Saturday, April 25, 2009

Make a One String Bass



Are you and your friends planning to dress as TDA for Halloween this year? Well, the gang at Make Magazine recently posted this video that will help out the friend dressing as Lewis. With just a PVC pipe, some plywood, & guitar bits you have working one string bass!

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Sunday, March 22, 2009

Accordionize Your Home - Part IV



You just did laundry and somehow there's a bunch more to do again. Will this chore never end? Why not duct tape an accordion to your dryer's vent*? That's what some freshmen at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute did to their dorm's vent. Freshman Kyle McDonald explains more in the video's description.

*- Team TDA takes no responsibility for any damage caused by blocking your dryer vent. The above video has been blogged about for entertainment purposes only. But if you do anything cool like that, be sure to share the video with us!

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Sunday, January 11, 2009

In My World, It's Always Cheese O'Clock



Here's how I tell what time it is (and what type of adult beverage I should be enjoying).

[via Buzzfeed]

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Friday, December 26, 2008

Mothra Shoes Make Puma's Monstrous List



Mothra flies again in a new line of shoes from Puma that commemorates great Japanese movie monsters of the '50s and '60s.

The Puma Japanese Monster Pack features four other monsters as well (Godzilla, Mechagodzilla, Ghidorah and King Kong). HighSnobriety.com, which says the classy kicks will be available in March 2009, shows some detailed photos of the various styles.

[via /Film]

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Friday, August 29, 2008

Freaky, Geeky Tattoos


My college buddy (and now Wired.com photo editor) Jim Merithew went to Comic-Con International earlier this year. At the show, we were able to finish a little assignment we'd been kicking around for months: a photo gallery of comics-related tattoos.

See for yourself in our gallery: Geek Ink: Comics Fans Show Off Tattoos.

No accordions, but still pretty wild, IMHO.

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9 Things (You Think) Your Beer Says About You

Just in time for the Labor Day weekend, a wacky list of "9 Things (You Think) Your Beer Says About You" bubbles up on Cracked.com.

Pretty funny, but be warned -- there's some salty language!

P.S. Please note that Widmer Brothers' tasty beer -- which we will undoubtedly be sampling in Portland, Ore., when we play the brewery's fourth-annual Oktoberfest on Sept. 6 -- is not on the list. What does drinking a Widmer say about you? It just says you're cool (and possibly that you're listening to accordion music).

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Thursday, August 21, 2008

Accordions On The Rise

Cynthia Dizikes has a nice story on accordions in the LA Times. She cites the resurgence in popularity of the instrument and some of the folks that have helped make it "cool" again. If only we had known, we could have lent a hand as well!

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Thursday, March 13, 2008

Tiny Tim Remembered #2


TDA fan Michael Butler forwards this photo of he and the brilliant song stylist. As you can see, the photo was taken in July, 1993, which is about 7 years earlier than the one with Tiny and I at the Sweetwater. I wish I had a shot of Tiny when he got down on the stage and started spinning around on his back in a frenzy as we banged out an Elvis tune. It was a great moment in rock history.

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Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Remembering Tiny Tim


You know, we've got some folks in Those Darn Accordions that have worked with some BIG names in showbiz. I'm not kidding. Mick Jagger, Pat Benatar, Melissa Etheridge, Billy Idol, etc, but no one tops my street cred. Here's the proof. What a magical night that was backing up Tiny Tim. If I hadn't happened to find this photo while cleaning up my studio, the moment would have been lost forever. I know to some of you this will explain a lot, and upon reflection, I suppose it does.

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Sunday, January 06, 2008

Man Builds His Own Bowling Alley

Next to homebrewing, this could be the ultimate DIY project: building a bowling alley in your garage. The guy is identified by TechEBlog as "Tim W.," with no reference as to where he lives. (I'm guessing it's the Midwest.)

The Brunswick automatic pinsetter is a noisy beast, and the lane is short (although probably about the same as the duckpin lanes at Koz's Mini Bowl in Milwaukee). But it's pretty darn cool to have a lane like that in your garage. Wonder if there's a Kegerator hiding off to the side somewhere?

TechEBlog has a photo gallery of the lane, as well as the videos below.



See the lane in action.



Behind-the-scenes shot shows the Brunswick pinsetter in action.

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Saturday, January 05, 2008

Secrets of ZZ Top's Sharp-Dressed Guitars


Those Darn Accordions dress up themselves (or at least the ladies do); those sharp-dressed hombres in ZZ Top pimp out their guitars.

