Now Showing: The Pettit Brothers

CD Review
By Gary E. McKee

Fifty years in the making! After playing music together since they were knee high to a ukulele, The Pettit Brothers (TPB) have released their first full-length studio CD.  Backed by a seasoned group of studio musicians the TPB takes listeners on a journey from a mournful country blues ballad to a rollicking, buck-dancing bluegrass party, with a stop off at a honky tonk for a couple of cold ones to ease the pain of lost love.

White Freight Liner Blues: TPB captures the driving bluegrass feel of this song while the fiddle and guitar signals the wide open highway. Lonnie’s voice while not attempting the high notes that Townes Van Zandt sometimes attempted, captures the weariness and restlessness of the man going out on the highway to listen the big trucks whine and haul away his mind from his troubles.

Driving Nails in My Coffin: This is Ernest Tubb’s 1944 ode to excessive beer consumption over the loss of a woman. The steady lockstep of Brian Lux’s stand-up bass and drummer Terry Kirkendall pushes the band along in a delightful gallop, while steel guitarist Nathan Fleming’s prowess on old-school steel provides a counterpoint to the gallop. Lonnie is picking his mandolin as only Lonnie can.

Hold Watcha Got: TPB’s rendition of a song recounting an attempt to rekindle a relationship captures the feel of the ‘King of Bluegrass” Jimmie Martin’s original recording. Sean Orr’s fiddle kicks off a shuffle punctuated by the rhythm system allowing Darryl Pettit’s self-assured plea to his woman to wait for him to come back home to wring true.

Why You Been Gone So Long: A relatively new song written by Micky Newberry begins with Brian’s thumping bass drawing the rest of the band into a bouncy song with Darryl’s inquiring twang and Larry Wilson’s guitar plucking.

I Still Miss Someone: TPB takes you back to Johnny Cash’s lament from the 1950s, as Lonnie’s sad regret of a love lost brings a tear to your eye and the need for a beer for it to fall into. Wilson’s interpretation of Luther Perkin’s signature spare guitar work does the job quite nicely.

Trouble in Mind: TPB’s rendition of this 1924 blues song is given the bluegrass treatment with Lonnie’s mandolin complementing Darry’s weary, yet hopeful lyrics.

Dark Hollow: An old-school bluegrass song about a fellow who would rather be anywhere else besides the now empty house that his woman left him in. Sean’s fiddle and George Carver’s harmonica add sparkle to this sad song.

Way Downtown: Doc Watson’s classic bluegrass song with Sean’s inspiring “hoedown” fiddle break ties in with Darryl’s strong guitar work in this fun song.

‘Til the Coast is Clear: Hal Ketchum/Fred Koller’s song of a honky-tonk with all the ingredients of the drinking, smoking, and marital misdeeds associated with them. Carver’s gorgeous resonator guitar with Sean’s relaxed, yet precise fiddling sets the stage for this cheatin’ song.

You Done Me Wrong: Sean’s unique voice and the band’s true to the original Cajun arrangement makes it hard to miss this song by two guys named Ray Price and George Jones. Larry Wilson’s rhythm playing keeps this jaunty song bouncing along.

Bottom Dollar: Lonnie’s vocal captures the feeling of a guy who is down to pocket change, but it’s not the first time, and he realizes it’s his own doing. Nathan Fleming’s steel guitar licks echoes the vocals familiar weariness on this Billy Joe Shaver classic.

Old Home Place: Lonnie’s declaration of self-sorrow over what his life has become after his woman run off closes out this fulfilling band of songs.  This 1970s bluegrass classic is given a faithful treatment by the whole band as Lonnie’s voice carries the song like the geese fly south and the wind blows cold.

You can see and hear TPB almost every Wednesday night at Sengelmann’s Saloon in Schulenburg, and weekends playing in honky tonks from Austin to Houston. For a schedule, buying the CD, and more, check out pettitbrothers.com.

Brothers in Harmony

By Gary E. McKee

L-R: Brian Lux, Darryl Pettit, Sean Orr, Lonnie Pettit, Jim Schubert, and Chase Hrncir @ High Hill Store, Oct. 31, 2015./McKee photo

Lonnie and Darryl Pettit’s childhood wasn’t exactly the Partridge family, but Momma Pettit had a voice that was as crystal clear as Joan Baez’s and like the Johnny Cash song, Daddy played bass, and little brother, Garrett, and sister, Kari, joined right in to fill their house with music.

Lonnie and Darryl Pettit grew up in a family that cherished music. Their parents, Bill and Betty, were active members of the folk music circuit in the late 1950s and early 1960s and hosted in their home many of the touring coffeehouse circuit folkies. The touring professionals would give lessons to the whole Pettit family starting all the younger Pettits on their musical journey. Garrett became a respected member of the Houston stage musical scene, and Kari became a music teacher and the mother of The Ginn Sisters, a critically acclaimed national touring act.

What? No Amp?
When the family relocated to the Navidad River bottom in High Hill near Schulenburg, their acoustic sound was an anomaly among the local Czech/German music culture. The few rock and rollers then couldn’t figure out why they still played acoustic string instruments and didn’t plug in into amplifiers.

          After high school Lonnie and Darryl played in numerous bands, both singularly and together around Houston. Darryl sharpened his acoustic six-string picking skills with the Broken String Band, the traveling house band for the Chelsea Street Pub chain that had locations throughout Texas and neighboring states. Meanwhile, Lonnie focused on his mandolin skills and for several years, Lonnie played in a band called Rooster Junction at resorts in the Cayman Islands. The brothers reunited and did a three-year stint at one of the most unusual clubs in Houston. This was Los Truncos, a giant, multileveled enclosed tree house. The Pettits would move from branch to branch performing at each table, which was on a separate level from the others. If anyone went to Sam’s Boat on Richmond in Houston in the early 1980s, The Corona Beach Band was an institution there for six years with Lonnie’s voice serenading the crowd. For the next decade and a half, the Pettit brothers, played hundreds of weddings and parties in the Central Texas area.                

Jammin' at Momma's
In the mid-1990s, the Pettit family began holding a Wednesday evening jam session at Momma’s Pizza, which is in the Von Minden Hotel in Schulenburg. Local musicians soon began stopping by and it rapidly became the place to hear good acoustic traditional music. When younger brother Garrett began managing Sengelmann Hall, a great opportunity opened up. The Wednesday night Momma’s jam did a chord progression to the lower level stage of Sengelmann’s. Great live music, plenty of room, and great food came together to make Sengelmann’s Saloon a weekly oasis for the music lovers in the surrounding counties. As the weekly jam progressed into the new millennium, a core group, who now make up The Pettit Brothers Band emerged playing tight, extremely danceable old school country

          This ensemble consists of Darryl, Lonnie, Jim Schubert, Chase Hrncir, Brian Lux, Sean Orr, with special guests stopping by on a regular basis. 

Meet the Pettit Band
Jim Schubert, based in Austin, has been playing mandolin music over the Southern United States, embracing different styles of mandolin, jazz, and rockabilly to name a couple, in addition to standard bluegrass and all infused with a tinge of the blues, the basis of all American music.

Chase Hrncir, from Moravia, Texas, Lonnie’s protégé, has been playing mandolin for six years, learning from Lonnie and others at the weekly jam.

Anchoring the drummerless band, is a bass fiddle, Brian Lux, who has deep family roots in Schulenburg. Brian has been a musician for over three decades. While attending Texas A&M he discovered that the stand-up bass was to be his instrument of choice. In his life’s travels, he found there was always a need for a good bass man, whether it was rockabilly, rock and roll, jump, jazz, country, or swing. Brian has played them all quite well, and returning to his family’s home, has been with the band for three years.

Widening the Pettit Brothers sound is Sean Orr, from Bastrop, who has spent decades playing fiddle and guitar in a multitude of bands and different styles. He has played Texas style fiddle at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., and is an expert on getting the “twang” out of his electric guitar to replicate the honky tonk sound. In addition to Texas fiddle, he honors his Celtic heritage by playing intense Irish fiddle in Sean Orr’s Kick Ass Irish Band.

The band has been touring Central Texas playing several nights a week with a recent return engagement in New Orleans. Even more recently they filled the dance floor at the kick-off party for the Second Annual Festival of Texas Fiddling sponsored by Texas Folklife and Texas Dance Hall Preservation. Check out the band’s schedule and buy the CD at www.pettitbrothers.com, or better yet, come see them live!

