Jam sessions regulars at Spring Hill hall

At our SNPJ Spring Hill hall we have jam sessions at most every event hosted by Slovene-American Club. For March Days weekend event musicians from around the country join-in the fun an play with such a passion and uplifting energy that everyone present either dances - or taps with their feet or fingers - to the cheerful beat of polkas and waltzes.

However, there are some musicians jamming at our Spring Hill hall on a regular basis and this post is devoted to them, to thank them and show our appreciation - for sharing their music with the rest of us.

This post would not be possible without the help and camera operated by Nicholas Dudish who is tirelessly taking pictures and recording at most of our events. He has a neck for taking great portrait shots. All the photos below were taken by Nick. Thank you!! :)
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Don Caton (above), playing his button box (Photo: © Nicholas Dudish)
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Marty Raab (above) with button box (Photo: © Nicholas Dudish)
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Bob Turcola (above) with accordion (Photo: © Nicholas Dudish)
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And finally, the one that probably never misses jamming at SNPJ Spring Hill hall: Walt Harfmann (above) with button box (Photo: © Nicholas Dudish)

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Once again, thank you to all of the above!! :)

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Joey Tomsick

Polkas International  

2009 Annual Achievement Awards Show

By many who participated the  XXII Awards Show at Slovenian National Home in Cleveland, Ohio, on November 28, 2009 - it was nicknamed "The Year of Joey Tomsick" - due to many awards Joey and his Orchestra won:

• Best Musician - Individual: Joey Tomsick
  
• Best Musician - Sideman: Hank Guzel and Phil Hrvatin (both from Joey Tomsick Orchestra - out of 3 selected)
• Best New Original Polka or Waltz: "Polka Funhouse" - Joey Tomsick / Frank Doblekar
• Recording of the Year: "Polka Funhouse" - Joey Tomsick
• Band of the Year:  Joey Tomsick Orchestra

Joey Tomsick and other musicians at the Jam Session at Tony Petkovsek's Thanksgiving Polka Party in Cleveland, Ohio - November 27, 2009

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And since there are a lot of current pictures and videos of Joey Tomsick and Orchestra around, I chose to add this video from Joey's early beginnings, when he was only 13 years old, playing his button box for about a year, learning from Frank Yankovic and Joey Miskulin.

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Joey Tomsick at age 13 (button box) - playing Joey's Polka on Polka Variety Show, with Frankie Yankovic, Joey Miskulin.

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Ron Likovic

Polkas International  

2009 Annual Achievement Award

Nominees in the category  

Button Box - Individual/Duo were:

• Ron Likovic
• Joe Grkman Jr.
• Joe Novak
• Ron Pivovar
• Fred Ziwich

and voted best was Ron Likovic, one of the musicians that surely won't be forgotten any time soon by anyone who saw him playing at Marriott in Downtown Cleveland this Thanksgiving.

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Ron Likovic playing at Tony Petkovsek's 48th Annual Cleveland-Style Polka Extravaganza in the Grand Ballroom of the Downtown Cleveland Marriott Hotel - after being awarded The Best Button Box Individual Achievement Award for 2009

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"Playing with Passion" middle name would fit Ron perfectly - I am very much convinced about that, even though I've never seen him playing before. No wonder Ron Likovic received the biggest number of votes by polka fans.

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Ron Likovic playing in the Grand Ballroom of the Downtown Cleveland Marriott Hotel on November 28, 2009 - winner of The Best Button Box Individual Achievement Award for 2009

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Ron Likovic playing at the the Downtown Cleveland Marriott Hotel on November 28, 2009 - winner of The Best Button Box Individual Achievement Award for 2009

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Button Box Player of the Year 2009 Ron Likovic playing Grandpa's Polka with the Eddie Rodick Orchestra at the Annual Thanksgiving Dance put on by Tony Petkovsek from WELW and 24/7 Polka Heaven at the Marriott in Cleveland Ohio .

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Friday snow

As I'm sitting at my desk in my Central Florida home, sipping jasmine green tea and looking at my laptop screen while thinking about my Cleveland trip, the memory of that early Friday morning in Northfield, Ohio makes me smile.

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Photo above: Friday snow and sunrise in Northfield, Ohio

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When I first woke up that morning I instinctively knew there had to be snow outside. The next thing I remember was the sound of the automobile tires, making their way through the snow slush on the asphalt. Being born in the coldest town in Slovenia, I sure heard a lot of that "song." Some things just seem to stick in one's memory for ever...

I got up and opened the blinds. Everything was white - and after I haven't seen snow in five years the snow covered outdoors looked simply magical to me! :)

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Photo above: Friday snow in Northfield, Ohio

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Thank you, Dave - for taking both of the beautiful photos above!! :)



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Tony Petkovsek Thanksgiving Polka Party

In one of the best hotels Cleveland has to offer, in the Downtown Cleveland Marriott Hotel, there was a traditional Thanksgiving Polka Party going on this past weekend - also known as Tony Petkovsek's 48th Annual Cleveland-Style Polka Extravaganza.

