I started at the age of seven. I went to an old pipe smoking German-American accordion teacher on the south side of Chicago (the “only side”) named Mr. Marsh who taught me the basics on a 12-bass accordion (how to hold the instrument, the names of notes and bass/chords). We moved west a bit and I went to another German-American pipe smoking accordion teacher named Mr. Husk. What I really wanted was to learn to play Irish music and neither could help me with that so I just started learning by ear. Now, whenever I smell pipe smoke and see an accordion, I immediately have a hankering for Wiener Schnitzel...