Cleveland | Alex Meixner

The Oktoberfests kick in starting on Fri. Aug. 31 with a return to Berea Oktoberfest in Cleveland, OH. Other highlights include a sold-out Oktoberfest show at Summer Stage in Central Park – NYC on Sat. Sept. 15. We’ll also be doing a little unplugged song for the Tv broadcast of the Steuben Parade that morning—that will be included on the dvd of the parade… and playing at the Pilsener Haus in Hoboken that night (As well as the night before!!!) That weekend concludes with Oom Pah Fest at Platt Duetsche Park in Franklin Square- Long Island—a great event at a great venue!

Besides that we’ll be returning to Altoona, Adamstown, Hunter Mtn, Reading, Newport, Bethlehem, Brooklyn, Bear Mountain and Helen, GA—in addition to adding a special Tuesday night at the Sands Casino in Bethlehem, PA and our premier at the Oktoberfest in Tampa, FL at Oldsmar. Oh…… and we’ll be in New Braunfels, TX for Wurstfest- Nov. 2-8! (Yes- we will be back for Opening Night and College Night!!!) http://alexmeixner.com/schedule

So, The Alex Meixner Band performances are winding down for the year which is signaled by the annual gig for the Dutchland Polkateers in Lititz, PA. It’s always nice to get back to St. James Church Hall and play for the excellent dancers over there. As always, the dancers gave us a work out digging through some old repertoire—(including all of the old figure dances and a few first time tunes for our band!) as well as rocking out to some of our newer stuff. It was a nice evening for everyone, including the 2 couples celebrating anniversaries and the girl celebrating her 21st birthday (sorry I forgot names!!!) Looking forward to seeing everyone back again next November….

After the gig, Billy and Fort headed home and I headed west. Sunday morning found me in greater Cleveland…. With a morning full of appointments and then an afternoon/ early evening of a hard-hitting gig, I was definitely getting ready for an action packed day. For as much as I prepared for it—nothing quite gets you ready to get rolling with Eddie Rodick and the crew! On Saturday night, the Rodick Orchestra was named Band of the Year for the National Cleveland Style Polka Hall of Fame awards show, (for the 2nd year in a row). Additionally, Eddie was given a lifetime achievement award, his son Eddie III was named a sideman of the year, and his wife Kim was also named sideman and vocalist of the year! Congrats all around!!!

Johnny Koenig graciously lent me his Petromilli polka box so I could have a proper Cleveland tuned accordion to keep up with the band (which was rounded out by Ron Sluga, who actually organized the gig in the first place on banjo and the great reed man/ harmonica master- Frank Yasnowski). It was a total thrill playing all of those great old tunes with such a rocking band! It was a total workout for me…. And then it continued to rise when Ron Likovic joined in for a button box duel and Hank Thunander ran through a bunch of Bass tunes… All around a great day. I look forward to having the honor to work with these fine musicians and friends again in the near future!

In the meantime, luckily I dodged the snow on the way home and got back to teach my trumpet students in Plymouth Meeting on Monday afternoon….. another day down polka road…. 🙂

alex

Oktoberfests!!

Lititz and Cleveland….oh my….