FunctionalAmbivalent

Sarah Palin Is a Lousy Flautist, But It's the Back-Up Band That Ought To Be Machine Gunned

Anyone who steps up on stage in a good-hearted attempt to entertain deserves a certain amount of respect. If I'd been her, I'd have turned at the end of the song and beaten the back-up band to death with a microphone stand. Did no one tell them their job is to play under the soloist?

Proof, If Any Were Necessary, That Everything Comes Back Into Fashion

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you: The digital accordion.

Compared with some traditional high-end accordions, which can cost as much as $20,000, the digital models are less expensive -- about $2,500 to $6,000, depending on size and complexity. Like a synthesizer, they offer a variety of settings to create different sounds.

Is this, finally, the rollback of the Beatles-inspired electric guitar fad?