We started our trip in Connecticut.  My husband David comes from a big Italian family (8 siblings in his father's generation.)  They all get together once a year at Uncle Uly and Aunt Joan's beautiful house on the shore.  The Golia family reunion is a sight to behold.  This year there were about 60 Golias, including the Trinidad cousins.  Everybody looks like David and waves their hands in the air when they talk.
We had a big thrill on Saturday morning when we were driving to the party.  We were listening to John Jeski and Jeff Banas' show on station WRTC in Hartford and they played our version of "Mountain".  That was the first time we'd ever heard it on non-internet radio.  On Sunday we met up with John and Jeff at their live broadcast (WRYM) from the Polish National Home.  The PNH is great - lots of polka fans were having big yummy-looking lunches (we were very sorry that we ate before we got there.)  John spins the disks and a good time is had by all.  He played several cuts off the album and interviewed me on the air.  He and Jeff are a couple of sweethearts.  They couldn't have been nicer.  (John is also an awesome accordion player.)

Here I am with John Jeski

These are some polka fans I met at the Polish National Home.  I'm sorry I didn't get your names  - please e-mail me if you see this and recognize yourself.

While we were on the air, Johnny Prytko called us up and invited us over to his house.  How often does something like that happen on a commercial rock radio station?  Johnny has his own shows and I listen to him whenever I can.  He has a lovely home in the suburbs of Hartford, with one of the best gardens I've ever seen.  His house if full of cool chotchkes and memorabilia.  I wasn't there nearly long enough to give everything the attention it deserved.  We had a lovely chat with Johnny and his wife Annie. He's very concerned about the future of polka music and is extremely supportive of what I'm doing.  My music is a little bit non-traditional for some tastes, but not Johnny's.  He sees our approach  as a way to bring new fans to the genre.  I hope he's right.  Johnny gave us a bag full of homemade/homegrown pickles and drove several miles with us following so we could find our way to the highway we needed. 

This is me with Johnny and Annie Prytko

From Johnny's house, we made tracks to Dick Pillar's Polkabration at the Mohegan Sun Casino.  It was a great party - there looked to be well over a thousand happy polka fans.  Lots of them were strutting their stuff on the dance floor, putting on a stupendous show.  Speaking of a stupendous show, this was the first time I ever got to see Jan Lewan and Ania.  I was completely blown away.  Everything about their show was fabulous.  If you ever get a chance to see them, don't miss it.  Be careful though - when Jan starts tossing hankies to the crowd you'd better be prepared to move out of the way if you don't want to get trampled by enthusiastic fans!  We also got to see Joe Stanky, Dick Pillar and Lenny Gomolka.  All of them were great musicians and energetic showmen.  I felt humbled.  I got a chance to meet Dick Pillar after his set.  He was a charming well-mannered gentleman.  I asked him about my band playing there next year and he said he'd try to include us.  Wouldn't that be something?  I have my fingers crossed.

This is me hugging Dick Pillar right after he said we might be able to play at Polkabration next year.  I hope I didn't scare him.

I wish we could have stayed at Polkabration until it was over, but we had a long way to go and a short time to get there, to quote Jerry Reed, so off we went.  We drove all the way to Bethlehem, PA.  Hey - can somebody tell me why all those semi trucks park along the Interstate in New Jersey?  There must have been a hundred of them a couple of hours west of New York City.   Send me an e-mail.

Bethlehem is a lovely town with a lot of gorgeous old homes, colleges and stores.  I'm also a sucker for old industrial buildings, so I was in hog heaven.  We woke from a good night's sleep and went down to WGPA to meet Jolly Joe Timmer.  Jolly Joe owns WGPA and has a daily show from 11 - 1.  He's a charmer in addition to having a great nickname.  We chatted about the album and he played several cuts from it.

This is me with Jolly Joe Timmer.

From Bethelem we set off towards Cleveland and our record company, Cleveland International Heritage.  We had a couple of days to get there, so after we got a few hours of driving under our belts we decided to stop at the next motel with a pool.  Well we didn't see any for a long time, not until we got to the outskirts of State College, PA.  It seemed like as good a spot as any, so we checked into the Autoport.  I don't want to sound like I'm doing ads, but when you're traveling you get so used to substandard food and accommodations that when you find a place that's well-run it's a source of amazement.  The Autoport is such a place - it's my new favorite motel in the USA.  It has an outdoor pool surrounded by pine trees, well stocked with floaty things.  It has a polite knowledgeable staff.  And it's immaculate.  There wasn't a speck of dirt or rust anywhere.  We even saw a gardener picking the dead flowers.  Go there if you ever want to spend the night in State College.

This next part is one of those stories that seems cosmic and incredulous to the participants, but is just a coincidence to everybody else.  Feel free to jump to the next paragraph.  After we checked in and went for a dip, we called our bandmates in preparation for our gig in Chicago.  We also called Dandy Don from the Polkaholics to see what time we should get to the club, but he wasn't home.  We made a mental note to call him the next day, then we went out to dinner.  We spotted a good-looking restaurant and opened the door.  Who should we almost bump smack into, but Dandy Don.  It was amazing.  It was cosmic.  We were 650 miles from Chicago and we almost got knocked over by the guy we had just tried to call (see what I mean about it being kind of mundane if you weren't there?)  We took it as a good omen for the gig and muttered about it for days.

Left:  The pool at the Autoport.
Right:  Dandy Don (he wasn't dressed like this in State College)

Big Lou with Mike at Sokolowski's

Rich Koc, me and Don Koc.  Rich cooked on the pedal steel.  Brother Don is an old friend from SanFran.

This is Theresa, the supreme bartender.

At the end of the night, we all got together for "The Happy Wanderer" and "The Bird Dance"

This is Greg Stephens, our trombone player.  He was playing so loud we were afraid his head would explode.

Alas, it was all over too soon.  We want to thank everyone who made this such a wonderful trip.  It was the best vacation an accordion princess could have had.