In tune with fun
Now, as you may have suspected, my experiences with learning the accordion and the consequent gain in social capital have been virtually identical with Tom's. But the coincidences here run much deeper. I came upon this comic book by way of this post on Let's Polka. The blog pointed to a bunch of items on ebay, including a comic book biography of Charles Magnante (famous accordionist of the 40s and 50s). I followed Magnante and then looked at "other items from this seller" -- various sheet music and musical bric-a-brac in addition to the bio and the item above. There were scans of only the cover and back ("in tune with fun" and "no cost, no 'strings'"), and I didn't pay too close attention. Instead the listing for a simple little black notebook somehow drew me in. The description read something like, "Notebooks given as gifts by accordion teacher to students." I scrolled further, reading through the seller's long explanation of how he is a "a 79 year old man selling these items to help support my fixed income,,, I really appreciate all the wonderful people who have purchased items from me here on Ebay... IT IS A GREAT EXPERIENCE TO MEET FOLKS FROM AROUND THE GLOBE !!!" I read on with suspicion. "PLEASE LOOK AT THE PICTURES FOR THE DESCRIPTION. I AM NOT AT ALL KNOWLAGEABLE ABOUT THIS SUBJECT." I was on to this guy. "ALL OF THE MUSIC ITEMS I AM LISTING I PERSONALY PURCHASED FROM THE ESTATE OF ONE OF THE BEST ACCORDION TEACHERS IN PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA." I went back to the listing for "In tune with fun" and looked more closely. Finally, at the bottom of the "Free lesson coupon," I saw "Joe Zarnich Accordion Center", and everything came together. A few aggressive bids and a week or so later, the comic book arrived at my door.