The Big Joe Polka Show

It's Wednesday night, what are you going to do tonight?

For the blogmeister, it means I get to watch my newest guilty pleasure, the Big Joe Polka Show on RFD-TV, the channel home of cattle auctions, reruns of Porter Wagoner's show, Pop! Goes The Country and other fine rural-oriented programming.

I discovered this show a few weeks ago...and was hooked. It was either the bands on the show, the music or it's infectious theme song...

"Ho Ho Ho, it's time for Jolly Joe...."

As I write, it is permananently stuck in my head....listen to a snippet, I dare you.

But the program's biggest star itself is Big Joe Siedlik of Omaha, Nebraska....he also hosted a very popular polka radio show of the same name back in the day.

The show itself is a cross of American Bandstand, The Lawrence Welk Show and lots of polka music of all genres. It is usually filmed on location in places like Medina, MN; Branson, MO and New Braunfels, TX featuring different polka bands from the USA.

On this episode, the band roster has the Round Top Brass Band, the Czech Friends Band, Chmielewski Funtime Band, Vrazel's Polka Band and below is the Loehnig German Band.

Bust out the leiderhosen, and fight for your the right to party!

And what is also fun is watching the camera shots of the crowd waltzing and dancing.

Hey....is that President Abraham Lincoln dancing to the Orange Blossom Special?!

Who needs Dancing With The Stars, you can tell from this picture that these wild and crazy kids are outta control!

In my opinon, Big Joe's show can be corny, but it's also good clean family entertainment, and lots of fun. Our master of ceremonies describes polka music as "Happy Music for Happy People" and this show will put a smile on your face. In a way, he reminds me alot like Lawrence....a man who loves to entertain, put on a show and make us folks happy.

Also, you can check out Big Joe's webpage at Polka Catalog.com, his advertisements appear often during the broadcast and has quite a collection of CDs and tapes of polka bands you can purchase.

Until next time, to quote the big guy himself when he puts a kabash on his show, "Keep a smile on your face, a polka beat in your heart, God bless you all and ho-ho-ho away we go!"

The Big Joe Polka Show

The Trio in a pair of You Tube videos

First off, from the Dancing With The Stars results show, it turned out that Mario got kicked off and not my prediction of Marissa so I stand corrected.

And now, let's go on to all things Welk....

Gail, Sandi and Mary Lou's performance at Bear Creek Farms is just two months away....and just to tide you over, here's two great YouTube videos featuring our favorite trio.

Here's the girls in a commerical for Triscuit crackers.



Next, the trio performs "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" made famous by the Andrews Sisters....in 1970s style by how they are dressed!

The Trio in a pair of You Tube videos

More Dancing With The Stars Stuff

I haven't seen such dramatic television by a one-armed man since the series finale of The Fugitive over forty years ago.

With his left arm in a sling thanks a ruptured tendon, Christian de la Fuente and his partner Cheryl Burke tangoed and mamboed his way to the top of the judges leaderboard....nice work of choreography and footwook in spite of these limitations!

Jason Taylor did will in the ballroom round, but fumbled in the latin round....much to the dismay of my Miami Dolphins fanatic parents, but in tonight's results show...based on the judge's scores, I think Marissa Jaret Winokur will most likely get the boot from the ballroom.

And is DWTS ever going to incorporate polka dancing in their rountines? It's a great way to put some freshness in the show....and bring in new faces in the Stars of Dance Segment (Tim Padilla, Jimmy Sturr, Big Joe Siedlik or any of the Welk stars)....but most importantly, America (the Midwest to be exact) would love to see the pros (Cheryl, Edyta Sliwinska, Julianne and Derek Hough) get their oompahs on Cleveland and Chicago style.

More Dancing With The Stars Stuff

A Champagne Cinco de Mayo salute

In honor of Cinco de Mayo today, I'll show some fine highlights from one of my all time favorite Lawrence Welk episodes....the Salute to Mexico show which first aired on January 13, 1973.

Here's Jimmy Roberts singing "Amor".....

This is also the show where Anacani makes her debut on the show, here she has a heart-to-heart (or corazon-to-corazon) talk with the Maestro.

The girls are pictured here singing "Cuanta La Gusta"....trying to get to Tijuana.

Cissy and Bobby are shown here doing the Mexican Hat Dance.

Now here's Tanya singing the ever popular "Besame Mucho".

Henry Cuesta jams on the clarinet with the swingin' "Granada".

And here's Clay Hart with the ladies singing "Guantanamera".

Happy Cinco de Mayo everyone....how will you be celebrating?

A Champagne Cinco de Mayo salute

If I were a character from The Simpsons

Oh, the fun one can have from surfing the never-regions of the internet....


I'm Krusty, who are you? by NoHomers.net

We'll....except for being self-serving and the part about wasting money, everything else is true....being Krusty has to be fun.

