2022 Accordion Noir Semi-Yearly Gift Guide!

Five times now (2011, 2012, 2013, 2019, 2020), we’ve issued a guide for accordionic giving for the squeezy people on your Holiday list. There are a lot of grifters out there angling to intercept your free-reed dollars, so we consider it a public service to recommend quality goods from upstanding sources.

Donate to Co-op Radio!

We’re so grateful for all Accordion Noir’s supporters at our home broadcaster, Vancouver’s CFRO Co-op Radio! Please give a gift for a friend or family member, become a monthly sustaining donor 🤩, or add an end-of-the-year donation. (Accordion Noir 🍌🪗 shirts available at the Co-op Radio online store.)

2023 Accordion Babes Album & Pin-up Calendar

The number-one physical gift in this year’s guide is something everyone can use the day after New Year’s Eve. It gives us great pleasure to announce that the amazing Accordion Babes album / pin-up calendar is back for 2023! We will have a couple of these locally here in Vancouver, or you can order them directly from Accordion Babes founder/producer/rock-star Renée de la Prade. ❤️‍🔥🪗

Seasonal Squeezy Cards by Jenny Ritter

Get your gift-giving looking wintery (in the Northern Hemisphere). Only one card is specifically accordionic, though many of the others are musical in nature. 🪕🎻🎄❄️ Designed by our colleague Jenny on Mayne Island, you can get a mixed set of all five cards for $25. If you’re interested, e-mail her directly at: jrvictoria1 at gmail dot com

Accordion Books are Always in Season!

🪗📚Since Bruce started researching (and then publishing in 2019) ACCORDION REVOLUTION: A People’s History of the Accordion in North America, books have taken a prominent place in our gift lists… but why shouldn’t they? A full-sized accordion features 120 buttons, why wouldn’t it warrant at least 120 pages, or a shelf full of 120 🪗 books?

This year saw Seattle’s Petosa Accordions factory release AN AMERICAN ACCORDION STORY, celebrating their family business’ first hundred years in operation. 🪗 Lily E. Hirsch‘s “WEIRD AL SERIOUSLY” is now out in an expanded paperback edition and also as an audiobook! 🪗 John “Bermuda” Schwartz continues in his photodocumentation of his boss “Weird” Al with a second volume of behind-the-scenes, all-access photos — this time in colour — in LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACCORDION! 🪗 And if you saw the movie, now there’s a comic book: The Illustrated Al: The Songs of “Weird Al” Yankovic, available in several editions with bonus Weird swag.

TRÉSORS DE LAMES, accordéons bandonéons, by Laurent Jarry.

TRÉSORS DE LAMES, accordéons bandonéons. If you really want to blow an accordionist’s mind, get them this masterpiece. 🥰 Large coffee-table style book has photos of 275 beautiful instruments over 300 pages. It’s just smaller than a 12″ vinyl record but weighs almost 6 pounds (2.5 kg)! Above is a slightly blurry video which doesn’t do justice to the amazing photos. Go to the author’s site for way better images from the book. The accordionist in your life will never forget this gift. Available for about €50 plus shipping from the author’s wonderful 🪗 shop in France.

Support Accordionists via #AccordionBandcamp! ❤️‍🔥🪗

One of the best ways listen to music recordings while supporting artists is Bandcamp. The last two weeks of Accordion Noir episodes (Nov 23 and Nov 30) led up to the Dec. 2nd Bandcamp Friday when 100% (well not quite, 92%) of proceeds go directly to artists. Hard to imagine a better deal without offering to pay your favorite accordionist’s rent directly. [Row – Silly Bruce, musicians get their rent paid by sub-letting during the summer festival tour season!] Ordering on Bandcamp any day gives 82% of your money to the artists, so give a gift any time. Bandcamp Gift Cards are great for giving to 🪗 f(r)iends and loved ones; and one of the designs (you can print out to share instantly) even has an accordion on it! 🌞🪕🎻🪗 🌵

Accordion Noir has done a series of #AccordionBandcamp episodes with 100% 🪗 Bandcamp recommendations. Here’s ten hour-long episodes full of great squeezeboxers on Bandcamp! Give them a listen and click the links on these playlists (even more all Bandcamp Squeezebox shows). Go right to artists’ Bandcamp pages to give them your support. Some even have physical merch like Cormac Begley’s CDs shaped like concertinas, or Ratas en Zelo’s awesome shirts and ears! 🪗 🐭

Acordeón Hub Norteño Swag

Stickers, car air-fresheners 😎, t-shirts, and chord charts for norteño players and other 3-row diatonic accordionists. And 2023 Acordeón Origami Desktop Calendars! (Only ships to the US for now.)

Bruce’s Accordion Revolution Bookshop:

Accordion Revolution bookmark stickers. Ninja Accordion Button/Badges! (A stealthy 🪗 joke. Choose from Six Register-Switch badges.) And the Annotated Edition of Accordion Revolution on cute 🪗 USB Flash Drives!

You may recall the Etsy Strike of April 2022. That gave birth to the Indie Seller’s Guild, who are working to improve treatment of vendors on all platforms, not just Etsy. I am proudly vendor #16 of hundreds and you can find their shops to support them here!

In addition to his own Accordion Revolution shop, Bruce has collected twin lists of Cool Squeezebox Stuff and Accordion Figurine-a-Rama from other Etsy vendors. (If you want to get him a present, 🪗 salt and pepper shakers are always a hit. OMG, look at KatieGamb’s remorseful cat! 😿)

Happy Squeezing from Rowan & Bruce! Visit us on #AccordionMastodon!

If you’ve enjoyed our time on #AccordionTwitter, you can join us as we investigate herding #AccordionMastodon at @AccordionBruce@mastodon.social and @accordionnoir@zirk.us. Follow hashtags like #Accordion, #Concertina, #Melodeon, or maybe #FolkMusic or #Ethnomusicology. Boost each other’s posts, and we’ll see how that goes. Also, if you want to support alternatives to billionaires, set up a one-time or regular donation to a Mastodon project of your choice. ❤️‍🔥🪗🦣