Happy 100th Birthday Jimmy Brosch! Jimmy passed into Polka Heaven ten years ago this year, and was born in 1923 in Praha, Texas. He spent time in Firasek’s Store in Praha listening to the local Czech ladies singing in their Czech language. Jimmy was born into Czech music with the Henry Brosch Orchestra on his Father’s and the Adolph Migl Orchestra on his Mother’s side.
has been a testimony to musical family heritage for over sixty years and Fritz has decided to take a break.
The Red and Whites gathered for their summer membership meeting on July 9th and we had a blast! After a filling meal catered by Koopman’s Catering and delicious chef-inspired desserts provided by all our members, we had our meeting to take care of a little business and then lined up for the Grand March to start our afternoon of dancing fun. The Dujka Brothers blessed us with their musical talents keeping the dance floor active playing all our favorite polka and waltzes and a few classic county hits sprinkled here and there. If folks weren’t on the dance floor, they were dancing in their seats or singing along enjoying the spectacular music. There were plenty of smiles on faces and laughter sounding out, along with a few whoops and hollers just for added flair. I believe it’s safe to say a good time was enjoyed by all, even those who were enjoying the party in Polka Heaven.
Western Swing music. “The secret was it had a good dance tempo, mmpah- mm-pah, a 2/4 rhythm. The thing that Milton [Brown] said was ‘If I pattern my music and make it a good polka tempo out the songs I play, play the polka tempo just a little bit harder, I think I’ll have a good band.’ When you boil it down, it was a good simple, polka beat.”--- Leon “Pappy” Selph ( Light Crust Doughboys, Bob Wills, Blue Ridge Playboys).
When Texas Playboys front man Jason Roberts steps onto a stage with his fiddle and utters his first “AH-ha” of the evening, western-swing fans know they're seeing and hearing nothing less than the living embodiment of a tradition that stretches all the way back to 1933. That was the year the charismatic fiddler Bob Wills and several other musicians in a group called the Light Crust Doughboys broke away from Fort Worth's Burris Mills and its autocratic business manager, W. Lee “Pappy” O'Daniel, to form their own band. As Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys, they became one of the most popular touring and recording acts in the nation, offering audiences the highly danceable musical mixture that came to be known as western swing.