MAY

2016

May 2016 Volume 23 Issue 5

Bonnie Birch is one of the Northwest’s finest accor-

dionists performing a versatile repertoire of American,

European Continental (French, Italian, etc), and classical

music.

Bonnie performs as a soloist as well as working with a

wide variety of local area musicians and singers. Her

varied audience includes restaurants, weddings, corpo-

rate events, family events, and artistic organizations.

Bonnie is president of the Northwest Accordion Socie-

ty and chairman of the Leavenworth International Ac-

cordion Celebration.

Get ready for Bonnie Birch Concert at our next meeting

May 1st.

Please note our ALSI meeting is on the first Sunday of May so as not to conflict with Mother’s Day. Let’s have a great turn out for a great performer and welcome her to our club. This is a concert

not to be missed. Cost will be $10 for this event.

Get ready for our June 12th picnic. It is not far away. Look for details in this issue.

GENERAL INFORMATION

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MEMBERSHIPS: New membership and renewal for year 2016 are; $100 Gold, $25 U.S.A., $26 Canada, $27 for

International delivery. For new members; partial year memberships can be purchased. Please contact Mary Lou

Erwin at 619 448-9588 for information. The REED BLOCK is published once each month. DISCLAIMER: Unless otherwise indicated, all articles were written by the Editor. Unless so stated, no article is to

be construed as an endorsement and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editor or ALSI. CUT-OFF DATE: All contributors to The REED BLOCK please note: All material is due by the 20th of the month

preceding the next meeting, accordingly the due date for the June 2016 issue is: May 20th. This includes all items

such as articles, upcoming events, playing around, accordion workshops, advertisements and ensemble schedules.

Your input to the REED BLOCK is invited and should be submitted to Mary Lou Erwin at: marylouerwin@att.net. ADVERTISEMENTS: Members may place one small ad per year at no charge, business cards are $6/per issue or

$60/per year, quarter-page is $15/per issue, half -page is $25/per issue, full -page is $50/per issue, one -page event flyer

is $25/per issue. Cost is doubled for non -members. (All ads must be music related). MEETINGS: The club normally meets from 12:30 - 4:00 P.M. on the second Sunday of each month at the Mt Miguel

Covenant Village, 325 Kempton Ave, Spring Valley, CA. Our next Meeting will be held on the first Sunday, Sunday

May 1st., from 12:30 to 4:00 pm at Mt. Miguel Covenant Village in Bailey Hall. STEERING COMMITTEE; There is no meeting in May. Our next meeting is on Wednesday, June 15, 10:30 am

at Marie Callender’s 6950 Alvarado Rd (Hwy. 8 and 70th) 619-465-1910

— Membership Form —

Names:______________________________________________________________

If new address: ________________________________________________________

Email and phone number: ________________________________________

Recognition information such as Birthdays, Anniversaries for yourself (spouse):

____________________________________________________________

Please provide any additional information (such as wanting to volunteer to help):

____________________________________________________________

Amount Enclosed: $_________________

Please forward this form to: ALSI c/o Mary Lou Erwin at

P.O. Box 712571 Santee, CA 92072 (new address)

Gordon Kohl

Plays Casuals, Weddings Dances and

Special Events. Gordon’s Combo is noted for their repertoire of ethnic music such as Ital-

ian, French, German and Latin, Their specialty is

Private Parties & Dancing Music. (For more information and future

availability. please call Gordon at:

619-395-0454.)

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE by Gordon Kohl

Harold & Helen Estok

Founders of A.L.S.I.

President:

Gordon Kohl

619-395-0454

Presidents Emeriti:

(Founder) Harold Estok

Ron Griffin

Kjell Holmes

Gloria Ensign

Vice President:

Mary Lou Erwin

619-448-9588

Meeting Coordinator:

Bill Barr

619-337-1111

Treasurer &

Ensemble Director:

Vicki Eriqat

619-563-5586

Recording Secretary:

Sharon Marotte

619-286-3948

Newsletter/

Webmaster:

Bob Page

760--815-4783

Ted Hill

619-276-5890

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A.L.S.I. is on the

WEB at

www.accordion-club-

sandiego.org

Back issues of the

REED BLOCK news-

letter

are found there.

Hello Friends,

Let the good times at ALSI roll! The meetings have

been fantastic and eventful with a great variety of mu-

sic. The accordionists have been “out of this world”.

