Copyright 2008 Polish American Journal
last update 29 April 2008
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With Wildwood gone and others maybe joining that list, people should grab what is here. And, what is here is the Polka Fireworks at the Seven Springs Mountain Resort in Champion, PA. The Polka Fireworks is truly the queen of festivals with live music in several venues, Polka Workshops, poolside parties, Jam sessions, and more, all at a 14,000 acre resort that allows you to park your car and not need it until you leave for home. Polka Fireworks! A fest for all people.
For more information visit WWW.POLKAFIREWORKS.COM
CONSHOHOCKEN, PA. --St. Mary's Parish, Oak & Hector Streets, will hold their annual Parish Festival, June 8, with music by the Johnny O'Such band. A Polish Kitchen, games, music and more will be featured from Noon to 7 p.m. Call: 610-828-0260.
NEW STANTON, PA.It will be honky style polkas on Sunday, May 11, 2008 at the Yukon Slovenian Hall for their annual Mother’s Day Polka Celebration. Music will be by Andy Fenus & the Treltones with dancing from 3 to 7 p.m. Gates open at 2 p.m.
Bring Mom out for a great Sunday afternoon of polka Music, with dancing, door prizes, chocolates, gift cards, flowers and more. The hall is located three miles West on Route 70 from the New Stanton Exit of the PA Turnpike.
HARRISVILLE, RI -- Polka Paul will be hosting a dinner dance at Wright’s Farm Restaurant in Harrisville, RI, on Wed., May 7, 2008. Marty Swiatek & RBO (The Rich Bobinski Orchestra) will provide music for dancing and listening pleasure. Dinner will be served at 12:00 Noon and dancing will take place from 1:00-4:00 p.m.
Polka Paul and The Polka Paul Show are heard on WNRI 1380 AM from Woonsocket, RI, on Sunday mornings from 11:00 a.m. until 12:00 Noon. Polka Paul and The Polka Paul Show are sponsoring the dinner/dance.
The dinner will feature Wright’s Farm Restaurant’s famous chicken dinner, which includes salad, rolls, chicken, shells, fries, coffee, tea, and ice cream. Other beverages are available at a separate price. The meal will be served family style and is all-you-can-eat.
For more information, call Polka Paul at 508-294-1512, Marty at 203-720-1294, or June at 860-536-2452. The admission ticket will be used to draw winners of the door prizes. Prizes include a $100.00 cash prize, 2 $50.00 cash prizes, 2 $25.00 cash prizes, and 2 $25.00 Wright’s Farm Restaurant dinner vouchers.
The dinner/dance will be held in the Main Banquet Room, and Wright’s Farm Restaurant is located at 84 Inman Rd, Harriville, RI.
For more information about Marty Swiatek & RBO, visit their website at www.martyswiatekandrbo.com
On behalf of Full Circle and all the polka entertainers who performed on our sold out “Polka Cruise with the Stars” this past February, thanks again for being part of a most memorable trip! If you'd like to join us again, or missed the last adventure in paradise, we’re very excited to announce that everything's set for our 7-night “Polka Cruise with the Stars II” next January 24 – 31, 2009.
Join us on board the brand-new, luxurious MSC Orchestra as we sail from Fort Lauderdale to Key West, Cozumel (Mexico), Georgetown (Grand Cayman), and MSC’s private port in the Dominican Republic, Cayo Levantado. The MSC Orchestra was just built in 2007, has all the state-of-the-art amenities, and is coming to the Caribbean for the first time!
The cruise will feature our signature cocktail parties, fun and games with DJ Steve Matousek, and live polka parties with Full Circle starring Polka Hall of Famers Lenny Gomulka, Jimmy Weber, Al Piatkowski with Mike Stapinski, Roger Malinowski & Mike Matousek. There will also be another great guest band featuring Rick Piotrowski, Steve Dudas & Brad Turk. Even Polka Hall of Famer and legendary front man of The New Brass, Mitch Biskup, will be on board to perform!. As a special bonus, MSC invited baseball greats Rick Burleson, Ken Griffey Sr., Andre Dawson, Gary Peters, and Stan Bahnsen to share their baseball expertise, stories, and autographs with the cruisers!
Professional travel agent Helga Leonard is an avid polka fan and dancer and the owner of “A Dream Trip 4 U” travel agency in the Pittsburgh area. MSC has allowed us to block 150 cabins however deposits are needed to hold reservations. For pricing and information, call Helga at: 724.234.2033 as soon as possible. Email her at: helga@adreamtrip4u.com with any questions and be sure to visit the gonefullcircle website, www.gonefullcircle.com, for more cruise news.
STREAMWOOD, IL. –K & C Entertainment has released two new compact discs, Grammy Gold and Hooray 4 Honky.
Grammy Gold features 22 polka hits by Jimmy Sturr and his Orchestra. With 16 Grammy wins to his name, the Sturr Orchestra is on the top-ten list of all-time Grammy Awards and has acquired more Grammy Nominations than anyone in the history of musical polka awards.
K & C’s own Keith Stras can been seen each week on the Jimmy Sturr TV show on RFD-TV network, a network devoted to rural America.
Hooray for Honky is an all-new live CD featuring 22 tracks by Ray “J,” Stephanie, Chet Kowalkowski, Casey Homel, Hank Guzevich, Keith Stras and others. Mixed and mastered by Gary Rhamy of Peppermint, no aficionado of honky style polka music should be without this CD.
Just like its predecessor, Honky Holiday, this disc brings you all the fun and excitement as it was recorded, “live” at the “hub of polka activity,” Chicago’s Crown Jewel, Glendora Banquets, and it features the hit tune, “Hooray 4 Honky.”
For ordering details visit: www.kncentertains.com or by calling toll free: 866.269.6746.
