I got a fever, and the only prescription is more accordion from Cindy Emch!

Just take the time to listen to these rabble–rouser's you won't be disappointed I promise, and that is all I have to say about this.

Emchy is the affectionate nickname of accordion player and poet Cindy Emch. Emchy is a cat person who fervently loves her dog, a midwestern girl who is hella west coast after 15 years in the Bay Area, a punk rocker who loves country music and experimental jazz, and a walking bundle of contradictions. For day jobs she's burnt beachside hot dogs, patrolled cemeteries, worked an old school phone switchboard, done accounting for a kinky leather shop, programmed films for one of the world's biggest film festivals and worked for MTV and Yahoo!(among other things).
Right at this moment she is trying to take over the world with the bands Vagabondage, Rhubarb Whiskey, and the Oakland Wine Drinkers Union (Local 88).
Cindy's writings have been been published in the Can I Sit With You project, LodeStar Quarterly, There Journal, Tough Girls 2: More Down and Dirty Dyke Erotica edited by Lori Selke, It's So You: 35 Women on Fashion, Beauty and Personal Style edited by Michelle Tea, and numerous chapbooks. She also founded, hosted and curated San Francisco's Queer Open Mic from 2004 - 2008.
She believes that art can create change in the world and that it's not so hard to be nice to people. She also thinks that dirt smells like magic and gets lost in the woods on purpose

Vagabondage is a Bay Area, California based folk-punk band that was born over nachos and wine on a tiny stage in an empty theater in San Francisco’s Mission District. The trio plays songs of heartbreak, hope, and doom, and have been getting people up on their feet to yell, drink, and sing along to their original songs since 2008.

Recorded and Produced by Sean Malroy at Saturn Studios (Ransom Note Records) credits released 28 October 2011 John Flaw - vocals, guitar Emchy - vocals, accordion Hans Winold - upright bass Sean Malroy - fiddle, mandolin, keyboards Dustin Smurthwaite - trombone Cover art: Raven Ebner (corviid.deviantart.com)

Rhubarb Whiskey was formed in April 2008, by Emchy (vocals, accordion) and Boylamayka Sazerac (vocals, bass, guitar). In June 2010, they added Sizzle le Fey on fiddle. They have become known in the Bay Area and beyond as a group of hard-drinking troubadours who sing death songs and murder ballads right alongside anthemic adventure tales and tender tunes about love. In look and sound, they evoke sleazy San Francisco punk rock clubs and Weimar cabarets just as much as they evoke the ghost towns and saloons of the Wild West.

Same Sad End is an album of dichotomies. It is the glint of a switchblade held to your throat; it is the friend whose flask is always full and whose shoulder is always there to cry on. It puts new spins on old songs, and makes new songs sound timeless. From the sad and beautiful title track, Same Sad End (with guest vocals by Carolyn Mark) to the rowdiest, most foot-stompin’ version of St. James Infirmary Blues you ever heard, this album has it all - dark, sexy killing songs (Gravedigger), boozy ballads (Mendocino), off-kilter anthems to drinking with pals (Bottles), blues-grass with a danceable groove (Knock ‘Em Down), and country weepers (My Rifle, My Pony, and Me; Ella). It will break your heart and heal it all over again - and you’ll love every minute of it. credits released 23 January 2013 conceived of, written, and performed by Emchy, Boylamayka Sazerac, and Sizzle La Fey.

Emchy: accordion, vocals
Boylamayka Sazerac: guitar, mandolin, upright bass, vocals
Sizzle La Fey: violin, mandolin, banjo, piano
Special Guests:
Carolyn Mark: backing vocals
Lulu Darling: backing vocals
Whitney Moses: backing vocals


Oakland Wine Drinkers Union
One June evening in Oakland, Boylamayka and Emchy (aka Rhubarb Whiskey) and Waltzing Matilda (aka One Beer Prophet) were sitting around, drinking a ridiculous amount of wine, and talking about music. It didn't take much thinking for them to decide to start a new band together - and so, the Oakland Wine Drinkers Union (Local 88) was born.



Oakland Wine Drinkers Union (Local 88) is full of drinking songs for the proletariat, rowdy tales of rambling, and drunken love songs. It has the swagger of punk with a hint of a country twang. It has a junk band looseness, and is brushed with the blues. There's something for every fighter, lover, rambler, worker, and drinker. released 18 December 2012