Thank you for visiting ALSI activities and being an

important part of our fun club. ALSI is a San Diego

forum where we can present new and interesting

music to fellow accordionists and family. You the

audience make the music experience successful.

This May 1st. We will be mesmerized with the won-

derful music arrangements as performed by Ms, Bon-

nie Birch. She is a very versatile accordionists who

plays music for every type of audience. You will want

to make plans for this special concert performance at

the San Diego accordion experience, that is ALSI.

I hope that everyone is beginning to get excited

about our very traditional June picnic. The date will

be Sunday, June 12th., at the beautiful Lindo Lake

Park in Lakeside. We have use of the large gazebo to

give us a nice stage and shade. The fellowship, food,

music and cheers will make this day an experience

for us all to enjoy.

New members, friends, dancers and musicians are

always welcome at ALSI. Enjoy the beautiful spring

weather that makes us happy being in San Diego.

The time to learn to play the accordion is now. It is

never too late to learn to play a musical instrument.

Have Fun — Gordon

Happy May Birthdays !

2nd Farrie Nichols 14th Ron Schoell

5th Terri Eskola 18th Tiina Zien

7th Joseph Colombo 22nd Marty Erwin

8th Russ Moll 22nd Richard Guerro

13th Gordon Kohl 28th Ron Griffin

14th Terri Cerutti

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HAPPINESS AT ALSI - by Sharon Marotte

Our April 10th ALSI meeting was held

at Bailey Hall, with threats of rain all

day long. Our guests from L.A. had a

long trip without accident, weather,

etc. We were pleased that 9-10 members of the

LA Accordionaires Accordion Club plus Bob

& Karen Dietsch from Crestline drove down to

San Diego to honor Sam Costabile on his 98th

birthday. We enjoyed meeting Sam’s daughter,

Karen Davis. Players around the Village were: Brandel – Vicki

Eriqat, Cafeteria – Steve Halpern, Crider 1 –

Jerry Odling, Crider 2 – Laura Guerrero. Bob

Warner was the MC for the day, Jack Marotte

worked the sound board. Declan Kasler was our first player of the

day. His songs were Wearing of the Green, Irish

Rose, I’ll Take You Home Kathleen. It’s always nice

to see Declan with his mom & dad. Bob Page played September Song, Sabor a

Mi, Autumn Leaves. Bob plays very pretty chords

in his music. Ron Griffin gave us a short intro to his

Cordavox accordion with sounds like a midi. His

songs were: Autumn Leaves with midi variations,

plus Polkan Gar. Declan Kasler was called up to the stage

to play one more song: It’s a Long Way to Tipper-ary. Gordon Kohl presented Declan with a teen

award. Gordon also acknowledged Bill Barr for

his work as MC in the past. Bill is still busy sched-

uling players around the Village. Loren Gardner was our next player. His

songs were: Desert Song, Mexicali Rose, & Balen I

Karlstad Schottische. Good job, Loren! Steve Halpern did triple duty today – he

played in the cafeteria, played solo & played with

the Accordion Band. His songs were: Chosjajka

(Klesmer song), Frailach #3 & Pretty Paper. Max Ghaziary is a new player to ALSI & a

student of Gordon’s. His songs were: Domino,

Two Guitars, & Bach Minuette. Come back & play

for us again.

Norm Panto Sam Costabile

Karen and Bob Dietsch

Mom and Dad Declan Kasler

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Bob Page Ron Griffen Loren and Marilyn Gardner Steve Halpern

Max Ghaziary Juergen Rosenfeld Jerry Odling

Norm Panto and Gordon Kohl

Juergen Rosenfeld was again dressed in his German attire. He & Hildegard will be leaving to

spend the next 4 months in Germany, north of Munich approx. 6 hrs. Juergen played a Medley of

Rhine-river area songs: Einmal am Rhein, Du Kannst nicht treu sein, Trink Bruderlein trink, Wir

Kommen alle in den Himmel, Oh, du wunderschoener Rhein, Trink’s du mal wein vom Rhein, Lore-

lei song, Wisper song & So ein wunderschoener tag. Have a safe trip, Juergen & Hildegard.

Jerry Odling played 3 Swedish waltzes: En Gang Jag Seflar I Hamm, Halsa Dem Dar Hemma, En

glad Gut Trann Skandinavien. Sure hope I spelled these names right, Uff Da!!!

