Admission is $20 and includes a 2010 Accordion Babes Calendar and CD — That’s a $20 value! So it’s like getting a free concert for the price of a calendar. Or it’s a free calendar with the price of admission — a good deal no matter how you think about it. The calendar makes a great gift!

The evening’s rich and varied entertainment includes several of the
calendar’s accordion playing lovelies and their bands: Salane C. Schultz (experimental cabaret), Amber Lee Baker, (neo-folk), Tara Linda and friends (tex-mex/musette), Roxanne Oliva and Cobblestone (celtic), Mad Mags and the Mad Maggies (rowdy, danceable folk) and Renée de la Prade and Culann’s Hounds (celtic punk.) Lux Gaxiola of Circus Finelli is mistress of ceremonies.

Studo E is special venue. Nestled in rural Sebastopol, this professional recording studio and sound stage has hosted many world-class artists in its comfortable, relaxed country atmosphere. It’s a cool, local secret you’ll want to check out.

Visual artist Sean Pete of It’s Not Art will be photographing,

As you can imagine, Death especially enjoys this time of year. He suggested I post these fascinating celebrations of things skeletal.

• The oldest instrument discovered is a flute made from the wing bone of a griffon vulture some 40,000 years ago!

• 7 Wonders of the (Un)Dead World: Global Ossuaries — very large assemblages of bones. Part kitsch, part morbid, part profound commentary on the mysteries of existence.

• The offical website of the Sedlec Ossuary in the Czech Republic. Don’t miss the chandelier made from all the bones of the human body!

This is a short tourist’s youtube of the Sedlec Ossuary:

• Bonfire is a translation of the Irish “tine cnámh” (CHIN-e kuh-NAW*V) meaning bone fire. The farmers slaughtered at this time of year in preparation for the long Winter. On Oiche Shamhna (EE-HUH HOW-NA), October 31st, each village built a large ritual fire on which the animal bones were thrown. All household fires were extinguished and then each household took from the village bonfire to restart their hearths. We’d call it a community building exercise

• Death is always on stage with us, sometimes sitting downstage by the tip basket, sometimes up high on a speaker. Check him out next time you come to one of our shows.

movie website

official trailer on youtube

The tune is “Il Y A un Bal” (There’s a Party) from Skull and Magpies

“Our dear friend Dave @ 33 Rev. has made a heroic push to accommodate us and our show amid the chaos… But the flooding damage from this week’s rains have done a number on his store and and record stock. In fact he is closed and will be so until construction is done. “

The plan is to reschedule so stay tuned.
And best wishes to Dave for a speedy repair to his business.

See ya tonight at the Sleeping Lady, Fairfax and/or tomorrow late afternoon at the Music in the Plaza, downtown San Rafael.

1. So besides playing tonight, October 16 at the Sleeping Lady Cafe in Fairfax with Accordion Babes – Amber Lee, Susie Carri & Suzanne of Those Darn Accordions, Nada Lewis and Renée de La Prade. (Show starts at 9:30PM.)

2. We play Saturday afternoon, October 17 in downtown San Rafael at the Music in the Plaza, San Rafael. The stage is in the Courtyard Plaza off fourth Street. Our set starts at 4:45PM. It’s FREE and all ages! What’s not to like?

3. And on Saturday night, October 17 at 33 Revolutions Records/Cafe
10086 San Pablo Ave, El Cerrito
7:30PM-10:30PM.
Tickets: $5 cover OR buy a calendar and get in FREE. All Ages.

This Accordion Babes Revue is sponsored by KPFA and DownHome Music. We will be joining Nada Lewis (Eastern European/Rom), Salane C. Schultz (experimental), Renée de La Prade (Celtic punk), and Tara Linda (musette & Tex-Mex).

33 Revolutions Records/Cafe, the East Bay’s coolest record store/cafe has draft beers & wine, and will have a special deeply discounted ($1-2) accordion vinyl selection for this show!

Wow!

(Thanks to Derek Sivers for Twittering about this.)

We play several cool, local, affordable shows this month. So put on your dancing shoes and step on out to hear some crazy live music.

October 3 – Saturday 8PM – Black Rose Irish Pub, Santa Rosa — No Cover

October 4 – Sunday 4PM – Castro Street Fair, San Francisco — donation at the gates. You’ll find us at Max Barnaby’s World of Wonderment on 18th Street, between Hartford and Noe.

October 11 – Sunday 2-6PM – Oktoberfest at Speisekammer Restaurant, Alameda — No Cover. Best schnitzel, best German beer selection.

October 16 – Friday night – Sleeping Lady Cafe, Fairfax. An "Accordion Babes Revue". Line-up includes: Amber Lee, Susie Davis with some of Those Darn Accordions, Nada Lewis and Renée de La Prade. We’ll have calendars for sale and signing.

And this just so happens to be my birthday. Hurray! Another revolution around the Sun.

October 17 – Saturday late afternoon – Music in the Plaza, San Rafael — Free.

yours in a mad, mad world,

Mags

Rest in peace, Alice B.

Alice 1985-2009

For an entertaining collection of real and fantastical English pirate language read “The Pirate Primer – Mastering the Language of Swashbucklers and Rogues” by George Choundas.

The stereotypical pirate speech pattern is based on the English coastal dialect made famous by actor, Robert Newton in his role as Long John Silver.

Truth is, the languages spoken by the pirates who plied the waves of the North Atlantic seaboards and Caribbean during the 17th & 18th centuries were as diverse as the mariners themselves. Sailors spoke Scottish, Irish and Manx, Welsh, Breton, French, Spanish, many African languages, indigenous tongues of the people in the new world, and many more, all laced with nautical lingo and a salty twist. I imagine many sailors were polyglots by sheer necessity especially on pirate crews.

Luck t’ye and a fair wind,

Mad Mags

“They vilify us, the scoundrels do, when there is only one difference, they rob the poor under the cover of the law and we plunder the rich under the protection of our own courage.” — Captain Bellamy