Archives for March 1, 2008

A paid Florida vacation? Gee, that”s not hard to take.\r\n\r\nI”ve never been to Florida, but the opportunity popped up suddenly a couple days ago with a phone call from Dave Slivinski. Dave, who is a coworker with my friend and musical cohort Dave DeVos, is the leader of The Dave Slivinski Band. As you”ll instantly pick up on when you visit Dave”s website, the band is a polka band, and I understand it”s a well-known, high-quality group.\r\n\r\nEvidently, a very cool gig came up for Dave, but the short lead time created conflicts with the schedules of some of his band members. So, at the behest of Dave DeVos, the call came my way. Looks like it”ll be Slivinski and me, making the drive down to Panama City to play for the grand opening of a bierhaus, the newest in a national chain owned by a large German brewer.\r\n\r\nSince I love craft beers and home brewing, this gig is right up my alley. Polkas? I used to play with a polka trio years ago. It”s not jazz, but it”s music, it can be quite high-caliber, and it”s a lot of fun. Moreover, I hear that Dave is a superb musician. All in all, I can”t imagine a better way to finally make my acquaintance with the Sunshine State.\r\n\r\nWe play Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. And yes, I will be wearing liederhosen.