distressing news

[Deborah Hoffman]

This is interesting, I'd assumed there must be lots of people out there who would have answered, but apparently I'm basing my cultural literacy (ahem) assumptions either on being from Cleveland or from a blue-collar immigrant background (many of whose older members idolized the academic pursuits of those who deride their tastes), I'm not sure which.  It was basically a variety show with some ballroom-type dancing that went off the air (or, apparently, into syndication) in the early 1980s.  Whether it was inferior to some of the highbrow, intellectual work I've seen I think is a debatable point.
   
  Now, Polka Varieties is the one I'd *really* not expect people to know ;)
   
   
   
  Date:    Sat, 16 Sep 2006 08:47:54 -0500
From:    Kris Groberg <kgroberg at FARGOCITY.COM>
Subject: Re: distressing news

I, who live and work quite near (within 300 miles or something like 
that)=
 Welk's hometown of Strasburg, ND, can answer your question. He is 
(well,=
 he was in life) a German-from-Russia whose family settled out here on 
th=
e prairie in a community of like-minded individuals. He worked his way 
up=
 to a stunningly prosaic weekly talent-show (singing and dancing, but 
not=
hing too foreign or too rock-n-rollish) of a program on the television.  
=
It aired for YEARS (25?) and is now in continual re-runs, many of which 
a=
re shown on the Public Broadcasting System in North Dakota.  Welk's 
music=
 is accordion-polka type stuff for the most part (some happily 
distorted =
show tunes and misguided operatic snippets), always peppy and 
saccharine =
enough to cause the breakdown of every molecule of pancreatic juice 
that =
is anywhere near the airwaves.  It's folkish by way of a creepy kind of 
f=
ake hometown good cheer that is Hollywoodized with a lot of sequins and 
t=
he occasional tuxedo.  Welk laid off the
accordion and bouncily wielded the baton in his later years.  Everybody 
a=
nd his Gran loves Welk (the exceptions being Disenchanted Youth and 
Pinko=
 professorial types like ourselves).  To go to New York City to take in 
a=
 Lloyd Weber musical is considered an act of sacrilege to those who can 
i=
nstead take a geriatric tour bus to Branson, Missouri to see "live" (I 
us=
e the term loosely) acts of the once-youthful Welk proteges is ever so 
mu=
ch more Normal.  Everyone knows that only the copyright fees keep 
midwest=
ern community theatre companies from "doing" Lloyd Weber musicals--that 
a=
nd the fact that they are "too long."  Why watch a rockstar Jesus dance 
a=
round practically naked on Broadway when you can just turn on the 
televis=
ion and see a grinning Welkian foursome of corn-fed forty-year-olds 
tap-d=
ance through a far-shorter and much more tasteful version of "Jesus 
Chris=
t Superstar"? Get real, John!

I don't think we can compare Welk to Lloyd Weber, although a comparison 
o=
f their popularity statistics might be an interesting read if one were 
de=
ad drunk.  Welk would never have even wanted to have known about some 
Rus=
sian novel that was Probably Commie Anyway and therefore most certainly 
N=
ot a Fit Subject for Musical Numbers.  Lloyd Weber at least has those 
min=
ions who can read around and find out about this Bukgakov person's 
work.

Kris Groberg


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