Meet Frank Lima, the creative force behind The Great Morgani, during a special book signing at the Aptos Farmers Market on Saturday, July 11.
One of the things that makes our community so fun and interesting is the people. Santa Cruz in particular has attracted more than its fair share of characters over the years. They are like the bass line to a good song, or a site you drive by like the surfer statue or the clock downtown.
The Aptos Farmers Market should be included should be included. It’s a social event disguised as a farmers market, complete with refreshments, live music, and bump-n-go hellos with friends we only see there. Even the most open-minded reader might push back if I said the market included a memorable floor show, no cover charge, suitable for all ages. I’m of course referring to The Great Morgani, a character created by a self-confessed bored financial executive whose musical gifts morphed into a street performer the way a frog grows a third eye after being exposed to radiation.
Meet Frank Lima, the man beneath the layers of colorful fabrics and reflective surfaces, playing the instrument some believe came from Satan himself: the accordion. The origins of how The Great Morgani came to be can be traced back to a simpler time, over 70 years ago, when I asked Frank how he got started as a busker.
“I grew up on a chicken ranch in Soquel,” Frank recalled.
What? A chicken ranch in Soquel?
“Yeah, we had over 200 chickens, a pig, a cow. It was on Soquel Avenue across from Big Creek Lumber near 7th. Trips to the Big City meant driving to downtown Santa Cruz to look at the displays in department stores there. In those days there were door-to-door accordion salesmen from San Jose. I was trying to learn guitar at the time. The sales guy, Louis Falgoni (a smooth talker if there ever was one), pointed out the flaw in that idea.
‘He’s left-handed. He should try the accordion instead.’
Louis Falgoni got the sale, Frank got an accordion, and Santa Cruz would get a living jukebox of All Accordion Music.
“That’s how I started.”
There’s a lot to unpack in that backstory. A chicken ranch in Soquel? The idea of a door-to-door accordion salesman makes today’s signature gatherers look like amateur pikers.
Frank learned to play from a teacher named Mrs. Kegg.
“Things went along pretty well until she realized I was playing songs by ear, not from reading the sheet music. I was kicked out of class.”
To force Frank Lima into a tidy one-word description as an “accordionist” is to underestimate his other talents.
“I could type 90 words per minute, thanks to the dexterity I developed playing the accordion,” he explained.
My mind went to an image of Frank in a steno pool, dressed as The Great Morgani while the other “gals” wore horn-rimmed glasses and sensible shoes.
Frank brought me back to reality.
“I got a job at a local brokerage firm after high school. They loved how fast I could type. I didn’t know a stock from a bond, a debit from a credit at first. But I kept at it. After a while I was offered a partnership in the firm.”
At the ripe old age of 35, Frank sold his stake in the firm and became a man of leisure, spending the next 19 years traveling and doing whatever amused him.
Then, in 1996, boredom took hold.
The seed that would become The Great Morgani began to evolve in Frank’s head.
“I’d been playing accordion at gigs in the area, the first being in San Juan Bautista when I was just a kid. I wasn’t shy about performing before strangers, so I decided to try street performing.”
Frank Lima the caterpillar had begun his transformation into The Great Morgani butterfly.
“I tried playing while wearing gloves, and when that worked, I tried covering the accordion with fabric. Since I was good at sewing, I began to experiment with various outfits to attract attention while performing.”
NOTE: I should have stopped the interview right there to dive deeper into the sewing thing. Next time.
The Morgani Era of Santa Cruz had arrived. Bored, creative, and financially comfortable, Lima’s creative side was unleashed like a wild boar in a Nebraska cornfield.
He became a one-man act, using an accordion to perform show tunes and Lawrence Welk classics. No singing, just gentle banter with the crowd that would ring his spot on the sidewalk or at the market.
“I performed as The Great Morgani from 1996 to 2022. The entire time I only received one derogatory comment. The rest were just wacky ones.”
Frank recounted a number of amusing and hysterical encounters with his audiences, including a spoof Morgani lookalike, a bloviated toothless homeless woman who whispered sweet nothings in his ear, and a three-year-old child whose mother had dressed him as a miniature Great Morgani for Halloween.
Health issues led to the retirement of the Morgani character.
The next iteration emerged as The Great Morgani, FashionIST.
“I haven’t picked up the accordion to play in four years,” he said without much explanation. “I decided to be like the medical professionals I see, such as a radiologist or an orthopedist. I have become a FashionIST!”
He compared himself to Iris Apfel, the New York fashion legend known best for her crazy glasses.
“I enjoy being at the market as a FashionIST. I still create crazy costumes. People recognize my voice as The Great Morgani, the accordion player, and it’s fun to chat with people who knew me as such. Only now it’s at eye level, without the protective shield of the accordion.”
Today, Frank Lima continues to delight market-goers as The Great Morgani, FashionIST, proving that creativity doesn’t retire—it simply changes costumes.
Visitors can meet Frank and learn more about his remarkable journey during his book signing at the Aptos Farmers Market on Saturday, July 11, featuring his memoir, The Great Morgani: The Creative Madness of a Stockbroker Turned Street Musician.
