Dan Newton won't be squeeze-boxed in

An easy way to spot a veteran State Fair performer is the number of fair-related one-liners they try out on the crowd between songs. Dan Newton and his group Café Accordion Orchestra seemed to have a quip for every country represented in their first of six sets at the fair's International Bazaar stage Monday.

"How many of you have already had something on a stick?" asked Newton, who represented the bazaar's many-colored flavors in his tie-dyed Converse high-tops. "Well, we have CDs on a stick."

Later, fiddler/mandolinist Eric Mohring introduced one of their songs as "international and bizarre."

That's a pretty good description for Newton and CAO in general. The reasons these guys keep getting asked back to the fair's world-music stage is because they really do crisscross the world in their music, playing everything from South American cumbias and Armenian and Greek folk songs to gypsy jazz and the French café music that the group is more or less named after.

Café Accordion Orchestra will now take over the cabaret-like Varsity Theater on Tuesday to promote its eighth and most diverse album to date, "Berets and Bongos," a CD party that's essentially an extension of its weekly Tuesday gig at the Loring Pasta Bar a couple doors down. The group formed at the old Loring Cafe back in 1994 and suits the vintage, stylish but non-stuffy décor of both eateries.

Talking backstage before Monday's sweltering opening set -- I generally avoid backstage interviews, but the air-conditioning in this case was too hard to resist -- Newton said the Twin Cities music scene has expanded its appetite for international music concurrently with CAO's broadened repertoire.

"When we started out, there were maybe three accordion players in town who played something other than polka, and now there are too many to count," he said.

Newton, 53, started out playing piano in country and western swing bands in his native Lincoln, Neb. He picked up the accordion when he started getting booked into piano-less clubs. His then-rare squeeze-box skills led to gigs with Celtic bands, including St. Paul's Irish Brigade, for whom he left Nebraska in 1987.

Since then, Newton has been the scene's go-to accordion guru. He's a regular on "A Prairie Home Companion" and played on countless locally made CDs, including ones by Son Volt, Prudence Johnson, the Proclaimers and Pat Donohue. He's also played in several rootsy dance bands, including Paradise Ranch and the still occasionally gigging Cajun/zydeco groups the Rocking Pinecones and Jumbo Ya-Ya.

Newton is open about the fact that he can't really speak French or Spanish -- "but my fingers can," he said.

"We know we'll never be absolutely authentic, but we all listen to and study 'the real things' when it comes to the kinds of music we play, and we try to keep it fun and spirited."

"Berets and Bongos" is a bit of a changeup for the Café Accordion crew in that it doesn't really have a concept or theme. "It's just a bunch of songs we wanted to record," Newton explained, pointing to the French waltz opener "Songe d'Automne," a longtime favorite of his. The band's frequent collaborator Diane Jarvi sings three songs, each in a different language. There's also a fun romp called "El Bodeguero" on which both Mohring and bassist Erik Lillestol sing in Spanish and French. You can see what Mohring meant by "international and bizarre."

"I was playing a lot of the same type of gypsy jazz and some world music before this, but I wasn't playing South American music or French musettes," Bell said. "My world has definitely gotten bigger playing with these guys."

That big repertoire belies the one little instrument at the forefront of CAO, a point raised when Newton asked the fair crowd, "How many of you saw the name Café Accordion Orchestra and thought there would be eight or 10 accordions on stage?"

As numerous hands shot up, he rightfully retorted, "Isn't one accordion enough?"

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