Polka Heartland Captures Polka Smiles

By Theresa Parker
From November 2015 issue of Texas Polka News

From the minute you pick up Polka Heartland to the second you finish reading it, you won’t stop smiling. That’s because it’s about polka – happy music for happy people. As a polka lover, you can relate. As a history buff, you can appreciate the immigrant story. Author Rick March and photographer Dick Blau may have based the book on Wisconsin, but you soon discover, it’s a national story.

Rick, a squeezeman and mandolin player himself, thought a comprehensive book about polka was long overdue. Not because it’s dying out, but because it’s a story that hasn’t been told.

“Polka is danced and played a lot, but its story is seldom written,” he said. “Polka will never totally die out. It goes through ups and downs – it was up with Frankie (Yankovic) after WWII, down after Elvis and rock and roll, for example. Polka music and dancing is generational. Kids whose parents love the polka, still do it at a wedding, they haven’t rejected it completely. It’s cool and retro.

“The polka has had, along with waltz, the greatest longevity as a general participation dance. You can dance it as an expert, or just get up on floor, and if you don’t bump into any one, you’re fine. The Charleston and Lindy are still known, but the polka has staying power,” Rick explained.

Rick served as the State Folklorist for Wisconsin from 1983 to 2009, and was the radio host of Down Home Dairyland on Wisconsin Public Radio for 14 years. He has started recording his show again for community AM stations. No Internet streaming yet, but he said it will be soon. He noted he enjoys listening to Texas polka radio stations on the Internet.

Polka Road Trip!
Rick and Dick spent nine months traveling to dances and festivals capturing the various styles of polka – Czech, Slovenian, Polish, Dutchman, even Mexican. As the photographer, Dick said his goal was not to teach readers anything, but to get them to feel something. He calls his work “ethnography of the feelings.”

“I wanted to make pictures that bring a song to mind, bring an experience to mind. See if I can get this silent medium to charge up the eyes and ears. I want the viewer to be invited in without being stopped by the frame,” he said.

Dick accomplished his goal. And this isn’t his first polka party book. He also provided the photography for Polka Happiness, published in 1992 by Temple University Press, and authored by Charles and Angeliki V. Keil.

The historic chapters of Polka Heartland are supplemented with extras called Polka Interludes, in which Rick explains such things as the difference between concertina and accordion (it’s like canoe/kayak, he writes), how beer and polka just go together, and the origin of the polka Mass.

Rick hesitated to name his favorite polka, but finally relented and said, “The Wisconsin National Anthem – In Heaven There is No Beer.”

He has been to Texas a few times to attend conventions and perform at the Accordion Festival in San Antonio. “You have smoother dancers in Texas. You just slide across the floor, and we’re up here hopping up and down,” he said.

Order the book.

Then And Now Shows V-E Versatility

By Theresa Parker
From November 2015 issue of Texas Polka News
 

Music Publishers of America (MPA) has released Then and Now, a CD based entirely on music from its Vitak-Elsnic (V-E) portfolio. The CD is the company’s first venture into recording V-E music, part of its objective of reintroducing the V-E brand to a new generation of music lovers.

It’s getting lots of attention with airtime on both Internet and traditional radio stations, steady sales, and even interest from the Grammy screening committee. The entire Then and Now album is being considered for best album in the American Roots category, which includes blues, bluegrass, folk, and regional roots (such as polka) music. The single track recording of Snow Waltz, featuring amazing vocals by Abby Broeniman, is being considered for best regional roots performance.

Something for Everyone
“This album has a little bit of something for everyone, including people not that familiar with polka music,” said MPA President Steve Harris. There are 14 songs on the CD, with some played as originally published by V-E decades ago, such as Helena Polka (1925), Crackerjack Polka (1949), and Holzauction Schottische (1926). Others, such as Red Raven Polka, Rain Rain Polka, and Schneider Polka, are completely new arrangements from Alex Meixner, Grammy-nominated performing and recording artist, music producer, and MPA Vice President.

“And there’s another twist,” Steve said. “We’ve added brand-new English lyrics to some songs that either never had them or that were originally in Czech or Polish.” 

Steve penned the new lyrics to Snow Waltz, Rain Rain Polka, Tinker Polka, Julida Polka, Chicago Waltz, and A Night in May Waltz that are on the album.

Steve has written a novel in an earlier life, but this was his first foray into song writing. Where Czech or other lyrics already existed, he enjoyed researching the original meanings of the songs, which served as the muse for his lyrics.

All-Star Band
The Vitak-Elsnic All-Star Band, led by Alex, was pulled together specifically for this project. “Each musician brought a unique style and skill set to the studio, and the end result turned out beautifully,” Alex said. In addition to Alex, Grammy-nominated Hank Guzevich of Polka Family, as well as recording veterans Michael Morris (Praha Brothers), Ed Klancnik, Don Hunjadi, Joe Tierney, Richard Watson, and Sam Broeniman round out the band. Alex, Hank, Michael, and Abby perform vocals. “Abby is simply awesome,” Steve stated. “She sings from the heart and really delivers.”

Abby has been featured on RFD-TV’s Mollie B Polka Party. She’s now attending college in Wisconsin and comes from a polka music family. Her grandfather, Ernie, is an outstanding tuba player, who has developed many tuba players, including his son, Sam, Abby’s dad. Sam performed with the U.S. Army Band and with his dad’s group, Dorf Kapelle. You can hear Sam on tuba on Then and Now.

As Seen on Mollie B
The Broenimans are snow birds who reside in Mission, Texas, during the winter. That’s where Mollie B first heard Abby sing on a Dorf Kapelle CD that was playing while riding for a day trip to Mexico with Steve and others.  Mollie was wowed by Abby’s voice, and immediately signed her up to appear on the Mollie B TV show.  Abby also has appeared on Mollie’s Christmas program on RFD-TV.  And all that while still in high school!

In addition to the rave reviews on Abby’s Snow Waltz, another cut is gaining a following - Nina Bailando/Pretty Dancing Girl, which features Michael and Hank on vocals. Michael wrote the Spanish lyrics. Alex has been playing some of Then and Now tunes at his gigs, and reports Pretty Dancing Girl is by far the favorite.

“Then and Now celebrates the legacy of the Vitak-Elsnic Music Publishing Company. It’s definitely not a normal ‘Alex album’ – but it’s a really special album to me,” Alex said. “It allowed me to revisit some classic polka tunes and perform them in an old school, traditional Midwest style, as well as update a few of them into more contemporary arrangements. I hope you’ll enjoy checking out the album as much as the boys, Abby, and I enjoyed making it.”

Order the CD.

La Bahia Turn Verein to Host Fiddle Fest

By Gary E. McKee
From November 2015 issue of Texas Polka News

If you were to drive by the beautiful, wooden dancehall between Carmine and Burton on the old La Grange-Burton highway (SH 237) on any Wednesday evening you would see a dozen or more cars parked under the massive live oaks. If curiosity compelled you to stop and stick your head in the door, you would see several tables with groups of four people playing cards. The card game would be called Pitch, a trick-taking game that dates back to the 1800s.

This is not just a group of people who like to play cards. They are members of the La Bahia Turn Verein (pronounced TOORN-fair-ine), carrying on a 136-year-old tradition of promoting community social life. Founded on July 5, 1879, LBTV presently has 40 members, and is a branch of a national and state Turn Verein.

What Is a Turn Verein?
The failed 1848 Revolution in the over 40 dukedoms that made up Germany compelled many of the dissenters (Germans, Slavics, Hungarians) to evacuate Europe and seek asylum in the United States. One of the causes of the revolution was the belief that people that spoke the same language should be of one country, not the numerous separate kingdoms that constituted Germany. The model for this was the French Revolution that united all French speakers under a democratic government.

The German refugees brought to Texas many of their traditions, particularly the Vereins (a voluntary club of like-minded people.) The three main Vereins focused on music, target shooting, and physical fitness. These types of activities needed a home, which led to the building of physical structures such as the LBTV hall and many other similar social centers.

The gymnastic clubs (Turn Vereins), founded in Berlin in 1811, were the most blatantly political. Founder Freidrich Jahn adapted the word Turnen signifying the medieval order of knights and its intensely physical tournaments. The first Turn Verein had 200 members who performed gymnastics to increase their physical and mental strength, communal spirit, and character. They also undertook long marches by torchlight, practiced fencing, and crossbow shooting with military precision. By 1848, there were over 300 Turn Vereins with 90,000 members.

Texas Turn Vereins
In Texas, one of the earliest destinations of German immigrants was the fertile lands between the Brazos and Colorado Rivers and a hundred miles inland, roughly a triangle between present day Brenham, La Grange, and Sealy.

