Led Zep Med 27%
20. The Bowling King 27%

Tiny Tim Remembered #2

TDA fan Michael Butler forwards this photo of he and the brilliant song stylist. As you can see, the photo was taken in July, 1993, which is about 7 years earlier than the one with Tiny and I at the Sweetwater. I wish I had a shot of Tiny when he got down on the stage and started spinning around on his back in a frenzy as we banged out an Elvis tune. It was a great moment in rock history.