How do you measure civilization? By its art? By its great bridges and buildings? By its ability to be more often at peace than at war? Well, maybe, but I`ll take something like Fred Anderson`s ...

This week’s guest on Viva Tejano, Eva Ybarra, is a luminary in conjunto music, a self-taught multi-instrumentalist who’s been playing the accordion for seven decades. For all her talent, though, she’s ...

Across the street from a wine lounge and a gourmet sausage spot on Glendale Boulevard in Atwater Village, a small red-and-white neon sign reads: "DAVE'S ACCORDION SCHOOL." Inside, black and tan cases ...

Gino Bagala has been taking accordion lessons for 18 months, and so far, none of his West Santa Rosa neighbors has called the cops. With about 200 songs in his songbook, he has spent just about every ...

"Have fun. Play the accordion," read the sign out front of Mary Cottingham's music studio. It was the 11th commandment, as far as she was concerned. And although she taught other instruments and could ...

Back in the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s, Los Angeles had a well-established accordion ecosystem. Door-to-door salesmen recruited students for lessons, dozens of schools sustained them and an annual ...