If you're a fan of the Simpsons (in addition to Lawrence Welk), and you ever wanted to know what kind of character you are from the show (are you a Homer, Marge, Lisa, Mr. Burns or Ned Flanders?) just take the quiz!

One of these days, a simular concept involving the Musical Family will come about....

If I were a character from The Simpsons

Tanya Falan Welk's birthday

It's the Fourth of May again, and that means here in the World of Welk it's Tanya's birthday! Here's a nice haiku I've written for her...hope she likes it.

Let's hear Tanya sing

A torch song filled with rhythm

Now that's amore!

Happy Birthday Tanya!

Tanya Falan Welk's birthday

Pleasant Dreams

It was a another "new" Welk episode this week on PBS, and this one is what I call a "Silver Champagne Special". From 1958, in glorious black & white, this particular episode is titled "Pleasant Dreams".

Here's Lawrence welcoming viewers to your Dodge Dancing Party with the band's opening number "Cheek to Cheek".

Next is Champagne Lady Alice Lon with "I'm A Fool To Care".

Here's the Lennon Sisters with "Til' The End Of Time".

Dick Kesner leads the orchestra on his trusty Stradivarius violin with "He'll Be There".

Rocky Rockwell is shown doing KP duty with the number, "Genuine Original First Edition Copy Of A Sad Sack".

Other fine numbers include instrumentals such as "Jingle Jangle Jingle", "The Swan" and "Manhattan", Big Tiny Little's "Spaghetti Rag" and lending his vocals for "Caldonia". There was also Larry Hooper with "Mississippi Mud", The Sparklers with "In The Evening By The Moonlight" and Dick Dale with "One Dozen Roses".

A classic show with great musicians, great singers with great numbers....it's an example of why alot of Welk fans prefer the black & white shows.

And speaking of Tiny Little, he was in the hot seat this week talking about his childhood days and bits of his long and successful career in showbiz.

He still looks mighty good these days, and continues to play up a storm!

Until next week, take care and keep a song in your heart.

Pleasant Dreams

Bob Havens' birthday

Today is Bob Havens' birthday, here's a haiku in honor of the world's greatest jazz trombonist!

He hails from Quincy

played New Orleans and then some

Bob is all that jazz

Bob Havens' birthday

Just another lame haiku of mine

I'm getting better at this.....at least I think so

Let's go dance again

insert nickel in jukebox

groove to the music

Just another lame haiku of mine

My album collection: Lennons go country

Have you ever imagined the Lennon Sisters singing country songs on shows such as Hee Haw, The Wilburn Brothers or the Porter Wagoner show?

From my knowledge, that never actually happened....nor there's any proof that Dee Dee, Peggy, Kathy and Janet sang at the Grand Ol' Opry, but on this album "The Lennon Sisters Pop Country"....it's the closest they got.

And it's a very good album...The sisters sound great as always!

It's a mix of their trademark harmonies, along with impeccable solo vocals by Kathy as they cover country pop songs such as Dottie West's "Here Comes My Baby Back Again", Lynn Anderson's "Promises, Promises" and Bill Anderson's "Still."
And it's produced by the talents of one Snuff Garrett and released by Mercury Records in 1968....it's worth listening.
SIDE ONE
1. MY SPECIAL ANGEL (2:12)
2. HERE COMES MY BABY BACK AGAIN (2:28)
3. FUNNY HOW TIME SLIPS AWAY (2:27)
4. MISTY BLUE (2:45)
5. I HATE TO SEE ME GO (2:05)
6. TEAR TIME (2:37)
SIDE TWO
1. WHEN TWO WORLD'S COLLIDE (2:00)
2. DON'T FORGET I STILL LOVE YOU (2:29)
3. A THING CALLED SADNESS (2:30)
4. TIPS OF MY FINGERS (2:35)
5. PROMISES, PROMISES (2:05)
6. STILL (2:28)

My album collection: Lennons go country

Roberta Linn's birthday

Today is Champagne Lady Roberta Linn's birthday, here's a special haiku I have written for her.

I just hope if she reads this, she'll like it....

From the Aragon

Champagne Lady Roberta

is every man's dream

Happy Birthday Roberta!

Roberta Linn's birthday

Charlotte Harris' birthday

Happy Birthday Charlotte! Here's a special birthday haiku for the Welk orchestra's lovely and talented cello player.

She plays the cello

with such a flawless technique

Music to my ears

Charlotte Harris' birthday

I think I saw this once on a episode of Dallas....

Unless you have been living in a cave, the price of gas at the pump is really high...here's oil baron Larry Hooper and his cowgirls living the high life.

And from the bowels of YouTube, here's Larry and the girls with the ever popular "More Money For Me" from 1974.

