On Friday October 16, 2009 , I had the pleasure of travelling to Windsor Ontario to see the first of 2 days of PolkaPalooza, the highlight of which was seeing Jimmy Sturr and his Orchestra tape a PBS special that I am told will be aired this coming March or April. In 7 hours of pure polka fun, the other bands that I had the pleasure of seeing that day were Ted Lange & Squeezebox, Polka Family and Big Daddy (Marshall) Lackowski.
The first thing I must note is what a fantastic venue was chosen for this event and the PBS taping. The 5000 seat Colosseum at Caesar's Windsor must be one of the premier concert venues in Ontario and I can't remember the last place that had as good a sound system. It made the great sound produced by all the bands so much better.
Although there weren't 5000 people in the Colosseum at one time anyway (wish there were), people were already lined up for the show half an hour before the doors opened as you can see in the picture below.
The first band up was Squeezebox, an incredible 3-piece band with bandleader Ted Lange on the accordion, Mollie Busta playing a myriad of instruments including the saxophone, trumpet, keyboards and even buttonbox, and drummer Dave Burner. I knew a little bit about the band before seeing them as Wild Wilson had played one of their hits, Cowboy Sweetheart on his internet radio show www.wildwilson.com www.247polkaheaven.com and I believe that was my favorite song of all the songs I had heard on his show that day, but from the moment they started playing I knew that this was one incredible band.
Mollie Busta has been honored as the USPA's female vocalist of the year and I can see why. I would say that Mollie has one of the top 10 female voices not just in polka but in any genre of music. And on top of that she plays the keyboards, saxophone, trumpet and even the buttonbox. Remember the name folks, this is one quickly rising star.
The show started with Marion Lush's Dzien Dobre - "I've got a story, a cute little story on how you should start every day, just say Dzien Dobre, in Polish it means have a good day." I would like to thank John Ziobrowski, president of the Polka America Corporation for giving me some background info on this song as I had just written it down as "In Polish Means Have A Good Time" lol.
I liked every single song Squeezebox played and find it amazing that this fantastic sound comes out of a 3-piece band. Really, they could pass for a 10 piece band, they sound so good. Some of my favorites that I heard however were Never Ending Love For You, Could I Have This Dance (better than the Anne Murray version I thought), Theresa Brewer's Till I Waltz Again With You, Wooden Heart, Dean Martin's Memories Are Made of This, Beyond the Sea, Mozart's Polka, Daddy's Hand's Polka (this worked really well), the Carpenters Top Of The World, Rock & Roll Waltz, Johnny Cash's Ring Of Fire Polka and I Feel Good All Over Polka. The last song they played, Cowboy Sweetheart was the perfect conclusion to a perfect show. Live at this venue I think it sounded even better than on the cd, and I bought both of their cds at the show and I think they are great. I have listened to them in the car over and over and over again.
You can find out more info about Squeezebox at www.squeezeboxband.com .
The next band up was Polka Family and they also put on an incredible show. The Polka Family began back in the 1970's as a single-family group in Southern California, playing for relatives and small public gatherings. 30+ years later with multiple moves and personnel changes they are still one of the most sought-after bands on the circuit. Some of my favorite selections that I heard from them were the Blue Skirt Waltz, Ooh La Ooh La La (everyone was clapping their hands and having a grand time), as well as Happy Louie's North Shore Polka and a very good rendition of the Hej Cavalier Polka.
Big Daddy (Marshall) Lackowski continued the string of great entertainment with outstanding versions of Who Stole The Keeshka, Yashu Yashu, yet another great rendtion of the Hej Cavalier Polka, as well as Wine Women & Song and the Hot Clarinet Polka, Cab Driver and many other great songs. Big Daddy also made it a point to go out into the audience and interact with the crowd, which added to his and his band's stellar performance. The other members of the band include Mark Lackowski - Drums, Jack Wolak - Trumpet, Vocals, Joshua Lackowski - Guitar, Richard N. Kuciemba - Clainet, Saxaphone, Composer, Arranger and John Lackowski - Accordion, Bass, Keyboards. You can find more info about this band on their facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Big-Daddy-Lackowski-Fan-Page/130624975187
Of course then we got to the grand finale of the day's show, the PBS taping of Jimmy Sturr and his Orchestra. I don't know what can be said about 18 time Grammy award winner Jimmy Sturr that hasn't already been said, but I'll try. This was one incredible show, from beginning to end. If there is anyone out there that has not seen Jimmy Sturr and his Orchestra make it a point to do so. You will not be disappointed. Jimmy Sturr has behind him some of the best musicians in the business period and they create a fantastic product that is hard to beat.
I don't know why I made the picture above but it is a good picture of the band getting ready for the big show with the camera boom and all in the foreground. The show really started off with a bang and a medley of some of the greatest polka hits ever.
Eric Parks, pictured above, played his signature song, the Theme from Ice Castles, and I have never heard the song played better, not even on a VHS tape that I have of him playing the same song at the Station in Wilkes-Barre Pennsylvania some 20 years ago.
Anyway, I can now hardly wait to see the Jimmy Sturr show on PBS this coming March or April and I will be purchasing the DVD of the show when it is released. This may very well go down as one of the most professionally produced and most entertaining polka shows of all time and I highly recommend you look for and watch the show, and if you like it (which I am sure you will) that you get your own copy too, and watch it over and over and over again.
