World | | Alex Meixner

This place is really special! I don’t think there is another place where the stage and audience can appreciate a rapper in 7/8 time, an Italian polka band, Gypsy jazz and Irish punkers all with accordion being played on every song (Mandated in all the performer’s contracts!). As always, the Cotati Accordion Festival did not disappoint. The weather might have been a little rainy on Saturday morning—but miraculously when the Alex Meixner Band hit the stage, the sun came out and was perfect for the rest of the weekend!

It was great to visit with so many of my friends out in Northern California and to present the current band to the Cotati audience. We got a great response from everyone with our shows and enjoyed jamming with a myriad of cool accordionists from around the world. On Saturday, it was a particularly good to meet up with the guys from Accordion Noir Radio and their band The Creaking Planks… check em out….both the show and the band…. On Sunday, of course, it was a total honor to share the stage with my good friend Max Baca and Los Texmaniacs. I also got to jam with them (including the great accordionist David Farias), Tara Linda and the legendary Flaco Jimenez. Great times….

Looking forward to getting home for a bit… playing a little duo gig with my buddy Joe Oberaitis and getting some time with the family…

alex

I’ve been very bad at reporting from the road these days… Without a doubt,
these trips lately have been busier than ever– which is definitely a good
thing, except for scheduling sleep and down time!

With a quick recap– I had a nice little solo concert at Barbes on the 7th.
As always, that venue attracts a unique audience of music lovers and is a
fun stretch out for me. The Musikfest jazz brunch was a nice standards gig
that was well attended…. Fort even got to play the last 20 minutes after
his car was towed to get a new alternator! (We got him back on the road to
Williamsport in time to play an 8pm show with his other band too!) The solo
show at Musikfest Volksplatz on Monday the 9th included some duets with my good friend/ great accordionist and composer- Dallas Vietty…. very nice!
Despite some issues with El Chavalon’s luggage from Delta (Boo Hiss!), we
made it Manistee, MI for a fun Tues afternoon polka party at the Little
River Casino and Resort… thanks to Virgil for lining us up… we look
forward to returning sometime in 2011…

2 days of recording in Detroit with the beginnings of the next album, were
followed by a great weekend back east. The Evergreen club in Fleetwood was packed for our Friday the 13th gig. A great dancing audience and good time was had by all… We then headed up to Hunter, NY for our first appearance at the German Alps Festival. It was a fun time sharing the stage with the great entertainers and jamming with my friend, Die Schlauberger. Of course, the great weather didn’t hurt the attendance either! Unfortunately, our good weather didn’t follow to Bethlehem Musikfest for closing day/night. Luckily, we still had a wonderfully, receptive crowd and enjoyed the best sound crews the festival has ever had at both Volksplatz (thanks Dave, as always!) and Festplatz.

Now, I’m in California! A fun reunion job with my dear friends- The Balich
Family on Thursday at Little Switzerland, had a full house… Last night was
a blast at Teske’s Germania for the band in San Jose and Saturday/ Sunday
we’re playing at the Cotati Accordion Festival…. if you’re around come
check out the fun…

Hope to see ya down the road…alex

Cotati!

More Miles of Fun….