The La Bahia TurnVerein was founded with the purpose of “the physical and spiritual development of the members and the promotion of social life.” (FYI: the community’s name comes from the La Bahia Trail, which was previously the El Camino Real de los Tejas. There was a La Bahia German School about 4 miles away. The Brenham organization wasnamed the Alamo Turn Verein, and others had community names, such as Mill Creek and Round Top.)  

Amazingly, the bylaws and minutes of all the LBTV meetings since 1879 have been preserved. Originally, all transactions were written in “High German.” In 1943, the correspondence and minutes began being recorded in a German/English dialect, and in 1954, all the minutes were translated and recorded in English, signifying the decline of the population of German readers.

To join the LBTV, one had to be an 18-year-old male and have an unblemished reputation. A training period could be begun at the age of 15, if your father was a member. Then a two-thirds vote was necessary to be accepted. While physical exercise was a focal point, the hard-working farmers were generally too tired to go exercise and over the years all that was required was to do 12 chin-ups on the gymnastic bar to be a member. These bars are still in the hall.

Building and Rebuilding
Five years after organizing, the LBVT built a hall as a focal point for functions. Three years later, the hall burned, but within a month quarrymen were at work breaking rocks for the foundation on the new hall. The LBVT prospered, and on its 5th anniversary celebration they invited the Brenham fire department and a number of their “gallant fire ladies” who attended in full uniform.

Disaster struck again in 1901 as a suspicious fire destroyed the hall including, “music, library, fixtures, and furniture.”  The hall had been insured for $850 by Hanover Insurance of Hanover, Germany. That same day the verein met, voted to post a $100 reward for the arsonists, and to begin building a new hall. (Not sure if the arsonist was caught. Subsequent issues of the paper are missing.)

The 1902 hall was larger as attendance and membership had increased dramatically. In 1910, the LBTV celebrated another anniversary with a program that offered “all kinds of clean and healthful amusements” followed by a baseball game and then a grand ball.

Pentecost Day was observed in 1923 during which a Fayetteville Band provided music. Over the years, the hall was enlarged, out buildings constructed, heating, plumbing, and electricity installed until it reached its present state of simplistic grandeur.  

One of the cool upgrades was a bank of metal fans in the shape of airplanes that was installed in the early 1930s when the hall was electrified.

The Turn Verein has done an excellent job keeping this 114-year-old hall in fine shape. Various members have been instrumental in managing and guiding the hall over the years. At present, Roy and Carol Schmidt are coordinating ongoing efforts by the Turn Verein to keep everything painted, the immense roof from leaking, and the indoor plumbing functioning among myriad other tasks.

The list of bands that played the hall seems endless and contains the usual list of suspects, including the Bacas, Lee Roy Matocha, Kreneks, Hi Toppers, Blume’s Orchestra, the Original Triumphs, contemporary country bands, and the upcoming Fiddle Fest.

Buzzard's Roost view
Billy Koerth has been a LBTV member for over 50 years. As a trainee, it was his job to sweep the floor during intermissions at the dances. He remembers that there was a set of bleachers on the edge of the dance floor that was referred to as the Buzzard Roost. Dancers paid 50 cents admission and those who watched from the Roost paid a dime. All present members of the Verein agree that the hall was packed every time there was a dance.

Due to the great condition and beauty of the hall, it has become a favorite wedding reception and music event venue. The hall is booked with an event every weekend through March.

Let's Fiddle On!
This month, on Saturday, the 7th, the hall will be the scene of the Second Annual Festival of Texas Fiddling presented by Texas Folklife and Texas Dance Hall Preservation. The event kicks off Friday evening at 7 pm, with a party at nearby Airway Pavilion in Round Top. The Pettit Brothers from High Hill will provide the music for dancing.     

Next day, workshops and showcases will provide a full spectrum of fiddling including Texas Old Time, Texas Polish, Creole, and Tejano/Mexican style. The evening will swing to a close with a dance by the national award-winning Western Swing trio Hot Club of Cowtown. See schedule and buy tickets.

Well, if you're still standing in the doorway on that Wednesday night at the LBTV hall, several heads will turn away from the card tables and welcome you in. Roy will point out where to help yourself to liquid refreshments and snacks, and ask if you would like to join in on a game of Pitch. I know it worked for me.

Texasu Polski

By Gary E. McKee
From November 2015 issue of Texas Polka News

“The next song goes out to Bennie and Kathy Bronikowski: The Chappell Hill Special.” This dedication is a regular at many polka dances, however few dancers understand the significance of the song. The song gives a nod to the town of Chappell Hill, one of the approximately dozen Polish settlements in Texas, located between Brenham and Hempstead, Texas. 

In the mid-1800s Polish immigrants began to arrive in Texas. The primary areas of settlement were Panna Maria (southeast of San Antonio), Brenham, Bremond, and Chappell Hill to name a few. They brought their Catholic religion, culture, and music to the new world. Their Polish music, which is string-instrument based, has been handed down orally from generation to generation.

The original music typically consisted of a fiddle, a bowed bass, and an occasional clarinet. As time went by guitars, drums, and accordions were added. Brass horns were never fully accepted into Polish music as the popular feeling was that it Czechanized the music. This isn’t a negative comment on Czech music, it’s just that horns were not popular in the old country and they were protecting their roots.

The Polish Oberek is a traditional dance that can only be described as a real fast waltz with a lotta foot-stepping in a highly spirited fashion.

Regional Flavors
As with all music there are regional interpretations influenced by geography and politics both in the old country and new world. There are basically two flavors of Polish music in Texas. One is the Chappell Hill type, which infuses a rhythmic sound into the mix. The other is the Bremond style, which reflects the music that would be found in the villages of central and southern Poland.

A master of both flavors, Brian Marshall’s fiddle whips up a dance crowd with its distinct sound. What is constant in Polish music is the presence of a fiddle (or two or three) in Polish polkas. Brian commented, “All Poles play a fiddle, but some shouldn’t.”

Tradition dictated that a fiddler was hired for entertainment at functions and it was up to the fiddler to provide accompaniment.

Brian’s father was a guitar player in a band in the 1950s and ’60s that played mostly Country & Western music, but would bust into Polish music when the crowd was right.

His grandfather, Ed Marshall, was a fiddler in the 1940s and ’50s, but was equally well known for his stage presence as a Druszba (emcee) at Polish weddings and public events. 

It's a Family Tradition
In the tradition of a family band, Brian’s two teenaged sons, Jakub and Michal, have been performing with their father for years on clarinet and fiddle. At the Polish Festival in Bremond (June 26-27, 2015), Brian’s cousin, Ronnie Kasowski played guitar, and his son Jake, was thumping the bass fiddle. On drums was Chuck Bolin, who is married to a cousin, so it was truly a family band. Thank you Brian Marszalek (Marshall) for posting and sharing information on your heritage.

Brian has performed all over the U.S. including the Lincoln Center in New York, National Folk Festivals in Maine and Massachusetts, the Festival of Americana fiddle tunes in Washington, to name a just a few. He is now signed with Arhoolie Records, a music label that specializes in American masters of roots music.

Brian will conduct a workshop and perform Polish fiddle music at the 2nd Annual Festival of Texas Fiddling on November 7th. This festival is an opportunity to see multiple styles of music performed on the same instrument.

Will Polka for Beer

By Gary E. McKee
From October 2015 issue of Texas Polka News
 

AlpenMusikanten (AMK), like its German multi-syllable name is a Dallas-based band that can perform multi-rhythmic music to please any crowd. This group can play anything from Proud Mary to the Clarinet Polka with the Chicken Dance, the Westphalia Waltz, Jump, Jive, and Wail, and, yes, Freebird (great accordion solo), thrown in the middle to appeal to all ages. The band’s name translates into “Alpine Musicians” and has been mispronounced to the extent of Alpine Muskrats; however no one has ever mispronounced its website address: www.willpolkaforbeer.com.

Take Me to my Liter
This five-member ensemble has a varied musical background ranging from growing up in a big band family to college music education degrees and two members who are from Austria. AMK’s seriously humorous attitude towards music is reflected in their latest CD title: Take Me To My Liter which is a mix of funky polkas, waltzes, swing, country, samba, ballad, and even a rock polka, while still maintaining the original Alpine flare with outstanding three-part harmony vocals and yodeling.

With the ever-youthful audience, the band keeps learning contemporary songs and slips a little polka beat into them (subliminal polka brainwashing). If you were at the Tomball German Fest, there is a good chance you saw AMK in action and stayed through the whole set.

AMK’s Oktoberfest schedule has been so busy that they probably wake up at night hollering Prost! The month of September saw them performing at Oktoberfests in Choctaw, Oklahoma; Addison, Texas; Fort Worth, McKinney, and two in Louisiana.       

