Bock Beer Fest - Pictures

Well, Bock Beer Fest was lots of fun again this year. Of course there was plenty of beer, but there was some great food as well. Besides the usual Bock Wurst & Bratwurst, if you were lucky you could get Russ' attention and get a Landjaeger wurst from him on his fancy wurst pole that he carries proudly every year.

Just as our friend Pete promised, the Klements racing sausages made an appearance. Or perhaps I should say the dancing sausages. The people crowded around them to get a quick photo or just a fun time with them dancing around the dance floor. However, I did not see them having a beer, although I am sure they were very thirsty after all that dancing. I think I even saw some of the DCS dancers giving the sausages a spin.

For several years now, the Danube Cultural Society (DCS) has entertained the crowd with their ethnic dancing. It might be a peppy polka or a beautiful waltz. With the geat popularity of Dancing with the Stars the last few years, dancing has gotten a lot of attention at these gatherings. The DCS were happy to see so many appreciative viewers and hope to get some help with their fund raising efforts to go to dance in Disney World later this year.

As it is custom every year, there were the beer drinking contests during the evening. Somehow they never had a lack of contestants. Well, of course the fact that the beer was free might have something to do with it. However, the Milwaukee Spielmannszug does a great job promoting that people drink responsibly and offer a designated driver program for those folks like me that do not drink (beer). I simply drank soda that evening and it was a enjoyable evening for me as well.

If you missed it this year, I am sure it will be held again next year. This event seems to be growing every year.

D'Lustign'n Wendelstoana Stiftungsfest

Date & Time
March 13, 2010 - See times and description below.

Ticket Info
Ticket Cost: $8.00 in advance, $10 at the door, $5 students
Call: Ruth Unora 414-462-9147


Description

Join the B.G.T.V. D'lustig'n Wendelstoana at their annual Stiftungfest, Dahoam ist Dahoam. There will be food available for purchase, such as sandwiches, cake & coffee and of course plenty of beverages.

5:30 pm - the festivities begin with traditional Bavarian music provided by Familiemusik Mueller-Hacker. The group includes the popular local button box expert, Peggy Mueller and Hacker family members, including the leader of the Blaskapelle Milwaukee, Andy Hacker. Andy and the Blaskapelle Milwaukee are looking forward to hosting the first Fruehlingsfest on May 22. They are planning a fabulous menu and of course, great entertainment. If you would like to support this event take a look at the details by clicking HERE. This is one of the newest groups in Milwaukee and let's show our interest in maintaining the old traditions through these fine young musicians.

Program: 6:30 pm, The program will feature various members of the club entertaining you with some beautiful traditional Bavarian songs, traditional Schuhplatting, and maybe even some chopping of wood.


Music: 8:00 pm
Johnny Hoffmann & his Herzbuben will provide some of your favorite tunes for your dancing pleasure. It promises to be a great evening.

Please check out their webpage: Wendelstoana

Location
Bavarian Inn (Map)
700 W. Lexington Blvd., Glendale, WI

Spielmannszug - Lumpenhball (Hobo Dance)

Date & Time
February 27, 2010 - Time: Doors open at 6 p.m.

Ticket Info
Ticket Cost: $5.00
Call: (details forthcoming)


Description
The Spielmannszug Milwaukee presents their annual Lumpenball or Hobo Dance. This is a fun dance that depicts that you spent all your money during the Mardi Gras season and now you are so poor you can only dress in rags. So you do not have to dress up for this one, in fact, the worse your clothes are the better. There will be prizes for the WORST dressed person.

There will be food available for purchase. As mentioned below, Robert Deglau, host of Continental Showcase will be playing some geat German Music for your listening & dancing pleasure. This is the first time this dance will have a DJ, so come on out to see something new.

Music: Continental Showcase's Robert Deglau will be the DJ

For more info, go to the Milwaukee Spielmannszug website. http://www.spielmannszug.org/

Croatian Sacred Heart Church Hall (Map)
917 N. 49th St. (just 2 blocks north of Wisconsin Ave),
Milwaukee, WI 53208

2010 Alaska Cruise with Alpentrio Tirol

Yes, your favorite German Radio DJ, Ted Hierl, is again organizing a fabulous cruise. This year it will go to Alaska, the inside passage. As of this writing, there is still room on this cruise. But don't delay, these cruises fill up quickly.

It starts on August 20 and for 10 days you will be on board the Sea Princess. It leaves from San Francisco and you might want to add a few days to your vacation so you can explore San Francisco, like seeing the famous Gold Gate Bridge.