BINGHAMTON, NY -- PAJ Polka Editor, Steve Litwin, is now on MYSPACE. To augment the polka related sites he currently maintains on the internet, Litwin established a site on MYSPACE to publicize his love for the concertina and polka music.
Involved with polka music for over 40 years, Steve Litwin and his wife, Adele, started the "Concertina Jam" as part of the Polka Fireworks festival, at the Seven Springs Resort, in 1984.
Concertina Jam 2008, the 25th year, will take place Friday, July 4 at the Polka Fireworks event.
visit www.myspace.com/concertinaman.
BRIDGEVIEW, Ill.--Eddie Blazonczyk's Versatones head to the islands, October 11-18, 2008, on a Polka Cruise. Joining them will be The Knewz of Buffalo and Dave "Scrubby" Seweryniak.
Cruise aboard the NCL Pride of America with The Nation's No. 1 polka band. For more information and on the 2008 Hawaiian Polka Cruise, please e-mail your name, address, phone and nearest airport to: belaire7208@aol.com or write: Bel-Aire Enterprises, 7208 South Harlem Avenue, Bridgeview, IL 60455.
Searching through a multi-collection of polka related items, PAJ Polka Editor Steve Litwin came across a unique piece of polka history from his days in the Buffalo, NY area. This item, now over 38 years old, has been scanned and posted Litwin's personal POLKAEDITOR.COM site.
The 34th Annual Polka Fireworks Festival will take place Wednesday July 2nd thru Sunday July 6th 2008 at The Seven Springs Mountain Resort in Champion, PA. The festival will present 18 of the Nation's Top Bands including: Eddie Blazonczyk's Versatones,(Fri & Sat),The Knewz, (Fri & Sat), Stephanie and her Honky Band, (Sat), Tony's Polka Band, (Fri), The Maestro's Men, (Fri & Sat), The Dynabrass, (Fri & Sat), Henny & the Versa Js, (Sun), Charlie Tansek & Chicago Traditon, (Sun), Pan Franek & the PolkaTowners, (Fri), The Polka Family, (Thur & Sun), Stas Golonka & The Chicago Masters, (Sat), Touch of Brass, (Fri), Ray Jay & the Carousels, (Thurs), DJ Ken Olowin, (Wed, Thurs, Sun), Polka Freak Out, (Fri), Ethnic Jazz, (Sat), Mon Valley Push, (Fri), Odessa Klezmer Band, (Sat), and the Buffalo Concertina All-Stars, (Sun).
Wednesday evening will offer a Welcome party at poolside with DJ Kenny Olowin. The Tour de Dance Pennsylvania State Polka Contest will take place Saturday, July 5 and Polka Fireworks' Pool Parties will feature DJ Kenny Olowin on Wednesday and Thursday, The Knewz on Friday, and The Dynabrass on Saturday. After Hours Jam Sessions are scheduled daily.
As in previous years, the "School of Polka" - Polka Music Workshops will take place on Friday and Saturday. Bring your instruments along for FREE instruction by your favorite performing musicians!
For more details visit: WWW.POLKAFIREWORKS.COM.
BINGHAMTON, NY --It began in 1984 as a small room party and now the Concertina Jam session is marking its 25th year as part of the annual Polka Fireworks Festival at the Seven Springs Mountain Resort in Champion, Pennsylvania.
For the past 24 years, more than 140 different concertina players from all over the United States have been a part of this jam session which has developed a loyal, almost cult-like, following among musicians and fans alike.
Steve and Adele Litwin have worked to keep the Jam what it was meant to be and are proud that there is no other "personally sponsored" concertina Jam like this in the field. It features the music from the core of their Polish heritage, played on the instrument they love, in a venue that is reminiscent of the village music of Poland.
Concertina Jam 2008, the 25th year, will take place Friday, July 4 at the Polka Fireworks festival, at the Seven Springs Resort, Champion, PA.
The Pillar Polkabration remains the longest running polka music festival in America with this years’ event bringing thousands of polka fans from throughout the nation to Uncasville, CT for non-stop polka entertainment.
Polka fans arrived early Friday afternoon. They navigated their way through the slot machines, restaurants and shops to stand vigil at the doors to the luxurious air-conditioned Uncas Ballroom. Dick & Jo Anne Pillar opened the doors at 4pm and personally welcomed everyone to these years’ festival. Soon the tables were full and the music began with Eddie Forman, Lenny Gomulka’s Chicago Push, and The Polka Family Band.
Saturday began promptly at 11am and within a few hours set a record attendance at the Mohegan Sun Uncas Ballroom. Saturday’s line up included Dennis Polisky and the Maestro’s Men, followed by Walt Groller, Henny & Versa J’s, Pan Franek’s Polka Towners, Eddie Blazonczyk’s Versatones, Charm City Sound, Dynabrass and Polka Country Musicians.
Throughout the day several polka personalities recognized Dick Pillar as he celebrated his 50th year promoting and producing polka music and polka events. Connecticut State Representative Kevin Ryan was on hand to personally present Dick with an Official Citation from the State of Connecticut in Recognition of Dick’s 50th Year Anniversary of Entertaining & Promoting Polka Music. Jack Baciewski, Peter Danielczyk and Jim Kucharski, representing the Polka Jammer Network, presented Dick with the first “Polka Jammy”, a plaque commemorating his legendary 50-year commitment to polka music. Also presenting Dick with a congratulatory plaque, were polka DJ’s Steve & Cathy Coblish from Ballston Lake, NY. Tish and Eddie Blazonczyk of Illinois sent a Crystal Covered Bowl along with congratulatory wishes with the Versatones. Dick has received many notes and congratulatory messages from polka personalities and fans throughout the country on this notable achievement. Sunday’s line-up proved once again, that, if you provide quality entertainment, the fans would follow. Hundreds of fans filled the ballroom to hear the sounds of their favorite bands, Stephanie’s Honkey Band, Ampol Aires, Phocus, Eddie Biegaj Crusade, Walt Wagner’s Serenaders and closing out this years’ festivities was Pan Franek’s Polka Towners.