That’s 20 days of Oktoberfesting and wasn't even Oktober! October had the band on the road 17 days, taking polka to Louisiana, Georgia, and back to the PolkaOkies in Oklahoma.       

So when AMK hits Wurstfest November 6th for three days, they should be ready to Schuhplattler their lederhosen off for your dancing pleasure.

Hail to the Tuba (and Euphonium)

By Theresa Parker
From October 2015 issue of Texas Polka News
 

The TubaMeisters is a quartet, based in San Antonio, specializing in German and Czech music. They are also comedians. Watching them perform their Sound of Music routine at Oktoberfest in Fredericksburg last year was too much fun!

The founding members, who began playing gigs at Fiesta Texas in 1992, are Ray Grim, Al Tapia, and Richard Wallace. Ezra Johnson joined in 2005. Ray is a former school band director who teaches a number of tuba, euphonium, and trombone students and performs with the San Antonio Wind Symphony. Al is a retired U.S. Army bandmaster, who serves as the director of several area community bands. Richard is a retired school band director who now conducts the Alzafar Shrine Band, as well as performing with the Beethoven Concert Band. Ezra is a former middle school band director, and former member of the University of Texas Longhorn band.

Have Tuba, Will Travel
The guys perform at about 20 Oktoberfests during the season. In September, they traveled to Fort Hood, Granbury, and Fort Worth for fests. They started off October in Fredericksburg, played some gigs in Austin and San Antonio, and ended the month at the Galveston Island fest. They also have some great Christmas time gigs coming in Boerne (Nov. 27), Tomball (Dec. 12-13), and San Antonio (Dec. 19).

Thinking about their most unusual Oktoberfest, Ray said, “An Oktoberfest in McAllen. When we began playing the temperature was 102. About 30 minutes into our first set, the skies opened up. We had to scramble to get our sound equipment out of the rain. We spent the remainder of our performance time playing under a tent, unplugged.”

Ray said the most requested song would probably be Beer Barrel Polka. And then there’s the guy who shouts out Freebird. “We have it and sometimes play it when requested,” he said. Their favorite tunes to play are Es Bluht ein Edelweiss, a polka, and Blue Skirt Waltz.

The quartet has four CDs, including a Christmas CD, and Ray said there is a possible recording session next spring.

That's Fun!

By Theresa Parker
From October 2015 issue of Texas Polka News
 

That’s the translation of Das Ist Lustig! (DIL) and the promise of what you’ll get when you see them perform. Ross and Valina formed the group in 2007. Ross studied accordion and voice through college, but never played in a show band until the first DIL show in June 2007. Valina had been on stage in various capacities all her life, but didn’t begin playing instruments and performing as lead singer until DIL was formed.

“We started as a duo, but we add drums and other musicians whenever they're available,” Valina said.  “We've been blessed with very talented people to work with!” They’ve also been blessed with each other. “After we formed the band, Ross and I realized we had fallen in love, so we got married in 2008.” 

Tis the Season
DIL, based in the Houston area, plays an average of 150 shows a year, 60 during the 10-week Oktoberfest season. They have standing gigs for their popular “Dinner and Show” at Rudi Lechner’s in Houston and King’s Biergarten in Pearland. In September, the band was at Oktoberfests in Choctaw, Oklahoma, then back to Texas in Addison and Fort Worth.                  In October, DIL performed at the Kemah Oktoberfest, then boarded a bus on Oct. 15 to head to Deutsches Haus in Kenner, Louisiana. This was their third year playing this fest and Ross and Valina decided it was a unique experience they wanted to share. So they put together a bus trip.

Who wouldn’t want the best of all worlds – party in the French Quarter, have a designated driver, AND party at Oktoberfest!

Do You Know Freebird?
Reflecting on their most unusual Oktoberfest gig, Valina commented, “Every single Oktoberfest we play for has its own unique unusual-ness.  We've played in places where there is a decorative waterway behind the stage full of children trying to splash our drummer to places where people come dressed in giant banana costumes just for the fun of it.  We've played in 110-degree heat and we've played when it's so cold we can't feel the keys or strings of our instruments with our fingers.  We've been sand blasted in high winds, and we've been baked in 100% humidity.  Ahhh, Texas weather.          The people are all wonderful. We love to get to know them, and especially see their party side.  We're not sure we ever want a turkey leg tossed at the stage (like what happened during an Alex Meixner show last year at Wurstfest) but crazy, fun people are a joy to have around.”

When asked about the most requested song, Valina said, “This is most likely a tie between Chicken Dance, Edelweiss, and Wagon Wheel.  Of course, there's always that guy who asks for Freebird.”

Valina and Ross have their favorites, too. They love to play The Bench Dance.  “We got the music from a popular Bavarian folk dance. It has that stereotypical rambunctious biergarten sound everyone seems to love.  We choreographed moves based on the folk dance for the audience to do with us. When there is a whole tent full of people laughing and joining in, you get that warm fuzzy Oktoberfest gemutlichkeit feeling.”

Ready for the Wurst
DIL recorded its first CD last year – Barrel Full of Lustig – packed with 20 tunes, many that were requested special by friends and fans. With the addition of their amazing drummer, tuba, and fiddle player, the songs you're used to hearing from the duo shine with life and style.

After the New Orleans trip, DIL performed at the Galveston Island Oktoberfest, and will appear at Wurstfest, and the Tomball German Christmas Market in December. In addition to their performances at Wurstfest, DIL will also perform at Friesenhaus Restaurant in New Braunfels.

“We got our start at Friesenhaus back during Wurstfest 2007. They're in a new location, but it's still home to us! Come grab a delicious meal before heading to Wurstfest!”

Up Close with Enzian Buam

By Gary E. McKee
From the October 2015 issue of Texas Polka News

Enzian Buam is one of the most fun bands you will have a close encounter with. Before I explain that remark, let’s shine some light on the band’s name. Enzium is a beautiful trumpet-shaped, deep-blue flower that grows only in the Alpine region. One of its many uses is in alcoholic beverages. Buam roughly translates into boys in an Austrian dialect.

Though the band plays some festivals and private events, they perform mostly at biergarten-styled venues where they personally interact with the audience. Sing-a-longs, multiple toasts (Prost!), and audience participation transforms listeners into part of the performance as they travel the musical globe playing everything from Alpine love songs to the Cotton-Eyed Joe.

Talented Trio
The band was formed in 2008 by Jason Keepers and Eddie Schaible, formerly of the Walburg Boys, and a native German. The present trio led by Jason has been performing together for three years, and features Robert Herridge on fiddle and guitar, and Bill Holt thumping the bass.

Jason began playing guitar, trumpet, and his favorite, the accordion, at the age of 5. He has spent years studying Alpine music with the masters. In 1995, Jason composed a song for his mother, Katherine’s Waltz 95, which is now a dance hall standard in Texas.

One of his strongest musical talents lies in his yodeling abilities. Jason’s Alpine-style yodeling adds another instrument to the band and gives a unique layer to their songs.

Robert, master fiddler, assisted with reviving a Sängerbund (German singing society) in Bellville, and is a past president of the Texas German Society. His fiddling background is lengthy and includes 14 years with Gilley’s House Band during the Urban Cowboy phenomena and many years with Santa’s Wonderland in College Station, where this year for the first time, Enzian Buam will be playing German Christmas music on Christmas Eve and Christmas night.

Which brings us to the “Tuba Kidd,” Bill Holt. Bill began playing tuba at the age of 11. At the tender age of 14, Accordionist Gene Hackemack bestowed this nickname upon Bill. His abilities have allowed him to be inducted into the Texas Western Swing Hall of Fame.

Bill performs with many symphonies and wind ensembles, plays the country opry circuit, and sits in with The Cowboy Jazz Band, Billy Mata, The Travelers, Round Top Brass Band, just to name a few.  

They've Got Your Number
Enzian Buam’s extensive repertoire enables them to play anywhere and everywhere. At a recent performance, where the senior citizen crowds were bussed in, the trio conferred for a minute and broke out into Minor Swing, a classic by The Hot Club of Paris from the 1930s.

So for a good time catch Enzian Buam at Kemah’s Oktoberfest, the TCHCC Heritage Fest and Muziky in La Grange October 17, and at their regular weekend gig at the King's Biergarten in Pearland.

Last Member of a Legendary Band

By Gary E. McKee
From the September 2015 issue of Texas Polka News

The Joe Patek Orchestra, founded by John Patek, was the result of John bringing his musical abilities from Moravia when he immigrated to the Lavaca County area in 1888. After playing in various community bands around Shiner, John formed his own orchestra in 1920. In the 1940s, his two sons, Joe and Jim, joined the band, with Joe assuming leadership. 

