Video: Bud Gramer at Village Lanterne in Lindenhurst, NJ.

La Villini Restaurant of East Northport, NY is sponsoring the next meeting of the Long Island Accordion Alliance (LIAA) on Wednesday, November 7, 2018 at 6:PM.  The featured guest artists will be accordionist Bud Gramer and vocalist Linda Gramer. They are a two piece German band for all your entertainment needs.

Excerpts from article by Erin Geismar from Newsday: Gramer started playing the accordion when he was 9 years old growing up in the heavily German-influenced neighborhood of Ridgewood, Queens. Like many of his young friends, his Austrian-immigrant parents wanted him to learn the accordion. But unlike many of his friends, who eventually traded their accordions for baseball bats, Gramer, 56, has never tired of his instrument. He played his first paying gig in Maspeth, Queens in 1973, and 40 years later enjoys it just the same.

“It’s the electricity I get from the crowd,” he said. “It’s kind of like when there’s an athlete or a baseball player and there’s a full house. You feel so much more into it, you feel motivated. “That’s what drives the musician,” he added. “It’s that electricity, it just gives you a wonderful feeling.”

Gramer has sustained his hobby with appearances at local festivals, German-heritage events and places like the Village Lanterne, where owner Thomas Lorch, also of German heritage, fosters the tradition.

Gramer, who worked for 32 years in the travel department of the United Nations while playing gigs on the weekends, said music has allowed him to carry on his family’s heritage and connect with others. “Music is the universal language,” he said. “Sometimes if people are having a rough day or if I’m having a rough day, I put the accordion on and I play a few songs and most of the time I feel a lot better. The world could use a lot more music.”

Place:        La Villini Restaurant
                 288 Larkfield Road.
                 East Northport, NY 11731
                 631 – 261 – 6344

Reservations are recommended.