“Polka Varieties” was a long-running Sunday-noonish TV show in Cleveland, featuring local bands and a floor full of dancers. We used to sneer about my Dad always turning it on when we got home from church; now I’m turning into my dad and I think it would be fun to learn the dance. I believe there are still some weekend radio polka programs in the Cleveland/Akron area.
All you need to know is step-slide, step-slide, step-slide. Step to the side with one foot, then slide the other one over. There are plenty of other embellishments, too, of course, but those are mostly improvised.
There is a little-seen Jessica Lange film called Men Don’t Leave with the tragically under-utilized Arliss Howard (Cowboy in Full Metal Jacket).
Lange’s character is depressed after the death of her husband, and Howard’s character is trying to draw her out. He asks her: “Do you want to go some place where everybody is happy and they’re all fatter than you?” and takes her polka dancing.
It’s huge in the predominantly working-class, Polish-American eastern suburbs of Buffalo. One local ethnic radio station has a couple of local polka programs that air daily. On Sunday, several stations will have long polka shows, and one (WXRL) goes polka for the entire day. You’ll find live polka on any given day somewhere in Cheektowaga, Sloan, or Depew.
Is there any youth culture attached to this? I’m imagining something similar to the Celtic punk offshoot from Irish traditional music that’s popular especially in places like Boston.
Other than the Grammy award winning, 30 year old alt-polka band Brave Combo?
The Grammy Awards had a “Best Polka Album” award up to 2009. In 2010 and 2011 the award doesn’t seem to have been presented; I’m not sure if it’s been permanently dropped.
<SINGS>Bring on the lightning! We’ll build a monster for fun! Bring on the lightning! We’ll turn him loose when we’re done! It’s very frightening-See how the villagers run! Pull that switch and catch the lightning–Before the storm is done!</Sings>–to the tune of Beer Barrel Polka, sung in Girl Genius
Girl Genius also has featured the Beer Barrel polka in its original form (though not its original context).
Yes, the Polka Grammy was permanently dropped. And it was a big outrage in the polka world. Carl Finch, leader of Brave Combo (who won twice):