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Photo above: Crowds at the Thanksgiving Polka Party at the Downtown Cleveland Marriott Hotel - one of the jam sessions

I was attending the Thanksgiving Polka Party in Cleveland for the first time this year and during the next few days I'll be posting some videos, photos and my own impressions from all the events and places I've had a chance to attend or visit.

Video above: Mr. Buttons performed by Ron Likovic, Mike Kramer, and RJ Likovic on drums in the lobby of the Downtown Cleveland Marriott during a late night jam session at the Annual Thanksgiving Polka Party November 29, 2009

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Photo above: Irene and Cheryl - Walter Ostanek (Canada's Polka King) wife and daughter at the Thanksgiving Polka Party at the Downtown Cleveland Marriott Hotel

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Photo above: My company: John, Rita, Dave, Jane, Daria and Gloria at the Tony Petkovsek's Thanksgiving Polka Party at the Downtown Cleveland Marriott Hotel 

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Video above: This is the ultimate Jam Session at Tony Petkovseks' Thanksgiving Polka Party. Walter Ostanek, Joey Miskulin, Dick Tady and other musicians played a couple polkas. The music was great. It was a great polka weekend in Cleveland OHIO 

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Thanksgiving Dinner and Dance

Everyone who attended yesterday's Thanksgiving Dinner and Dance had a good time. Thanks to Eileen, the tables were nicely decorated (we received several compliments for that) and - also thanks to Eileen, we had a nice variety of pies and some other pastries.

The food was good, all the credits go to chef Richard and everyone else who helped with cooking, baking and serving food, the music was a nice mix of ballroom and polka tunes - by Steve Juricic and Tropical Squeeze. Most of the guests were regulars but we also had a few first-timers who sounded quite determined to come back again after yesterday's experience.

Here are some photos from Yesterday's event. I'll add more as I fix them. The light conditions in the SNPJ Hall are usually too low for my Kodak camera which prefers taking outdoors pictures in Florida's sunshine... ;)

Guests and dancers photos:
 

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Steve Juricic and Tropical Squeeze band photos:

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Jam session photos:

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Related posts:

• Steve Juricic and Tropical Squeeze video
• SNPJ 
• Index of SNPJ related pages
  

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SNPJ Golf Tournament 2009

Thanks to Patricia and Ed Klasa I now have results of this year's SNPJ 778 March Days

SNPJ 2009 GOLF TOURNAMENT

RIVARD GOLF & COUNTRY CLUB

BROOKSVILLE, FLORIDA

February 28 & March 1, 2009
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Betty Keber – Golf Chairperson
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This year’s scramble event was cancelled due to rain on the second day of the two-day tournament. However, the individual play on February 28, 2009 (day 1) rewarded the winners with over $500.00 in cash prizes.
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Congratulation to these winners:
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MEMBERS-Men
Don Bronkall (Lodge #614)	Low Gross	84
Homer Bittner (Lodge #6)	Low Net	69
MEMBERS-Women
Fran Gaudio (Lodge #158)	Low Gross	81
Eileen Markusic (Lodge #158)	Low Net	69
GUESTS-Men
Paul Beauperland	Low Gross	78
Ed Klasa	Low Net	55
GUESTS-Women
Connie Bronkall	Low Gross	93
Sue Thelen	Low Net	93
Longest Drive Winners		Closest To The Pin
Don Bronkall Lil Cendrowski		Bill Goldback Agnes Delach

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In addition to the cash award, Don Bronkall and Fran Daudio each received a beautiful crystal bowl, which were donated by Ben and Carol Drongosky. Every year Ben and Carol donate a special prize, and we all thank them for their generosity.
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We look forward to next year—come and join us!

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Long time - no see

I owe you all an apology - for not posting anything in such a long time. All of a sudden I got so busy that I hardly had time to sleep... :)

Let me share with you what I was up to:

• I finished this page about two beautiful vacation spots in pristine area of Georgia's Blue Ridge Mountains - wonderful place to unwind, relax and breathe deep the fresh mountain air - and even more so if you appreciate freshly baked  goodies like famous muffins and coffee from well known Mercier's orchard shop nearby. Take a look for yourself by visiting Blue Ridge Log Cabin Vacation Rentals
  
  
• If you're concerned about the quality of the air you breathe inside your home - there are affordable  natural helpers out there - to get that part of your house cleaned up. Check them out at Best Indoor Air Cleaning Plants
  
