Several polka parties make it a week to get on board the Polish bandwagon
If everyone is Irish for St. Patrick’s Day, surely everyone is Polish for the last week in August. Because this is the week that polka music and Polish culture take over Buffalo.
The fun starts Saturday, when Corpus Christi Church, at the corner of Clark and Kent near the Broadway Market, kicks off its annual Dozynki Polish Harvest Festival.
“Dozynki is becoming the second Polish D-Day,” says organizer Andy Golebiowski. Dyngus Day, of course, is the other one. Saturday at 7 p. m., the two D-Days collide when, as a press release boasts: “Dyngus Day favorites Those Idiots will take the Dozynki stage for the first time.” Those Idiots are a nine-piece orchestra with a large horn section.
The Doyznki Festival runs Saturday from 1 p. m. until 11 p. m. It resumes Sunday, beginning with an 11:30 a. m. Mass of Dozynki Thanksgiving, continuing outside with music and dance, and culminating in in Buffalo’s Biggest Polish Sing-Along and Jam, which takes place at 6:30 p. m. under the big tent. All Dozynki events are free. Food and beverage sales benefit the historic church. For info, call 896-1050.
The Owl Picnic
We suggest you hit the Dozynki Festival on Saturday, because Sunday, it’s time for the Owl Picnic, which runs from noon until 7 p. m. at the Lamm Grove, 962 Wehrle Drive, Williamsville. The event benefits charities including Mercy Flight and Sister Johnice’s ministries. It gets its name because of musicians’ nocturnal schedules.
“When we’d go play a dance or a wedding, we’d go through the motions half asleep,” said organizer Ed Mazurek. “When the gig was over, it was time to chase girls and drink beer.”
The East Side’s Johnny Karas, a member of polka kingpin Jimmy Sturr’s band, will be at the Owl Picnic, and so will other polka artists from the area.
Also on hand will be Mazurek’s grandson, a junior polka meister who goes by the name of C. J. Luksch. Luksch, a third-grader at Fourteen Holy Helpers, plays accordion and saxophone and sings in three languages: English, Polish and German.
“People just love him,” Mazurek said.
Admission is $20.
“And listen to what you get: hot dogs, burgers, kielbasa, Italian sausage, homemade clam chowder with clams,” Mazurek said with a laugh. “The beautiful part about it is that nobody ever gets out of hand. No punches are being thrown. It’s a family affair.”
For info, call 668-1816.
The grand finale
Next weekend, Aug. 30 and 31, the Broadway Grill Reunion II takes place, also at the Lamm Grove in Williamsville. This tribute to a legendary East Side polka club was held for the first time last year. Now, it has doubled in size and scope.
Like the Owl Picnic, the Broadway Grill Reunion attracts hundreds of visitors from out of state. The musical lineup is dizzying. Aug. 30, between 4 and 11 p. m., revelers will enjoy the sound of the Boys From Baltimore and a Buffalo polka band, Knewz. From 3 to 9 p. m. Sunday, it’s Jerry Darlak and the Touch — and the legendary Buffalo polka band known as the Dynatones.
The core of the Dynatones were a singing duo: accordionist David “Scrubby” Seweryniak and drummer Larry Trojak. They’ll be joined at the reunion by Dave “Nigel” Kurdziel on bass, Al Piatkowski on accordion, Tom Wanderlich on sax and clarinet, and, on trumpet, Tom Picciano and Mike Burka.
The reunion of “Scrubby” and Trojak was a big draw last year. Since Trojak moved to Minnesota a couple of decades ago, the duo don’t get much chance to perform together.
Trojak misses his band-mate.
“Singing by yourself is fun, and singing in the shower is fun, but there’s nothing like singing with someone else when you know their intonation, and they know yours, and it just clicks. Apparently, that’s how Scrubby and I are,” he said on the phone this week. “He’s a heck of a guy to work with. It’s amazing to see the impact he has on people.”
Scrubby’s talents jumped out at him years ago, when they were kids together in Buffalo.
“We had a rehearsal, and Scrub showed up, picked up a box, and we all said, ‘Where is this guy from?’ He was an animal even back then,” Trojak recalled.
“He cranked it last year,” he added. “It was so great to hear people worshipping him.”
Polka music, Trojak says, is at home in the modern world.
“There’s a real modern vibe to it,” he said. “There’s a lot of energy, a lot of push behind it. You can go to a polka dance, aside from the whole social aspect of things — meeting friends, dancing — the music kind of pushes things along. It’s a real experience.”
Admission is $10 per day in advance, $12 at the door. Organizers said no coolers or “BYOB” will be allowed, but there will be a reasonably priced cash bar as well as food. For info, call 837-3582.•
