Texas Heritage Music & Dance Club

What a wonderful weekend of dancing we had!  So GOOD to get back to normal!  Saturday night we went to the Wallis American Legion.  We were surprised and happy to see member Jennifer Griffith, whom we had not seen in quite awhile.  Al Sulak’s Country Sounds played for this dance.  They are so wonderful as musicians and such nice folks – and they go very promptly from one song to the next.   We had gotten to enjoy Al at the Bluebonnet Opry on Thursday, and also Robert Herridge, who was with the band this night.  What a treat – two nights almost in a row!  Robert showed off his outstanding talent on the fiddle and harmonica and also played the accordion – not all at the same time, though!     There was a very nice crowd – because everyone knows it’ll be a good dance when this band is on the schedule.  Of course, not only is Al a talented musician, he has a wonderful voice.  His sister, Marie, also has a wonderful voice.

Sunday was the annual two-band dance at the Rosenberg American Legion, and the salute to former and current military members.  This year they changed it up a little bit and also saluted the wives and families who sacrificed while their husbands and fathers and sons did their patriotic duties.  This year the women carried the Stars & Stripes and the flags of each of the five military branches as well as the POW/MIA flag.  That salute is always nice.  Music was a battle dance between the Texas Dutchmen and Texas Legacy Czech Band.  The crowd seemed very happy with the music and lots of folks were dancing almost all the time.  They serve excellent hamburgers (a mere $2.75), and folks happily took advantage of that.  Also, the members’ wives brought desserts – pies, cakes, etc. – which were available for the attendees to purchase.  I can definitely say my chocolate refrigerator pie was delicious, as was my lemon meringue pie, as was my hamburger!  It was good to see member Rosina Christensen at this dance.  She had as good a time as we did!  We were sad, though, to learn that Harold Strand’s wife, Adele, is quite ill, and we certainly hope for a good outcome.  Harold plays accordion with the Texas Dutchmen.  See the picture in this posting of Gwen Petersen and Rosina Christensen dancing “Ten Pretty Girls”.  Other dancers are in the picture’s background.

We just returned from the polka program at Brenham’s Bluebonnet Opry.  I’m ashamed to say it had been six months since we went to the Opry – much too long – and the last time we were there was in October for their other polka program.  They have two of those each year, May and October.  Tonight was absolutely spectacular!  Everyone around us seemed to enjoy the program as much as we did.  Guest artists were Shane Lala of the Red Ravens, Chris Rybak from Hallettsville, and Al Sulak of Al Sulak’s Country Sounds.  Where shall we start?  Shane played the buttonbox accordion the first set and his saxophone the second set.  We loved it all.  Chris Rybak brought along his new-found friend, Santiago Jimenez, Jr.  We’ve heard Chris and Santiago together previously.  They make an awesome pair.  We were so happy to see Santiago there.  One of the songs they played was written by Santiago’s father.  You’ve probably heard it many times.  Definitely one of my favorites – “Viva Seguin”.  Al Sulak brought along Robert Herridge who plays in Al’s band whenever he can.  As you’ve read here before, Robert is a wonderful musician.  The same can be said for all of these guys, as well as for the members of the house band.  These guys mixed it all up – Robert playing “Orange Blossom Special” with Chris and Santiago, Al playing trumpet along with Chris and Santiago, and of course besides his fiddle Robert brought along his harmonica and his accordion.  We danced a LOT!  Others did, too.  We even had SEVEN club members there tonight!  Mike O’Quinn from Hempstead and Gaye Harkins of Brenham came, as well as Laverne Dancak of Austin and Wayne Luker, who hails from Thorndale.  By the way, congratulations to Wayne and his bride of five days – yes, you read that right – bride Melba, a lovely lady.  Also, Gene Hackemack, another Brenham resident, was there and even joined the jam at the end, playing his trusty Hohner accordion.  (I wonder why no one asked me to bring my accordion……hmmmm.  Must be a reason.)  To round out the seven, of course Lee Roy and I were there from Plantersville.  Not bad for not having planned to all be there!  Anyway – take it from me on good faith – you really should try to make this event when you can.  They do a great job each month on the third Thursday, but we especially enjoy the polka programs.  Keep an eye on my page – click on Reports under the header picture, then on Gwen – and I always try to remember to list the Bluebonnet Opry.  If you know when other Oprys are happening, I’ll be glad to post them also.  It was definitely a fun night tonight, and proceeds after expenses are donated to the hospice in Brenham.

