>> From the Library of Congress in Washington D.C.
[ Silence ]   >> Moderator: Hello.
Good afternoon.
I'm Thea Austen, Public Events Coordinator
for the American Folklife Center.
On behalf of our entire staff I'd like to welcome you to the August,
2010 Homegrown Concert Music of America series here
in the Coolidge Auditorium.
The Homegrown Series was designed to bring you the very best
of traditional music and dance from around the nation.
The American Folklife Center works collaboratively
with the Millennium Stage at the Kennedy Center
to bring you these concerts.   We also work with the many talented
and very dedicated state Folk Arts coordinators across the country.
They help us identify and bring to D.C. the most important
and representative traditions from around the country.
Today's performance will be recorded for the permanent collections
of the American Folklife Center's archive, and will be put
up on our website as a webcast as well.
That way future generations can enjoy it and learn from it.
And it will be accessible for anyone in the world with a computer.
So, just as a reminder, this would be the time
to turn off your cell phones, or else researchers a hundred years
from now will hear your special ring.
As you may know, the Coolidge as a really long history
with folk and roots music.
In 1938, Alan Lomax used it to capture piano performances
and oral histories with the great jazz pioneer Jellyroll Morton,
which were released on CD recently and won a Grammy.
Josh White and the Golden Gate Quartet played here,
as well as Mississippi John Hurt, and many, many others.
And because of this we have wonderful recordings of them here
in the Library of Congress.
Providing sound for us today and recording this concert
for the archive are Chris Koslowsky and Wizard Casey
from National Sound, and they do a great job.
Thank you guys.
And also thanks to Solomon Haileselassie who is doing the lines
for us from the library's Music Division.
I also want to acknowledge a staffer
from Senator Cole's office who's here.
Thank you for coming today.
Are there any other staffers from any other offices today?
Yes? Who are you, where?   >> [Inaudible].
>> Okay, great.   Well, thank you.
Thank you for coming and welcome.
So today we have a very special presentation from the State
of Wisconsin featuring Steve Meisner and his band.
Playing his own brand of Milwaukee Slovenian polka music as well
as original compositions in the tradition.
And to tell you a little bit more about the performers, please join me
in welcoming Ann Pryor of the Wisconsin Arts Board.
[ Applause ]   >> Dr. Ann Pryor: Good afternoon.
Wisconsin is a polka state.
I learned that lesson soon after moving there
when my second grade daughter rehearsed the dance in her class
and performed it on the steps of the state capitol.
She and her classmates, after the persistent push
of their polka enthusiast and accordion playing teaching,
Vye Bergam, were lobbying for polka to be declared the state dance.
They were not alone in their support of polka.
And in 1993 the State Legislature added polka to its list
of official state symbols.
It was a good choice, because the polka well-represents the ethnic,
broad diversity of Wisconsin and its dominant German ancestry.
Depending on where you travel in Wisconsin,
you will hear polkas Americanized in German, Polish, Slovenian, Czech,
Norwegian, Mexican, Irish, Croatian or Finnish substyles,
each with variations in instrumentation,
tempo, language and dance.
What you'll be hearing today from Steve Meisner
and his band is Slovenian style polka done the Milwaukee way.
Polka has an ethnic base, but it is not limited by ethnicity.
It has regional appeals, being the roots music of the upper Midwest,
with major polka hubs along the southern shores of the Great Lakes.
In very German Milwaukee and all of southeastern Wisconsin,
the polka style of choice is not German, but Slovenian.
Steve's own background represents this mix.
Even though his family ancestry is German, the regional base trumps.
You won't find tuba and concertina on the stage today.
Instead, sax and banjo are led by his powerful piano accordion.
Steve comes from the musical Meisner family, having learned the basics
of the genre and the business from his innovative
and celebrated father, the late Vern Meisner.
Vern's music and career helped shape the Milwaukee sound,
and Steve has continued to do the same.
Taking the tradition and making it his own.
Steve, as his dad before him, is one of the rare professionals
who make their living as a full-time polka musician.
All the music you hear today will be original compositions written
by Steve or his father, or his grandmother!
All are within the Milwaukee Slovenian style tradition,
but played with Steve's identifiable sound.
Steve will be ably accompanied by Denny Anderson on banjo and guitar.
Steve and Denny first worked together when Steve was 13 years old
and Denny was in Vern Meisner's band.
