The next day I started my search for music on Amazon and found some good leads, but was impatient. I wanted to start playing right away, not wait for 2-3 days for shipping to drop off my prospective purchases! I thought about the sheet music store in West LA that I use to visit, but didn’t feel like the 45 minute drive in traffic only to get there and discover they didn’t have what I needed or to discover they weren’t even open any longer. Also, I couldn’t remember the name of that shop, so I couldn’t call ahead to check. Then it hit me, there was a music shop here in Alhambra! I had driven down Main Street and noticed the instruments in the window, but wasn’t sure if they would have anything accordion related. Heck, it would only take me a quick 3 minute drive to find out!
I was a bit overwhelmed upon entering the shop, there were guitars, brass instruments, wind instruments and enough string instruments to outfit an entire orchestra. I felt like I had just stumbled into the center or a secret garden and gazed about in childlike wonder. Simultaneous and opposed feelings of wanting to reach out and pick up each and every instrument and also a fear of consequences if I did, race across my mind. I imagined the joy of picking up a trumpet only to suddenly see a “DO NOT TOUCH!” sign or to have the shop keep shaking his disapproving head emit a “ahem!” while crossing his arms and looking down his nose at me. Slowly I came to realize that this lush sound garden was missing something. I couldn’t put my finger on it at first, but then with a gasp of horror it dawned on me! No accordions! Not a one! I staggered about the shop like a drunken maniac with a forlorn hope that I might be mad or blind or anything but in a part of the world without accordions!
“May I help you?” the man behind the counter asked. I stood up straight from my nightmarish fantasy, and responded, “Um, yes, I hope… do you have any accordion music?”. “Sure”, he said, “right over there.” I smiled and pointed and the shopkeeper smiled and nodded. I sidled over to the box and suspiciously looked it over. There were several dozen soft bound magazine sized book separated by tabs labeled, “Jazz” and “Classical” and “Rock Opera”, but I didn’t see Accordion. “A conspiracy!”, I though, immediately followed by, “Oh, wait, there it is.”, and there it was, “Accordion” in black marker on a manila folder that was missing it’s back cover. There were five ancient looking books and without much thought, I grabbed the 3 that had “How to” or “Learn” on their covers and grabbed one of the final two randomly and headed to the cash register.
I walked by a fellow store patron, a tall guy with a friendly face, who commented about my choices. “Accordion, hu? You play?” he asked. “Not yet but I am on a mission from god, so I will soon!” I responded. He laughed and I continued on to the man at the cashbox. As the shopkeeper rang me up I casually asked if he had any accordions in the shop. He shook his shaggy mane and gave me a simple “No.” and I sighed. The tall friendly guy called out from across the shop, “hey, I have one in my garage I never use, It’s practically new!” To this, I responded, “I really can’t afford a new accordion”. “Well, it’s just sitting in my garage, I’ll let you have it for what I bought it for,” he said.
My curiosity was piqued. Stay tuned for next week’s episode, “It takes two to Tango Mk II”
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