Sad and Happy

       HLC @ Ellwoods Coffee  Photo: Charles Sugg

It's sad to have the Folk Festival come to an end, but The Happy Lucky Combo will be tapping the music keg @ O'Toole's this week, Wednesday, October 14, from 8 till 10:30 PM. 

Thank you to everyone who came out last time at O'Toole's. It was a  wonderfully "spirited" carnivalesque crowd. Seemed like everyone won a prize. 

Bob Jacobs, the accordion player from Gypsy Roots sat in with us, and he was great. Emily Avesian also came by with her baritone to help fill out the Happy Lucky "big town  sound". 

And  thank you to the sophisticated Cafe crowd who came to hear us at Ellwoods Coffee. We've been invited back and will let you know more.

People are requesting more button accordion songs. We've added one more for this week. It's called "Beer".

And what a time we all at had the Richmond Folk Festival! Thanks to those who came by to see Pippin and I perform with The Richmond Indigenous Gourd Orchestra at the "Southside Stage".

And thank you  Venture Richmond and all the volunteers! The party's over... until Wednesday.

Propagate Globally, Cultivate Locally

The Richmond Indigenous Gourd Orchestra has landed

Pippin and Barry will be performing at the Richmond Folk Festival this weekend with the Richmond Indigenous Gourd Orchestra. 

They perform at 1:00 PM on Saturday and 2:00 PM on Sunday at the Parawing in the Family Area. 

The Orchestra will also be present at the Gourd Shack, next to the Parawing, propagating their vast, if questionable, knowledge, from noon until 3:00 PM each day.

The Happy Lucky Combo is back at O'Toole's on Wednesday October 14 and Rostov's Coffee on Thursday evening October 15.

Rare North of the James Appearance

In a rare appearance on the Northside of the James River the HaPpY LuCkY CoMbO will bring it's "Carnival of Sound" to Ellwoods Coffee. "The only band in town to give away prizes", they will have their "Cart of Good Fortune" stocked with curiosities from exotic and faraway places... like China.

The show starts at 7 PM and ends at 9 PM. Admission is FREE. Ellwood's serves wine, beer and food.

I'm just sayin', you know, if you want to have fun...

Accordions Must Predominate

Photo: Arthur Stephens

A while back Pippin and I made a vow to play with people who are better than we are. So continuing in that spirit, Bob Jacobs (photo above) will join us this Wednesday at O'Toole's.  Bob plays locally with Gypsy Roots and has had a long and fruitful accordion career.  My favorite story is when he played for Lawrence Welk at a book signing.

The Happy Lucky Combo will also be playing at Ellwoods Coffee this Saturday, October 3. This is our first gig there, so we hope a lot of friends from the North side of the River will come by. Admission is free. It is smoke free and beer and wine are served. We play from 7:00 until 9:00 PM.

RUMOR: Emily Avesian, baritone sax, will join us at O'Toole's.

For your AMUSEMENT; a Gang of Accordions, CLICK HERE.

Feel free to leave a comment or ask a question.

A Watercolor, a Wedding and Britney Spears

The image above is a watercolor of Emily, our baritone player, by Jason Roane. His work is being displayed at Like Water Gallery.

EXPOSE: Emily came into Pippin's basement studio this week to record a couple of songs with us. Dave laid down some ukulele tracks. Our recording "Carnival of Sound" should be completed soon.

Thank you to everyone who came by O'Toole's last week. Nick Lewis (photo right) dropped in after Symphony rehearsal. Always a pleasure to play with Nick. Good to see old friends and meet new ones.

The Happy Lucky Combo will play next Wednesday, September 30th, at O'Toole's. 

RUMOR: We will have a very special surprise guest.

Congratulations Becca and Andy Coppola. We were honored to play at your wedding (photo right). It's always fun to play for people who love to celebrate and dance. 

For your AMUSEMENT: The Russian Ladies sing Britney Spears Thank you  Micol Hammack for this link.

Pippin and Barry are playing a lot with The Richmond Indigenous Gourd Orchestra (photo right), including Chesterfest this Saturday.

Our friends with Hotel X  will be performing at The Jazz and Beyond Festival this Friday.

ALSO, I have reworked the blog to make it easy to leave comments. If you are so inclined, please do.

We're Back!

The Happy Lucky Combo is back at O'Toole's this Wednesday, September 16, from 8:00 until 10:30 PM. There is no cover charge and O'Toole's is smoke free. About six months ago O'Toole's expanded, so there is lot's of room.

RUMOR: Nick Lewis and Emily Avesian may drop by to play after Symphony rehearsal. Other friends are invited.

We've missed playing O'Toole's. It will be good to see you all again.

For your AMUSEMENT click HERE.

After August's slumber...

Photo: Jon Graham

The Happy Lucky Combo laid low in August. We've been recording, working on new songs and getting ready for a busy autumn. Songs featuring the button accordion are being worked into our repertoire.  See top right for upcoming gigs.

Pippin has been busy getting ready for the big Benny-Fit where the Orthotonics, pictured above, will awake from their twenty year slumber to play again, for one night only! Click HERE for more info.

And Dave?... well he's taken up the ukulele... for real.

Thanks again to Todd Woodson for another entertaining YouTube link: Indian Beatles

A Man and his Studio

The Happy Lucky Combo is recording in Pippin's studio. We've had a lot of requests for recordings so we're producing a series of CD's with a handful of songs on each. Jennifer Watson has created hand-made collages for the covers. The first two will be "Carnival of Sound" and "Lucky Buddha". Both are pictured on the right.

Home Sweet Home

The Happy Lucky Combo will be back home at O'Toole's this Wednesday, Aug. 5, from 8 until 10:30 PM. We have some new songs we look forward to playing for you. And we've dusted off some old ones.

RUMOR CONFIRMED: Emily Avesian (photo right) will be taking a break from playing in the pit orchestra at Dogwood Dell to come by. For more info on "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" click HERE.

Happy Birthday Timothy

The Happy Lucky Combo played at Timothy McClellan's (fourth from left) 50th birthday party. Lot's of laughter, sweaty dancing, good food, party games (including a unicorn pinata!) and really good people.

The beautiful woman in the photo is Timothy's wife Helen.

To check out Timothy's artwork click here; http://tsmcclellan.typepad.com/

Chesterfield County Fine Arts Academy

The Happy Lucky Combo performed at the Arts Camp/Academy. What a great group of teachers and children. And man can they dance!
To the left is the Global Percussion Orchestra led by Brian Sheetz.

Below is the string ensemble led by David Hartley.

Making Noise in the Library

The photo below was taken by Charles Stokdon. He is a librarian at the main branch of the Richmond Public Library. He took the picture during The Richmond Symphonies' "Music Free for All".