Hi all --

I was recently watching "Mythbusters" and they actually had a concertina on it!

For those of you who know the show, it's not what you think

For those of you who don't know the show, the premise is this: two guys (whose "day job" is creating movie special effects) try to prove or disprove urban myths. Not like Bigfoot or alligators in the sewer, more like "does putting sugar in your gas tank really kill the car?" or "can you really be sucked down into the water in the wake of a sinking ship?"

Anyway, the myth to be "busted" in this episode was "which uses more fuel, heat or air conditioning?" and they had to fill these two huge tanks with fuel. Apparently a crew member or friend came by to watch, and decided to play his concertina wile they worked.

It was a 20-button, probably a Hohner, judging by the wooden ends and large white plastic buttons. He was doing some nifty cross-row fingering, and it sounded to me like the tune he was playing was "Winster Processional."

Wonder what kinds of myths they could bust about concertinas???

Just as long as the stick to busting myths, and not concertinas.

When I was at university the was a fad of seeing how quickly one could pass an entire -- but obviously no longer intact -- upright piano through a 30 cm hole.
Sledge hammers and other "hand" tools were permitted; power tools and explosives were not. I don't remember what the record was, but Life magazine did a photo story on it.

"Piano bashing" used to be the regular marathon event on"It's a Knockout" for quite a few few years.

Clive

What's "It's a Knockout"? A TV show?
If it reached America, it must have been during one of my TV-free periods.
The "sport" as I recall it was popular in southern California in the mid-1960's.

"It's a knockout" was a "contest" between two towns or cities. Typically the participants would dress in clown costuumes or as animals, invariably with ridiculously large feet. They would then have to tackle assualt courses whilst carrying an egg on a spoon or by carrying a bucket of water with a hole in it.

It's hey day was the mid to late 70's with commentary provided by two sports commentators, Stuart Hall and Eddie Waring.


Anyway, I happened to catch a few minutes of "Children in Need" on Friday night here in the UK. There was a "skit" from inside the Rovers Return the pub on "Coronation Street" where the characters were singing songs from the musical "Oliver". One character was sat on the bar during one song pushing the bellows of a concertina in and out. The way he was holding it I couldn't tell what type it was and it obviously wasn't being played, just being pushed in and out to the music. It had very nice decorated bellows papers and I would think that it (or at least the bellows papers) were not very old. Did anyone else see it?



PS Children in need is a fundraising telethon.

'...Its a knockout...', I remember that show from my student days back in the 70's ( I used to live in Glasgow and Birmingham ); it was one of the few things on the 'beeb' worth watching. For those of us living in the U.S., a similar show is on 'Spike' T.V., it is an import from Japan and known here as 'MXC' or 'Most Extreme Elimination/Challenge; very mentally challenging.

I remember seeing Bernard Wrigley ("The Bolton Bulfrog") on the UK show 'The Dinner Ladies" a few years ago, playing his concertina. I think he played a Christmas tune. I think he also has had a part in Coronation Street (without concertina).

Actually this is the second time a concertina has appeared on Mythbusters. The first concertina, however, gave up its existence as a musical instrument to provide a way to inflate a raft to escape from Alcatraz (as I recall.) I only got a glimpse of the concertina so I cannot identify the brand, but it looked like one of those Chinese things that had long since seen its best days. I remember at the time wondering why, of all the throw away bellows instruments one might find in a California junk shop, they ended up with an anglo concertina. This last show probably means that it was already in someone's closet.

I've seen that one, it is the Christmas special and I was flabbergasted to see a concertina (even if it was an English!)