  
• And my biggest, most challenging and most time consuming project in the last two weeks was designing this new Inspirational Art Gallery for the highly reputable, well established website. The first author featured is a very talented professional photographer from Slovenia, Borut Peterlin. The feedback he received for his photos during the first day after the gallery went live - was simply outstanding. But why am I even talking so much? You must see these art pieces for yourself! Visit  Borut Peterlin - Portraits of the Artists

And last, to bring up some nice memories of the fun past events of the season 08/09 at SNPJ Lodge 778, here's the photo of musicians - every one of you should easily recognize... :)

Photo of Walter Ostanek and Bob Kravos playing at SNPJ Lodge 778 on January 31 of 2009 - courtesy of Nick Dudish

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Big thank you to Nick Dudish for helping me out with the photos of events!

Catherine F. - I didn't forget anything I promised to you.

Richard L. - I have a CD for you - with the music that will melt your and your wife's heart.

And just so you all know, I have plenty more photos and videos of this season's events that I haven't published yet. I promise to use all the good ones in the upcoming posts and some new pages.


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Sunday dance party

 

Virgil Baker and Just for Fun Band playing at SNPJ Lodge 778 on Sunday, March 15, 2009

  

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S.N.P.J. Days Weekend - Day 3

If you were there then you know for sure who the people on these photos below are. If not by names, you should still remember their faces... :)

 

  

  

  

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S.N.P.J. Days Weekend - Day 2

Happy faces from Day 2 of S.N.P.J. Days Weekend - when the attendance was great, the music was outstanding and everyone looked like they had a really good time. There's a lot more to come, please be patient and check back every day.

Grace:

 

Amanda:

 

Ethnic parade participants:

 

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S.N.P.J. Days Weekend - Day 1

I didn't go golfing so I can't report about that part of Day 1 (yet) but I can say the jamming session went well with all the enthusiastic musicians performing so well that Maryann approached me saying,

"See, this is what Heaven sounds like..."

A little taste of jamming in the video below:

No wonder I saw so many people wearing t-shirts stating:

The Finest Polkas in Florida

SNPJ Lodge 778

As always, we saw some gorgeous couples...

... some beautiful dancers...

...and some celebrities...

 

Unfortunately, Spring Hill Slovenian Club's First Lady had an accident and broke her ankle.

On the bright side, she came to the dance for a little while, looking happy - and praising her husband for taking above-and-beyond good care of her.

(I hope all the husbands and future husbands read this!!)   ;)

Personally, I think Don Wojtila Band was the most fun band we've had entertaining us at our Club's Hall this season - and I like that they have a female singer, it really adds another quality to the performance.

 

Our special guest was young and pretty Miss SNPJ 2009 from up north:

 

A little taste of Don Wojtila Band's performance...

...and last but not least, I'd like to send a bunch of heartfelt greetings to my mom Ivana and my aunt Zvonka in Slovenia, from Nežka and I, with their favorite coffee on Nežka's shirt... :)

 

That would be all about the Day One of  S.N.P.J. Days Weekend or March Days at the SNPJ Lodge 778 in Spring Hill - for now. 

I have a lot more videos and photos to share with you in the coming days - make sure you come back to check on this blog as often as possible. Every view is very much appreciated and the comments underneath the posts are more than welcome!

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Snowflake dance webpage

Page about Snowflake Dance turned out to be quite a project with all the videos and photos I have to go through and edit them. Anyway, I am about half way done, so you can expect to see some familiar faces in photos in videos pretty soon.

Until then - enjoy the video below. It took me a few hours to put it together but I wouldn't be able to make it if Ed Klasa didn't use his video camera and burnt the recording on DVD for me. Thank you, Ed!! :)





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In the Meeting

February SNPJ Lodge 778 board meeting on Sunday, February 1 of 2009:

Photo: Re-installation of Officers for another year

Online photo album of this event will be live soon.

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Bob Kravos and Walter Ostanek

Everyone who attended last night's event had a unique opportunity to enjoy an outstanding performance of true masters.

Besides plenty of great photos, I have a nice video of this dance - to give you a flavor of the fun we were all having (if you were there, you might recognize yourself dancing waltz) - and if you weren't there, enjoy the kind of accordion playing that can only be given by musicians who pour their souls into their music-making.

 

On the photo (left to right): John Girl, Dan Peters, Bob Turcola, Ben Drongosky, Mr. Ferfolfa, Walt Harfmann, Walter Ostanek, Wackie Jackie Z, Tony Klepec and Bob Kravos

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Snowflake dance with Frank Moravcik - day 2

Sunday Snowflake Dance was even more crowded than Saturday one. To me it looked like everyone had loads of fun - dancing their feet away... :)

I'm working on page about this great event and will announce it here the moment I publish it. Thank you for your patience, I have some great photos you'll be able to see very soon!