AN ACCORDION ECLIPSE OCCURRED AT
OUR FINAL FAMILY VACATION EVENT OF THE SUMMER OF 2017
By James Eugene Barbush
Bishop McDevitt High School
Class of 1967
By James Eugene Barbush
Bishop McDevitt High School
Class of 1967
This story may start out like not being related to the McD Class of 1967, but it is.
It was Saturday, August 19, 2017. My family went to Knoebels Grove Amusement Resort in Elysburg, PA. It was a last of the season entertainment before school begins for the grandkids. For this weekend, we had 2 days planned. A time at Knoebels on Saturday and a time at Lake Tobias Wildlife Park on Sunday. My son, Joseph, spearheaded the whole weekend for a time with his sons, Hayden (8) and Landon (6), and his parents, the proud grandparents.
So, we were Joseph, Hayden (8 yrs.), Landon (6 yrs.), Yvonne (my wife), and me (James) on a family adventure. Now I'm not going to bore you with how our weekend was with our son and G-Kids, though it was very good. I do want to entertain you and tell you about a unique alignment that happened that brought several people together after many years apart. Given we just had a solar eclipse sweep across our land on Monday, August 21, 2017, an event that happens once every many years, it was appropriate to call this story, "The Eclipse of The Accordions 2017". You will soon find out why.
We had just finished our adventures in Knoebels Park, and we turned to leave, feeling a bit exhausted. Knoebles has a "Main Street", a walkway that goes through the park to the parking lot. We were slowly making our way down that walkway to go to our car that was way in the back of the parking lot. I felt like I was done, physically, and I meandered down the path with my family.
As I walked, there were people standing on the side of the walkway. I paid them no mind . . . until, I came to this one man standing to my right. I was only about 3 feet from him. I stopped and stared at him, and he stared back. We were two faces who knew we were acquainted but we did not know from where. It was a silent, staring moment as we were each pondering in our minds . . .
"Who is this guy. He looks so familiar.
Don't I know him from somewhere?
Yes, but from where?"
"Where do we know each other from?"
I mentioned an organization that I used to belong to and he said, "No."
We continued in our puzzlement.
Then he said, "Bishop McDevitt!"
Then he said, "Bishop McDevitt!"
And we both said, "YES! That's it!"
He said, "I'm Tony Goles." I said, "I'm Jim Barbush."
We both said, "Oh, yea, I remember now."
And then the memories kicked in. Since our 50th High School Reunion for Bishop McDevitt's Class of 1967 is in one month, on September 23, 2017, I immediately asked Tony if he was going. He said he could not because he and his wife (Mary E. Eckrote, Bishop McDevitt, Class of 68) were going on a trip that could not be changed. We started to exchange other pleasantries and discovered that Tony had only been to one of our high school reunions, the "Bishop McDevitt All 60s Reunion" in 2005, 12 years ago. We did not remember seeing or talking to each other there. So, odds are, we have not seen each other for 50 YEARS. FIFTY YEARS! And yet we still recognized one another.
NOW ENTER THE ACCORDIONS
Tony and I reminisced that we both played accordion when we were kids. Me for about 3 years, and Tony for many more years than that. I was lousy and he was good. We had the same accordion teacher, Ray Clodoveo. In addition to being our weekly accordion teacher, Ray had us both in his Accordion Band with many other youth. One year, Ray took the band to the New York World's Fair where we played accordions at an event there in one of the pavilions. That was 1964/65.
We reminisced about hating to do accordion practice for our weekly lessons. Ray would come to our homes weekly, and to his chagrin, we were not prepared. Of course, for me, Ray always came on the evening when "Outer Limits" was on TV and I had to miss it. What a bummer that was. I was probably about 13 at the time. So, I let "The Outer Limits" keep control of the TV (remember that?).
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| Tony Goles and Jim Barbush, Classmates, McDevitt 1967 Accordionists of the Past |
As we continued in our memories, we centered around our experiences with accordions and piano and this is what we further uncovered.
My Dad, Albert, was an excellent piano player who influenced his sons' keyboard interests.
Tony's older brother, Ron, played accordion. My older brother, Bud, played accordion. Ron and Bud had the same accordion teacher as Tony and I did, Ray Clodoveo.