Denny himself is a second generation polka musician.
Chris Doszak on drums is another second generation polka musician.
He began playing with Steve's band when he was only 15.
Jason Goldsmith on saxophone is a Meisner relative who was a jazz
and pop player when Steve brought him over to the polka side
of life about three years ago.
Also on saxophone is Steve's son, Austin Meisner,
who has been featured in the band since 2009.
Austin makes this the third generation
of Meisner polka musicians.
Polka is associated with happiness, that raucous unrelenting drive
of the music just pushes the blues away.
So get ready to get happy as you bounce along in your seats,
or possibly polka on the aisle, as we celebrate one more thing
that made Milwaukee famous.
The dynamic sounds of Milwaukee style polka as performed by a master
of the style, Steve Meisner and his band.
So let's bring the band out.
So please enjoy this first song, Main Attraction.
And it was written by Steve's grandmother, and first recorded
by his father, Vern Meisner, in 1965.
[ Silence ]
>> Steve Meisner: How is everybody doing?
Hi, Candy.   It's quiet.
[ Starting music with countdown ]   [ Tune: Main Attraction ]
You're my main attraction.
You're my one distraction, 'cause you're mine.
You were one sweet babe that caught me on a date, and now you're mine.
You passed the movie test.   You sure wore clothes the best.
Outshine Miss USA.   Yeah man, I'm bragging.
You're my main attraction.
You're my one distraction, and you belong to me.
[ Tune: Main Attraction ]   Hey, hey, hey!
[ Tune: Main Attraction ]   You're my main attraction.
You're my one distraction, 'cause you're mine.
You were one sweet babe that caught me on a date, and now you're mine.
You passed the movie test.   You sure wore clothes the best.
Outshine Miss USA.   Yeah man, I'm bragging.
You're my main attraction.
You're my one distraction, and you belong to me.
That's right!   Hey, hey!
[ Tune: Main Attraction ]   [ Steve whistles ]
[ Tune: Main Attraction ]   >> Hey! Thank you music lovers.
Thank you very much.
And we'd like to thank the Library of Congress,
and of course the Wisconsin Arts Board
for making this all possible here for this wonderful Wednesday.
We're happy to be here.
And how about a round of applause for the fellas up here?
We've got the finest in the nation to play for you.
That last tune?
Yeah, so it was written by my grandmother.
And this next number written by my father for the --
actually it was written for the 1976 Bicentennial year.
And he called it Polka '76.
[ Polka '76 ]   Oh, yeah!
[ Polka '76 ]   [ Whistling ]
Oh, yeah!   [ Polka '76 ]
Hey, hey, hey, hey!   [ Polka '76 ]
One more time!   [ Polka '76 ]
[ Whistling ]   Polka '76.
[ Applause and cheering ]   Thank you, music lovers.
We were fortunate to be able to play that together
for the Wisconsin Bicentennial celebration
at the Folklife Festival right out here on the mall.
And so this is a terrific opportunity to document it again
with a little more explanation on that particular number.
This next tune here, we're going to play things kind of by ear.
But the next little number was the last tune that,
or last recording I should say, before my dad passed away.
[ Tune: Darlin', I'm in love with you ]
Darlin', I'm in love with you.   I never knew a gal like you.
You're the one that I've been waiting for.
Can't you see it's you that I adore?   Sweetheart, never leave me, dear.
It feels just grand when you are near.
Say that you will always be true, 'cause darlin' I'm in love with you.
[ Tune: Darlin', I'm in love with you ]
[ Whistling ]
[ Tune: Darlin', I'm in love with you ]
Sweetheart, I'm in love with you.   I never knew a gal like you.
You're the one that I've been waiting for.
Can't you see it's you that I adore?   Sweetheart, never leave me, dear.
It feels just GREAT!   when you are near.
Say that you will always be true, 'cause darlin' I'm in love with you.
Oh, yeah! Hey, hey, hey, hey!
[ Tune: Darlin', I'm in love with you ]
[ Whistling ]   Oh!
[ Tune: Darlin', I'm in love with you ]
Darlin', I'm in love with you!   Thank you music lovers.
Hey, a little Meisner magic.
My dad and I used to play this together.
This is a tune that I wrote off the Meisner Magic recording.
Meisner Magic.   [ Meisner Magic ]
Oh, hey!   [ Meisner Magic ]
[ Whistling ]   Yeah!
