bellowbelle

Hey, when ya start gettin' old, your squeeze IS your Squeeze! Heheh. (And, the old squeeze just kinda sits there with a wheeze...) Anyway, that's okay, Henk. The only reason I've even heard a radio over the past years is because we had a teenager (now 19) in the house. In fact, I learned how to play some of 'her' music on the accordion....one that I'll maybe adapt for concertina -- the Foo Fighter's 'Learn To Fly' and 'Walking After You.' My husband went to the rock concerts with them, for the most part. I stayed home. I value what's left of my hearing!!!! My daughter once gave me a Cat Stevens songbook, though....she tries to understand me....maybe I'll see what I can play from that book. I LOVED Cat Stevens...um, when I was younger....

I have heard that before, yes, and it it really nice....one of those that stays in your mind all day. I only remember a phrase or two, but, I probably can find it somewhere from an online search. That's a good one!

I went to the dentist, yesterday!!!! The news isn't so bad...so far. I had a lot of pain yesterday after getting my gums poked with a stick, but, today things are much better. They took so many x-rays, I must truly have a RADIANT smile...

I think there may be some folks who wish I would not just go out, but stay out. Well, isn't that what it means, really, when one says, 'I play the concertina?' Like, kind of a code, for 'They didn't know what else to do with me, so, now I play this squeezebox?' Hehehe... okay, not really.... Well, wild, mild, beguiled, whatever....we shall never shut up. Right? Press on!

I use to try to sing and play Van Morrison's 'Have I Told You Lately' (or, 'Have I Told You Lately That I Love You') on guitar, and then on piano accordion (believe it or not). I never liked the way it sounded, for me. Though, I do like the song, as recorded by both Van Morrison and also Rod Stewart. But, I've started playing it on my concertina and singing it, and it seems to flow so much better! So, now, I might look through my (short) stack of modern pop songs and see what else works. I usually have had all I can stand of the typical pop song played over and over on the radio...but, if I can finally make a few of them sound okay, singing, I'll try it. They ARE very singable, usually! Anybody else here bother with the radio love songs?

Yup, we do only big ones, here. I use my CONCERTINA.NET Travel coffee cup -- keeps the bean juice hot a long time. And, just since I'm on the subject of coffee (oops, sorry, I know, it was about air-release buttons...) -- I found this really great coffee that's shade-grown and organic, and is said to be more bird-friendly, since the growers don't wipe out the birds' habitats. Not that I'm selling coffee, but, this stuff is REALLY good....we like the Bird-Watcher's Blend, from Dean's Beans Dean's Beans The taste is great. Non-organic coffee seems to bother me, anyway. I order right from them, but, I have found this coffee in Amherst, too, at Bart's (ice cream) -- so, anyone going to the Button Box, go into Barts' and buy some beans!!!!

That's a nice idea. Yes, I pop in here a lot, maybe more often than I really need to, but, sometimes it's a welcome change over whatever is on the news on television or whatever. I mean, these are very trying times, with the war and all. We don't want to mention it, but, we can't really NOT mention it. Just a few doors from us, a neighbor has a yellow ribbon around a tree and a symbol in the window indicating that someone of theirs is away at war. Regardless of my personal feelings, or anyone's, about the world scene -- I know that I need something else to dwell on, at times. So, like, the concertina!

I believe the current Albion (Button Box) Englishes don't have air buttons, but I've heard that Rich M. is considering making that an option. I'm pleased to report that air buttons are now standard fare on our Albion concertinas (since this past fall). Yeeeaaayy! So, whenever I get around to thinking about a second concertina, I'll be able to find one with an air button. Though I sometimes LIKE to sound out a loud blast of dissonance (...um, how DO you spell 'cacauphonous'...), to make the cats go away while I'm playing, there are times when I've ended a song and I'm left with the bellows OUT, not IN. I want to start the NEXT song with them IN, so...you get the idea. So, with the air button, I could quietly get back into the closed-bellows position and go on from there. Not that my cats or dogs are abused. They've just learned that I am not the one to sit on, if I'm playing....so, they usually go sit on my husband, if he's around. I'll include a link to a picture I recently got that shows my typical 'audience' on any given morning: Wendy's Concertina Fan Club Cacophonous Cacophonous Cacophonous See...I DO look things up in the dictionary.