The 43rd Annual Polkabration will be held in the plush Uncas Ballroom at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, CT., Saturday & Sunday - July 26 & 27, 2008. Make your vacation-reunion plans now! Polkabration flyers will be available in March 2008.
Dick & JoAnne Pillar announce, yet another, Anniversary Celebration for 2008, The 75th Pillar Polkabration Weekend at the Fallsview Resort & Spa, Ellenville, NY will take place Friday, Saturday, Sunday October 10, 11, 12, 2008.
We look forward to many more years of hospitality with Dick & Joanne, and Congratulate Dick on this achievement - 50 years presenting polka music.
For more information on all Pillar Polkabration Events visit our website: www.dickpillar.com or contact us at “Pillar’s Palace”, 36 Occum Lane, Uncasville, CT 06382 -1710, Telephone 860-848-8171
Make plans to attend the 11th Annual Adirondack Polka Festival in Old Forge New York (approx. 45 minutes north of Utica, New York).
Dave Sychtysz of Syracuse is the new host and will present "The Knewz" and "The Eddie Forman Orchestra" on Saturday and "Lenny Gomulka and Chicago Push" and "The Polka Family Band" on Sunday. Both days feature continous music for dancing from 1-9pm. A Polka Mass will be held at noon on Sunday featuring "The Polka Family."
The event at the Hiltebrant Recreation Center features a HUGE dance floor, Polish and American Food and beverages.
For more information regarding buses, motel lodging and tickets contact Dave at 315- 699-1708.
The Polish Connection Band from Central Wisconsin has released a new compact disc entitled Good Clean Fun.
This 14 track recording features Russ Mancl on drums and vocals, Ron Raczkowski on trumpet, Wally Raczkowski on trumpet, clarinet, alto sax and vocals, Paul Schulfer on concertina and vocals, Mike Schumacher on accordion, and Curt Traska on bass and vocals. Mitch Kempinski adds his touch on piano, guitar and strings while the clarinet expertise of Eddie Siwiec can be heard on "Get Acquainted."
On Calf's Head Records the recording and engineering was done by Jeff Mleczko with Gary Rhamy's Peppermint Studio handling the mixing and mastering.
For more information on the band and Good Clean Fun, visit the band's website, www.polishconnection.com. or email: walrazz@charter.net.
The legendary Li'l Wally made several appearances on the Lawrence Welk TV show, promoting Polish Polka music. Here is just one video cut on Youtube with Wally at his best.Li'l Wally on Welk Show on Youtube..
The Nickel City Notes of Buffalo, New York announced the release of their first CD entitled Spare Change. This CD spotlights the talent of Frank Zeczak (Clarinet, Sax, Trumpet, and Vocals), Dennis Paner (Trumpet and Vocals), Larry Chadwick (Bass and Vocals), Mike Kurdziel (Drums and Vocals), Casey Klizak (Concertina) and Mike Nowakowski (Piano/Keyboard). Spare Change was recorded at My House Productions, engineered by Mike Nowak and Bruce Nowak, mixed by Mike Nowak, with Larry Chadwick the Producer and Mike Nowakowski the Executive Producer. This CD is released on Sunshine, SNCD-232, P.O. Box 652, West Seneca, NY 14221, www.sdemusic.com.
Spare Change features the following songs:
Rick Piotrowski, leader of the Florida based Orlando Polkamagic Band, has confirmed rumors of the band’s termination, and is announcing his retirement from polka music in Florida, effective after the OPM’s final performance on Feb. 3, 2008.
Piotrowski attributed his decision to disband and retire after 40 years in polka field to the ever increasing travel expenses, costs to maintain the band, the difficulty in finding good musicians willing to travel, and career and family conflicts.
Originally from Utica, N.Y., Piotrowski started in the polka industry in 1968 at the age of 11, and in that time played in his local family band from Utica as a youngster, and a three year stint with the Dynatones before relocating to Florida in 1980. He has played with such greats as Lil’Wally, Marion Lush, Eddie Blazonczyk’s Versatones, and “Connecticut Stas’ Przasnyski. Piotrowski started OPM in 1990, and the band has played in 11 states across the Midwest and Northeast, in addition to virtually everywhere in their home state of Florida. They have three CD releases to their credit.
Piotrowski plans on staying active in the music industry with some future recording projects, doing some occasional gigs with a Orlando based pop/jazz group, and also plans on rejoining his amateur senior baseball team, as well as doing some traveling with his wife Lauri.
The group has put together a finale weekend in January, taking them to the Villages on Thursday, Jan. 3, Eustis, Fl. Friday, Jan. 4., Daytona Beach Saturday, Jan. 5, and Cape Coral on Sunday, Jan. 6. Their final performance will be at the Vero Beach Polish American Club on Sunday, Feb.3. , which seems a fitting place to end, since this is where the band played it’s first job in April of 1990. The following week, Feb. 9-16, Piotrowski will join Lenny Gomulka, Jimmy Weber, Al Piatkowski, Mike Matousek, Joe Oberatis, and others, on a polka cruise with the stars, then officially begin his retirement.
Rick Piotrowski would like to thank all the band’s friends and fans, clubs and promoters, for all their support throughout the years, and especially his fellow OPM band members, past and present, for their hard work, sacrifice, time away from their families, and unselfish giving of their talents for these past eighteen years.
Dziekuje I Bog Zaplac’ !!!
Lights at Christmas,like the shining star, make the holiday bright with joy, family, friendship, sharing and love. Christmas Lights, the holiday offering by Charm City Sound does all this and more. From the dynamic voice of Mike Matousek, to the powerful brass of Mike Ziemski and John Miconi, to the vocal and keyboard magic of Nick Disebastiano, to the drumwork of Dave Burnatowski, to the reeds of Stephen Kaminski, to the great Jimmy Weber vocals, this 14 track CD will brighten everyone's Christmas season.