What a great time we had in Burton Wednesday night at the Pig & Whistle.  Some wonderful, talented musicians were there (most of whose names I do not know), and the jam drew a big crowd, probably about 40 folks.  The owners are nice, friendly folks, too, and we hope they will have success with their ownership of the Pig & Whistle.  The jam is led by club member Gene Hackemack (and usually also Allison Collins).  It was only the second time we’ve been able to go, but definitely we recommend it.  It happens on the second Wednesday of the month, starting at 6:30 PM and going until “whenever”.  It was wonderful to see Robert Herridge arrive.  He brought his fiddle and his accordion.  Maybe next time he’ll also have his harmonica.  He also brought wife, Marie, who danced some with Lee Roy.  The keyboard player, a veterinarian, was able to play almost every song that was mentioned, and he did a great job on vocals, too.  The sax player had a smooth voice, and Gene sang some of the songs in Czech and/or German.  The sax player also brought along his guitar, and the bass was provided by a bass guitar.  Put this fun jam on your calendar for next month.  One never knows who will show up, but you’ll enjoy it.  You can eat and drink till your heart’s content, too.  Next month:  June 13.  Directions to the Pig & Whistle are at the top of the page if you click on “Reports”, then “Gwen” under the header picture of this site.

It was Cinco de Mayo, but we went to Sealy for their dance club’s monthly dance, a mix of polkas, waltzes and foxtrot – and a little bit of jitterbug.  It’s always the first Saturday of the month.  The band was the Kreneks, who hail from Sealy.  Joining them for the first time was Robert Herridge of Bellville, who is an excellent musician, specializing in the fiddle and the harmonica.  The crowd loved both when he showed his talents!  He also has taught himself the accordion and does a fine job on that, but he is still learning.  Nevertheless, he can play this instrument with a band very nicely.  No hiccups here.  Folks, you should have heard him playing “Orange Blossom Special” on the fiddle.  WOW!!!  I can’t imagine anyone else playing it any better!  We always enjoy this dance.  There was one young lady we were very happy to see there – 10-year-old Kanden.  She’s a marvelous dancer, even though it’s pretty new to her.  She was happy to be at the dance, happy to dance with whomever asked her – even joining the stroll.  We hope Kanden and her family will want to join our THMDC.  We need more youngsters like her!  Maybe you’ll get to meet her and her family on July 1 at our second annual club dance at Sengelmann Hall in Schulenburg.  That will be on Sunday afternoon, 2-6 PM.  And don’t forget to go to Sealy on June 2 for the next Sealy Dance Club dance, featuring Central Texas Sounds.

Don’t forget that the first airing of Mollie B’s Texas taping (at Ennis March 8-11) will be on Saturday, May 5.  More airings will follow.  They taped 8 hours each of 4 days, so there is plenty for their folks to work with to put together some good shows for folks to watch on RFDTV.  If you have DirectTV or DishNetwork, you may get RFDTV as part of your package.  They have contracted with the inimitable, vivacious, talented, and very sweet and friendly Mollie B to produce some Polka Party tapings for them.  The taping at Ennis is the first one done in Texas, and if you get the opportunity to watch it, you’ll probably see quite a few folks that you recognize – even yourself if you were there!  If you don’t have RFDTV and like polka you may want to add that to your package.  Tune in Saturday!

