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.