Find out how in Gibson's informative article, "Sheepskin and Rhinestones: The Story Behind the Legendary ZZ Top Guitars."

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Thursday, January 03, 2008

Beer Can Table: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle


Modern Mechanix is showing off a cool picture of a table made of beer cans. The frothy furniture was assembled out of 420 soldered-together beer cans by Chicagoan Bernard Dier.

The photo ran in Science and Mechanics magazine in 1936, when people apparently had a lot more fun.

(Via Boing Boing)

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Saturday, December 01, 2007

Robots Serve Drinks at Roboexotica

Robots? Booze? How can you not click on "Boozebots Get Their Shot at Roboexotica"?

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Too Bad Leslie Hall Doesn't Play Accordion

Because I'll bet she'd be a heck of a squeezer. Check out Wired News' profile of the gem sweater lady, "YouTube Gem Leslie Hall Bedazzles the Masses."

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Sunday, November 25, 2007

A Tour With Teller

Having had the pleasure of performing with Teller on Penn and Teller's Sin City Spectacular, I found it quite interesting to take an inside peek at the abode of this quiet magical genius, courtesy of USA Today. While Teller's onstage persona is mute, I am honored to say that I have had lively conversation with him and he is indeed a gentleman and a scholar.

Take a virtual tour of Teller's home in this Flash photo gallery (don't miss the secret bookcase).

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Monday, November 19, 2007

Vote on Star Trek's Weirdest Aliens

Over at Wired News, we put together a gallery featuring Star Trek's 10 Cheesiest Classic Creatures. There's no Hamsterman or Loch Ness Monster, but you will find the Gorn, a salt vampire and, of course Tribbles. Is there a better job in the world?

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Monday, October 29, 2007

Now That's How You Make a Record

Wired News' Listening Post blog dug up a couple of cool YouTube videos that show exactly how vinyl LPs are made. Fascinating!



Part 1: Making the master disc.



Par 2: Pressing the records.

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Saturday, October 27, 2007

Anybody Got an Accordion-o'-Lantern?

Sci-fi icons, geek titans, Halloween horrors -- it's a glowing pumpkin buffet! Vote for your favorite geeky jack-o'-lanterns or submit your own at Wired News' Underwire blog. An accordion-o'-lantern sure would make a nice addition.

Also: Don't miss the Robotic Snap-O-Lantern in action!

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Thursday, September 13, 2007

Have Beer, Will Travel

An idea whose time has come: Deschutes Brewery's Neighborhood Hops, a "traveling beer festival" designed to bring excellent beer, food and music to Seattle enclaves. Reproduce, please. (Can you hear me, Speakeasy?)

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Pink Floyd a la Polka

The Polka Floyd Show, a musical mashup out of Toledo, Ohio, performs the classic rock band's songs polka-style, with an accordion high in the mix. "We take the songs and make our own thing out of it," drummer Frank Dramczyk tells The Independent Collegian. "We get an incredible amount of people shaking their heads, in a good way, saying 'Wow, that is really cool.' No one has walked up to us and said, 'You are a disaster.' We expected a lot more bad input than what we've received."

Musical genius or just another schtick in the wall? Hear it for yourself at the band's MySpace page.

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Thursday, September 06, 2007

Man Builds 'Ultimate Beer-Brewing Machine'

Its creator calls it simply The Device, but the wondrous task it performs is anything but simple: The self-contained machine makes and serves beer.

Constructed by Popular Science staff photographer John Carnett, "the ultimate all-in-one beer brewing machine" is a pretty amazing invention. In the video clip, Carnett walks through the brewing process that transforms plain old Philadelphia water into the magical beverage that made Milwaukee famous. It's something to behold, although at $4,315 to build, it's a lot cheaper (and easier) to nab a six pack at your corner store.

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Monday, August 27, 2007

BBQ Hog Looks Smokin' Hot

I like to eat. I like to ride motorcycles. I need one of these.

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Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Jet-Powered Outhouse Belches Flames

Growing up in Ohio, I've got an evil memory or three related to outhouses. But if you want a real fire-and-brimstone privy vision, you've got to see the Port-O-Jet, a jet-engine-equipped toilet that makes 46 mph and emits flames worthy of Beelzebub. Next up on creator Paul Stender's to-do list? A jet-powered beer truck, according to Popular Science.

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