Pole-toberfest: Doin' The Dozynki

It is a strange sensation wandering around a nearby community yet somehow getting the feeling that you are a complete outsider.  Going to the Orange County Dozynki (Polish Harvest Festival) at the Pope John Paul II Polish Center in Yorba Linda, CA, I felt very much like a foreigner in my own country.  Yes, it was a strange sensation indeed...but not completely unpleasant.

As guests of Cynthia, my brother's girlfriend and a first-generation American of Polish descent, we were expecting a truly-authentic experience from truly-authentic Poles (trust me, her family was there and their last name is at least eight syllables long and ends in "ski").  As much as she might try to convince us, we were pretty sure that there would NOT be inflatable dart tournaments, nor screendoor-building contests for submarines, nor any rousing games of "hide the kielbasa," nor any other Polish-perjorative hijinks.  Who does she think we are, Yugoslavians?!?!*  

A children's choir performed folk songs while a bubble containing a
mannequin family in traditional Polish garb floated above.

Recognizing it as a scene straight out of It's A Small World, I wanted to do my best to assimilate and join in on the fun as soon as possible.

"You bet your Pierogi I'm Polish!"

I would have started with gastronomically-appropriate attire but I know that 

if I wore this t-shirt, I would immediately be recognized as a complete fraud.

If we couldn't wear the food, we could certainly eat it!

Delicately draped in mosquito netting, the Paczki, prune-filled Polish donuts,
were a sweet treat that were obviously concerned with my digestive health..

Our pal, Lisa, holds a plate of potato pancakes with sour cream and applesauce.
That totally counts as a serving of fruits and vegetables, right???  There were
peirogis too but we ate them so quickly that I didn't get a photo.

Meanwhile, we thought we could have eaten all of those kielbasa but the true Polish
among us made it clear that we got served!  But don't think we gave up;
Cynthia's mom kept bringing more and more to the table and we did NOT want to be rude...

Since we were clearly getting schooled, we figured the best place to go was the Polska Szkola (Polish School).
Knowing that "Polish for Dummies" was two steps above our skill level, we were sent to the remedial class and
given coloring books and buttons that translate to "Somebody Loves Me."

Clothing, food, and school were fine but to get a true taste of Dozynki, dancing was the name of the game!

In the afternoon, we were treated to the terpsichorean stylings of Piast, Las Vegas' preeminent Polish dance troupe.

After dark, the church's multi-purpose room and the outdoor tents transformed into "diskoteks."
Mr. Tiny got seriously funky under the dance lights.

Mary was invited to dance with a fellow who, unsatisfied with just one dance partner,
recruited me and three other people into some kind of ring-around-the-rosy arrangement.
You can tell by Mary's face that she didn't want us horning in on her dancing fun..or maybe that's her "Save Me" face.

My favorite, however, was Poland's answer to Marty and Elayne; they played
everything from standard polkas, to cha-chas, to power pop for the enthusiastic couples.

The Dozynki was a hoot and gave me the opportunity to live out a childhood fantasy.  Growing up, I was so jealous of friends who spoke another language or identified with some sort of ethnic/cultural group.  Wanting the same but lacking ancestors who practiced cultural customs derived from anything more exotic than those seen on The Andy Griffith Show, I was thrilled to be, if only for one day, Polish.

Cheers!

Mr. Tiny

*Our surname is Yugoslavian; seeing as that is no longer a country, the only t-shirt I could honestly wear without feeling like a total poseur would feature the slogan, "Be Proud Of Where You're From," (from what I understand, it's okay to use a preposition at the end of a Slavic sentence) and an amorphous shape with a question mark in the middle.

p.s.  This will be the last post until we return from Japan.  We will catch you on the other side with all kinds of wacky tacky adventures!  BONZAI!!!

Pulling Out All the Stops: Organ Stop Pizza

Giddiness is probably the least attractive posture a fully-grown man could take.  When faced with the world's-largest Wurlitzer theater organ, however, there really is no other posture to assume.  Southern California is a veritable hotbed of wacky tacky - thriving in spite of a culture of looking "cool" at all costs;  never having been cool, I am blissfully free of the burden of maintaing a "cool" reputation.  That, combined with the fact that we were in Arizona, left me free to be a giddy as a schoolgirl over the thundering sound of the world's largest Wurlitzer theater organ (insert world's largest organ joke).

Capital G-i-double d-y!