Thanks, all, for replies...I gotta get back to this thread a bit later and re-read more. Busy weekend, etc., and must go feed all the hungry pets around here, for now!

I wondering in particular about the 48-key English baritone made by Guens-Wakker. Or, something like it. Do they include an air-release? I thought that some concertinas have them (mine doesn't), but, now I'm wondering if any of them do. It's not the most important feature but would be nice!

......... Funny, I guess it's not just Deja Vu, but maybe some precognition....I KNEW you'd do that !! Heheh.

So, anyway, since I'm still awake and blabbing (not for long)... Re my post previous to this one -- that reminded me of another funny food story: In Iowa, same cow pasture, I happened to meet this elderly lady at a church meeting who walked right up to me and introduced herself. I remember being quite impressed with how striking she looked, even being as (very) old as she was. Turns out she'd been a successful and beautiful fashion model in New York City when she was younger. Anyway, one day she told me that she'd 'still had the corn shucks coming out of her ears' when she went to the city. She saw SWEET BREADS on the menu at a restaurant, and thought it was...well, of course, bread that was sweet! She said she was very shocked when she got her plate of ... what is it, brains? Thyroid parts? I dunnoh, but...animal parts. Anyway, when she and I were in the restaurant together, we stuck with coffee or tea, and toast. We both knew what that was!

Thanks, Henk, I was confusing two things together. It's the foot bass that I was thinking of, though, I've heard of the Shruti box. (First heard of 'Shruti' as a little girl's name, though...I think it actually means 'octave,' not sure.)

Depends. Can you smile when you taste my cooking? I can! Samantha Okay, so, it looks like TWO people pass my self-styled 'Iowa Test Of Basic Skillet Skills.' That indicates that, yes, I could possibly smile while I ate Jim's cooking. Explanation... when I lived in Iowa, why out in farmland, my ex-hub and I got invited to eat with some neighbors. (It's more like, OF COURSE, YOU WILL COME EAT WITH US, out there...or, you're weird....) I was sick the night we were suppose to go and I missed the possum stew. (Whew!) But, I was well enough to go eat the hog nuts. (Sorry, piggies.) I recall sitting there in front of my plate of piggie parts, and noticing that these Iowa people were not dead, they lived, even though they'd been eating this stuff for years. So, I was neighborly.... And, I'm still here on earth....in Massachusetts, though.

Do we get lunch?

Yes, just my own little primitive copy of the Mp3 from online. In fact, it's just a hand-held recorder than uses the tiny little answering-machine-type of tapes, 90-minute ones. I have a fancier cassette player, but, this one is easier to grab and play while I'm driving somewhere or whatever. I also added some sets of jigs/reels/etc. from 'The Virtual Session.' Surprisingly, I sound pretty much in-tune with your recording in the same key, as well as with the other tunes. I mean, enough that I can practice it. It's so much easier for me to work just on my own compositions, that I write! However, it would be nice to know at least a handful of what a lot of other players know and play. (Hmm...I just had a 'deja vu' feeling....I hope I'm not getting repetitive, here....maybe I've said this before... !) Oh well...

Now, that's a concert I'd love to hear! Hmm...not so easy to vary the feet a whole lot, heheh... someday, though, I would like to try one of those 'foot boxes' ...can't think of the name of them, I think it's an Indian name, not sure. THere was a thread about it, before.

Ah, no...I had no idea. Once again, 'me is stupid,' as I often say. But, that's okay. We can all learn something new every day, right?

Well, I have been practicing playing The Sheffield Hornpipe, and a few of the others like Af Shabbes In Vilna, using a cassette-recording copy that I made for myself. Making some progress, slowly! I haven't often played with others, just by myself. The second part of The Sheffield Hornpipe where the melody descends in that line of intervals of thirds is a nice lesson. I had a bit of trouble remembering it well until I took extra note of the physical pattern it makes; the left hand moves in the opposite direction of the right, each time, for the most part. (On English concertina, that is.) --So, a good one to practice.