Hot and up first is "Christmas Lights," the title tune, followed by a variety of new and traditional songs of the season. "Dzisiaj w Betlejem" with Matousek's dynamic vocal is followed by Weber on "How Lovely is Christmas," two alone worth the price of the recording. "The First Six Letters of Christmas" should not only be a CSS tune but deserves to be covered by other groups outside the polka field. DJs must give this one plenty of play. Weber gives "Zebym Mi Santa Claus," a Jay Jay gem, that special touch, while Disebastiano makes "Santa's Wish" his tune. "What Christmas Means to Me," "Brenda's Ballet," and "Song For a Winter's Night" also need special mention here.
Charm City Sound and the West Wood Music Group are on the business end of this product with Matousek and Kaminski the producers.
Christmas Lights! Let them give your holiday that special special Christmas glow with Christmas Lights!
Visit: www.charmcitysound.com or email: mike@charmcitysound.com
BUFFALO, N.Y. -As a follow-up to its highly-successful 1994 release, Polish Village Christmas, the Polish American Journal has released the second in its collection of favorite Polish American Christmas carols, Polish Village Christmas, Vol. II.
This CD features performances by four Polka Music Hall of Fame artists: Lenny Gomulka, Mitch Biskup, Jackie Libera, and Mike Nowakowski; and award-winning musicians and vocalists John Bartley, Eddie Biegaj, Patricia Blust, John Jaworski, Kyle Kohan, Mark Kohan, Jim Kucharski, Joe Macielag, Robin Pegg, and Larry Trojak. (See Biographies below for more information on each artist).
Unlike the first Christmas CD, which reanimated some lost and obscure koledy (carols), the new recording contains nineteen favorites, songs that form the book of standard Polish carols.
Since the Middle Ages, carols have been at the heart of the Polish Christmas. First known records of melodies and texts date back to the 15th and 16th centuries, some even earlier.
There are two distinct types of Polish carols: the koledy, or church carols; and pastoralki, folk songs also referred to as "shepherd's" carols. Both are featured on the new recording.
Koledy, among the most beautiful and moving of Polish carols, can trace their origins largely to monks in cloisters. The hymn "Aniol pasterzom mowil" ("Shepherds Heard the Angels Say"), for example, is a Polish translation of a Latin carol.
Although both forms are religious in context, the pastoralki are based on lively rhythmic dance forms, such as the "Krakowiak" or the "Mazurka." These lively carols are suitable for family singing around a Christmas tree and at social gatherings such caroling from home to home or at Christmas plays and pageants. Imaginative, their lyrics relate the story of the Nativity through familiar surroundings. In pastoralki, shepherds are the first to greet Jesus, a Polish fiddler lulls the newborn Savior to sleep, and Bethlehem is a village in Poland.
In addition to church and folk origins, many others carols are based on verses and prayers written by Poland's great poets.
The first Christmas recording featured performers mainly from the Buffalo area. In addition to Western New York favorites Joe Macielag, Robin Pegg, and Mark and Kyle Kohan, this follow-up project is national in scope, adding vocalists and musicians from Chicago, Minneapolis, Toledo, and Ludlow, Mass.
"This combination of talent and traditional material makes this CD a winner before the shrink-wrap is removed," said PAJ Polka Magazine editor Steve Litwin. "Growing up with this music and these musicians adds to the spirit of the project; it's one I wholly recommend to all."
PVC II is available from the Polish American Journal, P.O. Box 328, Boston, NY 14025, on-line at www.polamjournal.com, or by calling (800) 422-1275. The CD is $15.00 plus $6.95 for shipping and handling.
Established in 1911, the Polish American Journal is the nation's largest independent monthly Polish American newspaper published in the English language. Each edition contains informative articles by award-winning writers in all fields of interest to Americans of Polish descent, including Book Reviews, Folklore, Religion, Sports, History, News from Poland, Genealogy, and more. A one-year (12 issues) subscription is $20.00.
Biographies
John Bartley
John Bartley came to Buffalo from Detroit in 1974. Throughout Western New York, he has played a variety of venues, including classical concerts, strolling violin, and a ten-year stint as fiddler in the celebrated Happy Richie's Polka Band. Bartley's passionate performances always reveal a frank, instinctive commitment to the music. Bartley performed on the PAJ's Polish Village Christmas CD.
Eddie Biegaj
Toledo native Eddie Biegaj has been an entertainer ever since he picked up his first instrument in second grade. This gifted vocalist and musician and has earned himself and his bands recognition from every major polka organization, a Grammy nomination, and scores of awards and honors. The founder of the nationally-acclaimed Crusade, Biegaj has also performed with the Twilighters, Polka Peddlers, Troubadours, and Holy Toledo, and was a co-founder of Polka Motion. Whether in church as a cantor or behind a concertina at a polka festival, Biegaj's charisma is fueled by his dedication to his music, heritage, family and fans.
Patricia Blust
Patricia Kaminski Blust has been teaching instrumental strings at Frontier Middle School, Hamburg, N.Y., since 2000. She graduated with her Bachelor's degree in Music Education from SUNY Potsdam and the Crane School of Music, and Master's degree in Music Education from SUNY at Fredonia. A Frontier Middle School, she is assistant director of the fiddle club and co-advisor of the Music Club. Blust teaches cello and viola privately, and has been manager of the Southtowns Youth Orchestra since 2003.
