Last weekend was a TCP polkstravaganza! I didn't grow up in Cleveland and I didn't grow up around polka, so I've always been a little bemused by this town's fervent devotion to the peppy oompah music that, quite frankly, all sounded the same to me.
After a weekend exploring polka, it still all sounds the same to me -- but boy, is it fun. Polka isn't profound or angsty or ironic or angry; it's nostalgia set to music. It's impossible not to think of a simpler, brighter, more technicolor era when you listen to polka, filled with social dancing and wholesome family entertainment.
TCP started the weekend at The Happy Dog for Polka Happy Hour with DJ Kishka. (More from the Happy Dog when TCP gets to #69, hot dogs.) It's pretty much exactly what it sounds like -- a talented guy in a funny beard spinning polka on vinyl. There's beer, there's hot dogs, there's tater tots, there's dancing -- it's pretty much the perfect Cleveland bar experience.
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| DJ Kishka |
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| "Grandmother" Kishka |
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| Dancing! |
The next Polka Happy Hour is March 25th. If you go, get there early: although the official happy hour time is from 6-9 p.m., all the seats were filled by 5:15. (Besides, going early will just give you an opportunity to drink more beer and eat more delicious hot dogs -- there's no downside.)
After a night of polka and hot dogs, the obvious next stop was the National Cleveland-Style Polka Hall of Fame in Euclid.
It shares the old Euclid town hall with the Softball Hall of Fame, and is veryveryvery tiny. (But free!)
The only polka star I knew of before my visit was Frankie Yankovic (unrelated to Weird Al). The hall of fame has a lot of Frankie Yankovic memorabilia:
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| Frankie Yankovic's accordion |
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| The intersection of E. 152 and Waterloo in Cleveland is named after him. |
The hall of fame also has memorabilia from other notable names in polka:
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| Johnny Vadnal's band played on a half-hour live show called "Polka Varieties" that aired weekly on WEWS-TV (Channel 5) and was eventually syndicated nationwide. |
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| His younger brother, Richie Vadnal, had a band that wasn't too shabby either. |
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| These are only some of the polka CDs available in the gift shop. |
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| I thought this was pretty clever. |
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| Like being in an alpine village, only on E. 55th. Yiiikes. |
The live polka was great. The restaurant stops serving food at 9 p.m., but dancing goes 'til midnight -- and there were quite a few people dancing.
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| Live polka music by Al Battistelli and his band. (Someday I'll learn to shoot better concert pictures.) |
Everyone was talking, laughing, and having a good time -- which is what polka ultimately seems to be about.
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| Yep, pretty much. |
It is all becoming clearer now! As a wedding photographer during the 70's,80's,90's through about 2006 I have heard my share of polka music. It usually came up about two hours into the reception. It always did two things at the same time...it cleared the floor of the young and filled the floor with people over 50! It was always fun to watch because this age group had obviously been exposed to it growing up and they really got into it. Great job it telling a great story! As I work here at my computer in a darkened room...if I stop and listen very intently....over the hum of the hard drive I think I can almost hear...., I can hear "The Beer Barrel Polka!"
ReplyDeleteI am SO glad that you posted Sterle's! I went there once with Brian, and remembered loving this place, but could not remember the name or where it was! This time I'm going to bring Adam and yep, we are going to POLKA!
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