At this time Gordon Kohl introduced Norm Panto from the LA area. We all sang Happy Birth-

day to Sam Costabile on his 98th birthday. Gordon Kohl presented an award to both Sam &

Norm – for life time achievement in accordion repair & accordion music. Norm entertained us

with a lot of really good music. He played a song he wrote in 1954, “Let Me Know if This is Love”

This song has been played on the soap opera, ‘Days of Our Lives’ plus on the show ‘Night Court’.

Page 6

During our lunch break, we were treated

to music from Sami & Tiina Zein, our couple

from Ramona. Their songs were Ay Ay Ay (by

Freire), Dance of Little Swans (Tchaikovsky) &

Finn Polka – traditional. The original name for

Finn Polka is “Boys from Karelia”.

Our lunch break was very tasty this

month…pizza, pasta salad, lemonade, coffee, &

birthday cake. Jane Ford did an outstanding job

with decorations, & organizing this event. Her

helpers were: Lois Lahoud, Erika Baier, &

Diane Polinski. Mary Lou Erwin brought the

cake

The Accordion Band set up during

the break and played 4 songs: Happy Wander-

er, Johnson Rag, Polkan Gar & Chicago. Vicki

Eriqat was the director, Lois Lahoud played

percussion instruments, Gordon Kohl also

played with the band.

After the Showcase by Chuck Henry,

accordion players assembled on the stage.

Chuck led a workshop playing along with pre-

recorded tracks. A packet of 5 songs were

available with suggested chords: Canadian Sun-

set, Chapel in the Moonlight, Venus, Some-

where My Love, Release Me.

Please wait to see the June issue of the Reedblock for the review of showcase and workshop

presented by Chuck Henry.

I was so excited to receive some white lilacs from Roy Birdsell. We had lilac bushes on the

farm where I grew up in Minnesota & I love the smell of these flowers. Hope to see all of you on the

first Sunday of May to support Bonnie Birch from Seattle, WA. She is a fine musician & nice per-

son. Always keep music in your life – it is a happy thing to do.

Page 7

WHAT TO LOOK FORWARD TO - UPCOMING EVENTS

Next ALSI Meeting - May 1st

Our ALSI is on the first Sunday of the month because the following Sunday is Mother’s Day. We

will meet in Bailey Hall. The meeting starts at 12:30 with open play time for you to play your ac-

cordion. For the break, cake will be served. Coffee and lemon-aid will be the available drinks.

After the break the Concert will begin !

Bonnie Birch is traveling from Seattle Washington

to be with us at ALSI. She is a vivacious player.

Bonnie will keep us well entertained with some of

her toe tapping music. One of here specialties is

fast moving French music.

Cost for the concert will only be $10.

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June 12th Our June Picnic at Lindo Lake Park in Lakeside!

Sunday, June 12. will be our 23rd Annual ALSI picnic starting at

11:00. Lunch will be served from 12:30 to 1:30. The Barbeque Pit

will cater our event like last year. The menu is BBQ Beef or Chick-

en sandwich plate served with potato salad, coleslaw and baked

beans. A chocolate brownie for dessert will finish off the meal. The

club will provide lemonade and ice water.

There will be an opportunity for everyone to play. Invite your

friends and family to join us for this picnic outing! The famous ALSI

band directed by Vicki Eriqat will also perform.

Cost is $13 for ALSI members, $14 for non members. Some meal

tickets will be available at the picnic for $15, so Ok to bring a last

minute friend.

Some chairs will be there, but it would

help if you have one to bring. Do not

forget to also bring your accordion.

RSVP and checks are due by June 2, 2016.

Make check payable to ALSI and send to: The REED BLOCK c/o Mary Lou Erwin P.O. Box 712571 Santee, CA 92072

Number of people attending _______ $___________ total enclosed.

Indicate total number of sandwich preferences: ______Beef or _____Chicken

Names of people attending:____________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

Page 9

PICNIC MAPS

From Hwy 67, take the Winter Gardens turnoff going south to the traffic light. Turn

left onto Woodside Ave and continue straight. The road will curve to the right into

Lindo Ln. Continue driving by the park. Turn left onto Park St., you will see a large

VFW building on the corner. Picnic area is a short distance on the right, look for the

large gazebo. Parking can be difficult, early people can find spaces in the loop.

X

Page 10

July 10th Patriotic day at ALSI. ALSI band will play.