Mitch Biskup
Mitch Biskup was born in Montreal, Canada. After moving to the United States and while in his teens, he became a member of the original Golden Brass polka band in 1969. The name of the group was later changed to the New Brass with Biskup serving as musician, vocalist, composer and master-of-ceremonies. Numerous recordings were produced as the band performed at most of the outstanding festivals and polka events in the country. For his efforts in the Polka industry, Biskup was accorded the highest honor of being inducted into the International Polka Music Hall of Fame in 1995. Although semi- retired from the polka scene, he still enjoys involvement in charitable and promotional events that positively impact the preservation of polka music. His charm and ability to remember names along with his gift of handling a microphone is still remembered throughout the Polka field.
Lenny Gomulka
As of the year 2007, Lenny has been a professional musician for 45 years. From being inducted into the International Polka Music Hall of Fame he has received every Polka Music Award possible and has garnered 12-Grammy Nominations. Gomulka has functioned as a studio musician and is heard on more polka recordings than anyone in polka music. He is the proud dad of a beautiful daughter Gina and a little son Teddy who was affectionately named after his Grandpa Ted Gomulka. Lenny enjoys all different styles and types of polka music and is the originator of the Push-Style polka sound of which he coined the term decades ago. Gomulka has been titled the most respected musician in polka music today. More on Lenny can be found at www.chicagopush.com.
John Jaworski
In his thirty-plus years of performing, John Jaworski has sung, played, and recorded with such groups as the Keynotes, Chi-Town Express, Stas Golonka, Stas Bulanda, and several more from the Chicago area. His latest recording was as a member of the Three Polish Tenors on Chicago Records. One of his musical achievements of which he is most proud was an old- country style album on which he collaborated and performed with Chet Kowalkowski. It was chosen by the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. as a recording which best typifies the Polish folk genre. Jaworski retired from the profession of teaching in June of 2006 after 34 years of service. He became a new dziadzia in February of last year. His family has been his greatest influence in keeping this great musical tradition alive.
Kyle Kohan
Kyle Kohan is no stranger to polkas and Polish folk music. An instrumental music teacher, she studied Polish ethnography, becoming a specialist several years ago in the vast body of Oskar Kolberg's research. Kohan was a member of Buffalo's Steel City Brass for over 20 years and has performed on over a dozen recordings. A board member of the Erie County Music Educators Association, she is also director of the Boston Town Band, and has performed with numerous orchestras in and around Western New York.
Mark Kohan
Mark Kohan has been performing and recording polkas and Polish folk music for over 31 years, 29 of those as leader of the Steel City Brass. Through the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, and private funding, he has served as project coordinator, producer, and guest artist for numerous workshops, publications, and recording sessions, including the Polkas For Children recordings. Inducted in the Buffalo Music Hall of Fame in 2003, he is the recipient of numerous awards and honors for his work as a musician, journalist, and historian.
Jim Kucharski
Jim Kucharski has been playing upright bass and bass guitar in the polka business for 20 years. He has performed with many Chicago area polka bands through the years, including Stas Golonka, The Ampol-Aires, Freeze Dried, and many others. Jim is also Program Director of the Polka Jammer Network (www.polkajammer.org), an up and coming Internet polka radio site. This CD mark's Jim's 25th album recording to date.
Jackie Libera
Jackie Libera has been performing for 37 years with”among others”Heavy Chicago, Bay State IV, Jackie Libera & the Classix, and Maestro's Men. He has played on over 20 recordings for these bands and others, two of them were Grammy nominated. Libera was inducted into the IPA Hall of Fame in 2003 and has been a polka radio DJ on WESO in Southbridge, Mass. for almost 40 years.
Joe Macielag
For over fifty years, the name of Joe Macielag has been synonymous with polka music in Western New York. The leader of the Pic-A-Polka Orchestra is perhaps best known for his television show that aired in Buffalo in the 1960s with polka legend Frank Wojnarowski. Macielag and the orchestra has performed across the United States and Canada. The band's three recordings are considered among the best Eastern style polka recordings to come out of Buffalo. He is a past five-term president of the Western New York Division of the Polish American Congress, Inc. (PAC) and presently is a National Director of the PAC. In addition, Macielag still serves as a founding Director of the American Polish Advisory Council, a Board member of the National Polish American-Jewish American Council, and numerous other professional, fraternal, and choral groups. He is a popular lecturer and guest speaker on Polish folk music and history.
Mike Nowakowski
Michael Nowakowski has been involved in the polka field for over 40 years. President and executive producer of the Sunshine Label, he was inducted into the Polka Music Hall of Fame in 2005. To Nowakowski's credit, the Sunshine label has had nine Grammy-nominated recordings to date. Nowakowski himself received a nomination in 2002 for his accordion work on Jerry Darlak & the Buffalo Touch band's album Let the Good Times Roll and again in 2003 with their album Polkas in Black & White. Over the years, he has performed and recorded with such groups as the Modernaires, Dynatones, and Sunshine.
Robin Pegg
In 2008, Robin Pegg will observe his 40th year as a musician. He began his polka career in 1973 with Matt Wasielewski & the Polka Jets, then moved on to appear with such bands as the Trel-Tones, Invictas, Sounds, Dynatones, Big Steve & The Bellares, and most recently with PhoCus. He has had the pleasure of recording with Li'l Wally Jagiello, and has performed with such legendary artists as Marion Lush and Eddie Blazonczyk. He is the recipient of a Grammy award for his work on the recording Walter Ostanek and Friends.
Pegg released two recordings of his own, Me, Myself and I, and Going Out In Style, which was the first CD ever released nationally by simulcast with 30 polka IJs, DJs, and promoters.
Professionally, he has worked over 21 years in the electronic security industry.
Larry Trojak
Larry Trojak is a Buffalo-born singer/songwriter who was active in the polka field from the late 1960s until moving to Minnesota in 1989. One of the founding members of the Dyna-Tones, he appeared on a number of that group's LPs and was one of the driving forces behind the groundbreaking LP Live Wire (Volumes I and II). Today he lives in Ham Lake, Minnesota with his wife Karen and daughters Natalie and Maryssa, heads up his own marketing communications company, and dabbles in the occasional polka project.