We danced only on Sunday this weekend, as we drove to El Campo and had some family time (including stuffing ourselves with Mexican food from Los Cucos) on Saturday.  We also got in a little time playing Taroky, a great Czech card game.  We went to the Wharton County fairgrounds Sunday for the Wharton County Youth Fair.  Part of the fair’s offerings is a polka fest – in an air-conditioned building that they refer to as their beer garden.  It’s an old gymnasium (think “good wood floor”).  Two wonderful bands were scheduled to play, so how could we pass it up?  First up was the Dujka Brothers.  They certainly did not disappoint anyone.  They played from 1 to 5 PM.  Then Al Sulak’s Country Sounds finished the polka festival with their excellent music from 5-9 PM.    In the middle the two bands played a few songs together.  We appreciated all the music, and danced to most (and helped 10-year-old Cody learn to waltz).  Note to Cody:  Let’s get together again and we’ll work on the waltz and also teach you how to polka – two kinds of polka – and the foxtrot, which lots of folks call “two-step”.  Keep an eye on our web site and see where dances are coming up that you can get your parents to take you to!  Just click on “Reports” under the header picture on our home page, then click on “Gwen” on the drop-down menu, and you’ll see about three weeks’ worth of dancing listed – all over Texas.  Also check out polkabeat.com which lists dances alphabetically.  Back to the dance.  We especially appreciated Al Sulak’s music on Sunday, as it was their second gig that day!  They had played earlier at Frydek’s church picnic, and Al said it was jam-packed with people!  It can’t be easy to play a gig, then pack up and load all your equipment, drive to another dance, unload and set up, play and sing, then again pack and load all your equipment.  Al, thank you so very much!  Several other things were going on:  Weimar’s church picnic with the Czechaholics & Red Ravens, the German-American Society’s annual Saengerfest (singing festival) at Bellville’s Concordia Hall, and more.  The Saengerfest included much more than singing – dancing, a dinner, music with strolling musicians, and vendors selling crafts and more.  One of the folks providing the music there was Robert Herridge, who is president of the Texas German-American Society.  If it had not been on the same day, he would have been playing fiddle, accordion and harmonica with Al Sulak’s band.  We missed him, but he’s another who hasn’t figured out how to clone himself and be in two places at the same time!  We hope you found a good dance this weekend.  Don’t forget that Maifest in Brenham starts on Friday at noon and runs through Sunday this next weekend.  Check our listings for other places you can get your “music” and/or “dance fix”.

I know how difficult it can be to keep your dancing shoes looking “like new”, or at least not looking grungy.  Well, today is your day to find out how easy and inexpensive it can be to do just that!  I had read how WD-40 will remove black marks from your floors.  I got to thinking that since it is SHOE SOLES that put those black marks on your floors, perhaps WD-40 will remove the black marks that you get on your shoes from being bumped by other shoes while you’re dancing.  So, I took my white dance shoes that had really gotten a LOT of marks on them, a can of WD-40 and a paper towel.  You wouldn’t believe how wonderfully it worked!  My shoes almost instantly (and with very little effort) went from really grungy to “almost new”!  Give it a try.  You’ll probably save lots of money by renewing your shoes like this when they need it!  Next up are my gold shoes and my silver shoes.

Another wonderful weekend of dancing.  I still say it’s too bad we can’t clone ourselves and enjoy ALL the dances!  Well, since we can’t, we can only select ONE dance for any time slot.  Saturday we chose to go to the Wallis American Legion where the Donnie Wavra Orchestra was playing.  It’s always nice to go to this hall; everyone is so friendly, and it’s a nice old hall.  They even have free coffee before folks head home.  Lee Roy said it was really strong, and for him to say that it must have been!  As always, this band played wonderfully.  We always enjoy their musical offerings!  Excellent musicians and very nice folks also!  We had a good time dancing, of course, and also enjoyed visiting with friends.  I was thrilled when Harold & Jane Kosel said that Harold had requested “Tulips From Amsterdam”, as it’s my very favorite.  If you’ve never heard it, I highly recommend that you make it a point to dance to this band and be sure they play “Tulips From Amsterdam”.  Gary Kunkel, leader of the also-wonderful Sound Connection, sings that song.  If by some chance you dance to Wavra’s band and Gary isn’t playing (accordion), you won’t get to hear this song……but that would be a rare occurrence for Gary not to be with the band.  For sure, we were not disappointed about anything at this dance!  By the way, this is the band we’ve contracted with to play at our club dance on July 1 at Sengelmann Hall in Schulenburg.  Don’t miss it!  That’s a Sunday afternoon, a wonderful time to go to a dance!