[ Meisner Magic ]   We got dancers.
Let's give them a round of applause.
Let's hear it for our dancers on the floor.
[ Meisner Magic ]   [ Whistling ]
[ Meisner Magic ]   Hey, hey!
[ Meisner Magic ]   Oh, one more time!
[ Tune: Meisner Magic ]   [ Whistling ]
[ Tune: Meisner Magic ]   Meisner Magic!
[ Applause ]   Well, you know, polkas and waltzes.
They go hand-in-hand.
If you know your polka music, they go hand-in-hand, polkas and waltzes.
The Meisner family likes to write waltzes.
I don't know what it is about it,
but it must be the beautiful melodies
that you can make in a waltz.
So we'd like to feature some waltzes here this afternoon,
original Meisner waltzes.
And I'm going to start off with one here that Ann forgot to mention,
which is probably because I didn't tell her
at the time of our interview.
But my brother, Daniel, has written a lot of words to our songs.
And this is one that he wrote the words to and I wrote the music.
It's called The Wildflower Waltz.   [ Tune: The Wildflower Waltz ]
Beauty's in your kiss, as warm as sun in spring.
You give and give more than to live.   You, my wildflower.
There's more to life than this.   We'll reach a higher star.
Remember that you'll always be, my wildflower.
[ Tune: The Wildflower Waltz ]
Beauty's in your kiss, as warm as sun in spring.
You give and give more than to live.   You, my wildflower.
There's more to life than this.   We'll reach a higher star.
Remember that you'll always be, my wildflower.
[ Tune: The Wildflower Waltz ]
And that's called The Wildflower Waltz.
[ Applause ]   [ The music starts ]
We're going to do one more for you
in this set called The Mysterious Stranger, written for my wife, Barb.
[ Tune: The Mysterious Stranger Waltz ]
Once in a life you'll meet the right girl with soft warm, red lips.
A smile and a kiss.
And you'll recall a sweet, mellow dream.
Reminds you of this, a smile and a kiss.
Hearing her voice, softly she speaks.
You try to resist her smile and her kiss.
Don't try to hide the feelings you feel.
Can love be like this?
It is, I know because once in my life I met the right girl
with soft warm, red lips.   A smile and a kiss.
Then I'd recall a sweet, mellow dream.
Reminds me of this, her smile and her kiss.
Then I'd awake with mysterious feelings.
I'd cherish the dreams I hold in my heart.
What's that I see?
My mysterious dreams, and will never be lonely again.
[ Tune: The Mysterious Stranger Waltz ]
Once in my life I met the right girl with soft warm, red lips.
A smile and a kiss.
Then I'd recall that sweet, mellow dream.
Reminds me of this, her smile and her kiss.
Now I awake with mysterious feelings.
I cherish the dreams I hold in my heart.
Now that I found my mysterious stranger,
I'll never be lonely again.
[ Tune: The Mysterious Stranger Waltz ]
The Mysterious Stranger.   [ Applause ]
Along with the nice, smooth, dreamy waltzes,
polka music has several various styles
of faster waltzes, even slower.   And when I picked this waltz up,
this little bit is called the Lendler.
And it's called the Alpine Delight,
written by my old pappy, Vern Meisner.
[ Tune: Alpine Delight Waltz ]   I want everybody to sing.
Yo-oh-oh-oh!   Oh, opsida!
Everybody, yo-oh-oh-oh!   Oh, opsida!
[ Tune: Alpine Delight Waltz ]   Yo-oh-oh-oh!
Oh, opsida!   Yo-oh-oh-oh!
Oh, opsida!
[ Tune: Alpine Delight Waltz ]   Here we go.
Now everybody, help us out now.   Yo-oh-oh-oh!
Oh, opsida!   Yo-oh-oh-oh!
Oh, opsida!   One more time.
Yo-oh-oh-oh!   Oh, opsida!
Yo-oh-oh-oh!   Oh, opsida!
[ Tune: Alpine Delight Waltz ]   [ Applause ]
[ Silence ]
I have to say, it always gets hot up here.
And that was when we have dancers too it makes it hotter up here.
[ Silence ]
We'd like to change the tempo for you,
because along with polka music you have
to play a wide variety of music for dancers.
Because that's what we do most of our life, is play for dancers.
And so along with that comes different kinds
and different styles of music for dancers.
And we like to stay original, so we're going
to do another Vern Meisner original here called Chili Pepper.
