Press Release: 2010 Cajun Squeezebox Shootout

The 5th Annual

Cajun Squeezebox Shootout Accordion Championship

Saturday, February 13, 2010          HIGH NOON

Strand Theatre         432 N. Main Street        Jennings, Louisiana

For the past 18 years, Jennings, Louisiana has been the proud home of Cajun Country’s Mardi Gras “Kick Off” event: The Jennings Mardi Gras Parade and Festival.  Each year, the parade and the Main Street after-party street dance has grown tremendously and the event is now recognized as a Mardi Gras season highlight.

In 2006 the Cajun Squeezebox Shootout Accordion Championship was born.  The fifth annual Shootout is scheduled for Saturday, February 13th at the Historic Strand Theatre on Main Street in Jennings.  Cajun diatonic accordion players will meet to shoot it out at High Noon.  Doors to the Strand open at 11 a.m. and the competition begins at noon.  Admission is $5 general admission, those 12 and under get in free.

The Shootout is a family event designed to expand and promote Cajun music and culture.  The contest is open to diatonic nine-and-ten-button Cajun accordion players of all ages.  A panel of five judges from the Cajun Music industry will evaluate each player.  Judging is based on overall Cajun Music skill; command of accordion voicing; traditional song playing and style; hammering accuracy; knowledge of modern modes; and finally, on performance and presence.

There is no entry fee for the contest, but accordionists must register in order to compete.  A registration form and details are available on the Shootout site: jeffdavis.org .    Competition features three divisions.  The Youth Division includes players age 13 and under, on or before Feb. 13, 2010.  The Junior Division includes players age 14 – 20, on or before Feb.13, 2010.  The last division is the Adult Division including players age 21 and older, on or before Feb.13, 2010.  The deadline to register to compete is Thursday, February 11 at 3 p.m.

The prizes include recognition as the 2010 Cajun Accordion Champion, as well as trophies and a $500 Grand Prize in each division.  $100 second prizes and $50 third prizes will also be awarded.  To register for competition or learn more about the Shootout go to the website:

www.jeffdavis.org or call (337) 821-5532 or email polly@cityofjennings.com.

Proudly sponsored by the Jeff Davis Parish Tourist Commission, the City of Jennings and the Jennings Festival Association.

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playing piano by ear? what do you think?

I’m 15, female. Really into music. i can play trombone, baritone, french horn, mellophone, trumpet, piano, accordion, and sax. I’ve taught myself all these. i really like the piano playing in rock music. fun stuff. so i decided to get lessons. i listened to mozart and beethoven over and over and played it over and over until i got it right. so on my first piano lesson i played mozart and beethoven and my piano teacher was amazed. i can listen to songs and play them back on piano. for example, the vonage commercial. so is this considered playing by ear? if someone tells me to play a song, for the most part if i know how it goes i can play it.
yeah. like a couple months ago i listened to canon in d and i can pretty much play it back. i can also take that song and the key and make my own version. i just play!
OK I CAN READ MUSIC!! hello?!! i mean i’ve been playing all these different instruments all my life, i learned to read it when i was in 5th grade!!

then you are very talented

you should have no trouble earning a well paid living doing something you enjoy

hope it works out well for you

He was a country singer& he sung cajun music…?

H was in the 70’s&80’s..

sounds like doug kershaw or charlie walker

Dancing to the squeezebox music is fun but you have to see so you do not run into someone

Whirling around the dance floor to the sounds of a great squeezebox player is something that can’t be beat. The crowd swirling around you all moving together is really a sight to see. The problem is if you can’t see then you are going to mess up the sight. If you are like me you don’t want to spend more for eyeglasses than you really have to.
A couple that my wife and I usually see at the clubs on weekends told us about a site that they used to buy eyeglasses for their entire family. They went to Zenni Optical and got some unbelievable deals. They read an article written by Eric Hammer that talks about “Cheap Eyeglasses are a Reality”. The article really talks about the way Zenni Optical is using a different approach from most online eyeglass providers.
Zenni Optical uses the most modern materials that they can find. They focus on quality control so that nothing is lost in the process. They have a large selection of the most stylish and up to date frames to pick from. These are not the one size fits all old fashioned type styles. They are some that will impress the most fashion conscious consumer. They do this all with the prescription that you receive from your doctor.
So go to Zenni Optical today and take advantage of the deals.

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Bellows Triplets

Accordion Technique

Duration : 0:1:14

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I’ll Get By – Melodeon, or Cajun Accordion

Quick and dirty recording by Astro, or Nout Grupstra, from stringband the Crooks. All © ARTSPURG, SABAM 2007. Please see www.astromusic.org or www.crooks-stringband.nl for further information …… note; people keep asking me: my C-accordion was built by Marc Savoy early 2007.

Lyrics:

I’ll Get By
Artspurg 2007 SABAM

Met a gal, and I can’t dance,
At the bar, I stood my chance,
Got so drunk, lost my touch,
Poor old me, she was too much,
But we’ll get by

My old dad told me one day,
Son, don’t you throw your life away
Only thing now I can say
My life sucks, anyway
I’ll get by

Early up, I went down town,
Got so drunk my face fell down,
Lots of strangers there and then,
Someone dragged me home again,
So I’ll get by

Got lots of friends when I was rich
But I got wed to a mean old
All day long she nags & shouts
By the hair I threw her out
I’ll get by

Since I’m poor, who cares for me?
But fair is fair as I can see
Won’t you all just let me be?
Walk the line, it works for me
I’ll get by

Duration : 0:2:16

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Squeezebox video

A lot of people like to record themselves playing the accordion. I’m like most of these people and I have an over flowing pile of mobile content and tapes. Mdistribute makes mobile content licensing easy . Mdistribute helped me do something with all those videos.

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presizzo eres todo todo master accordion

presizzo eres todo todo las noches del futbol accordion master classes to learn to play the accordion teacher accordion button accordion classes online

Duration : 0:3:29

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MIDI Accordion plays Mechanical Concert Organ

A WORLD EXCLUSIVE… Me playing the newly midi -ized concert (fairground/street) organ “De Arend” live in real time using my MIDI accordion… very cool indeed!

The world’s biggest accordion expander perhaps? This certainly beats any electronic sound generator boxes, as everything you hear is coming from real instruments, all still operated pneumatically (the MIDI system uses an electro-mechanical relay chest I made to interface to the organs pneumatics).

Not the easiest setup to play, but interesting none the less, with similarities here to a theatre organ. Sorry for the odd slip up here and there, but obviously these were deliberately put in to prove I’m playing live (!) and remind you this is the first time ever I’ve played a mechanical organ like this (a fun but strangely disconcerting experience as I’m so used to listening to these machines play by themselves!). I could really have done with a bigger keyboard as couldn’t fit all the counter melody notes on the top end of the treble, and had to transpose an octave up in order to access the register setting notes to change the ranks of pipes being played.

Anyway, hope you enjoy the video, and please post your comments below.

Don’t forget to take a look at my other videos for details of the MIDI interface system and videos of the organ playing from both this and traditional perforated cardboard.

Duration : 0:9:59

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Backyard cajun music

Danny Shuff doing what he does best.

Duration : 0:1:13

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