As reported in the Baltimore Sun, Blob's Park in Jessup, MD is expected to close this winter, however a date has not been announced.
A family-owned and run park on a farm was founded over 70 years by Max Blob in 1933 and has been a mainstay with its German-style beer garden atmosphere. Featuring music and good times for all the park will be demolished to make way for a new development.
By popular demand, Dick Pillar brings back the musical sounds and excitement of The Golden Brass from their original Steljo hit, Polka Star Series LP recording on CD format.
Presenting the excellent musical sounds on this album are: Mitch Biskub on bass, Bill Czupta the arranger, on lead accordion, Steve Dudas on trumpet, Carl Hoynowski on trumpet, Tom Kostek on rhythm accordion, Roger Lichwala on drums and Ken Morey on piano. Bill are Carl are also featured on the vocals.
This recording features 12 fabulous selections which have captured the thrill and excitement of The Gold Brass, which made them an instant polka sensation.
Write: Steljo Recordings, 36 Occum Lane, Uncasville, CT 06383. On the internet visit the Pillar website at: www.dickpillar.com.
WRYM radio, located in the Hartford, CT area started to air the syndicated Jimmy Sturr Radio show on Sunday, October 21, 2007. Sturr's show, a one-hour show presently being heard on 23 stations around the country, will air from 6:30 to 7:30 every Sunday morning. This is the same station that broadcast "live" from the Hartford Polish Home with John Jeski for nearly 30 years. The station covers a large listening area going as far north as Springfield/Southbridge, Mass and as far south as Bridgeport, Conn. Going to the west it can be listened to in Danbury and as far east as New London, Conn.
If you live in that area, join Jimmy Sturr every Sunday morning at 6:30 a.m. The station is located at 840 on your AM dial. The show will soon move to a later spot in the day.
Make plans to attend the 11th Annual Adirondack Polka Festival in Old Forge New York (approx. 45 minutes north of Utica, New York).
Dave Sychtysz of Syracuse is the new host and will present "The Knewz" and "The Eddie Forman Orchestra" on Saturday and "Lenny Gomulka and Chicago Push" and "The Polka Family Band" on Sunday. Both days feature continous music for dancing from 1-9pm. A Polka Mass will be held at noon on Sunday featuring "The Polka Family."
The event at the Hiltebrant Recreation Center features a HUGE dance floor, Polish and American Food and beverages.
For more information regarding buses, motel lodging and tickets contact Dave at 315- 699-1708.
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FLORIDA, N.Y. --Rounder Records has just released a brand new recording by Jimmy Sturr and his orchestra called Come Share The Wine. The new CD includes 14 brand new songs including the title cut, "Come Share the Wind." Also included on the brand new CD are songs like "Dominique," "Not Suppose To," "Red Wing," plus nine more tunes, including a great rendition of "Come Share the Wine as a polka. Contact: Starr Records, Box 1, Florida, NY 10921.
FLORIDA, N.Y. –K & C Records has released a CD called Grammy Gold featuring Jimmy Sturr & his Orchestra. The recording was originally released in album form,. Now its available for the first time on CD. The new recording was previously release on two albums, I Remember Warsaw and A Polka Just For Me. Both recordings won Grammys for Jimmy and the Band. Write: Starr-Records, Box 1, Florida, NY 10921.
Eddie Cnota and the C-Notes recorded an LP which was released on Ridgemoor Records featuring vocalist Florian Dynek. The lyrics and music were mostly original. It was successful and soon another album was recorded but never released. The company ran into financial difficulties and folded. It's stock and masters were purchased by Chicago Polkas. The master tape of the second album was missing, however. Lo and behold, after all these years, Florian Dynek came up with a duplicate tape made from the original. Only one selection on this old duplicate was defective. Consequently, it was possible to produce a CD with 23 selections: "Gypsy" polka, "White Blouse" waltz, "Virginia's" oberek, "Searching Girl" polka, "Beanie's" Oberek, "Tell Me My Love" polka, "Let's Be Happy" oberek, "I Love You Dearly" waltz, "Play Musicians" polka, "Boy Talk" oberek, "What Would You Do" polka, "C-Notes" polkas, "When I Leave" polka, "Joe & Jean's" oberek, "Good-Bye" waltz, "Polka Music" polka, "My Heart Tells Me" waltz, "Thank You" polka, "In the Tavern" polka, "For My Lover" polka, "Harvest Time" waltz, "Ladies' Man" polka and "Be My Wife" polka. Seventeen of the above at Polish vocals, on ie Polish-English, and four are instrumentals.
The Concertina All Stars…proudly announce the release of their debut recording entitled Dancing With The All Stars on Sunshine Records.
This collection of 10 polkas, 2 obereks and a waltz will provide enjoyment for every polka fan. Two of the 13 selections on this CD are originals by this group of veteran musicians that hail from the Buffalo, New York area. Although this is The Concertina All Stars’ first recording, the members of this versatile group all come with a wealth of musical experience from bands like Big Steve & The Bellares, Jerry Darlak & The Touch, The Bedrock Boys and The Knewz.
The Concertina All Stars have taken their unique brand of polka music near and far, even traveling abroad to perform in Europe. Personnel on the recording are: Greg Chwojdak Concertina and Vocals, Bob Zielinski Concertina and Vocals, Joe Ryndak Concertina, Dale Wojdyla Trumpet and Vocals, Ray Barsukiewicz Sax, Clarinet and Vocals, Andy Bojczuk Drums and Vocals, Art Gayler Accordion, Piano and Vocals and Robin Pegg - Bass.