Okay, well, after thinking about it, I am totally clueless about making any kind of concertina cookbook, but if anyone else wants to try it, go ahead. All I can tell you is that Jello rhymes with Bellow, and I've found out that Jello comes from cows. Really. Do a Google search and you'll see. Anyway, no monkey stuff, etc., for me!

Well, THIS saves me from the dreaded trip to an orthodontist (haven't been in years, and it's a bit obvious...). I'll just keep my vulgar mouth! As long as I'm not the only one... heheh I never did get the braces I was told to get (didn't want to). Anyway, my front teeth are okay by my standards...it's the back teeth that are vulgar. In fact, they're mostly gone. I am constantly weighing the pros and cons of what would certainly end up being surgery of some kind, if I allowed a dentist to see my teeth again. Smileees for me....

OK. Probably somebody else can give the recipe for an English trifle. But what about anglo and duet trifles? Hmm...I'm going to have to see what I can come up with, maybe, for some kind of 'concertina cookbook.' Could be fun to do that, too, and educational. Of course, if someone else beats me to it, then...fine, whatever.... Anyway....here it is the next day, and I am still feeling the wonderful effects of the chutney. Honestly, it's a bit phenomenal. I've tried lots of hot foods before, but somehow this particular combination, mixed with the rice, is better than the other mixes I've tried. My only previous intro to 'Indian' food was at a place that was strictly macrobiotic, and, that doesn't exactly define all types of Indian food. So, I was quite happy to start using onions, potatoes, and other foods not considered 'macrobiotic.' I think onions really do the trick, added to the other stuff. Anyway...time to go make some lunch so I can eat the rest of the chutney!

I was going to put this is the Ergonomics forum, since the hand-injury topics seem to be there, but it's not really much about ergonomics so I'll plop it here. I know that some concertina players suffer from carpal tunnel, or some other hand-related problem -- me, I get bouts of painful splits in the skin of fingers and so on. Well (though not really because of this problem), I recently took a few more classes in Indian cooking. (Yum, yum!) These classes have been great -- I really just signed up for them because I wanted something to go out to in the wintertime so I wouldn't just freeze and die -- I'm not particularly a cook. BUT, maybe I'll end up being one, don't know. Anyway, tonight I made the Mango Chutney that we'd had in the last class. Now, an Indian chutney is supposed to just highlight the meal, I think...not be an actual side dish, heheh. But...if you're me, you eat a whole lot more of it...like, maybe 1/2 cup with your rice. WOW, no carpal tunnel syndrome for me, tonight!!! I am still feeling radiating beams of warmth going right down to my wrists. Amazing. Of course, be careful -- if you are not used to hot spices and so on, then, start slow. But, anyway, I do recommend some Indian chutney for concertina players with hand problems and carpal tunnel. (NOTE: I am NOT a doctor, so, DON'T take my word for it.) You can find various recipes online, for sure -- note that Indian chutney is quite different from the western type. But, if you want to try the recipe I have, here it is: MANGO CHUTNEY 1/2 raw, hard mango, peeled and cut into cubes 1 green hot chili pepper 1 small chopped onion 1 tsp. cumin seeds 1/2 cup fresh coriander leaves salt and sugar to taste water as needed (maybe 1/4 cup -- enough for the blender) Put all of the above ingredients in a blender (or, processor) and blend to a paste. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This evening, I didn't have fresh leaves, so I used powdered coriander...and, I used a lot of that, and cumin, more than called for. The hot pepper I used wasn't exactly a chili pepper, but, it was hot. Do be careful with the hot peppers...some will make the recipe TOO hot, really! Anyway, I'm still feeling the heat of this stuff. I'm having it for lunch tomorrow, too. Gee, I might start playing some of those really fast jigs, heheh! There's a website with more hot recipes (from a different source) and probably some chutneys, too...it's cuisinecuisine.com.

Hmm...you must be either way out in the country, or, always stuck in traffic? I dare to use my cell phone, sometimes, while driving (it's not illegal, here), but, I have to kind of laugh at the oddity of the news report, if I tried to play...."...An accident today, another driver on a concertina..."

Well, it's not that I do any of them very WELL...it's just that I want to combine them so I can do all of them in a day! I'm trying to use the exercise bike, more often, too. But....gotta hold onto that, I don't think I'll squeeze and pedal at the same time.