The only place to get this excited over the world's largest Wurlitzer theater organ is at its home, Organ Stop Pizza in Mesa, AZ.  Organ Stop Pizza began its life in Phoenix in 1972.  The brainchild of  William P. Brown, who was intent on combining his love of pizza with his love of theater organ, Organ Stop Pizza quickly outgrew its first two locations.  Proving that wacky tacky can be found in any era, OSP broke ground and opened the doors to its current location in 1995.  The facade of its permanent residence is nothing to write home about.  In fact, it is decidedly un-wacky tacky, but once inside the Mesa eatery/organ spectacular, the building itself is reduced to inconsequential background noise.

This is it!  The glowing void in the middle of the picture is the place where the organ console and organist are hydraulically lifted from the ground to perform everything from cinematic masterpieces to polkas to national anthems.  I had to pause a moment when I recognized one of the tunes as "Oh, Canada," the Canadian national
anthem.  I quickly remembered that much of Arizona's seasonal populace is made up of Canadian "snowbirds."

The afternoon's feature organist
OSP has multiple organists on a rotating schedule;
I kind of wanted to stay and hear them all.

I tried to upload my videos so I could share them with you, but apparently, YouTube has incredibly sensitive filters and muted all of my videos, citing copyright infringement.  Really?!?!?!  How does everyone else on YouTube upload EVERY SINGLE SONG in the entire world with no problem?  I am really bad at computers, so after a few tries, I gave up in frustration.  Let me tell you, the descent from overwhelming giddiness to bitter frustration is not nearly as long a fall as one might imagine.  Nevertheless, there exist some videos of the OSP organ in action (although how they managed to get by the YouTube censor bureau, I will never know).

"Chattanooga Choo Choo"

Maybe "Chattanooga Choo Choo" is in the public domain???

The sound quality isn't spectacular but you can definitely

 get a sense of the organ's instrumental capabilities.

Petty, internet-related frustrations aside, I can't quite fully explain the level of elation one is capable of achieving when two of the world's most perfect offerings come together - organ music and pizza (plus a fully-loaded salad bar)!  It is wacky tacky nirvana.  Much credit is due the sensational musicians that lend their talents to the Organ Stop Pizza.  But how can we overlook the real star of the show here - the organ!

Look at that beautiful console!
Designed and built in the 1920's for the world-famous
Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood, OSP's organ
is a total show-stopper before the first stop is even pulled out! 

Compartments loaded with thousands of pipes and clear,
 hinged dampers are controlled entirely by the organist.

Castanets, horns, tambourine, and the wacky tackiest of all instruments - the accordion!

A player piano, bongos, a conga drum, and just about
everything else for which one could wish.

A fanfare is imminent when a fan of horns is always poised at the ready.

"Stars and Stripes Forever"

Take that "Oh, Canada"....only joking, Canadians...

Oh yeah, did I mention that the organ console rotates

during the performance - IT ROTATES!!!

As is evidenced by the above video, dramatic points or particularly-
patriotic moments in a song change the room from relative darkness
 to a glittering spectacle of electric light.
Could an organ concert get any more incredible?  Well, maybe it can...

Once every set, the organist played a rousing, little ditty entitled "The Alleycat."

"The Alleycat" - Bent Fabric

Imagine this being played by the world's largest Wurlitzer theater organ.

Then imagine the thrill of the curtain rising to
reveal a chorus line of feline marionettes!!!

Organ Stop Pizza is more than theater in its most rarefied form; it is an interactive experience.  At the base of the organ platform, there are cards on which the audience members can fill in requests for tunes and notate special occasions that they are celebrating at the restaurant.  While the organist did not play our request (how awesome would it have been to hear The Munsters theme song played on the world's largest Wurlitzer organ), he did honor Mary's request to wish me a happy birthday.

"Happy Birthday Mr. Tiny"

Can you see how crestfallen he is when he realizes 

he's wishing the fat guy in the front row a happy birthday? 

Well, the joke's on you OSP, it wasn't really my birthday!!!

Citing the "If you don't have anything nice to say, then don't say anything at all" rule, I can't say anything about Organ Stop Pizza's pizza.  Well, I guess I could...but I won't.  It really wouldn't matter what they served there - Organ Stop Hot Dogs, Organ Stop Sushi, Organ Stop Hamster - a rose by any other name would certainly sound as sweet.  We've been to the Spreckel's Organ in San Diego, CA.  We've heard the Avalon Theater's beautiful Page Organ accompany some of the finest films of the silent era.  Now we've been to Organ Stop pizza's mighty Wurlitzer.  The hunt is on for the world's best organs...just don't be surprised if you wake up tomorrow in a bathtub full of ice!

We loved it so much that we couldn't leave without a souvenir.
Organ Stop Pizza rigorously maintains the organ and often
 has to swap out spent pipes; we got a "D."

I truly can't recommend a visit to Organ Stop Pizza enough.  If you have even an ounce of wacky tacky spirit in the recesses of your doubtful mind and cold, cold heart, you will definitely get a thrill out of the mighty Wurlitzer and those crazy, dancing cats!