On Sunday we drove farther than we usually drive to go to “just a dance”.  That means, not for a festival or something, where we would stay for several days.  For sure, this was not “just a dance”!  It happened at the West KC Hall.  No wood floor here, but the coated concrete floor is very danceable.  We simply could not miss this dance with two excellent bands – the Dujka Brothers and Czech & Then Some.  What a treat!  This was their “Spring Awakening”.  WE (and others) thought the dancing started at 12, but it actually started at 1 PM.  No problem.  That gave us plenty of time to eat a delicious meal of chicken fried steak with lots of decadent gravy, mashed potatoes, green beans, whole kernel corn, cole slaw, bread & tea – as well as a fruit cup for dessert.  We shared a meal, so we weren’t TOO FULL when the music and dancing started.  Just right, in fact.  We were the first on the floor for a delightful polka, followed closely by Roger & Charlene Kirby of Elm Mott, just north of Waco.  Roger leads a country band, Texas Heartbeat.  He is also a songwriter and singer.  More nice folks.  We saw so many people we know at that dance – it seemed like we knew almost everyone!  It was a treat to see them all, but we were especially happy to see our friends from Ennis, Kyle and Sheryl Stuckley and their two children, Catherine and Raymond.  We had not seen them for more than a year.  That’s a dancing family that has taught their children how to dance from an early age.  Catherine is in the sixth grade (but taller than I am, thanks to tall parents), and she’s a very smooth and good dancer, and she looks happy doing it!  She was the “Little Sister” to Michelle Barak (our club member) when Michelle wore the crown of Miss Texas Czech-Slovak.  Speaking of Miss Texas Czech-Slovak, don’t miss the dance on Saturday, the Queen’s Ball, which will be held this coming Saturday, April 28, at this same West KC Hall.  That will be in conjunction with the pageant to select this year’s queen.  The Czechaholics will be playing for this dance, which is from 6-10 PM.  You can stay in the area and go to the Ennis SPJST Hall on Sunday and dance from 1-6 PM (doors open at noon) to the sounds of Fritz Hodde & the Fabulous Six and the Ennis Czech Boys.  Gosh, MORE excellent music!  Are we lucky in Texas or what???  Get out your calendar NOW and put down these two dances for next weekend!

What a wonderful weekend of dancing we had, thanks to so many folks who helped host private dances!  The hosts who invited us this past weekend were Dorothy Selden of Hearne for Saturday’s dance and June & Bill Kilpatrick of Columbus for Sunday’s dance.  Many others helped host these dances, and we thank all of them!  Saturday we danced at the Cameron VFW for the first time.  It’s a nice hall with a nice wood floor.  Jerry Haisler & the Melody 5 were our musicians, and the music left no room for complaint.  They eagerly played requests along with pieces they had planned to play.  They even had a guest “musician”, Jerry’s great-nephew, Cole Haisler, who seems to be about 5.  He strummed the guitar the entire time, but he did look very tired by the end of the dance.  Very cute young man!  We had a great time dancing and also enjoyed meeting and visiting with a nice young couple from the Rogers area, Valerie & Garry Kelarek.  They’re very pleasant and they’re good dancers.  We do hope to see them again soon!  Our hosts provided snacks – delicious summer sausage, large hunks of cheese, crackers, pickles and mints.  Thank you again!

Sunday’s dance was at Industry’s Firemen’s Hall, always a good place to dance.  The host couples for that dance had Central Texas Sounds playing for us.  Everyone who has danced to CTS knows they always do a wonderful job, and clearly enjoy themselves while entertaining the crowd.  Quite a few of the Cameron dancers were there also.  We saw and danced with many friends.   Thanks, June, for the delicious sandwiches and chips.  It hit the spot, for sure!

There were several other private dances this weekend, as well as public dances to choose from.  We hope you found a dance somewhere to enjoy.  If not, try harder next time!  Don’t let a good opportunity go wanting.

