The Guckenheimer Sour Kraut Band- Sour Kraut in Hi-Fi

Here is something more in line with the ongoing Oktoberfest.  If you are looking to celebrate and live in town, Houston is hosting its Oktoberfest this Saturday at The Waterworks.  That is assuming you will be in the area and given the large number of readers outside of the US, that is a lofty assumption.  Well, more than likely, if your area sells beer, your area will be having some kind thing going on so consult your locals. For some reason, probably because I did it for the last two years, I also feel like I need to pimp the Houston event. This was $3, back on this subject.

Link to the Houston Oktoberfest with the same pictures of Hipsters from the last two years.

The Guckenheimer Sour Kraut Band was a San Francisco based group of incidental musicians who came together to play polkas and waltzes.  Each member had a day job (including the creator of the comic Grin and Bear It, George Lichty).  However, during their amateur performances, they developed an authentic German sound. RCA signed them and put out at least three records.  Like the Ramones, there are fake names for the members (although I am not sure why they included their real names in the bio section.  Seems to be against the point of it all.  All of the band members took names with variants of the last name Schmidt.  All except band leader (and art dealer) Richard Gump.  He assumed the role of Fritz Guckenheimer.

This would have been the bands second record on RCA.  It was released in 1957.  What can I say.  I mean, it sounds really authentic.

For a sample, or two, I went with a couple of tunes.  First off because it always reminds me of working at an ice rink, here is “Skater’s Waltz” , followed by “Tinker Polkas”, “Wiener Blut” and finally “Drink Mein Liebling” which has vocals.

Satisfactory record.

Frankie Kramer- Polkas Cabaret Style

Now here is a good record for your Oktoberfest Celebration this year ( which starts this year on Sept 22 and ends on October 7).This was a dollar or more likely 80 cents.  I bought this way way back in 2015.  Surprised I did not use it for an Oktoberfest post in years past.

This record is one of the three records, Frankie Kramer put out.  Born in 1933, the self taught accordionist picked up the instrument at age 9 and formed his first bad at 14.  A legend as well as a member of the Cleveland Polka Hall of Fame, Kramer had a decent following in the area in the 1960’s, along with his own TV show and lounge.  Livin large in an era way before Jay-Z or Puff Daddy.  He died in 1993 but was inducted into the fore-mentioned Hall of Fame in 2000.

Link to Richard Kramers HOF page

This album was released on Unart Records, a subsidiary of United Artists, in 1969.  Pretty nifty little records.  It sounds as what the title would suggest. Very heavy on the polka.  They did manage to sneak two waltzes in to get some diversity.

I was trying to choose a sample for this when I thought , why not take the lazy way out.  Besides this would give anyone a good head start at making an Oktoberfest play list.  Here is the “Sweet Pete Polka”, the “Hi Li  Li Hi Lo Waltz”, and the “Trink and Polka”.

Satisfactory Record.

Hub City Dutchmen- Polkas & Waltzes We Send From The Hub City Dutchmen

It is getting close to that time of year, Oktoberfest.  Every year I have done this blog, we have commemorated this period in some fashion.  Last year, it was a massive posting of German music which consisted of mostly military marches.  This turned out to be miserable listening for me and really appealed to no one except that small minority really into marching bands.  So this year, I decided to go a a different direction.  Well, any direction than last year.  So here we are presenting albums which are or either German or fashioned around polkas and waltzes. If you can read the title of this album, you can see this clearly falls into the latter.  I paid $5 for this.

This would be the second album I have posted from Richard Polasek and the Hub City Dutchmen.  Hailing from the then Polka Capital of Texas, Yoakum, these guys were popular in Central Texas.  I am not sure when this record came out. Some time in the 60’s, possibly the 70’s.  Pretty decent stuff.  As the title would suggest it contains both polkas and waltzes as well as a few songs with vocals.Check out the earlier post on this band for any backstory although I believe it alluded me at that time as well.

For a sample, let’s kick off the season with “Under The Elm” .  Also, I am presenting “In Heaven There Is No Beer” which is a finely disguised advertisement for Texas’ own Shiner Bock.

Satisfactory.  If you are looking for music to use for your Oktoberfest celebrations, search Oktoberfest on this blog and you should get quite a selection.  Surprised I have not made a separate category for it by now.

The Mom and Dads- The Very Best of The Mom and Dads

Look at this cover.  How am I going to pass this one up?  It looks like an SCTV skit. Got a to have a decent story in this record.  Besides, it was only a dollar.  I can’t make out the name on the record, but it has been duly recorded that this was purchased on December 1, 1979. Furthermore, it was recorded to CD on March 29th, 1995.  The owner felt it necessary to document the fact that this happened on a Tuesday.

The Mom and Dads were a polka band from Spokane, Wash.  At the time of the liner notes, the band consisted of Doris Crow, 72, Les Welch, 64, Harold Henderson, 58, and the youngest member, Quentin Ratiff, 42.  Wikipedia places their formation in the 1950’s but they rose to prominence in 1971 with the release of “Ranger’s Waltz”.  It was their first recording and it forced the group to adopt their name.  This became a hit in Canada and Australia.  19 albums and about 90 days of concerts a year later, the band were international stars.  The ride all ended when Welch passed away in 1983.  The remaining members have all passed as well, the last being Ratliff in 2013.