Workshop by Bob Page on Latin rhythm and improvisation. His lead

sheet, The Girl from Impanema, will be used to work on accordi-

on technics.

July 10th Showcase by Gwen Shoemaker.

Gwen is a member of the Melodions. She will be playing her own solos and se-

lections to entertain us. ALSI looks forward to her presentation.

WHAT TO LOOK FORWARD TO - contined

Accordion Events to Travel To !

May 16th - 19th Camp Concerto in Salt Lake City. Paul

Pasquali will be hosting Concerto players to improve their

knowledge of using this electronic accordion. Gordon will as-sist. For more information go to website

WWW.campconcerto.com

August 8 - 11th Las Vegas accordion convention.

WWW.accordionstars.com

August 20 - 21th Cotati (near Santa Rose, Calif.) accordion

event. This event is held in the center of the city in a closed-off

outdoor park with nice big trees to provide shade. Gordon will

set up his 10x10 tent to do accordion sales. Many other accor-

dion and food vendors will surround the place. A wild variety

of accordion performances will be on stage all weekend.

There is a dance tent which host polka music during the day and

Zydeco in the evening. Hotel rooms are in nearby Rohnert

Park, where there is also a Black Bear restaurant.

Page 11

A Very Happy Anniversary Wish In May To:

Ann & Sam Cernelia - 5/7

Marilyn and Frank Harkins 5/27 Carlos and Yolanda Meneses 5/31

Page 12

On the Move !!! This part of the newsletter is for

members to interact with the

club. This section is especially

needed for members of the club

who do not come to our regular

meeting and want to keep in

touch with fellow accordion play-

ers and friends. Please email me

(Ted) at danceted@aol.com with

comments and pictures or phone

me at 619 276-5890.

Kjell Homes

Our best wishes go to Kjell, so he can get through the tuff times and transitions in his life. Being past pres-

ident and ensemble member, Kjell is a big part of ALSI. We hope he can find the strength to continue play-

ing and coming to ALSI functions.

April accordion party time at Ted’s house, Saturday April 23rd. 3:45 to

10:00pm. Come to eat, socialize, play accordions and watch the sunset.

Ted’s house is at 4601 Iroquois Ave. San Diego, 92117. Most people have been to my

house before so if you are new please RSVP and get directions.; 619 276-5890.

_____

On May 27, the ALSI band will be playing at Meadowbrook at the commons center for the residents.

_____

Page 13

2nd Lead sheet for Bob Page workshop on Latin rhythm.

The first one was printed in the April newsleter and was the “Girl from

Ipanema”.

Page 14

Page 15

Fit the Expression words in the cross patches below. Good Italian review, have fun !

The length of each word is hand written by each word. Be sure to use the few non-

expression words to complete the puzzle.

Page 16

Gordon Kohl arrangement April 12, 2016. To be used for educational purposes. Will be used at Camp Concerto.

Page 17

WESTERN ACCORDION CLUB LINKS — on the Internet

Los Angeles

http://www.accordionaires.org/

Orange County

http://www.santabarbaraaccordions.com/

http://www.sfaccordionclub.com/index.html

http://www.azaccordionclub.com/index.php

Rose City Accordion Club — Portland Oregon

http://www.rosecityaccordionclub.org/

Monthly Newsletter ALSI

Statement Of

Purpose:

ALSI is San Diego’s forum

for appreciating and per-

forming accordion music,

including the MIDI elec-

tronic accordion We welcome members who

enjoy listening to or playing

accordion music. We have an accordion en-

semble group, monthly

meetings, local concerts

featuring local and interna-

tionally famous performers,

an annual picnic and a

monthly newsletter.

MAY

2016

EDITION

The REED BLOCK

c/o Mary Lou Erwin

P.O. Box 712571

Santee, CA 92072

Quick Notes:

May 1st —ALSI concert with Bonnie Birch

Meeting from 12:30 to 4 :00 pm. In Bailey Hall at Mt. Miguel

Covenant Village in Spring Valley, 325 Kempton Ave.

June 12th —ALSI picnic at Lin-

do Lake Park, Lakeside.

July 10th —Showcase by Gwen Shoe-

maker.

July 10th - Latin Rhythm workshop

with Bob Page

We enjoyed the music of Norm Panto at our

last ALSI meeting. We look forward to hav-

ing him return sometime soon to do a program

for us.