The band became a regional favorite among the Czech communities of South and Central Texas, particularly with The Shiner Song and Beautiful America. Their recording of an 1800s Mexican folk song, Corrido Rock, even appeared on Tejano jukeboxes.

Patek’s Orchestra recorded more than 24 78-rpms (thick heavy vinyl platter) and 24 45-rpms (smaller, large hole), and several tapes (cassette and 8-track) and LPs (large, thin, small hole). The Patek Band had a signature sound that set it apart from others in the U.S. with a strong brass sound and emphasis on swing. For years, the band played with only a single microphone for the lead singer. This lasted until the 1970s when a second microphone was added to boost the acoustic guitar, and by 1980, three microphones were used when performing.

Dance Floor Prayer
The stories surrounding the Patek band and associates are endless, but this one reveals the loyalty of their fans. Quentin Hoffman and his wife loved to dance. They made two or three dances every weekend back in the day when Bill Mraz’s Ballroom and Lodge 88 were holding polka dances every weekend. One night, Quentin went up to the Lodge 88 bandstand to request one of his favorites, the Youth and Pleasure Polka.  As he was guiding his niece around the floor, he crumpled to the floor, stricken by a heart attack. Quentin had always said that when the time came he wanted to die dancing. He got his wish, but just too early; he was only 55. Later, when Quentin's son, Johnny (who had witnessed his dad's passing), got married, he danced the Youth and Pleasure Polka with his mother.

Pateks in Demand
The popularity of the band by the 1950s found them playing at least twice every weekend and being booked a year in advance. It must be noted that the vast majority of polka musicians to this day have day jobs, and playing music is not financially rewarding; they do it cause they love it. One musician told me he looks at it this way: "I get paid to travel, set-up, and tear-down, the time between is pleasure." The Patek Band with various members continued until its final performance at the Annual Fireman’s New Year’s Eve Dance in 1982.

In 2013, the Texas Czech Heritage and Cultural Center in La Grange put together a tribute to the Patek Orchestra by assembling a crack group of veteran musicians to recreate music that the Patek band had created. By all accounts, both band side and audience side, the Patek magic came alive that clear, moonlit night as opposed to the cold and rainy night 31 years earlier when the music stopped.

Performing that evening was one of the final two members of the band, Daniel Malik. The other surviving member was Paul John Darilek, who had filled in for several months following the death of one of the Patek brothers in 1982.

Patek Memorabilia
When I arrived in Shiner to interview Daniel Malik, I was personally unfamiliar with him and unsure how smooth the interview would progress. Arriving at a well-kept house in Shiner, the door opened and a handsome, open, smiling face greeted me. Daniel, with the aid of a cane, escorted me into the dining room, where on the table a fantastic display of photographs and posters of the Joe Patek band was laid out.    

When he sensed that the Patek Orchestra was nearing the end of its amazing 62-year run, he began gathering memorabilia. As his lovely wife, Carolyn, entered the room he was proudly showing me the poster advertising the last performance of the Patek Orchestra in Shiner and the poster of the last out of town performance of the band in Needville. Carolyn was digging in a box and produced tickets and photographs to the last performance of this legendary band.

Daniel’s father and uncle both played polka music informally with family and friends and Daniel played along on trumpet. This feeling of camaraderie instilled the desire to entertain and play music that was fulfilled when the Charlie Tousek Orchestra had an opening for a saxophone player. Daniel went right out, bought a sax, learned to play it by ear, and was a member of the orchestra two weeks later. After doing several years with them, he left to become a founding member of Yoakum’s the Hub City Dutchmen. The Dutchmen once performed 14 days in a row. They had been invited to perform in Wisconsin and booked a gig in each state that they drove through there and back.

Polka Dream Fulfilled
In 1970, an opportunity presented itself for Daniel to fulfill his dream, there was an opening in the Joe Patek Orchestra for a sax player. There was only one problem, he had his own band, The Dutchmasters. He privately discussed it with Joe, voicing the conflict with his own band. Joe understood and told him to go talk it over with his band members. When Daniel assembled his band at the local cafe, he had apparently forgotten he lived in small town, as they already knew he was being considered for the prestigious position and told him to go for it. When I asked Daniel why he had always wanted to play with the Patek band, he immediately responded, "Their style!"

Thus, Daniel began his 12-year stint with the Patek orchestra. The seven-man band he joined was already one of the hardest working bands at the time playing three gigs a weekend. Daniel related how once, they left Shiner at 12:30 on a Saturday afternoon, drove 300 miles to San Angelo, played, packed up, drove back to Shiner arriving at 7:30 on a Sunday morning, got out of the station wagon, went to 8 o’clock Mass, went home, showered and changed shirts, got back into the Patek wagon, where they drove to East Bernard (only 72 miles!). They played the Kolache Festival, drove back to Shiner, arriving at 5:30 p.m., and he went home to Carolyn who had a big pot of chicken noodle soup waiting, which he consumed, and went to sleep. That adds up to 744 miles, two gigs, in 27 hours! The Bill Mraz Ballroom in Houston, had a standing agreement that every two weeks the Patek Orchestra would play, which went on for years.

For the Love of Polka
In 1962, when Daniel first started out with the Tousek band, the musicians were paid $7 a night, and later when he played with Hub City Dutchmen, he made $10 dollars a night. When Daniel finally reached the Patek band, Joe was paying them $14 a night.

Other gradual changes occurred during Daniel’s time with the Pateks. One large station wagon now pulled a trailer with the Shiner Beer emblem on it, replacing the two vehicles, and meat wagon (from the family's Patek Meat Market). And, as mentioned earlier, the band went from using one microphone on stage, to eventually having three mikes.

After the last performance of the Joe Patek Orchestra on New Years Eve, 1982, the band dissolved. Daniel was burned out from playing several times a weekend for over a decade and rarely picked up his sax for four years. (A 1982 dance listing shows 28 gigs that year.) An opportunity to play with The Wence Shimek Band came along and Daniel returned to the stage to play sax with them for five years before retiring again. Now, he sits in with the Shiner Hobo Band, and is mentoring his 13-year-old granddaughter, Cindy, who is proficient on flute, piano, alto and tenor sax, and presently learning guitar.

The spirit of the Patek Band was once again resurrected on October 17, at the Texas Czech Heritage and Cultural Center in La Grange, as Daniel Malik and other top-notch musicians brought the magic sounds of The Joe Patek Orchestra back to life again. See the photos. The Patek sound never left, it just took a really long break. WOO-HOO-HOO!

The Hodde Trilogy

By Gary E. McKee
From the August 2015 issue of Texas Polka News

This journalist after hearing: my cousin, father, sister, grandfather, uncle, etc. played in or has a polka band, is beginning a random series attempting to untangle the family grapevine that is prevalent in this culture. If any readers have a musical family they would like documented please contact the Texas Polka News or Polkabeat.com.

The Hodde musical legacy began in a blackland prairie town named Cele, founded in the 1890s, southwest of Taylor. The social center was the Richland Saloon, established in 1891. In 1951 the Weiss family purchased it and began servicing the farmers of the area with gasoline and basic food items including beer. The Weiss families were musicians and their weekly jam sessions at the store invited other folks to come sit in and play. Lorenz (“Boots”) Hodde and his uncle, Fritz Wendland were regulars, with Lorenz playing banjo and Mr. Wendland playing guitar with popular and traditional songs, such as You Are My Sunshine.  Playing with them was a young Fritz Hodde. The many jam sessions paid off with Lorenz forming a small combo that went by the name of Boots and His Buddies.

The first “professional” gig came when the band scheduled to perform at a family reunion cancelled the morning of the reunion. Lorenz received a call to see if they could come play. Several phone calls later they showed up and a band was born.

The word-of-mouth gigs kept coming and soon they were playing live on KGTN radio out of Georgetown. This free publicity increased their bookings and the need for a name soon. A.J. Zrubek, a band member, suggested Fritz Hodde’s Fabulous Six and the name stuck, mostly, an advertisement in a 1968 West newspaper invited folks to Linden Hall in Elm Mott for a wedding dance by Fritz Hodde’s Fabulous Five.

Fritz’s family was growing, and son, Scott, began showing interest in music. At the age of nine, he began keeping rhythm with a pair of spoons to his Dad’s music. His persistence convinced his dad to buy him a button accordion and within a year he had mastered If I Were A Bird. After several years of learning the songs and stagecraft, Scott formally joined the band in 1990. Father and son were playing even more frequently and doing studio recording. Scott, like his father, was becoming proficient on saxophone, trumpet, and drums. When the time was right, Scott married Diane Pavelka (an accomplished accordionist) and a son, Brandon, was born. Between hanging out with his future bandmates at picnics and festivals Brandon’s desire to play music took the lead.

