White Castle Memories

When I was 17 I had a Honda CB 160 which I thought was the coolest bike in the world. A few of my buddies had bikes too and we used to all sleep over at someone's house and then take off for midnight rides. Our route was usually Outer Drive, which is a loop that runs through Dearborn and a bunch of Detroit Metro suburbs, as well as Detroit itself. One highlight of the trip was going by Zug Island, just downstream from the Ford Rouge Plant, and marveling at the flames that shot out of the smokestacks. Very cool.
Another highlight was our stop at Mott's Hamburgers, (now called Motz's Hamburgers because the old owner wouldn't sell the name) which was a knock off of White Castle, It had the exact same white tile building, in fact, now that I think of it, it probably WAS a White Castle that had relocated elsewhere. (Like everything else in Detroit.) We loaded up with 8-10 sliders each and hopped back on our bikes to complete the loop and get back home right around sunrise. Those were the days! If you'd like a taste of this experience, White Castle is making it easy. To celebrate their 88th birthday they are giving away free sliders. Kick start that old bike and go pick one (or 10) up!

TDA Covers: 20 Years of Accordion-Fueled Rock 'n' Roll

Those Darn Accordions has covered some pretty varied musical terrain over the past two decades. The originals and polkas are one thing -- we've tossed plenty of tunes into the genre blender and pushed frappe repeatedly. We tried not to make too much of a mess.

But, as you can tell by this long (and probably incomplete) list of rock 'n' roll songs we've played over the years, we've taken the accordion to some pretty strange places in our never-ending pursuit of the ultimate squeezebox rock cover songs. Some of these covers became staples of TDA shows and even made it on to our recordings; others disappeared from the set list almost immediately, for whatever reason.

As we pull together set lists for our 20-city tour, we've been thinking a lot about what we should play. We've been getting a kick out of the whole "trip down memory lane" thing, and we'd like to take you with us.

So let us know: Which of these covers would you like to hear? Which ones should be banished forever? And which ones have we forgotten entirely? Let us know in the comments section below.


Whole Lotta Love/ Black Dog -- Led Zeppelin
Magic Carpet Ride -- Steppenwolf
Low Rider -- War
Frankenstein -- The Edgar Winter Group
We're an Accordion Band -- Grand Funk Railroad
The Devil Went Down to Georgia -- The Charlie Daniels Band
Back in Black -- AC/DC
Baba O'Riley -- The Who
Radar Love -- Golden Earring
Pump It Up -- Elvis Costello
Making Our Dreams Come True -- "Laverne and Shirley" theme song
Godzilla -- Blue Oyster Cult
I Melt With You -- Modern English
Moondance -- Van Morrison
Party Hard -- Andrew W.K.
Shine Your Light -- The Mavericks
Aqualung -- Jethro Tull
Stairway to Heaven -- Led Zeppelin
Uncontrollable Urge -- Devo
Fire -- Jimi Hendrix
Surrender -- Cheap Trick
(Keep Feeling) Fascination -- The Human League
Proud Mary -- Ike and Tina Turner
It's Now or Never -- Elvis Presley
Play That Funky Music -- Wild Cherry
Viva Las Vegas -- Elvis Presley
It's Not Unusual -- Tom Jones
Our House -- Madness
Da Ya Think I'm Sexy -- Rod Stewart
Sleep Walk -- Santo & Johnny.
Walk Don't Run -- the Ventures
Pick up the Pieces -- Average White Band
Tear the Roof off the Sucker (Give Up the Funk) -- Parliament

Follow Drew's Blog

Drew Carey has a blog up and is posting some funny and interesting stuff ranging from his job hosting TPIR (The Price Is Right), The Seattle Sounders (he's a minority owner), his adventures on Second Life and his adventures in real life. Dang, if he gets a third life I won't be able to keep up.

Dreaming Up a New T-Shirt

This being our 20th anniversary and all, I thought we should try to come up with a new t-shirt. I had a meeting with a local artist/friend and we knocked around a few ideas. I'm pretty excited to see what he comes up with. His name is Frank Samuelson and he's done some very cool work. Check it out!
BTW, we will be phasing out the Flaming T's, so if you think you might want one, you should drop by the TDA store.

Get Well Soon, Dr. Creep

Dr. Creep, the pancake-makeup-wearing frightmaster who hosted horror movies on Dayton, Ohio, television in the '70s and '80s, is having health problems.

A benefit show to raise funds for the good Doctor (aka Barry Hobart) is being held next month in Springfield, Ohio. I wish Those Darn Accordions was on the bill -- Dr. Creep's lineup of horribly great movies on Shock Theatre provided hours of entertainment during my formative years in the Dayton area.



Dr. Creep's style of weirdo TV humor and horror was great. He never failed to entertain. And now, when I watch bumpers like the one above, I realize he was playing Steely Dan and Pink Floyd during his corny intros and such. The world needs more of these types of local horror shows.

Get well soon, Dr. Creep. Thanks for all the horribly fantastic memories.

[via Laughing Squid]

The Story Of Clyde

I made a demo of a tune in honor of the recently departed Clyde Forsman and put it up on our MySpace page.
For those of you who were lucky enough to see Clyde perform and meet him, I hope this brings a smile to your face.

Cheers,

Paul

Video: Catnip Makes Kitties High as a Kite

I don't know what's funnier in this Weird Nature clip: The Scared Straight-style video of cats that are high as a kite, or the overblown BBC-ish voiceover.

"In the presence of catnip, they do the unexpected," the breathless announcer says. "As well as rolling around, apparently in ecstacy, they chase imaginary mice."

[via Laughing Squid]

Hamster Runs Obstacle Course

The only way this could be better would be with a different soundtrack. And maybe a longer run, with some flames and water hazards.

(via Urlesque)