Co-Op Radio Show Accordion Noir has invited me to perform and be interviewed for their show Friday, January 11th, 9:30-10:30pm. 

Accordion Noir hosts Bruce Triggs and Rowan Lipkovits have been excited to finally get me on their show, which runs weekly 9:30-10:30 pm PST every Friday night on CFRO CO-OP Radio, 102.7 FM (and through their live audio stream), Vancouver, BC, Canada.

Interestingly, I met them both at Library Square, outside the Central Branch Library.  I first bumped into Rowan at the 2006 Word on the Street Festival when I saw him carrying an accordion.  Bruce stopped to listen to me play accordion during the Vancouver civic strike.  They continually invited me to join their Squeezebox Circle on the first Thursday of each month – but that interfered with Kilts Night for me.

I have also been invited to play some of my accordion repertoire that may include: Bach's Toccata in D Minor, Brahm's Hungarian Dance #5, as well as Scott Joplin's The Entertainer, and O Solo Mio – all of which I performed during my strike duty at Library Square.  Sometimes on the strike line… I would go through my celtic or Italian music books, my classical songs or sometimes pretend I was the organ player at a hockey game!  Dum da dum dum da, Dum da dum da! 

I will always remember the surreal scenario when all the media came down to Library Square the night CUPE 391 Vancouver Library workers voted and rejected the mediator's recommendations.  We were all waiting around for the 7pm announcement, and I played the Battle Hymn of the Republic/Solidarity Forever for the television cameras.  CUPE 391 Bargaining Chair Ed Dickson asked me to play some rousing music, and requested Scotland the Brave. Check out my story:
CUPE 391, Vancouver library workers vote 78.1% to reject mediator Brian Foley's recommendations

But more often in Vancouver, I am seen with my accordion at my Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner, leading singalongs to Loch Lomand or When Asian Eyes Are Smiling.  Accordions are great for singalongs… I always bring it along with me to Christmas parties.  And I always bring my accordion to the Vancouver Public Library event, Gung Haggis Fat Choy World Poetry Night – where I co-host with Ariadne Sawyer and Alejandro Mujica-Olea.

Finally last month, I got to attend a squeezebox circle held on a Tuesday… and they got to hear some of my classical repertoire.  I could see them nodding their heads with interest while I was attempting Khachaturian's Sabre Dance… but they loved it when I broke into the tango La Cumparsita.

They will probably ask me things like how I got started playing accordion…  Maybe I should bring along some of my first place certificates from the Kiwanis Music Festival, and the Northwest Accordion Teacher's Festival in Seattle…

Maybe I will play some Beatles… or Led Zeppellin's Stairway to Heaven… or Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody… or not!

Accordions rule!

I will be on a panel discussion on CBC Radio's  The Current

Friday Dec 14
somewhere between 8:30 and 9:30am.

The topic is “Canada's 3rd Official language”

As
you may know…. Stats Canada released last week that Chinese languages
are now Canada's 3rd most widely spoken language following English and
French.

I get to give pros and cons for Chinese, Scottish, First Nations, Punjabi, etc.

I
am a multi-generational Chinese-Canadian that speaks better French than
Chinese.  I claim English as my first language, and Italian as my 2nd
language… because I learned to read music fluently at a young age. 

But maybe my 2nd language should be Cantonese Chinese, because that's what my paternal grandparents always spoke to me.  Can you claim a language if you are not fluent in it?  If I can play mah jong and order dim sum at a Chinese restaurant, does that count a a fluency?

Yesterday I wrote down some of my thoughts on this topic:

Canada's new immigrants have now made Chinese languages #3 in Canada:
CBC Radio's “The Current” asks me about the possibility of a 3rd
official language for Canada

Interesting twist:
The CBC producer who phoned me is Farha Akhtar.  She shared with me that her father was from India and her mother from the Phillipines.  Their common language was English… now she is Canadian.  Very cool… very Gung Haggis!  I told Farha that I am hoping to create a Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner for Toronto, and it would be great if she could attend!