
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 20, 1990                   TAG: 9006200112
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: E8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: New York Times News Service
DATELINE: SAN FRANCISCO                                LENGTH: Medium

SAN FRANCISCO SQUEEZES OUT THE ACCORDION

Concert producer Bill Graham brought Country Joe and the Fish to testify on behalf of the guitar. Carl Payne, cable car bell-ringer extraordinaire, made a pitch for the shiny brass bell. Lighthouse veteran Wayne Wheeler moaned into the microphone with a remarkable imitation of a fog horn.

And in a disappointing blow for the piano accordion, all this musical mayhem persuaded San Francisco's mock Court of Historical Review that the Board of Supervisors acted too hastily in choosing the squeeze box as the official city instrument.

After an hour and a half of testimony filled with music history and schmaltzy performances, Judge George Choppelas ruled Thursday that "Mr. Winston (attorney for the accordion) has failed . . . to establish that the accordion, to the exclusion of all other instruments, should be the official instrument of the city and county of San Francisco."

Frank Winston, a lawyer in real life, vowed to appeal the decision - to the court of public opinion.

Mayor Art Agnos, however, was satisfied with the ruling because "he wasn't convinced the accordion deserved this honor above all other instruments," according to deputy press secretary Art Silverman.

Since the official designation must come from the mayor, "that's the end of the line" for the accordion, Silverman said.

The supervisors chose the accordion in April, and urged the mayor to make it official. But Agnos refused and asked for the court review, saying that although the first piano accordion made in the United States was made in San Francisco, he was not convinced of its unique worth.

In the zany trial, whose atmosphere rivaled the worst in late-night television talk shows, City Attorney Louise Renne presented the case against the accordion.

Her first witness was Norman Ishimoto, district manager for the 1990 Census, whose parents forced him to endure 10 years of accordion lessons.

"I was a victim of that device in my youth," he said. "I hope my testimony will save the city I love from international self-embarrassment."

by CNB