The Polka America Corporation is far from the only organization promoting polka — the International Polka Association has been dedicated to the study and preservation of polka music for nearly forty years. The IPA’s 38th annual festival begins tonight in Chicago and the highlight will undoubtedly be Saturday’s Hall of Fame Awards Banquet. Back in 1968, Frankie Yankovic and Li’l Wally Jagiello were the first to be inducted into the Hall of Fame and since then the list of honorees has grown to include such legends as Myron Floren, Joey Miskulin, “Whoopee John” Wilfahrt, and many others.

Performers at this year’s festival include Eddie Blazonczyk’s Versatones, Jeff Mleczko & Dynabrass, Eddie Biegaj & Crusade, and more. And the IPA hasn’t forgotten about the kids — the festival features a couple vents geared towards younger polka-philes. First, there’s the annual Polka Art Contest where kids are encouraged to draw a picture based on the theme, “Polka Music is Happiness.” There’s also the Mini-Polka Princess Pageant, which is a non-competitive pageant for girls aged 3-10 (too bad, I was looking forward to the talent portion).

How often do you get to see bands with names like the Smilin’ Scandinavians and the Awesome Polka Babes? Not often enough, if you ask me. Luckily, you’ll be able to catch both at the 10th annual Rocky Mountain Accordion Celebration next weekend, August 4th-6th, in Philipsburg, Montana. And if those bands aren’t enough to excite you, the website bills the event as “a rousing weekend of dancing and listening to music, steak barbeques and outdoor pancake breakfasts, concerts in the 1892 Opera House and a parade of homemade pies.” Accordions, pancake breakfasts, AND a pie parade? I don’t know about you, but that pretty much sounds like heaven to me.

Seriously, though, if you’re in the area, it sounds like a fun weekend of accordion revelry. In addition to the aforementioned colorfully-named performers, you can also hear Lidia Kaminska and The King Bees of The Bayou, or take part in accordion technique workshops led by Mike and Margie Aman. Just remember to make time for pie.

Remember going to summer camp and coming back with nothing but a sunburn, mosquito bites, and a birdcage made out of popsicle sticks? This year, go to a camp where you’ll actually learn something useful — accordion camp! Camp AccordionLand 2006 takes place at Crown Point State Park in Alameda on August 12th and 13th. The camp features workshops led by local accordion teachers (including tango, jazz, and klezmer workshops), two accordion orchestra performances, and even an accordion sand sculpture contest. Depending on your schedule, you can choose to attend both days, just one day, or even for just one workshop. Anna and I are planning to be there on Sunday (the 13th), so come up and say ‘hi’ if you’re there!

Few people have done more to promote the accordion than Anthony Galla-Rini. Born into a musical family, Galla-Rini started playing accordion when he was seven and, after years on the vaudeville circuit, opened his own accordion studio in San Francisco. Devoted to the serious and classical study of the accordion, he wrote hundreds of arrangements, published his own method books, and in 1941, composed his first accordion concerto which he performed with the Oklahoma Symphony Orchestra. A recognized virtuoso, Galla-Rini toured the world, giving concerts and solo recitals, and played on numerous movie soundtracks (High Noon, Laura).

Since 1990, Galla-Rini has held an annual summer accordion camp where he leads workshops and conducts ensemble pieces. Nearly fifty musicians from around the world have registered for this year’s camp, which will be held at the Dominican University in San Rafael starting on Sunday, July 23rd. The maestro is still going strong at 102 (!!!), but won’t be attending this year; instead, Bay Area teacher/accordionist Joe Smiell will direct the camp.

Galla-Rini’s solo recordings are hard to find, but here’s a track that was included on the 1995 compilation, Legends of the Accordion:

Liebesfreud (MP3 download)

Right now, one of the largest accordion festivals in the world is in full swing up in beautiful British Columbia — the 32nd annual Kimberley International Old Time Accordion Championships (or KIOTAC, as it’s known). All this week, accordionists are squaring off in such categories as old time, diatonic, light classical, popular music, and jazz. In case you’re wondering what qualifies as “old time” accordion, here’s the rule book definition:

“For the purpose of these competitions, ‘old-time’ shall refer to the manner and style in which the selection was written or is being played, not to the selection’s age or ethnic origin. Old-time music is fittingly described as the style and tempo that has been predominantly and successfully used for dancing the polka, waltz and schottische throughout a broad cross-section of Western Canadian communities during the past century.”

But it’s not all cutthroat competition — there are also featured performances from Bernadette Conlon, Murl Allen Sanders, the Ulster Accordion Band, and more. And just to give you an idea of how big this festival is: last year, they broke the Guinness Record for the largest accordion ensemble, with 644 accordionists playing together. 644! (Kinda puts the old Accordion Invasion to shame.)

Judging from the handful of photos I’ve found, it looks like the 1st annual Main Squeeze Accordion Festival last Saturday was a success. And this post on the “missed connections” board at Craigslist NYC suggests that the enchanting squeezebox melodies may have helped sweep at least one attendee off his feet:

“You were the cute, short-haired brunette photographer taking pictures of the colorful characters dancing to the merengue group at the accordion festival on Saturday… I’m the redhead with whom you exchanged smiles. Maybe we were just reacting to the hilarious dancers, but I enjoyed your smile nonetheless and would love a chance to meet you when you’re not busy capturing Kodak moments.”

I don’t know about you, but I’m definitely rooting for this crazy kid.

Those Darn Accordions is hitting the road this summer, bringing their unique brand of squeezebox-fueled rock to the masses (or, at least, the Midwest and West Coast). The tour kicks off tonight in Chicago and includes dates in such accordion hotspots as Cleveland, Milwaukee, Madison, and the Seaside (Oregon) Elks Club. And if seeing TDA alone isn’t enough to knock your socks off, tonight they’re sharing the bill with Chicago’s Polkaholics and tomorrow night in Oshkosh, they’re opening for David Lee Roth AND Starship. Here’s hoping that they’ve got covers of “Hot for Teacher” and “We Built this City” ready…

Get ready for some big squeezin’ in the Big Apple — the 1st annual NYC Main Squeeze Accordion Festival will be held at Riverside Park South next Saturday (July 8th) from 2pm to 9pm. There’ll be music, dancing, food, and even an accordion flea market. Sponsored by Walter Kuhr’s Main Squeeze accordion shop, the all-female Main Squeeze Orchestra (mentioned here previously) will kick off the day, followed by performances from Guy Klucevsek, Proyeccion Norte?a, the John Nolan Trio, the Phoebe Legere Experience, the Balkan Brothers, Ernestilio y Su Conjunto, Jesse Lege & Bayou Brew, and more.

If you’re in the New York City area and can file a festival report for us, let us know. Our East Coast news bureau is woefully understaffed.

With apologies to our fans in northern Minnesota, I’m filing this post under “better late than never.” Last weekend was the 29th annual Polkafest in Chisolm, MN, and according to the Hibbert Daily Tribune writeup, there was plenty of music and dancing to go around. Among the polka providers at this year’s event were the Joey Tomsick Orchestra, the Steve Meisner Band, and, the one that intrigues me the most, Father Frank Perkovich’s Polka Mass.

For over 30 years, Father Perkovich has been celebrating his “polka mass” — a traditional Catholic mass, but with all the songs and hymns performed in the style of Slovenian and Croatian polka music. According to his site, he even did one for Pope John Paul II in 1983. (Not too surprising; I’m guessing that, being from Poland, the pope was no stranger to polka music.) Nevertheless, polka masses have stirred some spirited debate over their appropriateness in the church. Personally, I’d be at my church a lot more often if they had a regular polka mass…