Annette Ezekiel Kogan is the reason I play accordion.

Jump back four years when Joe and I ended up at Capital Ale House in downtown Richmond for Oktoberfest. I wanted a beer, a pretzel and the chance to tap my toes while pudgy German men in lederhosen played some OomPahPah music. It was fun. The beer was cold, the pretzel was salty, and I love me some polka.

Feeling rather satisfied, we were headed out the door when some random bar patron told us a kickass band named Golem was playing next and that we should probably stay. We did.

Wow. The band AND the accordion player blew me away. Blew. Me. Away. After a lifetime of admiring and appreciating the accordion from afar, I went home and told Joe I wanted one of my own.

He got me one. I’ve been squeezing and squawking ever since.

Flash forward to this past weekend in Williamsburg, Brooklyn at a great little club called Union Pool. I already happened to be in NY for the 50th birthday of a dear friend of mine. His fabulous party was Friday, and Golem was playing in Brooklyn the very next night. I couldn’t believe my luck.

I dragged my friend with me to Union Pool and now Golem is one of his fav bands as well. Although, to my knowledge, he has not run out to buy a squeeze box…not yet.

Check out Annette’s rockin’ 5’ frame shredding the accordion that night (random fact: she happens to be playing a Main Squeeze accordion, purchased in SoHo from accordion great Walter Kuhr–See blog post of June 2).

If you liked that song, and of course you did, then check out their encore when the crowd demanded more and more and more.

Annette, and everyone in Golem, is super cool, which by extension makes the accordion super cool. Seriously. She said so. Just listen.