Big Lou (aka Linda Seekins) is a Bay Area accordion legend. She’s played in Polkacide, founded Those Darn Accordions, and now leads Big Lou’s Polka Casserole, whose new album (“Doctors of Polka-Ology”) is due out next month. She also plays in a French cabaret trio, Salut Matelot, hosts an online polka radio show, and curates the San Francisco Style Polka Hall of Fame. Big Lou was kind enough to sit down with us for Let’s Polka’s first exclusive interview.

Let’s start with the question we’re all asked when people find out that we play the accordion: Why?

Well, I used to live in Texas and I was walking through the park one day and there was a guy sitting under a tree playing the accordion. I started chatting with him and he said, “Oh, you play piano, you could probably just play this, too.” He handed it to me and I tried it out. So I’m playing with it, having a good time, and he says, “You know, that’s for sale.” It was cheap, so I bought it and just learned.

Cool! I think a lot of people, when they start playing, don’t realize how difficult it is to play the accordion — especially coordinating the right and left hands. Were there any tricks or tips you picked up when you were first learning?

Well, first off, you don’t have to do that if you play in a band — you don’t have to use your left hand. I wanted to learn it because I wanted to play solo. And what I did was get those round, different-colored dots, put them on a few key buttons and I practiced in front of the mirror. And that helped a lot. On the right hand, I took some nail polish and put little marks on the C’s — because I was used to playing the piano, where you can just see everything. Then when I took my accordion in to get it tuned, this old German lady was just irate. She spent an hour trying to get the nail polish off and when I told her I had put it there myself, she just exploded!

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With apologies to our fans in northern Minnesota, I’m filing this post under “better late than never.” Last weekend was the 29th annual Polkafest in Chisolm, MN, and according to the Hibbert Daily Tribune writeup, there was plenty of music and dancing to go around. Among the polka providers at this year’s event were the Joey Tomsick Orchestra, the Steve Meisner Band, and, the one that intrigues me the most, Father Frank Perkovich’s Polka Mass.

For over 30 years, Father Perkovich has been celebrating his “polka mass” — a traditional Catholic mass, but with all the songs and hymns performed in the style of Slovenian and Croatian polka music. According to his site, he even did one for Pope John Paul II in 1983. (Not too surprising; I’m guessing that, being from Poland, the pope was no stranger to polka music.) Nevertheless, polka masses have stirred some spirited debate over their appropriateness in the church. Personally, I’d be at my church a lot more often if they had a regular polka mass…

Want to sound like an honest-to-goodness accordion player, but without all that pesky practice and hard work? Well, check out this accordion built by Hessmuller — it looks like a real button accordion but, in fact, it uses a small mini disc player and speakers to play over 100 Bavarian-German songs (including “Beer Barrel Polka”). Here’s the pitch:

“Have your own Octoberfest! You can convince them all that you are a musical wizard. This is a real button accordion built by Hessmuller of Morgenroethe Saxony (Germany), but instead of the usual reed sets it uses mini discs playing professionally sampled accordion solos of traditional polkas, marches, waltzes, tangos etc. played by real German accordion players… All the player has to do is move the bellows and play the buttons (keys are all functional) convincingly and people will marvel at your skills.”

Of course, becoming a “musical wizard” overnight has its price — typically $1,595 when it pops up on eBay. My advice: save your money and put it towards some accordion lessons. [Found via Squeezytunes]

If you’re near Ennis, TX, (outside Dallas/Ft. Worth) this weekend, get your dancing shoes on and head down to the 40th annual National Polka Festival. The festival started as a way for the people of Ennis to celebrate their Czechoslovakian heritage, and that proud tradition continues to this day — all parade entries, street dancing, and bands performing must have Czech themes and play Czech music. The festival is the largest of its kind in the United States and attracts up to 50,000 people. Bands playing this weekend include Brave Combo, the Dujka Brothers, and many more.

There’s an article in the Green Bay Press-Gazette (insert your own cheesehead joke here) that talks about how local polka bands are staying relevant and keeping younger audiences interested. Some performers incorporate polka versions of modern tunes into their act, others split their gigs up between playing polka music and deejaying. Jeff Maroszek of New Generation Band talks about overcoming the ‘oompah’ stereotype:

“When a lot of people think of polkas, they always think of the grandpa and the tuba and accordion — just the oompah music — but really that’s not the style of music that it is anymore… Polka music evolved just like country western music and rock ‘n’ roll music evolved. It’s all the same thing. You’ve just got that stereotype to get by.”

“Who Needs the DJ?” is a great feature from today’s Pitchfork on the decline of community radio, and DJs in particular. It focuses on Gary Sredzienski, host of the popular Polka Party radio show on WUNH-FM 91.3 in New Hampshire. Gary’s been doing the show for nearly 20 years, in addition to performing solo and with his “Ethnic/Instrumental Rock & Xtreme Polka” band, The Serfs (definitely worth checking out!).

The piece covers the history of the show and Gary’s ongoing struggle to keep fans happy — whether they’re into traditional Polish music, Polish-American polkas, or something else entirely. And he’s no fan of current polka music:

“When he gets new polka albums in the mail, he throws them straight into the trash. ‘Today the accordion is just used to bellow-shake in a polka band, and it’s mostly two or three trumpets playing now. It’s turned into a brass form. And to me it sounds like a freakin’ invasion of a country.'”

Even if you’re beyond the reach of WUNH-FM’s antenna, you can still listen to The Polka Party on Saturday mornings from 9-11am EST via the WUNH website.

As if our site alone isn’t enough to keep polka at the center of America’s collective consciousness, here’s a news story from the AP: “Enthusiasts Trying to Revive Polka”. The article begins with Art Altenburg’s desire to sell his Milwaukee concertina bar (“The Only Concertina Bar in the USA”) and then covers how polka fans from coast-to-coast are keeping the polka tradition alive.

Ray Zalokar, who runs 247polkaheaven.com and Ken Irwin of Rounder Records (home of Brave Combo and Jimmy Sturr), are both quoted and talk about promoting the polka to younger audiences.

“Irwin said the movie O Brother, Where Art Thou changed people’s attitudes about bluegrass. Polka needs something similar that shows the music and culture in a positive light, he said. ‘I think it is really infectious music… There is a great amount of talent out there. People, when exposed to it, seem to really enjoy it.'”

That got me thinking — isn’t it time for Hollywood to make a blockbuster polka/accordion movie? With the success of Ray and Walk the Line, America’s clearly hungry for a Frankie Yankovic biopic. Come on, Spielberg, give the Polka King his due!

While most of the attention focused on this month’s Grammy Awards revolved around artists like U2, Green Day, and Kanye West, most people missed that Jimmy Sturr and His Orchestra won in the Polka Album category for “Shake, Rattle, and Polka!” The polka category has only been around for 20 years, but Jimmy holds an iron grip on it — winning an astounding 15 times. You can check out a clip from the album, “Detour” (performed with Duane Eddy), on the NPR website.