At the age of twelve Brandon became a full-fledged member of his Grandfather’s Band. He started on drums, learned the saxophone, guitar, and is presently teaching himself the steel guitar. He is currently working for the county while taking online college classes in business management. When asked whom he wished that he could share the stage music there were two choices, one was Tommy Strmiska, a drummer with the Vrazels, who has passed on, and Vince Gill, the country music performer.

Growing up in family band, Brandon spent many hours hanging out with the children of other musicians as their parents were on stage or meeting fans. The frequent exposure to music at an early age implanted the songs in their brains and when they started to learn instruments the melodies were known to them so they just had to figure out how to apply the music to their chosen instrument. As he and his friends (still mostly pre-teen) were learning their chops on stage, they began to get together to play without adults. These informal gatherings soon led to The Ennis Czech Boys and then All Around Czechs was formed.

Brandon’s perspective for playing is fairly common in the music world: “I do it because I love it, when you’re on stage, particularly with my dad and grandfather, there’s not a feeling like it on earth, the bonding on stage with other musicians. As my friend and bandmate Jerry Petter says, the money we receive at gigs is for the setting up and tearing down of equipment, the time between spent playing music is pure pleasure.”

In 2015, Brandon entered the Accordion Kings and Queens contest, sponsored by Texas Folklife. The contest is aimed at giving young accordionists a chance to compete with others of their genre. Brandon won the state wide contest in the Czech polka category and recently performed at the Miller Outdoor Theatre to a crowd that was larger than most of the towns he had been playing at in the Central Texas area. His experience humbled him as he shared the stage with others in his age group that were playing Zydeco, Cajun, and Tejano styles along with the masters of music such as Los Lobos and the Texmaniacs.

Along with one of his bands, All Around Czechs (all under 30), he hopes to inspire other “youngsters” to keep carrying on the tradition.

The Hodde family is a fine example of keeping the music tradition alive. Brandon said that when he starts a family, he hopes there will be a musician included, but “no pressure, of course.”

It's Picnic Time!

By Lori Najvar, Polkaworks 

Fried Chicken Team

Preparing the 12,000 pieces of fried chicken at the Prazska Pout./PolkaWorks photo by Joe Vitone

What Am I Bid?

Auction at Dubina Picnic./PolkaWorks photo by Lori Najvar

Startin' Early

Dancing with your grandbaby is a right of passage at the picnics./PolkaWorks photo by Joe Vitone

Go Fish!

Fishing for a prize is just one of the many games at the picnics./PolkaWorks photo by Lori Najvar

Worship First

Mass at St. Mary's in Praha kicks off the picnic./PolkaWorks photo by Joe Vitone

Texas Czech folk music is a major part of the entertainment for special occasions where dancers and listeners gather at historic and fraternal organizations’ halls throughout the year. But where can you also enjoy a delicious meal, play old-fashioned festival activities, attend an auction, and support unique rural churches in areas that were once the settlements of Czech immigrants?  Church picnics, of course, and the majority of them take place in the months of May through October. 

Picnics are family-oriented and often take place in a beautiful landscape. 

At one time, church picnics were more of a potluck event for the first- to third-generation settlers. Today, hundreds of volunteers join together and prepare traditional food for several thousands of people. Businesses and parishioners donate attractive items for the auction, along with baked and canned goods for the cake walk and country store. 

Along with the tasty meal, you have the opportunity to dance and hear polka bands throughout the day. With multi-generations of locals and friends that might have moved away or share a common heritage, you can dance and sing Czech folk songs that have been performed for decades. Often, band members from different groups jam on stage with the featured band. And so often, grandparents teach grandchildren to polka and waltz. 

By attending the church picnics, you are participating in the ongoing communal and celebratory occasions rooted in Texas Czech traditions that helped build the strong agrarian communities continuing to support these churches.    

PolkaWorks highlights unique cultural traditions through documentaries, photography and public programs designed to educate and inspire. The latest exhibit, Texas Czechs: Rooted in Tradition, can be viewed at the Institute of Texan Cultures in San Antonio, now through Sept. 4.

Memories of Working at St. John

By Earline Berger Okruhlik

Earline and daughter, Cheryl, serve fried chicken at St. John's Picnic./Gary E. McKee photo

The flags lining the road on July 4th lead to a small community of St. John on FM 957, approximately five miles southwest of Schulenburg. The church picnic is always held on July 4th, regardless of the day of the week it is on.

My earliest memories of the picnic, held across the road from our someplace, was that as soon as I was able to hold a pitcher full of tea, I was shuttled to the dining floor to help serve. As long as I can remember, my mother, Hattie Berger, always worked in the kitchen. Now that she is deceased and many other parishioners are getting older, I am more than willing to help, along with many other children and grandchildren of the older or deceased parishioners.

Days before the picnic, kitchen responsibilities have always been numerous, including washing and sanitizing all the pots, pans and utensils. Also, peeling potatoes, making many cakes and kolaches were among the preparations. My duties this year along with my daughter, Cheryl, will be serving hot steaming fried chicken in the serving line again as we have done in previous years. My sisters, Carol and Lorine, among others, will scurry around the kitchen to make sure that the containers of homemade stew, potatoes and sauerkraut, etc. are filled at all times.

I can picture it now: my eye glasses are getting fogged up and my plastic gloves are beginning to melt from the steam. My feet are tapping to the sound of The Shiner Hobo Band entertaining the crowd outside under the pavilion.

I enjoy serving the people with a smile coming through the line, recognizing people from far and near. Now as I serve the last piece, I hurry out to the pavilion to listen to the Dujka Brothers play "Grandpa drank too much at the St. John Picnic."

See you at the picnic!

Support Your Local Church Picnic

In addition to being Dairy Month, June is also the core of the picnic season. There are over 100 church-related picnics yearly and a good many of them occur in June through August. So please attend at least one local picnic and then plan a trip to a new one.

By Gary E. McKee

The Singing Priest

Father Joe Hybner joins the Incredible Music Makers to sing a Czech song or two in Praha./McKee photo

The Dancing Priest

Father Ed Karasek at the Prazska Pout./McKee photo

Picnic Essentials

Bring a chair AND a fan to Dubina picnic./McKee photo

Family Time

Edwin "Buck" Boehm (second from right) of Shiner at Praha with his family./McKee photo

Polka On!

The Shiner Hobo Band entertains at quite a few picnics during the year./McKee photo

Patriotic Raven

The musicians, like Daniel Jobb of the Red Ravens, get into the spirit./McKee photo

Too Pooped to Picnic

After a long day at the picnic./McKee photo

To a visitor from Elsewhere, USA, the idea of a picnic might conjure up images of plaid blankets on the ground with a wicker basket of cold food beside a lake containing a canoe and a delicate lady shading herself with a parasol as a gentleman tries to woo her by playing his accordion. Well pardner, come on down to the Polka Belt, and be prepared to immerse yourself into the alphanumeric drone of Bingo, an auctioneer’s rapid fire patter, the clinking of plastic rings on liters of soda water, the enticing smell of homemade food cooking, the alternating rhythms of polka bands, and the delightful sound of laughter as friends and family reunite in a yearly homecoming.

The summer picnic season runs from Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day weekend with a few picnics scattered on both sides to symbolize more agrarian times of the year, i.e. planting and harvest times. The term "picnic" is an anachronism from days of old bringing to mind the first image above without fire-ants. While church fundraisers dominate the picnic calendar, many organizations have sponsored them.

Father Ed Karasek was raised attending picnics from probably day one as his parents were in charge of making the potato salad at the Frenstat picnic. His early memories were of playing the Teddy Bear wheel trying to win one. The ball/bottle throw was a popular booth with a winner getting either a cigar or pack of gum depending upon the winner’s age. The Gil Baca or Sil Krenek Bands provided the music. This is where the “Dancing Priest” learned to polka. A “community builder” is how Fr. Ed describes the church picnic, bringing families together and providing entertainment for the kids. Now tending to his primarily Hispanic flock in Lockhart at St. Mary of the Visitation, Fr. Ed is heavily involved in their yearly picnic, named Jamaica, now in its 40th year of food, music and fellowship. This year's picnic will be held July 24 and 25.

Picnic evolution
Let’s go back a few years and take a brief look at picnics, bazaars, and celebrations to see how they have evolved. In September of 1902 the Texasky Mir, No. 10 S.P.J.S.T. Lodge of Shiner held a Feast and Picnic in Hilderbrandt’s Park with children’s games being the prominent feature of the day, along with “Orators of Repute delivering address on Questions of Vital Interest to Our People.”

