Salt Lake Area Accordion Club

SLAAC Accordion Club meets at:
6876 So. Highland Dr. (2000 East), South Valley Unitarian building,
3rd Tuesdays, 7 p.m. (Freeway: I-215; exit 8; south 1/2 mile)

B&B All-Stars’ accordionist RICHARD ROGINSKI will be the featured artist TUESDAY, AUGUST 19 at the Salt Lake Area Accordion Club at South Valley Unitarian building, 6876 So. Highland Dr. (2000 East), half-mile south of I-215 freeway exist 8.

Born and raised in western Pennsylvania of a Slovenian/German mother and Polish/German father, Richard grew up learning many polkas and waltzes and music of those cultures and “much music from the ethnic diversity of the area,” he says.

“Richard’s style of playing cannot easily be copied,” says Janet Todd. “You have to immerse yourself in and ‘live with the sound and phrasing’ to internalize the style.”

He began playing the accordion in the fourth grade and when he was 14 he was a regular player in several bands where other players were 20 years older. They played for weddings and dances. During college, he was a regular with a popular area polka band.

He moved to Utah in the 1970s and since has played at Salt Lake City’s annual “Living Traditions,” Snowbird’s Oktoberfest, and numerous other locations. Richard performed for SLAAC in June 2007 and was a real hit, playing tunes many persons had not had the opportunity to hear before. He happily accepted to return and SLAAC happily waits his playing.

The evening will be further enhanced by the playing of ROB and CHERIE PATTERSON and their 13-year-old daughter JACQUI. Jacqui, who plays clarinet and accordion and attends Fort Herriman Middle School, will play a solo, and then she and mom will play a duet, followed by Rob playing two or three numbers. Cherie has taught school seven years and presently teaches 8^th and 9^th graders. In her youth and teens, Cherie won a number of impressive awards at California’s Western States Accordion Festivals. She and Rob, both from Salt Lake City, met here while taking accordion lessons. Rob is business manager for Affiliated Computer Services.

The evening will begin with SLAAC’S Play Along Players, led by Janet Todd, playing several of the numbers they performed four days earlier in Salt Lake City’s “Ferragosto” Italian Festival.

The Play Along Players includes EVERYONE who wishes to bring their instrument and join in the fun, also will play pre-meeting music beginning at 6:15 p.m. Socializing begins at the same time.

$4 donation for all adults but as always, youth 15 and under enter free to help pass the accordion to the next generation. See you there!