June is National Accordion Awareness Month (NAAM). National Accordion Awareness Month is the brainchild of a San Franciscan named Tom Torriglia, whose toothy grin festoons www.ladyofspain.com, the site of "All Things Accordion." Tom is quite possibly the accordion's biggest booste

Here are some obscure accordion facts:

A blue-ribbon panel of experts recently named the accordion as the instrument most likely to put a smile on your face.

The piano accordion is the official musical instrument of the city of San Francisco and has been since 1990.

The accordion is a member of the reed family, not the keyboard family.

The first United States-made piano accordion (the ones with the keys on it) was manufactured in San Francisco back in 1907. It was at the Guerrini Accordion Company on DuPont St. (Grant Ave., near Columbus Ave.)

The accordion family also includes Cajun button boxes, chromatic and diatonic button accordions, the concertina, the bayan, and the bandoneon.

China is the largest manufacturer and exporter of accordions in the world.