Headed to Frankenmuth, Michigan this summer? If you want to stay somewhere steeped in polka lore, check out the Marv Herzog Hotel opening next month. Each room at the hotel will highlight a different year in the life of Little Bavaria’s polka legend. There will also be a Marv Herzog Museum of Memorabilia showcasing Marv’s accordions, music stand and songbook, and vast collection of beer steins from Germany and Austria.
Inducted into the International Polka Music Hall of Fame in 1979, Marv Herzog was a popular accordionist and polka band leader. Herzog started the Frankenmuth Summer Music Fest which attracts tens of thousands of visitors annually. He passed away in 2002 after a 58-year music career, but it sounds like the Marv Herzog Hotel will be a fitting tribute to this polka king.
Seminal Irish punk band The Pogues are currently on a mini-tour of the East Coast, having just finished a series of shows in Boston. Unfortunately, an injury suffered by lead singer Shane MacGowan during Sunday’s show forced them to cancel tonight’s Roseland Ballroom show at the last minute. Given the fact that Shane has played gigs from a wheelchair, though, gives one hope that they’ll still make the tour’s final show: St. Patrick’s Day (Saturday) in New York City. (Update: Despite Shane being under “constant medical supervision and analgesic control,” he and the band will continue on with the tour.)
To get you ready for your own St. Patrick’s Day celebrations, here’s some excellent live Pogues footage from 1985 — nearly 20 minutes worth. (From the “Golden Age of YouTube”, before the 10-minute limit on videos.)
“Cajun Sound, Rock ‘n’ Roll Energy” is an excellent article from Sunday’s New York Times on the resurgence of Cajun music among young musicians and dancers in Louisiana. Up-and-coming Lafayette bands like the Pine Leaf Boys, Lost Bayou Ramblers, and Red Stick Ramblers, have been electrifying the local dance floors with a fresh approach to traditional Cajun music:
“‘I want to document what’s going on here,’ Joel Savoy, 26, said, ‘because it’s exciting to see all these young kids playing this weird traditional music with accordions and fiddles and to have all these young kids eating it up like it’s the coolest thing ever.'”
The article centers on the Savoy family, particularly the role that Marc and Ann Savoy played in passing the music down to their children. Marc is a master button accordion maker and musician, while Ann was nominated for a Grammy last year for her Zozo Sisters project with Linda Ronstadt. Raised around Cajun music legends, it’s no surprise that their children — Wilson plays accordion, Joel plays fiddle — have become leaders of the new Cajun scene.
There’s also a brief discussion of the difference between Cajun and zydeco — a distinction that, admittedly, we don’t often make on our site. If you’re curious, the Rochester Cajun Zydeco Network has a great overview of the origins and differences between the two styles.
As America settles into another season of Ryan Secrest and Simon Cowell catfights (aka American Idol), Europe gears up for its annual continent-wide song competition, Eurovision. Each country votes on a song to represent them at the Eurovision finals, then viewers across Europe vote on a winner from that pool of entries. This year’s entries have their work cut out for them — it’ll be hard to top last year’s winners, Finnish heavy-metal rockers Lordi.
This year, there’s controversy brewing around Israel’s chosen Eurovision entry: a song called “Push the Button” by the band Teapacks. Eurovision organizers have threatened to ban the entry due to its “inappropriate” political message. The song warns of the dangers of nuclear war and seems to be a thinly-veiled jab at the nuclear ambitions or Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. One verse goes: “There are some crazy leaders they hide and try to fool us / With demonic, technologic willingness to harm / They’re going to push the button.”
Musically, the catchy song jumps back and forth between folk, hard rock, and even hip-hop, with the lead singer singing in English, French, and Hebrew. In the video, there’s even a (somewhat lazy) accordion player smoking a pipe:
Another year, another “Best Polka Album” award for Jimmy Sturr, who won his 16th Grammy at tonight’s Grammy Awards. Mexican singer/accordionist Julieta Venegas took home “Best Latin Album” for Limon y Sal.
Polka definitely isn’t the only genre where you can find Grammy-nominated accordionists. Rolling Stone has a brief interview with one of those nominees: Weird Al Yankovic, who’s up for “Best Comedy Album” and “Best Surround Sound Album” for Straight Outta Lynwood. Even he still gets excited about the Grammys:
“It’s hard to compete with the first time you win a Grammy because after that, you can legally affix the phrase “Grammy Award-winning” to the front of your name. But trust me, it never gets old. I promise to be extremely excited every single time I ever win a Grammy.”
This week, Rolling Stone also wrote about another one of our favorite accordion-toting artists — DeVotchKa. They’re nominated for their work on the soundtrack to the Oscar-nominated film Little Miss Sunshine.
As our “Polka Grammy Preview Week” winds down, it’s worth asking: how important are the Grammys? What doors can a Grammy nomination (or win) open for an artist? Today’s issue of the The Tennessean poses that very question to some Grammy nominees, including polka nominee LynnMarie:
“I don’t even know where to begin. Because we don’t have radio, a Grammy win takes us to that next level of recognition. It opens up PR opportunities we wouldn’t otherwise get. I saw the jump when we were first nominated (in 2001). The phone started ringing off the hook and we were on the Tonight Show. Winning would do the same thing.”
Posted February 8th, 2007 in News, Polka · Comments off
Warwick Thompson has an interesting piece in the London Times on the accordion renaissance taking place in “serious” music circles.
Along the way, Thompson chronicles his personal struggles on the accordion, including his lessons with Owen Murray of the Royal Academy of Music. (Murray forces him to play a free bass accordion, claiming that “the standard bass system condemned the accordion to a life of three-chord waltzes in C major and prevented it being taken seriously.”)
Thompson does a good job of conveying the challenges of accordion playing (“it’s like rubbing your stomach and patting your head, while standing upside down doing the splits”), as well as its rewards. He also talks to Russian accordion virtuoso Friedrich Lips, who suggests there’s no better time to start playing the accordion than now:
“The golden age of the violin was the Baroque era. For the piano it was the Romantic era. The accordion is still changing all the time, and we are just entering its golden era. It’s the most exciting time possible to be playing it.”
Posted January 22nd, 2007 in Lessons, News · Comments off
We got a hot tip that Hohner will be introducing some new diatonic accordion models at the NAMM show in Anaheim starting January 18. But thanks to our accordion spies, we have a sneak peek for you today! Check out these three new Hohner models:
Corona II Supreme
To celebrate Hohner’s 150 year anniversary in 2007, a special edition model of the Corona II will be unveiled at the NAMM show. The Corona II Supreme will include upgraded materials, smoother keyboard action, and an improved look and accessories based on the Corona II Classic. Since it’s a special edition, it will have a limited production run.
Matt Hensley, accordionist for the punk/Irish band Flogging Molly, announced today that he’s leaving the band to spend more time with his family. Matt, a professional skateboarder, will probably also spend more time at Innes Clothing, the skateboarding clothing company he founded with his brother in 1996. From his farewell letter to the band’s fans:
“I would have never thought that playing the accordion, an instrument that almost got me shot when I first was learning, would have led me down a road to Molly Malone’s, Dave King, and an extended family called Flogging Molly. I have been blessed to be so lucky.”
Flogging Molly starts a month-long tour on February 22nd; no word yet on whether they’ll be replacing Matt anytime soon.
Another year, another “Best Polka Album” award for 