Ron and Bud played accordion together in a band that Ron led and they had many gigs during their high school years all over the Harrisburg area. Tony also led a band that he played accordion in and he had many gigs all over the Harrisburg area.
After 50 years apart, we remembered that we were connected in all of those accordion relationships.
This meeting of two high school classmates was 50 years in the making, a once in a lifetime experience. But wait. That's not the end of the story.
My Dad, Albert, was an excellent piano player who influenced his sons' keyboard interests.
Tony's older brother, Ron, played accordion. My older brother, Bud, played accordion. Ron and Bud had the same accordion teacher as Tony and I did, Ray Clodoveo.
Ron and Bud played accordion together in a band that Ron led and they had many gigs during their high school years all over the Harrisburg area. Tony also led a band that he played accordion in and he had many gigs all over the Harrisburg area.
After 50 years apart, we remembered that we were connected in all of those accordion relationships.
This meeting of two high school classmates was 50 years in the making, a once in a lifetime experience. But wait. That's not the end of the story.
We talked for about 20 minutes and we decided to head to the parking lot together on the walkway. We continued talking as we casually strolled the walkway to the parking lot. Then, coming towards us, out of the blue, two young men came walking past us with big smiles on their faces and other people around them. They each had a white shirt on and each had black and white accordion strapped to his chest. We looked at them, laughed joyously, and shouted out to them as they passed, "ACCORDIONS!". Tony and I marveled at what we were seeing after we had just been talking about accordions - two guys with accordions walking joyfully by us through the crowd. What were the chances of that happening to us after this unique reunion, especially since accordions, once a common and popular instrument, are rarely seen and heard today.
On Monday, I called my brother, Bud, and told him the story which he greatly appreciated. He remembered Ron Goles well and he told me about playing accordion in his band. I never knew that Bud played his accordion in a band. He asked me to get Ron's phone number so that he could talk to him. He would greatly enjoy that.
So the "Eclipse of The Accordions 2017" went like this:
- Tony and Jim, two classmates who played accordion, meet at a park
- Tony's older brother, Ron, played accordion.
- Jim's older brother, Bud, played accordion.
- Tony and Jim had the same accordion teacher, Ray Clodoveo.
- Ron and Bud had the same accordion teacher, Ray Clodoveo.
- Tony and Jim played accordion in Ray Clodoveo's Accordion Band at the New York World's Fair.
- Ron and Bud played accordion in Ray Clodoveo's Accordion Band.
- Ron and Bud played accordion together in a band led by Ron.
- Tony led a band in which he played accordion.
- And, in searching through family pictures of Bud, I found the one below of Ray Clodoveo and his Accordion Band conducting an Accordion Concert, in October 1958 at Bishop McDevittHigh School. Pictured in that band is my brother Buddy. I need to check with Tony and see if his brother, Ron, is there.
- After more than 50 years, Tony Goles and Jim Barbush meet at Knoebels Grove, engage in conversation about accordions and their Bishop McDevitt Class of 1967, then as they exited the park, they pass by two young men with accordions heading into the park.
"The Eclipse of The Accordions 2017".
The experience was
... a once in a lifetime event,
... over 50 years in the making,
...with accordions overshadowing the entire experience.
What such a meeting can do to one's spirit - As exhausted as I felt when starting to leave the park, then while meeting Tony and talking with him exuberantly, I felt new energy run through my body and the exhaustion was gone. As we were talking, I felt that and thought about that, and wondered, "Am I really tired, or is it all in my head."
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| Tony Goles and Jim Barbush, Classmates, McDevitt 1967 Accordionists of the Past |
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| Ray Clodoveo and His Accordion Band Accordion Concert, October 1958 at Bishop McDevitt High School Top Picture - Buddy Barbush at age 15 doing a solo Bottom Picture - Buddy is front row, 1st seat on left) |
Buddy Barbush in 1960s
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| Most accordions were black and white. Mine was red and white and bought used for $85. |
PS: After 3 years of accordion lessons, and my heart was not in it, one night Ray told my parents, "Save your money and don't spend it on accordion lessons" . . . . . . and they let me stop. The lessons were $3 per week. I could not read music very well and I did not practice enough, and I just did not catch on. But, without having played the accordion, I would not have been able to live to see "The Eclipse of The Accordions 2017"
HAVE YOU REGISTERED FOR THE REUNION YET?
If you don't go, you might miss your Eclipse.
