The Cotati Accordion Festival celebrates the joining of two musical powerhouses, the Peach Face Love Beards and the Peach Face Love Bergs. They have combined to become The Peach Face Love Birds.
Joe and Mitch, better known as the Peach Face Love Beards, accepted the
challenge of becoming a band without a lead singer or melody instruments. This unique combination of a bass guitar and drum (with Joe providing occasional background vocals) was dizzying in concept and stratospheric in musical invention. They have been compared favorably to groups such as …and the Pips or …and the Vandellas.
With their trademark Hawaiian shirts (rarely seen before in the rugged bars of Montana), their salt and pepper beards and their distinct musical style, they believed they could go on forever, until they met…
The Peach Face Love Bergs
The Peach Face Love Bergs were the music duet of Peter and Cheryll Desberg. Their slick, professional lounge show and even slicker lounge clothing immediately intoxicated Joe and Mitch and they swooned at the sound of the accordion … a trademark of the Bergs. The fact that they had already moved up the venue scale and were playing some of the biggest motel lounges in Billings impressed them even more. When they heard that the Love Bergs had played in Idaho and South Dakota, the deal was sealed.
The Peach Face Love Birds have make a stop here in Cotati as a step on their climb to the top. One day they will play at a Holiday Inn.
The Musicians
The Peach Face Love Birds are made up of Cheryll Desberg who began winning accordion competitions at the age of six and sings with the Los Angeles Master Chorale; Joe Braun who performs with the Carson/Dominguez Hills Orchestra and has performed with numerous other orchestras, jazz and show bands; Mitch Taylor who plays bass and we only found out his last name six months ago; and Peter Desberg who owns several of the amplifiers used by the band, plays classical guitar and writes the songs so that the other members will let him stay in the band.
Be sure to stop by the Accordion Tales Booth to meet the band and check out their Accordion Tales CD-ROM disk of interactive accordion stories and their latest music CD.
