Old Accordion

[mikekammel]

As good as the Ridgeland Dutchmen? I played with Dan Leis on bass for many years. It’s a small world!

Maybe even better!! There was a friendly rivalry between the fans of each band, but as you said, it's a small world, even back then in the world of the polka bands. Or old time music, as my aunt and uncle called it. There was, and still is, a music hall in La Crosse called the Concordia, I'm sure you've played there. As mentioned before, I came from a large extended family, in a farm community where large families were common. So in the 60's and 70's, somebody we knew was getting married almost every weekend. And most of them had polka music at the wedding dances. So we were at the Concordia at least a couple times a month listening and dancing to polka bands. Syl played there a lot, as he was part of that farm community. Wasn't the Brueggen family part of the Ridgeland Dutchmen? Both of my parents passed away in the past year, and going through their things, we came across several polka albums, a couple of them from the Jolly Swiss Boys, as my dad's sister married Syl Jr., the trumpet player.

 

[Tom]

Maybe even better!! There was a friendly rivalry between the fans of each band, but as you said, it's a small world, even back then in the world of the polka bands. Or old time music, as my aunt and uncle called it. There was, and still is, a music hall in La Crosse called the Concordia, I'm sure you've played there. As mentioned before, I came from a large extended family, in a farm community where large families were common. So in the 60's and 70's, somebody we knew was getting married almost every weekend. And most of them had polka music at the wedding dances. So we were at the Concordia at least a couple times a month listening and dancing to polka bands. Syl played there a lot, as he was part of that farm community. Wasn't the Brueggen family part of the Ridgeland Dutchmen? Both of my parents passed away in the past year, and going through their things, we came across several polka albums, a couple of them from the Jolly Swiss Boys, as my dad's sister married Syl Jr., the trumpet player.

Yes, Dan was from the Cashton Brueggen crew and I believe his sister married a Kammel. I’m sorry to hear your parents have passed. I never played at the Concordia but I have danced there. At the time I lived out there we were playing “Americana” music, not old time. But once I started playing the accordion I got into polka and old time, another friend and I played at some churches, nursing homes, like that. I wasn’t good enough to play at the Concordia dances. I really enjoyed living there, but I moved after I retired. Good times! I hope your son enjoys playing.