Madonna Birthday Celebration

I've been trying to keep busy this winter visiting as many places as I can and performing. It always helps to get in front of an audience and practice speaking, singing, and playing my accordion. I got a response back from Madonna that they would like me to come and perform. They were still looking for entertainment for their birthday celebration in January.

Brad and I were excited to play some polka music for all of the residents with birthdays in January. There were even several Czechs there celebrating. (I tried to get one of their granddaughters to run for Lincoln queen! HEHE!)

I spoke a bit about being queen and showed off my kroj a bit. Then we played a few, I sang a few, and put Brad on the spot with my favorite...the Clarinet Polka.

It was a lot of fun and as always...you start that polka music and those feet start tapping! We found a few residents who knew people we knew in the Czech and/or Polka Music community and stayed to visit for a while after performing. They were all very kind and we hope to go back and visit sometime soon!

Spanem Bohem!
Stefanie Vocasek
2009-10 Nebraska Czech-Slovak Queen

The Hall of Fame...

In Milligan Nebraska! :)

I had heard about the Milligan Musicians Hall of Fame but had never see the names of everyone who has been inducted. I was excited to get to go to the celebration this year and hear about all of the new inductees. After we heard each of the new members of the Hall of Fame's story they had a big accordion jam. We played for a while then headed over and had dinner a few doors down (PRIME RIB WOO HOO!!! HAHA!) We went back and played accordion for several more hours. I made a fun new friend names Lilly. :) Her dad was actually one of my dads students. She saw me and started to mimic me and then we danced together for a few songs. It was a blast! I look forward to going every year now. I think it is even more special to me now because I am getting to know so many of the people who are involved in the polka music scene in Nebraska.

Na Shledanou,
Stefanie Vocasek
2009-10 Nebraska Czech-Slovak Queen

Muzicky Muzicky

I got invited to perform at "Muzicky Muzicky" a few months back. They asked me to sing the Czech and US National Anthems. I was really excited....and then....MY VOICE RAN AWAY....unfortunately I didn't catch it before it got away so I lost it. :) Never fails that I lose my voice when I need it most. The program was really neat. They talked about Czech Instruments, Composers, Songs, and so much more. It was great to learn even more about Czech music and to be a part of the program. I got to sit on stage with some of the lovely York Czech's who helped to present and put this event on. (I kinda felt like I was on the View sitting on the couch...only better because I was surrounded by a bunch ofjavascript:void(0) strong Czech Women! HEHE!) They had a small band set up playing some of the songs and instruments that they spoke about during the program and after intermission I got to play Sue Underwood's accordion to help people know that intermission was over and it was time to return to their seats. I also got to try...yes TRY to play the dudy which was fun. (Ever since I saw Carrie Brown play the dudy I've wanted to learn!) It was a great day and I look forward to visiting the York Czechs again sometime soon.

Spanem Bohem!
Stefanie Vocasek
2009-10 Nebraska Czech-Slovak Queen

Touhy Customer Appreciation Celebration

Well I got to participate in another small accordion jam this weekend. Touhy decided to have a group of us come out and play for their customer appreciation weekend. There ended up being 5 accordions plus bass and drums. It was a lot of fun and great practice playing with some amazing players and I'm getting better at hearing myself play in jams now. Hopefully this holds true when I get back into a bigger jam again. :) We had a blast and look forward to going back to Touhy again soon!!

Na Shledanou,
Stefanie Vocasek
2009-10 Nebraska Czech-Slovak Queen

Happy Polka New Year!!!

Well my New Year has started with "Lots O' Polka!" :-D For New Years Eve I decided to head down to Milligan to watch Sue and the Blue River Czechs play and ring in the 2010. Laura (the Wilber Queen) came along with me and we had a great time. It was fun because I also met several of my Grandma Knudson's (was Michl) classmates as this was near where she grew up. They had me come up and sing a few with the band which was fun because I don't get to sing with a larger band like that very often. After the band shut down they even served breakfast. YUMM!! That's now where the polka stopped. The next day (or if you want to get technical the same day since it was after midnight) the Brad Husak combo was playing at Abie's Place. We decided to have a girls night out because my dad, uncle, and brother had gone to the bowl game. My mom, 2 aunts, cousin, brother's girlfriend, her mom, and I headed up to Abie to watch the band play. We had snacks on the way there and had fun polka dancing and listening to the music the rest of the evening. I also realized how much fun it is to try to make John Halama laugh while he is playing...and really not that hard either. HAHA! I of course played and sang a bit and they even got Sue and Galen to go up and a play a few too. Galen played the chicken dance and we got a pretty big group out on the floor to dance. We always have fun there and I look forward to going again sometime soon. :)

Na Shledanou,
Stefanie Vocasek
2009-10 Nebraska Czech-Slovak Queen