Nobody has done more to keep polka music varied and vibrant than Brave Combo, the genre-busting quintet from Denton, Texas. For more than 25 years, they’ve been winning over listeners to their unique melting pot of musical styles. According to bandleader Carl Finch, their goal is to “break down people’s perceptions about what’s cool to like in music. Our deal is to shake up people’s ideas about what they label hip, or right or wrong.”

The two-time Grammy winners have a new album out, Polka’s Revenge, that continues that tradition by mixing rock and Tex-Mex-inspired polkas with old-world waltzes, schottisches, and obereks. Of the album’s twenty tracks, four are Brave Combo originals and the rest are new renditions of classics by polka greats like the Connecticut Twins, Wanda and Stephanie, and the Ampol Aires.

And, as if you needed another reason to attend the Cotati Accordion Festival later this month, Brave Combo is one of the headliners and will be performing on both Saturday and Sunday.

Brave Combo: The Innocent Gadfly (MP3 sample)

Despite our best efforts to stay on top of all accordion-related festivals, one occasionally slips in under the radar. Fortunately, the Lincoln Journal Star has an excellent recap of last weekend’s Wilber Czech Festival in tiny Wilber, Nebraska (“Czech Capital of the USA”).

The 46th annual festival drew close to 45,000 people (to a town of only 1,700) for a weekend of Czech food (mmm… kolaches), polka music and dancing, and an accordion jamboree. Check out the accompanying audio slideshow to hear Charlie Keller, president of the Nebraska Czechs of Wilber, talk about the culture of the Wilber Czech Festival.

Nebraska Czech Queen Shandra Korbelik, 18, plays the accordion

Sounds like last weekend’s Pulaski Polka Days, where “polka rhythm filled the air and infiltrated people’s bones,” was a rousing success. According to the Green Bay Press-Gazette’s recap, there was a lively turnout — young and old alike — for the 29th edition of one of the nation’s biggest polka festivals:

“If you think polka music is uncool or only for the elderly, talk to Eric Niziolek, 25, and his buddies, who have been coming to the event from their homes near Wausau every year for about the last five years. ‘Good music, good people, girls and beer,’ said Niziolek when asked what kept him coming back.”

I also found a Flickr photoset that captures the festival parade, as well as some of the bands, including the shot below — appropriately titled “Only in Wisconsin.”

Pulaski Polka Days 2007, uploaded by The Dana Files

If you listen to a local radio station streaming online, a service like Pandora, or an online polka station like 247PolkaHeaven or Polka Jammer, you’ve probably heard the uproar over the Copyright Royalty Board’s decision to substantially raise performance royalty rates paid by online radio operators (webcasters). Starting July 15, royalty rates will be changed from a percentage of revenue to a per-song, per-listener fee, with a minimum fee of $500 per month. The rates are also retroactive to January 2006.

These new royalty rates (which are collected by a record industry-backed organization called SoundExchange) threaten to put many webcasters out of business entirely. SoundExchange counters that most of these increased royalties go to artists, who deserve to be fairly compensated for their work. The issue is coming to a head in Congress where the recently-proposed Internet Radio Equality Act intends to reduce rates and bring them in line with what satellite radio operators pay. It appears unlikely, though, that Congress will act on the bill before the new rates take effect on Sunday.

(Note: This is a mile-high view of a relatively complicated issue; if you want to learn more, David Byrne has one of the clearer explanations I’ve read.)

So, where do online polka radio stations fit into all this?

Continue reading ‘Preserving Online Polka Radio’ »

I know, I know… we already have enough accordions around the house, but I’ve always been attracted to the chemnitzer concertina, “polka music’s workhorse”. There’s just something about those ornately-decorated square boxes and their distinctive tones that have always appealed to me. Maybe one day, when we start the “Let’s Polka” polka band, I’ll pick one up.

In the meantime, though, I’ve been combing through the voluminous concertina resources at ConcertinaMusic.com. They have a huge library of chemnitzer concertina sheet music and an extensive database of concertina musicians (everyone from Rudy Adams to Jack “Zimmy” Zimmerman). If you haven’t heard a chemnitzer concertina in the wild, there’s also a collection of MP3s. Even if you’re just a concertina wannabe like me, it’s worth checking out.

I like to think of The Big Joe Polka Show as polka’s answer to American Bandstand. Just replace the TV studio with a large plywood dance floor in an Elk’s Lodge, the awkward teens with polka dancing seniors, and Dick Clark with the charming “Big Joe” Siedlik and his loud, accordion-patterned vests.

For more than 25 years, Big Joe was a polka radio king, spinning a popular mix of Polish, Czech and German polka records for listeners in the Midwest. After retiring from radio, he moved to television and now showcases live polka bands and dancers on his program which airs nationwide on RFD-TV, “Rural America’s Most Important Network.”

Later this month, Big Joe will film a series of shows at the RFD-TV Theater in Branson, Missouri. It’s a big deal for the bands chosen to perform and they’re coming from all over the country — the Polka Chips from Alaska, Smilin’ Scandinavians from Washington, Phocus from Buffalo, and many more.

One of polka’s biggest promoters, Big Joe likes to say that “polka tots make polka teens, and polka teens make adult human beings.” This clip is proof of that, as Big Joe welcomes (and teases) the younger members of Colorado’s Polka Nuts:

Diesel Sweeties confirms what we already knew: polka is the new rock and roll.

They shared a last name and a love of the accordion but, contrary to popular belief, polka king Frankie Yankovic and parody king Weird Al Yankovic weren’t actually related. In 1986, though, the two joined forces for this hilarious segment during the half-hour special Weird Al’s Guide to the Grammys. In it, Weird Al conducts a brief interview with Frankie (who was up for the first-ever Best Polka Album award that year) and then the two perform a polka medley of Record of the Year nominees including “Born in the USA” and “We Are The World”.

Here’s a feel-good story for your weekend: a Monroe Times piece on Del Heins, a Wisconsin accordionist who’s been entertaining local audiences for more than 60 years. In the mid-1950s, he formed a polka band, the Heins Brothers Combo, with his two older brothers. After they passed away, he mostly played small gatherings and family celebrations but in the past few years, business has been booming. He plays the monthly fish fry at Turner Hall, a steady stream of gigs at senior centers in the Monroe area, and an assortment of polka masses and Cheese Days (this is Wisconsin, after all).

“I’ve never played somewhere where someone wasn’t tapping their toe or swaying to the music… I play these songs over and over and over, and people still enjoy them… It’s happy music… It makes me feel good, and it makes other people feed good.”

Further proof, indeed, that polka is happiness.