To order a CD, make check or money order for $17 (includes $2 shipping & handling) payable to Joe Ryndak and send to: The Concertina All Stars, c/o Joe Ryndak, 6219 Townline Road, Lockport, NY 14094. For bookings or more information about The Concertina All Stars, contact Greg Chwojdak at (716) 983-4815 or e-mail: polkajock@buffalo.com
The Polkas For Charity website is up and available on the internet at: www.polkasforcharity.com. Samplings of five tracks from the first CD project, "Let’s Get This Party Started" are now linked on the website.
Musicians participating in "Let's Get this Party Started" include: Chris Borkowski, Ted Borzymowski, Wally Dombrowski, Gennarose, Lenny Gomulka, Greg Guzevich, Hank Guzevich, Chris Huntington, Johnny Karas, Frank Liszka, Bob McBride, Ryan Ogrodny, Rick Olaguer and Mark Trzepacz.
Proceeds from this first Polkas for Charity recording will benefit St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, TN.
For more information, samples of songs, photos, biographies of the musicians and more, visit the the website, www.polkasforcharity.com or email ted@polkasforcharity.com. The CD, which will be available by mid-June, may be ordered by sending $17.00 (includes $2.00 shipping and handling) to: Polkas For Charity - P.O. Box 835 - Fallston, MD 21047- 0835.
Whether your polka memories go back a few year or a few decades, they live in your heart and your head. It may be that special festival, or the time you heard "your" band for the first time, or that one time you almost don't remember.
Don't you wish someone would create a website featuring polka photos and other memories from those days? Wouldn't it be great to relive days of The New Brass, Marion Lush, The Versatones, or festivals like Polkbration, Erie Days, Polka Holiday?
Through the efforts of Jimmy Krzeszewski of jimmyKpolkas.com and Steve Litwin, Polka Editor of the Polish American Journal, the polka world now has polkamemories.com, a site that is your place to relive the best polka memories of your life. Polkamemories.com offers photos contributed by many throughout the polka world. You can become part of this website by submitting your scanned photos for this website. Visit polkamemories.com today and bring enjoy the memories of your polka past.
CHICAGO -Bel-Aire Enterprises has launched a new website and store, Belairerecords.com. Offering a complete catalog of polka recordings and other musical items, Belairerecords.com will also be providing reviews and writeups on recordings, photos and band history. Be sure to visit the site and look around. Check back often for monthly specials and featured Items. Belairerecords.com
There are two universal truths about accordions. The first is that the accordion is almost always associated with polka music. The second: a concertina is the same thing.
To what do we owe the association of the accordion with Polish dance music? The accordion is not exclusive to the polka. Its sweet, reedy sound has been the musical backdrop for scenarios of lonely cowboys in the Texas Panhandle, romantic interludes under the Eiffel Tower, and Cajun house parties deep in Louisiana’s swamps. Surely accordions are not played just by Polish Americans.
There is a mystique about the accordion, albeit often a negative one. When Madison Avenue wants to demonstrate “cool” versus “uncool,” it sometimes calls upon the accordion to demonstrate the latter. But the accordion was a respectable instrument until the advent of rock ‘n’ roll. Songs of love and devotion were then sung over the electrified strains of guitars, and teen idols, who played the six-stringed talisman of rebellion, created a charisma for themselves equal to that of guys who drove fast cars.
Beginning in the mid-1980s, accordions regained some lost ground. Credit is due a counterculture movement in the rock ‘n’ roll industry. Seeking an alternative to the guitar, bands incorporated the accordion into some of their music. Among the bands and musicians not afraid to let the instrument demonstrate its versatility were the Talking Heads, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, David Lindley, Los Lobos, even the Grateful Dead.
And it is the Irish who can lay claim to the first recordings of accordion and concertina. Traditional Irish dance music played on fiddle, uilleann pipes, concertina, accordion, flute, tin whistle, tenor banjo, pianos, and combinations thereof was captured on cylinder recordings before the portable piano was heard playing polkas on record.
Still, if only by association, the accordion belongs to the polka.
The accordion is, for all practical purposes, a portable piano, powered by air driven over tuned reeds. And hence its popularity: it is easier to carry an accordion than a piano down to a church basement wedding reception.
The accordion’s popularity among polka bands can be attributed to that fact. Although most polka bands are dedicated to their art form, they must play a variety of music for bread-and-butter receptions, dances, and parties. It was not until the late 1970s, when synthesized keyboards replaced the accordion as the portable keyboard, that gig-playing polka bands could make use of both instruments. Most such bands today have both an accordion and a synthesized keyboard.
The concertina lacks the accordion’s keyboard. It is usually small and hexagonal, with buttons to be played by both hands as they push and pull to work the bellows.
The early polka bands in the United States made little use of the accordion—or none at all. They played what has become known as “village” music on violins, bass violins, a clarinet, and a bowed cello or bass. One of the early band leaders was Franciszek Dukla of Chicago, who with vocalist Frank Zielinski began a recording career for Victor Records on December 7, 1926, with the song “Na Okolo Ciemny Las.” (“Around the Dark Forest”) as it’s known in English, is part of the standard literature for today’s polka bands.
How the music of Franciszek Dukli Wiejska Banda (Frank Dukla’s Village Band) evolved into today’s polkas has become a debate among academics. It is believed that Polish musicians adopted and adapted the accordion and concertina to fit popular music styles within their communities. To trace the use of these instruments in today’s polka bands, we must look to early recordings by Polish artists.
The earliest American Polish-language recordings were made by the Berliner Company in 1897, featuring a tenor with piano accompaniment. It wasn’t until the next decade, when recording techniques had improved, that full instrumentation could be added.
The first recording of either the concertina or the accordion by a Polish artist is hard to trace. Columbia did not begin a separate numbering system for ethnic recording series until 1908; Victor’s began in 1912. Apparently the first known Polish artist to record the accordion was Jan Wanat, on the Victor label in 1917. Wanat’s discs of traditional Polish dances, played in a conventional, formal style, were hot sellers. His accordion solos were played on a custom instrument that brought out the bass.
