POLKA PATTER

On May 4, 2008, WMNF (88.5 FM) in Tampa, Florida, held its Annual Awards Dinner to honor outstanding performance by volunteers and programmers. Wackie Jackie Z. from "Polka Party Express" was awarded the Best New Programmer Award for 2007. His show is heard every Sunday afternoon from 2:00-4:00 p.m.

Bob Maczko, Polka DJ for 18 years on WPNA Radio (1490 AM) in Chicago, passed away on May 14, 2008. He was 65.

It is a sure bet multi-Grammy winning Brave Combo’s bandleader, Carl Finch, will shout out "Let’s Polka!" when the band hits the stage at the Bayway Polish Home in Elizabeth, New Jersey, on August 3, 2008. It should be quite an event, as the Bayway Polish Home aptly bills itself "The Polka Dance Capital of the East" and Brave Combo’s passion for polka is irresistible. The multi-talented quintet has been successfully gathering converts to the "polka side" for over 25 years.

The Jammer Network has taken it up a notch on Monday evenings. The newest IJ with the Jammer family, is Major Mel, a DJ for many years and currently broadcasting on WERG (90.5 FM), the Gannon University station in Erie, Pennsylvania. He is hosting a live show on Monday evenings from 8:00-10:00 p.m. on the Jammer at http://www.thejammer.org .

Well, they may not be not high quality, professional videos, but you can see John Gora & Gorale and The Knewz performing at the United States Polka Association (USPA) Festival at http://youtube.com/user/debbiedoespolkas .

The lost third part from the three-part series celebrating Ted Okrzesik Sr.’s 70th birthday in 2007 has been found. Since the third part is quite lengthy, it is posted in two segments. Go to the Freeze Dried website at http://www.fdried.com for the podcast link.

Back in March, there was a polka dance at the White Oak American Legion in Western Pennsylvania with Ray a special concertina Jam Session by a bunch of musicians. Take a peek at "Maryszka Moja" at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlEdQ5OKy6c and it will lead you to other tunes by the aggregation.

Northern Rhode Islanders should take note that Jackie Libera’s program is once again available over WESO (970 AM), Sunday from 9:00-11:00 a.m. Reception was a problem for a few months, but that problem has been overcome.

Peter Danielczuk announced that his "Polka Celebration" had its final show on the Jammer Network on May 26, 2008. The program is now heard on http://www.247polkaheaven.com  on Monday 8:00 p.m., repeated on Thursday at 12:00 a.m., Friday at 10:00 a.m. and Saturday at 8:00 a.m.

Jeff Mleczko & the DynaBrass recorded their performance at the 2007 Bay City festival. Now, a year later, "Bay City Nights" has been released. It debuted on Sandy Lewandowski's "Center Stage" show in May.

In related news, broadcaster Sandy Lewandowski was featured in the May edition of the Polka Times. Publisher Paul Mirkovich spotlighted Sandy in his column, "Women In Polka."

Polka fans from the greater Baltimore area who would like to attend the IPA’s International Polka Festival in Independence, Ohio, this summer will be interested to know that Henry and Tootsie Dziadel will be running a bus trip with plenty of extras. The bus departs on Friday, August 1 and returns Sunday, August 3, 2008. Call (410) 551-7555 for all the details.

The IPA itself is sponsoring a bus trip to the festival from Chicago. The details about the trip and the whole weekend are available at the organization’s website at http://www.internationalpolka.org .

"Polkas Are On" launched on Sunday, May 18, at 10:30 a.m. on NBC’s WJFW, Channel 12, Rhinelander, Wisconsin. Taping will primarily take place at Bullshooters Saloon on Sunday afternoons with John Danczyk as the show host. Those outside of the satellite, cable and local viewing area will be able to view a number of the show on http://www.polkavideos.com .

"Polka Time With Stas & Joe," produced by Stas Golembewski and Polka Joe Trzeciak continues to expand its viewing audience. The newest TV station to include the weekly polka programming in its schedule is in the Minneapolis area, covering the cities of Eden Prairie, Edina, Hopkins, Minnetonka And Richfield. It’s on public access Channel 15 every Saturday at 3:00 p.m. The show is also seen by a potential two million viewers weekly in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Iowa, California, Wisconsin and Australia.

Mitch Kempinski is bringing back the Dynasticks for a few jobs. The first was in May and the next will be over the Thanksgiving weekend. Another appearance comes on August 28, 2009. Details on the performances are not yet available.

Michigan’s largest Polish Fest takes place June 26-29, 2008. St. Stan’s presents the extravaganza in Bay City, Michigan. Twin City Soundz will be making its first appearance in Michigan at the fest, along with a list of some of the nation’s top purveyors of polka music.