[ Chili Pepper ]   Hey, hey!
[ Chili Pepper ]   [ Applause ]
Chili Pepper!
Kind of in the same American/Latin dance meter here.
It's called Accordiana Mystique off of the live recording.
[ Tune: Accordiana Mystique ]   [ Applause ]
While we're doing the little mix of music for you here,
I'd like to do another tune my dad wrote back
in the late '70s, early '80s.   Came out on a recording called.
Actually, it came out first only on 45.
And then was released on an LP called El Rio Drive.
[ Music starts ]   Everybody loves a country woman.
A country woman's happy all the time.
She wakes up in the morning when a new day is dawning.
A country woman's happy all the time.
Every man needs a country woman.
She worries when I'm moving down the line.
She tries to make a good life, a family and a good wife.
A country woman's faithful all the time.
Truckin' from Nashville to L.A., thinking of her every day.
She gives me lovin', always on my mind.
Lord knows, I love her all the time.   Yes, I miss my country woman.
A country woman's happy all the time.
I miss my country woman, my sweet country woman.
A country woman's happy all the time.
Jason on the sax.   [ Tune: Country Woman ]
Give a round of applause, Jason on the sax.
[ Tune: Country Woman ]
Well, freeways to L.A., I don't care.
Truck stops, one stop, had my share.
She's always waiting with a kiss and a smile.
Lord knows, she makes my life worthwhile.
Yes, I miss my country woman.
A country woman's happy all the time.
Now I miss my country woman, my sweet country woman.
A country woman's faithful all the time.
Every man needs a country woman.
She worries when I'm moving down the line.
Now I miss my country woman, my sweet country woman.
A country woman's happy all the time.
You know I miss my country woman, my sweet country woman.
A country woman's happy all the time.
[ Tune: Country Woman ]   [ Applause ]
And we have to do.   Thank you, music lovers.
We have to do a little change up here because it was a prerequisite
by the Wisconsin Arts Board that we bring the button box along,
and play a couple tunes on the old button accordion
that I started playing when I was about 13 years old.
And in fact, I got to make my first recording when I was 13
with my dad on the button accordion.   So let's switch her up.
Everyone's seen one of these before, right?
The typewriter?   We're going to do.
We're going to skip, fellas.
Because we don't have time to do it all, so we're going
to do one song on this, okay?
We're going to do one song and it's called The Jump River Polka.
My dad and I wrote this for the little town
in northern Wisconsin called Jump River, Wisconsin.
[ The Jump River Polka ]   Jump!
[ The Jump River Polka ]   [ Whistling ]
[ The Jump River Polka ]   Hey, hey, hey-ya!
[ The Jump River Polka ]   Oh, yeah! Hey, ho!
[ The Jump River Polka ]   [ Whistling ]
[ Whistling ]   [ The Jump River Polka ]
Jump River on the old button accordion there.
I'll tell you what we've got to right now,
is we've got to get my son up here.
A third generation Meisner musician, AA,
coupled with his son at saxophone.
Let's give him a welcome up here.   Austin Meisner.
[ Applause ]   [ Silence ]
Boy, there's only like eight minutes left.
That's terrible.
Austin is going to do, he's going to a tune his grandfather wrote.
He wants to skip the first one.   That's the one I wrote.
[ Audience laughs ]
He wants to do the one his grandfather wrote, okay?
It's called The Lake City Polka written back in 196-?
Denny, do you know?   >> Denny: No.
>> Steve Meisner: Four.   Something like that.
Here it is, The Lake City Polka, featuring Austin.
[ Tune: The Lake City Polka ]   Everybody sing!
La, la, la.   La-la-la!
[ Tune: The Lake City Polka ]   La, la, la.
La-la-la!   [ Tune: The Lake City Polka ]
Let's sing everybody!   La, la, la.
La-la-la!   [ Tune: The Lake City Polka ]
La, la, la.   La-la-la!
[ Tune: The Lake City Polka ]   Hey-hey-hey!
[ Tune: The Lake City Polka ]   One more time!
[ Whistling ]   [ Tune: The Lake City Polka ]
Austin Meisner on the saxophone.   [ Applause ]
Boy, I tell you, this time is going so fast and we planned
for two months for this thing.   And we can't even give you.
You're only getting just a little picture that's so small
of everything that we do but this.
We hope you're having a good time, I guess.