Early Polish recordings can be classified as folksong, light and grand opera, patriotic and traditional song and dance, popular music played and sung by Poles, and dialogue—mainly comedy skits. At the time many of these recordings were made, the polka was very popular, especially outside Polish communities. A majority of Polish folksongs (particularly songs of war, such as parade music and marches) were already in cut time, the 2/4 polka tempo. Other Polish folk and dance songs—the mazurka, krakowiak, polonaise, and kujawiak—were easily adapted as polkas, obereks, and waltzes, which are the dances still popular today among Polish Americans.
The recording companies sought Polish artists whose music would appeal to newcomers who yearned for music of the homeland, but the record executives were at a loss as to what music that was. According to Alvin Sajewski, son of Wladyslaw Sajewski, founder of the W.H. Sajewski Music Company in Chicago, the record executives knew there was a huge ethnic market but did not know how to tap it:
The records were by people from the city who liked the classical singers, the high-pitched sopranos. People wanted simple pretty melodies, but they would buy these records because there was at least something Polish on them. The people wanted folksongs (Spottswood 1982).
In 1923 Columbia recorded a “duma,” a waltz by Henry Lewandowski. This old-time fiddler led the way for newer bands that were beginning to play polkas and other Polish dances in a livelier and less formal fashion.
One of Columbia’s hottest artists was the Ukrainian fiddler Pawlo Humeniuk. The company “polonized” Humeniuk by changing his name to Pawel Humeniak, and with Polish vocalists, his records sold well in Chicago. The January 1927 recording of “Zareczyny, Czesc 1” (“The Engagement, Part 1”), with singer Ewgen Zukowsky was the genesis of the Polish American polka. The playing technique of the anonymous accordionist is almost identical to that used today.
Columbia and its competitors—Victor, Okeh, Odeon, Brunswick, and Vocalion realized more than modest profits from the hybrid Polish American polka. During the 1930s the Polish recording business exploded. In 1931 Victor alone released 176 recordings in its Polish series, including 38 by village orchestras (playing what is known variously as Górale, Mountain, Highland, or Old Country music) and 12 by what Richard J. Spottswood has called “new-wave polka bands"—the forerunners of today’s bands. These new-wave recordings, made primarily by Ignacy Podgorski from Philadelphia, and by Edward Królikowski of Bridgeport, Connecticut, blended brass, accordion, and violin and combined “the energy of the village orchestras with a smoother, more emphatic melody line” (Spottswood 1982).
Podgorski, whose popularity extended into the 1940s, also sold sheet music of his material, much of which was based on the music of the village bands.
One early artist who greatly influenced the hybrid Polish American polka was a concertina player and singer from Chicago, Bruno Rudzinski. His work, like Lewandowski’s and Humeniuk’s, was less formal—a mix of traditional Polish folk melodies influenced by American jazz. Rudzinski’s recordings made him the Polish Spike Jones of his day, as he would often repeat or forget lines and start the vocals over again.
His first recording, “Przyszedl Chlop do Karczmy” (“A Man Came to the Saloon”), was on the Victor label and released in 1928.
It wasn’t until the late 1940s, however, that the concertina made its way into mainstream polka music. The instrument was promoted by bandleader Eddie Zima, probably the most famous of all polka concertina players. He was born in Chicago in 1923 and began playing the concertina by ear when he was six. His record of “Circus” polka, which became a hit in the nation’s Polish communities, introduced hundreds of thousands to both Zima and the concertina. He recorded for the Capitol, RCA, Dana, Chicago, and Jay Jay labels, and his orchestra later formed the nucleus of the still-popular Ampol-Aires. He is considered the godfather of Chicago-style polkas, which are slower and bouncier than the traditional “Eastern” style, named after the big bands from the East Coast that played these zesty polkas from the 1940s until the late 1960s.
Zima influenced a multitude of musicians who found the concertina a natural for the polka. Among those he inspired was Li’l Wally Jagiello, the son of Polish immigrants, who often sang with Zima’s band at picnics in Chicago. Although Jagiello’s early recordings made use of the accordion, he is most famous for his work on the concertina, and for promoting Chicago-style polka to national prominence. His recording of “Zosia” (“Sophie”) so startled some disc jockeys that they thought it defective, but the song’s slow, heartfelt tempo won it nationwide popularity. Today, Chicago-style polkas dominate the polka recording industry.
Jagiello in turn has inspired many of today’s virtuoso concertina players, including Wally Maduzia, Lenny Maynard, Rich Benkowski, Al Piatkowski, Richie Kurdziel, Scrubby Seweryniak, Bill Czerniak Sr. and Jr., Ronny Marcusiuk, Tom Kula, and Teddy Kiewicz.
References
Breathnach, B. 1971. Folk Music and Dances of Ireland. Dublin: Talbot Press.
Camp, T. 1992. Weird Al finds a vein of fun in rock parodies. Milwaukee Journal, July 7.
Ethnic Recordings in America. 1982. Washington, D.C.: American Folklife Center, library of Congress.
Spottswood, R. 1982. “The Sajewski Story” in Ethnic Recordings in America: A Neglected Heritage. Washington, D.C.: American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
Treasured Polish Folk Songs with Translation. 1953. Minneapolis: Polanie Publishing Co.
Mark Kohan is editor-in-chief of the national monthly newspaper Polish American Journal and was leader of the Steel City Brass for 28 years; he plays both accordion and concertina. With the permission of the publisher, the article was adapted from “Squeezebox Jam,” a publication of the Polish American Festival held in August 1992 in Cheektowaga, New York. The annual event is sponsored by the Town of Cheektowaga (a suburb of Buffalo), and made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts.
Copyright 2007 Polish American Journal
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