I think I saw this once on a episode of Dallas....

Salute to Irving Berlin

This week is a salute to master songwriter and lyricst Irving Berlin, taped and first aired in 1978...here are some of the highlights from the show.

The band opens things up with "Alexander's Ragtime Band".

Guy & Ralna with the number "Remember".

Cissy King dancing with Lawrence to the tune of "Always".

Next up is Joe Feeney singing "A Pretty Girl" which is another Berlin classic.

Here's the Maestro's special musical guest, saxophonist Marshall Royal from the Count Basie Orchestra playing one of his two sax solos.

Gail, Sandi and Mary Lou all around the Baldwin playing and singing "I Love A Piano".

Other numbers include Anacani's "How Deep Is The Ocean", instrumentals such as "Marie" with Don Staples at the solo trombone, a medley of songs from "Annie Oakley", Arthur Duncan tapping to "Blue Skies", Tom Netherton singing "What'll I Do", Ken Delo singing "Oh How I Hate To Get Up In The Morning", Cissy & Bobby dancing to "Let's Face The Music And Dance" and Norma Zimmer closing the show with "God Bless America".

It's just your typical salute to Irving Berlin show, great numbers performed real well by great singers and musicians.

And this week, in the hot seat is Ken Delo where this time around he talked about his family and as part of the team of Delo and Daly, became big stars in Australia in that country's early years of television. Their show paved the way for future popular Down Under programs such as Four Corners, Number 96, Hey Hey It's Saturday, Neighbours along with Home and Away just to name a few.

Not bad for a kid from sixty miles to the north in Detroit!

Until next week, keep a song in your heart and to be Australian, "Good day' mate!"

Salute to Irving Berlin

I feel a draft in here....

Today should be a great Spring day....I'll be watching the NFL Draft to see which promising college player will be my Cincinnati Bengals latest draft bust.

If you think I'm being too harsh, here's a few words for you....David Klingler, Dan Wilkinson, Ki-Jana Carter, Akili Smith, Odell Thurman and David Pollack.

And of course, brand new Lawrence Welk tonight....a salute to Irving Berlin. Yeah, I know, the Maestro has done a whole show about him before, however I'm curious what year they do this one.

According to OETA, Guy & Ralna and our dancers Cissy & Bobby are listed, so I am thinking it's a show from the 1070's....the question is when?

I'll just watch like you guys and find out!

I feel a draft in here....

Get your haiku on

It's that time again....hope you guys like this one

Arthur Duncan asks

"So you think you can dance boss?"

The Maestro says, "YES!

Get your haiku on

Toothless on Thursday

Hey everyone, I'm just starting to get back to feeling normal. Had the worst toothache in the world this past few weeks, went to the dentist and it looks like I have to undergo a root canal....a cavity in my uppers has gotten deep into the root so I'm taking medication to relive the pain....

...at least on a temporary basis.

It's now official, voting has closed for American Idol Songwriter...the winner will be announced on the show's season finale.

Now comes the dreaded waiting game, keep those fingers crossed and hope that Gail Farrell and her song "You Can Do Anything" will be chosen the winner!

Toothless on Thursday

What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life

Here's one of my favorite Ken Delo solo numbers, his rendition of "What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life" from the movie "The Happy Ending" featured from the Welk show's 1970 Academy Awards episode.

What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life

North County Times article on Joe Feeney

Here's a nice story about Joe, it has alot of stuff about him that you might not have known already.

REMEBERING JOE FEENEY: NORTH COUNTY TIMES

North County Times article on Joe Feeney

Donna Semonski's birthday

Today is the birthday of one of the Semonski sisters....

It's Donna, the second-eldest, and I have a birthday haiku written for her

Her name is Donna

from the singing Semonskis

Let us salute her

And we wish you a very Happy Birthday today!

Donna Semonski's birthday

Springtime

This week's show is about Spring, which originally aired on April 1977....here are some highlights you may enjoy.

Opening number is "April Showers" and we see the ladies dressed for the event.

Folks dancing to the Champagne Music Makers, "It Might As Well Be Spring" and to your left is something you don't see everyday....Ralna English dancing with members of the studio audience!

Gail, Sandi and Mary Lou form a conga line to the tune of "Walking In The Sunshine".

The fellas getting ready to play some baseball to the tune of "Spring, Spring, Spring"

As for next week, it's a new episode....a salute to Irving Berlin!

Can't wait for that, so take care y'all until next week.

Springtime

A Bill Page haiku

If he has internet access...I hope he like this

Fourteen instruments

Bill Page can play this and that

How does he do it?

A Bill Page haiku

Time once again for a Welk haiku

And seriously folks....I'll do better this time, hope you like this one

Play music with spoons?

Professor Spoons convinced me

as well as his friends

Time once again for a Welk haiku