That's all we can say at this point, is we hope you're having fun.
We're going.
We have to do one waltz because this particular waltz was a tune
that my dad wrote.   And it was the first song
that actually launched him into his stardom.
It was a recording that rated five stars on the Billboard charts
in 1962, and it's called Memories of Vienna written by Vern Meisner.
[ Memories of Vienna Waltz ]   Oh, yeah!
[ Memories of Vienna Waltz ]   Yes, there it is.
That's called Memories of Vienna.
Last but not least, we're going to give you a last,
big finish song here which is ten songs less
than you were supposed to get, okay?
So we've got to condense this because we're short on time.
But before we do that, let's hear it for the boys in the band up here.
Jason, Denny, and Chris and Austin, all the boys up here.
And once again, a round of applause for the LOC
and the Wisconsin Arts Board for bringing us
out here to play for you today.
Give them all a round of applause because it's a lot of work.
I know, because I signed a lot of papers.
There's a lot of work there.
Denny, you want to put on the guitar quick?
And then we're just going to finish up here with probably one
of the most famous Meisner tunes called El Rio Drive
which was where my dad lived.   El Rio Drive and Menomonee Falls.
[ Tune: El Rio Drive ]   Everybody sing!
La, la, la.   La-la-la! La, la, la.
La-la-la! La, la, la.   La-la-la! The words are easy.
La-la-la, la, la-la-la!   La, la, la.
La-la-la! La, la, la.   La-la-la! La, la, la.
La-la-la! La, la, la.   La, la!
[ Tune: El Rio Drive ]   [ Whistling ]
[ Tune: El Rio Drive ]   Hey, hey! Everybody sing!
La, la, la.   La-la-la! La, la, la.
La-la-la! La, la, la.   La-la-la! La-la-la, la, la.
La-la-la! La, la, la.   La-la-la! La, la, la.
La-la-la! La, la, la.   La-la-la! La, la, la.
La, la! One more time!   [ Whistling and cheers ]
[ Tune: El Rio Drive (ends)]   [Song] We don't want to go home.
We don't want to go home.   Why? We're having too much, right!
Yes, we are!   We don't want to go home.
We don't want to go home.   The party's just begun.
Send the bartenders home.   >> Audience: No!
>> Steve Meisner: Don't do it.   Send the girls home.
>> Audience: No!
>> Steve Meisner: Don't do that either.
But save the boys one more beer!   We don't want to go home.
We don't want to go home.   We're having too much fun!
No, we don't want to go home, but we've got to go home.
We're having too much fun!   Oh, yeah!
[ We Don't Wanna Go Home Medley ]
If you're having too much fun, say yeah!
[ We Don't Wanna Go Home Medley ]   [ Whistling ]
[ We Don't Wanna Go Home Medley ]   One more time!
[ Whistling ]   [ We Don't Wanna Go Home Medley ]
Yeah, everybody sing along now!   Eeyai, eeyai, eeyai, yo!
>> Everybody: Eeyai, eeyai, eeyai, yo!
>> Steve Meisner: Eeyai, eeyai, eeyai, yo!
>> Everybody: Eeyai, eeyai, eeyai, yo!
>> Steve Meisner: Eeyai, eeyai, eeyai, yo!
>> Everybody: Eeyai, eeyai, eeyai, yo!
>> Steve Meisner: Eeyai, eeyai, eeyai, yo!
[ We Don't Wanna Go Home Medley ]   Oh, no! We got to go!
>> Everybody: Oh, no!   We got to go!
>> Steve Meisner: Oh, no!   We got to go!
>> Everybody: Oh, no!   We got to go!
>> Steve Meisner: Aiee, aiee, aiee, yo!
>> Everybody: Aiee, aiee, aiee, yo!
>> Steve Meisner: Eeyai, eeyai, eeyai, yo!
[ We Don't Wanna Go Home Medly ]
Well, this is the part of this number
where we say goodnight, adios.
God bless, and thank you for spending your lunch hour
with us right here this afternoon.
Thank you very much!   Music lovers, thank you.
[ We Don't Wanna Go Home Medley ]   Once more!
[ Tune played faster ]   Once more!
[ Tune played faster ]   Once more!
[ Tune played faster ]   Once more!
[ Tune played faster ]   [ Audience cheering and applauding ]
Thank you ladies and gentlemen!   Thank you very much!
>> This has been a presentation of the Library of Congress.