This record, released by GNP Crescendo in 1979 culminates the output during this period, (the 70’s).  A two record set, the album is all instrumentals; waltzes, polkas, and everything in between.  With the exception of “Ranger’s Waltz”, the rest of the songs are covers.  Pretty good mix of songs.  I mean they all kind of sound the same but at least there is a good cross section of songs.

 

For a sample, I went with the Kris Kritofferson number, “Me and Bobby McGee”.

Satisfactory.

Toni Praxmair and the Kitzbuheler Nationalsanger- Authentic Austrian Volksmusik

This was $2.00.  Again, it appears I am trying to pass off Austrian music during my salute to Oktoberfest.  For shame.  Well, here we are with this.  Too late to correct it at this point.  Still gung ho on writing posts and getting ahead of the game.  Yes I am still waiting for Harvey to hit.  You remember Harvey right? (Ed Note.  At this point I was waiting for the return hurricane so techincaly it is a re-hit (Monday or Tuesday)).

So there is this record from what the album calls Austria’s most popular entertainers, most all from Kitzbuhel, a ski resort village high in scenic Tyrol.  This album features a collection of Austrian folk tunes, dances, and polkas featuring yodels and cowbells.  It came out on Capitol Records’ Capitol of the World series, I believe in 1958.

For a sample, I went with “Tiroler Kuckuck”.

Meh.  Really kind of over polka based folk music at this point. Also, slow interent is really souring my mood on most of this at the moment.

Richard Polasek and the Hub City Dutchmen- Polka Time in Texas

This was $1.60 with discount.  Being from Texas, I decided it would be worth checking out.  German and Czech settlers both of free will and of forced resettlement brought polka to Texas which is a great influence to Tejano music among others.

I could not find much info on either Richard Polasek or the Hub City Dutchmen (which are in none of the pictures) other than that the band was paid $10 per member per gig, Polasek’s mother died in 1976, and the last living member of Joe Patek’s Orchestra, Dan Malik, spent time in the band.  Malik would pass away in 2015. I was half tempted to call the number on the back of the album but I am not even sure if the area code(512) is still applicable (it’s not.  Yoakum is 361 country)

So really all I know is that this was from a polka band formed in 1965 from Yoakum, Texas, a town of nearly 6,000 on the border of Lavaca and Dewitt counties.It is the type of hill country in Texas that boasts a high number of German and Czech descendants.  Oddly enough at the time of this record, Lavaca County was known as the Polka Capital of Texas.  Today, that distinction goes to Fredericksburg by way of State Senate Concurrent Resolution No 99, 73rd Legislature, Regular Session (1993).

Not that I was really looking too deep into this anyway.  This record, released sometime on Dutch Records, features 12 polka tunes. Not much to say other than that.  The albums really delivers on what it promises; polka music.

For a sample, I decided to go with something a bit more contemporary, the band’s cover of good ol’ Hank Williams’ “Your Cheating Heart”. I also went with something a bit more traditional, “Helena Polka”.

Not that I am a huge polka fan or able to really discern good polka from bad, but this is what I expected the album to sound like and it is pretty decent.  Satisfactory.

Frankie Yankovic- The All Time Great Polkas

DSCN2179This was a 80 cents.  Sooner or later, I had to post a Polka album so why not from one from the “America’s Polka King”?frankieyankovic1

Frankie Yankovic, born in 1915, was the best known purveyor of Slovenian style Polka.  Born to Slovene immigrants in Davis, West Virgnia, his family moved to the Cleveland area in order to flee the law, who had knowledge of his father’s bootlegging activities.  After learning accordion at a young age, he began his career on radio and at local functions.  Over time, he would release over 200 albums which I imagine all sounded pretty similar.  He sold 30 million records, had at least two Gold singles that I could find, and won a Grammy for the now defunct Polka category.  Until his retirement in 1994, Yankovic was playing up to 300 shows a year.  He would die in Florida in 1998 at the age of 83.

Frankie’s Webpage with a Biography which expounds on the above

Here is an interesting story I found out about Yankovic.  Not only did he fight in WWII, he was at the Battle of the Bulge.  While fighting, his group of about a dozen soliders got separated from the rest of the force.  When they were found by his platoon, his group had nearly frozen to death.  Yankovic suffered frostbite to his feet and hands.  It was so bad that doctors wanted to amputate in order to prevent gangrene from setting in.  This would mean the end of Yankovic’s career and so he adamantly refused.  After a steady regiment of penecilin and other drugs, color began to come back and eventually, he was able to move his appendages again.  For therapy, he played accordion in the hospital.  When he got out of the hospital, he was assigned to special services which let him perform for troops, including performing for General Patton and his Third Army.

Also, it should be noted that while Frank Yankovic is no relation to Weird Al Yankovic, the two have performed together. Below is a grainy, yet excellent clip of the two: Frankie Goes to Hollywood. At the end of it, they perform the 1986 Grammy nominations for song of the year.

DSCN2180This album is a collection of some of his biggest numbers recorded live from his WEWS-TV show in Cleveland.  Included are “Beer Barrel Polka”, “Just Because”, “Tic Tock Polka” and “Hu-La-La-La-La”.  I admit while this is technically very good, it all starts to sound the same to me. My apologies to al the polka fans out there.

For a sample, I went to “Pennsylvania Polka”.  Sound familiar?  It was played at the start of every day, ad nausea, in Groundhog Day.  Of course, that was the point of the movie.MI0001396462

While I admit that this is a high point of Slovenian style music, a much as I try, I can not fully get behind polka.  I have to sadly say Meh.  But I do have a new found respect for Yankovic after learning about his WWII action.