Alex Meixner

Due to a technical snafu, we were unable to stream on our last live stream sponsor German Texan Heritage Society’s Facebook page so we’re doing a rebroadcast of that stream this Thursday night, May 28th.  The music will be all the same, but, I’m going to be watching it with everyone and be able to comment with y’all! Tune in and I’ll have to admit to all the mistakes I make and plan to have some fun!

I will have an All-new live stream on Sunday, May 31 at 7 pm eastern time (6 pm central). Let me know what ya want to hear. More traditional, rock covers, button box, trumpet, stories, bad jokes? I’m here to entertain y’all however I can. This is really a strange time, obviously, and I’m just trying to do my best to keep people happy while working to make a living yet!

I’m really excited about the music I’m recording and hope you’ll all be enjoying it soon. I’m happy to be with my wife and happy to have my kids here next week. I’m hoping the rest of the band is motivated enough to add some recipes to an upcoming AMB Cookbook and that there’s other fun stuff that you’ll be able to check out soon. That said, I really miss traveling and performing for live audiences, seeing our friends and making new ones while enjoying the delicacies of regional culinary delights. I really don’t know when that will be able to safely and logistically resume. There are a lot of moving parts that get me and the band from different parts of the country together to perform for everyone. But on the upside, many of you are getting to see me more often than normal with all of the live streams so I want to keep it fresh for all of us. I’m enjoying playing the live favorites, but also open to new tunes and I’ve been practicing different stuff. So kick me into gear. I have no problems making mistakes for ya and admitting when I need to practice more

Much love, polkas and happiness for y’all. Stay healthy and be well

alex

Lori, the AMB guru of all things on our social media, manager of us hooligans on the road and overall coordinator of most everything outside of the actual performed music is always telling me to make my writing more concise for my newsletters, but as anyone who has ever encountered me in person knows I’m pretty verbose and prone to run-on sentences and incomplete thoughts amidst run-on sentences! But I’m trying and quite frankly, I don’t want to apologize for letting everyone out there know how much I miss performing for y’all. The only apologies I am putting out there are for the people who I have not answered phone calls, texts, emails, and other social media messages from in a timely manner. Please know I appreciate your thoughts and messages greatly, in fact, they are huge lifelines for me at home and am responding as soon as I can amidst taking care of so much more than I ever thought I would or could from home. I am beyond thankful to Paula for all the ways our relationship continues to grow, as well as to Tom, who just about lives here with all of the recording and live stream work in addition to cooking adventures, philosophical rants, and assorted musical ideas.

SO, anyway here’s the news part of the newsletter

1) Thank you for tuning into the Livestreams, liking the social media pages, subscribing on YouTube, and generally all the support! Special thanks to the German Texan Heritage Society for sponsoring Wednesday night’s Virtual Maifest. Due to a technical limitation snafu, we were unable to live stream the Maifest on their Facebook page as originally planned and there may be a plan in the works to “rebroadcast” it over there. Either way, you can still check out the archived version online at https://youtu.be/-C0V0QiBxhE  and be sure to check out their organization’s website to find out about their programs, make a donation, or become a member! http://germantexans.org

2) I am participating in a community-wide live streaming event on Memorial Day 2020 centered around the nationwide Moment of Remembrance sponsored by the PA Music Preservation Society in Allentown, PA. I prerecorded Taps, some patriotic selections, and the Pennsylvania Polka for the event and am honored to be sharing the musical billing with The Allentown Band, the oldest active civilian band in the USA and Lehigh Valley folk legend Dave Fry. Please tune in at 2:30 pm eastern time on https://www.wfmz.com/

Actually, that wasn’t too verbose was it? Maybe Lori is getting me in line yet? I hope everyone is staying safe and mindful out there. We’re all dealing with the situations in different ways and have different difficulties to overcome for ourselves, our families, or other people around us. Please be respectful of each other and continue to choose happiness however you can. I was reminded of a quote the other day, “a recession is when your neighbor loses their job, a depression is when you lose your job.” Although the economic implications of this are obvious, and many of us are navigating a lot of stuff we never thought we’d be dealing with, this also applies to everyone’s individual health as well as so many other underlying results of this pandemic that are unknown to us. If we can all have some empathy and compassion for each other and ourselves, we will all find new ways to push forward as well as appreciate so much of the opportunities we had and will have as this eventually clears up.

alex