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

Another Haven Manor...This Time in Lincoln!

We had a great time in Hickman visiting Haven Manor so we thought we would visit the Lincoln Haven Manor also! :) I was a bit sad that South Central had to cancel their Christmas party due to the weather but I'm hoping to make it down there for a meeting in the near future since I haven't had much of a chance to work with the South Central Chapter. Wouldn't want to leave out any of the wonderful chapters around Nebraska!!

We got there and they didn't know we were going to be there so it took them a few minutes to round up all the residents. I let Brad play a few songs as everyone was coming into the room and getting settled. I had a great time talking about my experiences as queen (as I always do!) We played a few songs together and then I sang a few. I love singing the Blue Skirt Waltz in English at these events because there is almost always several people singing along. This time as ususal there were a few out there singing or humming along. It's also fun to watch those feet start tapping along to the beat during the Polkas. You just can't help it when that music starts! I'm definitely glad we got to visit and look forward to many more visits around Lincoln soon.

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

Haven Manor in Hickman

I emailed a large number of assisted living and nursing home facilities in and around Lincoln a few weeks back. I asked if there would be any time that I would have an opportunity to come and perform for their residents. The first response I got was from Haven Manor in Hickman. I had actually tried to go out there in July but found out they wanted me to attend the same weekend that we went to Kansas for the Miss Czech Slovak Kansas pageant. I was excited to find a time to visit and spend some time with the residents there.

Brad and I got there at 6:10 because we thought they wanted us to perform at 6:30 but found out they just wanted us there at 6:30 to perform at 7. I had a good time talking to all of the residents as they came in. At 7pm we started by having Brad play a few songs as the last few people filed in. I took over the show and talked a bit about being queen and why my Czech heritage is so important to me. We then played some songs together and I sang a few. It was great because there were even some people singing and/or humming along. :) We closed by singing Silent Night with everyone and while packing up we got quite a few more questions. They all kept saying that they hope we'll come back sometime soon. I let them know that their activities director has my information and to just tell her to email me and we would come back again. We had a great time with this group and hope to go back sometime in the next few months (maybe even take Shandra along or something!) Tomorrow is the Lincoln Czechs Christmas party and it's gonna be a blast! :)

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

OCCC Christmas Party

I got to see the Omaha group yet again this weekend! I've had a blast getting to know some of them better and look forward to many more events in the future with them!!!

I decided to try to make it to as many of the Christmas parties of the Nebraska Chapters as possible. I emailed around and was excited to get responses from several. I planed to attend the Omaha and South Central parties but couldn't' make it to York due to a commitment at an assisted living center in Hickman. I headed to Omaha in the morning as their party started at noon and was not very happy about the snow that started to fall on our way. I was definitely glad to be inside and warm when we arrived. :) We started by saying hello to some of the members while being entertained by some accordion music and found our seats. It was good to get to see everyone. Some people I've seen recently while others I haven't seen in what seems like months. We then were visited by Saint Mikolas and it was time for food. I was excited to see that they had the traditional turkey, potatoes, gravy, etc but they added a special dish too...SAUERKRAUT AND DUMPLINGS! :) Yummy!!!!! The food was wonderful! Next they gave out awards to the members and then had one of their members read "Carl the Christmas Carp" to everyone. They then did giveaways and I couldn't believe how many prizes they had. It was a ton of fun and I hope to get to see the Omaha crew again soon!

We had a concert to go to in the evening so we shopped around town. We stopped at Bohemian Cafe to say hello and got a few kolace for the road. We also stopped in a Christmas store in the old market and got a Christmas Ornament that says Veselé Vánoce on it. It was another great Czech day! :) Onto Hastings to celebrate next weekend!!


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

Hometown Holidays

I haven't been back to Wilber much since Czech Days in August so I was excited to hear about their Hometown Holidays event. They have different vendors all day and people can decorate a Christmas Tree in any theme they want for display. We got there to look around a bit before I had to perform. There were some very traditional trees and some that were completely off the wall. For example there was one that everyone walked by and didn't notice till they walked around looking at all the trees. They had stuffed the trees into kroj! :) The trees totally looked like mannequins dressed in kroj. LOL! I also looked at all the booths. They had the woven rugs from the Czech Museum we used to make when we were there and LOTS of other Czech heritage items. After visiting for a while it was time for the queens to make our appearance.

They started with Laura, the Wilber Czech Slovak Queen, and had her introduce herself and tell a bit about what she had done as queen so far. She couldn't' perform her talent as she is having problems with her foot and well...dancing isn't an option. I was up next! :) I told everyone what an honor it was to represent the wonderful Czech people from Nebraska. I talked about how far I had traveled and what I plan to do in the future as queen. I then had Brad come up on stage and talked a bit about playing the accordion. I told them how long I had been playing etc. We performed the Blue Skirt Waltz then passed the stage onto Shandra Korbelik (2007 NE Czech Queen) to play a few songs and next to Sheyenne (the Wilber Princess)to play a song for everyone. It was AMAZING to see so many young LADIES playing accordion right along side me. We then all joined together and played 2 songs in a mini jam. It was great to see Sheyenne play with a group like this for the first time and do so well. After we played the songs she knew Brad, Shandra, and I played a few more for everyone. It was a lot of fun and can't wait to play with all of them again in the near future. :) After we all finished playing we looked around a bit more and had to head back to Lincoln. It was a lot of fun and it was great to see some of the Wilber group that I haven't seen for a few months! Seems to be filling up my schedule again which is good...I felt lost not wearing my kroj once a week or so!! HEHE!

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

Durham Museum Ethnic Holiday Festival and Prague Kolace Korner

Another long traveling night. :) I had never been to the Durham museum in Omaha and was excited to attend the Ethnic Festival with the Omaha Czech Cultural Club. I wasn't expecting what I saw when I walked in...it was H...U...G...E...HUGE!! From what I heard this used to be the old train station so it was a really pretty building with REALLY tall ceilings. They had a tree bigger than I think I've ever seen. I started walking around and there were booths everywhere. I looked at a few and was excited to quickly see a few familiar faces. Sandy S and Donna G from the pageant committee were there. I said hello and mentioned that I was looking for the Czech booth. They told us it was downstairs. As soon as I started going down the stairs I could hear accordion music and knew I was going in the right direction. :) I spent some time at the Czech booth with members of the club. They had arts and crafts, food, and information about Czech Christmas traditions. They also had Don Daniels and Don Trouba playing polka music. We also went and saw the ethnic Christmas trees and miniatures displays. After listening to the music for a while I got asked to dance. We started dancing and eventually people gathered around to watch us but nobody else would dance. LOL! I definitely recommend going to this event if you ever have the chance. Kids would like it too because they get a passport and get a stamp at every country they visit. It was a great time but I was only there for about 2 hours before heading onto my next destination...Praha!

Ok not the one in the Czech Republic (although I wish!) but the one here in good ole Nebraska. Brad was playing at Kolace Korner and I made an appearance as queen there. I played a few songs and sang some too. I was joined by Shandra Korbelik and Matthew Austry in helping Brad as they didn't line up a drummer for him when they scheduled it. It turned into a mini accordion jam. We had a good time and it was fun meeting some new people in Prague and seeing some people who I've seen at many previous polka events. They joked that I was "on tour" for the night in my travels from one place to the next. :)

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I guess I didn't post that at all before! I am thankful for SO MANY people in my life. I definitely couldn't do all of the things I do without the support of my family, friends, boyfriend, and the list goes on...and on...and on! Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone for all of your support. I'm working my hardest to make all of the Czech-Americans in Nebraska proud!

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