Politicians utilized these large gatherings of voters to campaign and connect with the “common” people. At some picnics literately thousands of people would stand in the weather (generally hot) and listen to the politicians for hours, an inconceivable event nowadays. Not all were on Sundays as the S.P.J.S.T. lodge of Snook announced that it will give a picnic on Easter Monday, April 8, 1912 at their new hall.

The Brenham St. Peter’s Church held a picnic in May of 1915, with wagons transporting those wishing to attend to the “beautiful spot adjoining the Giddings place about one mile north of town. The members of the Women’s Guild have charge of the picnic and will take care of the children who wish to attend without their parents. All members of the Sunday school and congregation are expected (editor’s emphasis) to go and take their friends if they wish.”

Picnic during the week
The Schwertner (NW of Granger) Biennial Picnic in June of 1936 was a community happening that was held on a Tuesday and Wednesday. Among the bands performing those two days were Joe Buzze’s Orchestra of Waco, and Louis Welk’s Eleven Piece Orchestra. Two years later the Shimek Brass Band performed. The July 4th weekend of 1926 was a busy period, as it is now, in the Fayette County area, picnic and celebration wise. Hostyn’s feast hosted one of the largest political gatherings in Texas as Governor “Ma” Ferguson and Farmer Jim Ferguson were scheduled to speak. With a noon vehicle count of 3,300 vehicles, the crowd was estimated to be between 10,000 and 20,000 folks, the Schulenburg Sticker reported. The crowd stood for hours in the sun listening to the Ferguson speeches.

Politicians and baseball
Dubina’s celebration drew several thousand people to hear a well received political speech by Senator Gus Russek (Schulenburg) and Method Pazdral, a former local attorney of Czech origin. The Ammansville Snappy Orchestra played a dance that was attended by 2000 people with 300 tickets being sold to young men. From what this writer can deduce from the ads, during this time period, to actually dance, a ticket was needed, while some venues sold a lesser price ticket for “spectators” as one ad put it, People traveled to see Shiner play Schulenburg in baseball, hear Governor Dan Moody talk, and dance that evening to “most excellent band music” in Shiner.

Two weeks later High Hill had a feast that kicked off with the Blessing of the new Parish House by the Rt. Rev. Bishop Drossaerts of San Antonio followed by solemn High Mass. Afterwards a grand chicken and barbecue dinner was served by the ladies of the parish. That afternoon speeches by various politicians will be given followed by a baseball game between Dubina and High Hill. Concert Music was provided by the Ammansville Brass Band and singing by the High Hill Mannerchor. In the evening The High Hill Dramatic Club provide entertainment, accompanied by the previous band and choir (no dance.)

June of 1959, St. Martin’s Parish, in Tours (NE of Waco) held a “Fun for Everyone” picnic with “Something for Everyone to do - All Afternoon and Evening – Ride the Train – Play Games – SUPPER SERVED 4:30 to 9PM – Fried Chicken, Roast Beef and Baked Ham;” that evening Slim Haisler and His Play Boys of Temple provided the dance music.

Don't just drive thru
While the picnic format has evolved into the fairly formulaic state, that is, church service, meal, and then simultaneously live music, games for children, Bingo, a long auction, and family visiting; it has changed from an event on any day or days of the week to a Sunday for six to eight hours, with a few exceptions like the St. John Fourth of July Picnic and the Prazska Pout (Praha Feast) always held August 15 on the Feast of the Assumption of Mary.

The Fourth of July Picnic at the S.P.J.S.T. hall in West was discontinued in 1966 due to diminishing crowds. Air-conditioning, television, and newly built lakes nearby were to blame, the West News opined. In the pre-automobile days, crowds would gather in town and led by a band march en masse to the picnic grounds. While picnics seem to still attract a large number of folks, it is my observation that the drive-through dinner option of picnics, while increasing the financial income, has diminished the communal bonds that the picnics have built up over the years.

So, please support your local picnic, whether it be in Seguin, Dubina, Wallis, Frenstat, Granger, Shiner, Stoneham, Ennis, Cyclone, or Houston. And please park your vehicle and make new friends or discover extended family members. Check out the listing of Church Picnics at polkabeat.com.

Gospel with a Polka Beat

By Gary E. McKee

Bruce and Shara Repka/Gary E. McKee photo

“Circuit Riders” was the name given to preachers in the 1800s who traveled the physical and spiritual wilderness bringing, on horseback, the word of God to the Great American West. Martin Ruter (Rutersville) was a great example, who in 1837 entered Texas with a stack of Bibles and hymnals to preach to and sing with the citizens of the newly founded Republic of Texas.

Among those still carrying on this tradition in the 2000s are Bruce and Shara Repka. However, instead of riding horseback thousands of western miles, they trailer their beloved horses and instead of stacks of bibles and hymnals they are equipped with voices and musical instruments to implement their horse ministry.

Bruce’s family has deep roots in Lavaca County where his father, Henry Repka along with Herbert Kloesel from Schulenburg, founded the music program at Sacred Heart Catholic School in Hallettsville. Bruce’s musical trip began at a single digit age listening to his father performing in a popular polka and waltz band, The Music Kings, around the Houston area. His father would make cassettes of their performances and bring them home, where young Bruce would listen to them and play along on a plastic accordion purchased from Sears.

One day his mother brought Henry to Bruce’s room to hear him play and he was soon playing on a “real” accordion. At the ripe old age of 10, he performed on a Music King “45” rpm record (the ones with the BIG hole in the middle). The song was the Honeybee Waltz. From that point onward Bruce accompanied his father as they played the Mraz Ballroom, Lodge 88, and various KC Halls in a 50-mile radius of Houston. Bruce’s intrigue with music, led him to learn the guitar, steel guitar, fiddle, and keyboards.

Singing with a purpose
As with most great bands, time took its toll and The Music Kings disbanded. Bruce continued playing in several country bands both in Central Texas and Houston. In 1996, Bruce decided to focus on playing and singing about God’s grace and love. Being interested in the western culture, he gravitated towards the cowboy churches that were springing up throughout Texas and the west. In 2001 Bruce was attending the Crossroads Cowboy Church in Yoakum and met a lovely lady named Shara. They realized that they shared more than spiritual feelings and were married in 2003.

At that time Bruce was singing with Mike Ables from Bellville in a duo called The Calvary Cowboys. The Christian Country Music Association of Nashville rated them in the top 5 acts in 2004, 2005, and 2006. When Mike stepped down, Shara took his place, and the Pony Express Ministry singing duo was formed.

Bruce and Shara have been traveling the west performing at different venues focusing on “ranch rodeos” which are events that involve real working cowboys and cowgirls. These rodeos are fundraisers for various charities that assist young cattlemen to continue in their chosen field and action groups that assist in livestock disease prevention programs and the protection of western rangeland among many similar worthy causes. While traveling from rodeo to cowboy churches, Bruce and Shara have released four CDs of their music, most of which are original songs.

Polka On! with God
In the last several years to widen the scope of Bruce’s respect for God and his family heritage (Czech), he teamed up with his father to deliver a great instrumental CD of gospel music performed with a polka beat. Kicking off with spirited versions of I’ll Fly Away, Amazing Grace, and The Old Rugged Cross to name a few, the CD is an intriguing listen. Named S Pánem Bohem: Sunday Polka, it features St. Mary’s Church near Hallettsville, and is the perfect music to listen to on the way to church picnics this summer. (S Pánem Bohem is Czech for "Go with God.")

Visit the Pony Express website to learn more about the ministry and purchase their uplifting music.       

Donnie Hons and the Church Picnic Polka

By Gary E. McKee

It’s picnic season again, time to check the tire pressure in the car, and head down the road to a church picnic. To help get you in the mood, order Donnie Hons’ single song cd The Church Picnic Polka from the PolkaBeat store. Also available as a digital download.

Donnie is a singer – songwriter with deep Lavaca County roots. He grew up in the polka/waltz culture, but his musical tastes guided him to an old-school type country music style which perfectly suits his baritone voice. While still in high school, Donnie started singing with the legendary Bobby Lee Nightriders in the Victoria area. Since then he has performed with many country bands and sat in with all flavors of bands at numerous picnics and venues singing and plying his bass. The Nightriders still perform four times a year at Da Costa Hall to packed dance floors as they provide “country and western dancing the way it was meant to be.”