Ports that you will see on this cruise are: Victoria BC, Juneau, Skagway, Tracy Arm Fjord, and Ketchikan. All for a cost of only $1,399. See the flyer on the page for more details or call Clark Travel toll free at 888-434-6699 or Ted Hierl directly at 609-585-6757.

This cruise will feature my favorite "boy band", the Alpentrio Tirol. They will entertain this group exclusively and you are sure to see the entertainers on board throughout the cruise. Also, as in the past, the popular Elstertaler Musikanten will be featured on two party nights, again only for your group. We have been on some of these cruises organized by Ted Hierl and everyone has a great time, you make new friends from the US and even from Germany. Also, the party nights are really great with big names from Europe like the Alpentrio Tirol.

Don't miss this fabulous cruise.

Spielmannszug - Mardi Gras Milwaukee Style

Date & Time
January 23, 2010 - Time: Doors open at 6:00 pm

Ticket Info
Ticket Cost: $5.00 at the door



Description
Celebrate with the Spielmannszug Milwaukee a brand new event: Mardi Gras Milwaukee Style. This event promises many surprises so don't miss it. Last year was so much fun, that they decided to have this event again this year, so if you missed it last year come out this year.

There will be food available for purchase.
(prepared by the DCS)

Music: Austrian Express

For more info, go to the Milwaukee Spielmannszug website. http://www.spielmannszug.org/

Location
Croatian Sacred Heart Church Hall (Map)
917 N. 49th St. (just 2 blocks north of Wisconsin Ave),
Milwaukee, WI 53208

Thank you Andrea Ney

I want to sincerely thank Andrea Ney. She is the fanclub leader of the Axel Becker fanclub "Amore Amore" in Germany. She was kind enough to publish my Axel Becker Cleveland performance report on her fanclub website and all the pictures. She published it in "English" just the way I wrote it, but she also translated the whole piece into German. She did a fantastic job. Andrea, thank you so much!!!

Take a look at her website. She is a very talented writer and has a lot of pictures at her site if your German is a little rusty. She features concert reports that are very detailed and interesting to read. Stay in touch with what this popular German entertainer is doing. Axel received standing ovations everywhere he

appeared in the US and Canada. If you have the opportunity to see this singer, don't miss it.

On December 26, Axel Becker was back in

Germany and performing in Bad Fussing for a Christmas concert. Andrea was there and took pictures that are great which include the Chicago favorite, Romy, and here is also a link to her concert report. CLICK. If you go to my Links page, I have added Andrea's link under the heading "Friends of the Stimmung Stunde" ... check it out.

Frohe Weihnachten from Oberallgaeu Musikanten

I received an e-mail from Michl of the Oberallgaeu Musikanten. This band joined forces with the Widderstein Buaba this summer when they appeared at German Fest.

Michl was very happy to report that they will again be at the 2010 German Fest in Milwaukee. I am sure all their fans will be happy to welcome them back. They have been at German Fest twice and their next appearance will make it three.

Michl would like to send wishes to Milwaukee for a very Merry Christmas and a happy, healthy New Year.

Christmas Show in Cleveland was a hit

On Friday we traveled for 7 hours to see this fabulous German Christmas show. Gisela Lewis of New Jersey organizes a German Christmas tour every year. The closest it came to Milwaukee was Cleveland. So I made my reservations months ago and finally the day came to travel to Cleveland. It was held at the Donauschwaben house in Cleveland and it was nice to see some old friends again. There were about 350 people in attendance. If you look at my other post on this website you can see a complete list of where they will and have appeared. I am so happy we were able to attend this show. It was one of the best I have every seen.

The headliner was Axel Becker, who is a big star in Germany. It is amazing that Gisela was able to land a big name like Axel, but even more amazing was his voice. Axel Becker has the most beautiful voice I have ever heard and is also quite the showman. He had the crowd in the palm of his hand and at the end of each set, he received a standing Ovation. Although, Axel was clearly the star, he was gracious to his fellow performers and brought them up on stage to share the thunderous applause.

The beautiful Styrina was also on the bill. Many people in Milwaukee remember this charming young girl from Austria with her long flowing blonde hair. This little "firecracker" really brought energy and excitement to the floor. She had traditional songs in her first set and changed into a glittery red dress for the 2nd half that made her shine like a red diamond. Styrina told me later she really enjoyed her time in Milwaukee and would love to return again.

