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‘14 Years Ago’ – Betty Jo Simon takes the MIDI to the Lone Star Stateby Rob Howard |
The Accordions Worldwide news for August 29th 1997 included a report by the still very active Betty Jo Simon, telling of her tour of Texas, entertaining whilst also demonstrating on MIDI accordion – then still a comparative novelty. TEXAS ACCORDION TOUR Contributed by Betty Jo Simon Betty Jo Simon's Texas accordion tour saw her playing to six clubs in Dallas, Ft. Worth, Longview, Austin, San Antonio, & Houston along with German & Czech restaurants in between. The theme of the program was ‘Around the World with the MIDI Accordion’. Betty Jo said, "I played a lot of international tunes along with some classical numbers like ‘Bolero’, ‘Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2’, and ‘Dance of the Comedians’. I also did a demonstration of the MIDI accordion so people could understand where I was getting all those sampled sounds. Everyone was amazed at the full orchestral sound that it emitted”. Betty Jo Simon also did a 30 minute radio interview with John Aeili in Austin. He was also amazed at the MIDI Accordion. The Longview newspaper did a feature on the Accordion club there and put a 10 inch color picture of Betty Jo on the front page of their Lifestyles section. 3 CD's by Betty Jo Simon available online. |