Inspiration in a deer blind         
John Rivard, the former writer for TPN instilled an idea into Donnie’s mind that he should write a song about the church picnics of the area. The idea kept floating around in his brain, until one slow day in a deer blind in the Hill Country, he started jotting down some words for a song. While searching for a melody to put them to, the obvious choice would be a polka beat as that sound is what sets most picnics apart from other gatherings. After smoothing out the lyrics, he enlisted Tommy Detamore of Cherry Ridge Studios in Floresville who contributed his studio and his steel guitar to help bring it together. Chris Rybak showed up to provide the accordion sound and Daniel Jobb of The Red Ravens paired with Donnie’s bass to make the backbone rhythm.

The resulting single, The Church Picnic Polka, is a lively trip around Central Texas as the singer and his date attempt to dance their boots off at all the picnics from Prazska Pout in Praha to Shiner to Hostyn (where Donnie sang the song with the Czechaholics at the recent picnic.) The melody, like the lyrics, incorporates many of the musical styles that will be heard this summer: polka, country steel guitar, and conjunto. You can hear this song on radio shows hosted by Alfred Vrazel, Danny Zapletal, Clinto, and TKO on Texas Thunder.

Where the music's gone
In 2010, Donnie teamed with Joel Nava to record a single “Where the Music’s Gone” which laments the lack of old style country music being played on the radio today. In an interesting twist, he was contacted by Dorin Marincash of Romania (the European country) to get a copy of this song written by Donnie. Dorin is a radio producer that goes by the name “The Transylvanian Cowboy.” Old school country and Texas music has always been by far more popular in Europe than the U.S.

One of Donnie’s next projects will be in the Cowboy Poetry category collaborating with Bobby Flores to record Donnie’s moving poem about a snow-bound Montana Cowboy in 1880 writing a letter back home to his folks at Christmas time.

Donnie Hons can be contacted on Facebook and be seen performing with Gone Country at the Sweet Home Dance Hall, so get a hold of his Church Picnic Polka cd and see how many of the picnics that he sings about you can make this summer. Check out the list of church picnics on polkabeat.com.

New pages, advertisers on polkabeat.com

Polkabeat.com is tickled pink to announce some cool additions to the website. First, welcome to new home page advertisers Texas Slavic and German Warehouse and John Dujka's Saturday Morning Polka Show on 1390 KULP in El Campo. TSG has a great online store filled with all things Polish (Polska), Czech, German, Texan, and everything for your home bar and man cave! John Dujka is now flying solo on the KULP Saturday morning polka show. His wife, Julie, decided to pursue other interests after 11 1/2 years of co-hosting the show with John. He says you'll love the new format and encourages requests submitted by Thursday evening to be included on the Saturday show. Contact him at johndujka@mac.com or call 979-830-0309.

New pages on the site will make it easier than ever to keep your dance schedule up to date. The Church Picnics page lists the events during picnic season in Texas held from April through October. The Texas and US Festivals page keeps tabs on music festivals throughout the year. Great resource to plan your travels.

To launch the Church Picnics page, we put together a video to the tune of Church Picnic Polka, written and performed by Donnie Hons. His new song is available on CD single or digital download in the Polka On! Store. Get yourself a cold pivo and some fried chicken and enjoy the video!

26th Annual Accordion Kings & Queens June 6

Texas Folklife will bring its annual celebration of the state’s accordion roots music to Houston’s Miller Outdoor Theatre on Saturday, June 6, at 7:00 p.m. In keeping with its mission to preserve and present Texas’s diverse musical heritage, the festival will feature stars and legends in polka, Cajun zydeco, and conjunto. This year’s accordion stars will include Debra Peters and the Love Saints, Jerome Batiste and the Zydeko Players, and the Grammy-winning Los Texmaniacs and special guests National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellow Flaco Jiménez, Augie Meyers, and Rick Treviño. The accordion stars will be joined onstage by this year’s Big Squeeze Grand Prize Winners: Elizabeth Kelley (Cajun/Zydeco), Brandon Hodde (Polka) performing with the All Around Czechs, and Rito Peña (Conjunto). 

The Grammy-winning Los Texmaniacs hardly need an introduction. The band is comprised of founder Max Baca on bajo sexto, Josh Baca on accordion, Noel Hernandez on electric bass, and Daniel Martinez on the drums. Los Texmaniacs won the 2010 Grammy award for Best Tejano Album, Borders y Bailes, on the Smithsonian Folkways label. Their sound has been called “hip music everybody can relate to” and is comprised of conjunto, rock, and rhythm and blues. Los Texmaniacs will be joined onstage by National Heritage Fellow Flaco Jiménez, who recently won a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and has been called the “King of Conjunto,” Augie Meyers, and Rick Treviño. It will be a special night as the new Texmaniacs CD, Americano Groove, will be released. The album was produced by Steve Berlin (of Los Lobos), and includes vocals from a roster of Texas music royalty: Alejandro Escovedo, Joe Ely, Kevin Fowler, and Rick Trevino. Additional guest musicians include David Hidalgo (Los Lobos), Steve Berlin, and Augie Meyers. It's a mix of five traditional conjunto tracks, three country tracks, and four others that blur genres between rock and TexMex.

Jerome Batiste and the Zydeko Players will bring the Cajun/zydeco beat to the festival this year. Batiste has described himself as a “Creole Cowboy,” and has described the type of music he and his band play as a little bit of everything—Cajun, Creole, jazz, zydeco, blues, rock & roll, and reggae. Based in Crosby, Texas—on the Louisiana side of Houston—the band spreads the gospel of Zydeco Nation throughout the region.

Debra Peters and the Love Saints hail from Austin where they perform a mix of sounds—blues, zydeco, polka, western swing, and classic country. The band has traveled around the globe playing their blend of Texas roots music. Ms. Peters is also an educator. She has created a series of educational videos and teaches the accordion with a special emphasis on encouraging young women to take up the national instrument of Texas.

This year’s event will again be co-emceed by writers and radio hosts Joe Nick Patoski and Tony Diaz. The festival is free and open to the music-loving public. Festivalgoers wanting seats in the pavilion area can pick up their free tickets the day of the festival at the Miller Box Office or become members of Texas Folklife and receive reserved tickets in advance.

One of the important ways Texas Folklife carries out its mission is by introducing the culture bearers of the past to the culture bearers of the future. This will be on display at the 26th annual Accordion Kings & Queens Festival as the three young winners from the Big Squeeze Accordion Contest take to the stage to play with these powerhouse performers. Not only will the young players benefit from this joyous musical connection, but those lucky enough to be in the audience will have the opportunity to witness this generational passing of the torch.

“We are very much looking forward to this year’s Accordion Kings and Queens Festival,” said Executive Director Cristina Ballí. “The concert was started with the idea of promoting the accordion and its role in the different genres of roots music found throughout the state. It has become a full-out celebration of that music, featuring musical legends and stars, and it also has become the breeding ground for the next generation of squeezeboxers with our newly crowned Big Squeeze Champs taking to the stage. And we are thrilled that Los Texmaniacs is using the Festival this year to release their new CD. It will be a joyous night of celebrating all things accordion—with dancing and merry-making, all under the stars in Houston, Texas. Put on your dancing shoes or boots and join us!”  

Celebrate with Accordion Stars in Vegas

The 16th Annual Las Vegas International Accordion Convention will be held June 22-25, 2015, at the Gold Coast Hotel located at 4000 West Flamingo Blvd., in Las Vegas, Nevada.  Sponsored by Accordions International, this year celebrates the return to a summer event with the theme “Summer Solstice.”  Notable this year is nearly a complete new lineup of accordion stars!

Two-time Grammy winner Riders in the Sky (Nashville, TN) is set to open the event on Monday evening, June 22.  Grayson Masefield (Zurich, Switzerland), five-time world champion and the only person to have won both the Virtuoso and Entertainment categories of the prestigious Accordion Coupe Mondiale (CIA) will be performing Tuesday evening.  Also set for Tuesday evening, Mary Tokarski (Northford, CT), Accordions International 2015 Honorary Director will be performing.  The famous group EUROPA (Orlando, FL) will be performing Wednesday evening plus the legendary Joey Miskulin will appear.  Thursday evening will feature the 8th installment of the Las Vegas International Accordion Orchestra under the direction of the esteemed Joan Cochran Sommers. 

Completing the lineup of stars are Paul Betken (Phoenix, AZ), Jerry Cigler (Chicago, IL), Gina Brannelli, Gordon Kohl, Stas Venglevski, plus Vegas comedian Pete Barbutti!  There will be dancing Wednesday night to Europa. 

Registration fee for the event includes 7 superb Las Vegas banquet meals with concerts plus over 40 workshops and master classes taught by top experts.

Visit AccordionStars.com for complete pricing options, or contact the Las Vegas International Accordion Convention at +1 801-486-1695 for personal assistance.