Organ Stop Pizza

1149 E Southern Ave

Mesa, AZ

(480)813-5700

www.organstoppizza.com

Cheers!

Mr. Tiny

wacky tacky icons: Jo Ann Castle

Last week we did something musically that we have been wanting to do for a long time; we went to a little jam session called "Ja, Just Accordions."  Our good friends Kevin and Jody mentioned the event very casually in a conversation one evening, but after I heard the words "Ja, just accordions," my mind wandered to what is most likely the wackiest, tackiest, and most beautiful instrument in the world and I never heard another word they said (sorry guys).

The whole gang getting hot

Held at The Phoenix Club, a German social club in Anaheim, CA, "Ja, Just Accordions" is a monthly meeting of accordionists, dancers, and enthusiasts.  Accordion music is in my blood.  Being from the Midwest, my paternal grandparents were avid polka dancers - I'm pretty sure it's mandatory.  My father took accordion lessons when he was young; I think it was part of my grandma's devious plan to raise the next Frankie Yankovic (her favorite of all the polka kings). Shoot, Mary asked for an accordion for her twelfth birthday - and GOT ONE!!!  So you see, despite our California zip code, our hearts are living in accordion country.

Shirley & Mary
Shirley was GREAT!  She played a lot of songs that we could dance to
 including a medley of "In the Mood" and "I Left My Heart in San Francisco."

Pat just makes me happy.

Were we by far the youngest people in the room by at least thirty years?  Ja.  Did that make us superstars in the eyes of all our new found German friends?  Ja.  Were we given constant adulation every time we pretended to dance the polka and invited back to every upcoming event?  Ja, you betcha.

Ed giving Mary a little polka instruction

Youll be safe saying "Hi Ed" to any guy in the place;

Every man who introduced himself to us that night,

introduced himself as Ed - no joke.

Surrounded by all that dreamy accordion music, I couldn't help but think of one of my favorite television stars of all time, Miss Jo Ann Castle.

Jo Ann Castle
(3 September 1939 - )
(Source)

Taking her stage name from the Castle Accordions that she favored, Jo Ann Castle is best known as a regular performer on The Lawrence Welk Show from 1959 to 1969. On screen she always appeared absolutely carefree and totally filled with the joy of the music she performed - usually standards or ragtime arranged for honky tonk piano and polkas for the accordion.

 

See what I mean?

An early duet of "Tea for Two" with Myron Floren

I guess it goes to show you that you never know what is going on behind the scenes.  Upon doing a little research, it became evident that Castle's life was not all "champagne music."  Although I can't vouch for the veracity of the written account - it seems as if it was penned by a scorned lover/estranged family member- to read more, go here.  Instead of disturbing you with upsetting details, I thought I would simply indulge you with several of her best clips from TLWS.

"Hejre Katy"

Jo Ann gets a surprise cake and a new job on her 20th birthday.

"The World is Waiting for the Sunrise"

"Get Happy"

"Dark Eyes"

"Song of the Islands"

"A-Tisket, A-Tasket"
Welk was a cruel task master.

"Piano Roll Blues"

The hair is everything.

"The Happy Norwegian Polka"

"Chopsticks Boogie"

My most favorite of all - hilarious and disturbing!

Although it is a polarizing program, I don't know if there was another show in the history of television that embodied the spirit of wacky tacky, however unintentionally, like The Lawrence Welk Show.  Jo Ann Castle stood out from the crowd because instead of being just a lip-synching bobble-head, she was a sturdy, Bakersfield girl (I'll bet you thought Buck Owens was the only star to hail from that fair city), full of energy and talent! Unfortunately, like all of the greats before her, Hendrix, Joplin, Morrison, et al., there was a lot of pain hidden behind the smiles and accordion trills, but I guess that is the life of a rock star.  Has VH1 ever thought of doing a "Behind the Music" on Lawrence Welk stars? Or at least a "Behind the Hair?"  

"Queen of the Honky Tonk Piano," "Ragtime Piano Gal,"
"Queen of the Ragtime Piano," or just plain Queen of my heart!
(Source)

Be honest, do you love or hate The Lawrence Welk Show?  Do you have a favorite personality/performer from the show?  If you are a fan, there are so many great clips on YouTube, that you could keep yourself busy all day!

Remember, if you're in the area, feel free to join us at The Phoenix Club on the second Thursday of every month for "Ja, Just Accordions!"

The Phoenix Club

1340 S Sanderson Ave

Anaheim, CA

(714)563-4166

www.thephoenixclub.com

Cheers!

Mr. Tiny