Czech & Then Some (CATS) was honored to be invited to perform at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC.  We watched their performance live on the computer today (March 21) and were so proud to have a Texas band representing Czech music in such a highly esteemed venue.  They did Texas proud and they did a great job of showing how the Czech heritage music and dancing are being carried on in Texas.  They were selected by the Czech ambassador to the United States.  If you missed this live on the computer you can probably still find a tape of their performance by going to the Kennedy Center web site.  If all else fails, search the internet for Kennedy Center, then find performances.  There should be one with the name “Czech & Then Some”.  Thanks go to Danny Zapletal once again for his leadership in carrying on the Czech heritage, and thanks to all the band members for a super job!

What a great time we had with the KJZT campers again this year!  There were 110 of them at the camp in Ledbetter on Saturday night, plus 40 counselors and Father Joe Hybner – and the Ennis Czech Boys!  The campers’ schedule was running a little late, and of course they had a Mass, so the music and dancing and teaching got started late.  All was okay, though.  The kids seemed to really enjoy themselves.  Participation was excellent.  Almost everyone was dancing.  Now if the campers will just go home and let their families know how much fun they had dancing, maybe their families will take them dancing and they can make it a part of their lives.  It’s definitely a part of the culture they inherited and they can carry it on!  Note to campers:  Don’t forget that you as a full-time student can join our club at no charge.  It would be great if your parents would join, too.  For them it’s only $12 per person per year, and our fiscal year starts July 1.  What a great way to keep your dancing and music heritage alive and well!  Just click on the “Membership” tab under the header picture, then “Join” and download your application form.

KJZT Campers During the Grand March - 2011

Among the dancers were Molly and Matthew Brown from down near the coast, and their mom Melissa.  Molly was a repeat from last year, and she definitely has learned.  Matthew caught on very well, too, and we think he’ll become a good dancer and enthusiastic about it.  He clearly had been swimming a lot (white around his eyes and red from the sun on the rest of his face).  He told me he was on the swim team.  Another repeat dancer that we surely enjoyed seeing was Julie Marek, daughter of Mike and Janice Matocha Marek.  It was good to see her again.  She is the granddaughter of the late Lee Roy Matocha.  His band was one of the best!  You’ll see Julie’s dad, Mike, playing tuba with the Jodie Mikula Orchestra.  Of course we are very familiar with the Ennis Czech Boys, and love them all.  At least one of them, Cory Mikula, used to be a KJZT camper himself.  He comes by his musical talent very naturally, as he’s a grandson of Jodie Mikula via his dad, Andy, who plays drums in that band.  Two other campers who made such an impression on us were 8-year-old Ted and little Hannah.  Both were so eager to learn, and were doing a great job of it!  Note to all of the campers:  If you see us at a dance, be sure to come say “Hello”.  We’d love to know you are there.

Shown in the picture above right, back row, l to r, are:  Father Joe Hybner, Pat and Ron Foley, Catherine Svatek, Joyce Bohuslav, and camp director Annie Wick.  Front row, l to r, are Willie Bohuslav, Lee Roy and Gwen Petersen, and camper and avid dance student, Hannah.  Shown in the picture above left are some of the KJZT campers during the grand march.  Look at those smiles!  What a great time they had!  Below right are some of the 110 campers at KJZT camp in June 2011, just before the Mass by Father Hybner.  Great kids!

KJZT Campers just before Mass - 2011

Our thanks go out to the rest of the dance teachers, Ron and Pat Foley and Willie and Joyce Bohuslav and their friend from La Grange, Catherine Svatek.  We couldn’t have done nearly as good a job without them.  It seemed that they had as good a time as we did.  This is strictly a volunteer effort by the teachers, and we appreciate it.  We hope to be invited back next year.

We are accepting donations from anyone who wants to contribute towards dances which will be open to the public…..part of our effort to preserve these heritage dances and their music.  Thanks to all our generous donors!   To donate, or to see current donations, click on the second tab from the left at the top of our home page, the one that says “Donors”.  We’ll always happily accept more donations……