It was a good song circle last night, with a lot of the usual regulars and a couple of new faces.

Katy and Stu were there, doing duets mostly. The Daver came, and wowed us with his bluesy and smooth renditions of original songs. Trish was there, trying desperately to tune her 12-string. Jennifer sang some very soulful stuff, including one by Blackie and the Rodeo Kings (an Ontario folk trio, named after a Townes Van Zandt song). Little Hawk flew in, but Hesperis couldn't make it cos she was a bit low on energy last night, probably due to cigarette smoke the previous night at Finnegan's. A Canadian native man came, a new face, and played some original tunes on guitar and harmonica. Pauline blew the roof off, as usual, singing old Eagles and Jimmie Rodgers tunes. Larry the Luthier arrived late with his lovely daughter and a new guitar for us all to try out. Flattop sang "Jesus On That Mainline, Tell Him What You Want", in his ongoing quest to recruit members for the New Raptist Apothecarial Reform Church of Orillia, which only meets on February 30th each year, and then only if the weather is good.

But...most notably....Carol C came with her accordion.

Now this is the first time anyone has played an accordion at song circle, as far as I know, and it was very well received.

Carol is anxious for people to know that accordions are not restricted to playing hackneyed polka music.

The piece she played was indeed a very nice piece of music...sounded kind of classical to me. She was obviously nervous and tripped up a few times, but so what? It was still a great piece of music.

I now hope to try and learn a little accordion from her, just to see what it's like. It appears to be quite challenging, as you've got 3 things to think about...chording and rythm with the left hand...melodies with the right...and pumping air through it with both arms. Actually, that's 4 things. Sheesh.

No wonder she was nervous.

- LH