Filling out the program was a band from Austria, Kristall. They had only 3 members of their band with them. We saw them in May in Austria when we were on the bus tour with Gisela Lewis. They were a lot of fun and some very talented musicians. The trumpeter, Werner George, was very talented and even sang a few songs.

This was clearly a top notch Christmas Show. Now I really feel in the festive mood. If you still have an opportunity to see this show while they are still in the states, please do not miss it. I have a slideshow below with pictures I took that evening. If you would like one of the pictures, just click on view all images and it will take you to the slide website. Click gallery view, then find the photo you want and right click to download. It's free.

Claudia & Alexx are headliners at 2009 Christmas Show in Milwaukee

On December 4th, Robert Deglau, host of the Continental Showcase German radio show, sponsored the 2009 German Christmas Show coordinated by Chicago radio host, Armin Homann. This year the headliners were Claudia & Alexx. They are 2 young and energetic entertainers that are often compared to Marianne & Michael. Perhaps because Claudia is from Niederbeyern & Alexx is from the Steiermark in Austria. Claudia has the more dominant voice and what a voice it is. She is a very talented singer and always has a quick smile for the camera. Alexx's voice blends beautifully with Claudia and was more the moderator of the two.

This was their first visit to the US and they were busy with performances as soon as they landed. Armin Homann had them lined up at many locations to sold out crowds. Although Claudia & Alexx are young and relative newcomers to the

Volksmusik scene, they have had several successful attempts at the Grand Prix der Volksmusik. In 2006 they placed 3rd at the finale with their song, Siebsehn Sommer and last year they were again in the finale with Mama Danke. I found them both very charming and really enjoyed the evening.

Also performing that night was Chris Holzer. I was not familiar with this singer, however, was pleasantly surprised at the quality of his voice. He has a strong voice

and it was very evident when he sang Ava Maria. He chose a nice group of familiar songs and encouraged people to sing along. As usual the first half of the show featured the songs that the performers are best known for and the second half was strickly Christmas music. Often people joined right in and got us all ready for the holidays ahead. As is tradition the last song was everyone's favorite, Silent Night.

After the show, the duo, M & M, played some great dance music for the people who had enough of sitting in one spot so long and welcomed the chance to dance the rest of the evening. The Bavarian Inn was a great place to hold this event and hope Robert will be able to host other German artists there in the future. If we want to continue to bring talent from Germany to Milwaukee to entertain us, we need to attend these events when they are available. It is really nice to see these entertainers up close and live. I encourage you to attend the next time there is a show in town and show support to Robert who works hard to get these artists to Milwaukee.

Christkindl Market in Chicago

Date & Time
November 25 - December 24, 2008

Ticket Info

Admission is Free

Hours -- Sundays - Thursdays: 11 am - 8 pm

Fridays & Saturdays: 11 am - 9 pm

Description
The 14th Annual Christkindlmarket in Chicago starts the day before Thanksgiving Day, November 25, through Christmas Eve, December 24. For more details go to their website: http://www.christkindlmarket.com/ or call their information line: 312-494-2175.

There will be 42 vendors this year from both the US and direct from Germany. There will be beautiful linens, Christmas ornaments, wood carvings, and lots of good things to eat. Here are just a few of the vendors that will be there: Bethlehem Nativity Products, Frank's Bavarian Gift Shop, Bayrische Glasstrasse, Black Forest Cuckoo Clocks, Lenk & Sohn, Der Lindwurm, and, of course, Kathe Wohlfahrt. I cannot wait for the hot Gluhwein that they serve there.

Also, a group from Milwaukee will be entertaining the crowd on December 19. Again, for a complete list, please visit their website.

Location

Daley Plaza (across from what used to be Marshall Fields) - Washington, Clark & Dearborn Streets

Click on the map to the left to get a closer look.

New Website for Maria Olliges

Those of you that are past listeners of the Stimmung Stunde remember that Maria Olliges was our Talent Coordinator in Germany who arranged all those fabulous interviews with German singing stars. For the past few years she has organized several music concerts and now she has her own webpage, Schlagertreff.

Although they all take place in Germany, you may be interested in the photos she has posted of the stars such as Vincent & Fernando, Marc Pircher and Armin Stoeckl, who was here in Milwaukee in 2008 for a Christmas tour.

Also, if you plan to go to Germany next year in September, check out where her next concert will be playing. You will not be disappointed.

Fabulous Christmas Show coming to Milwaukee

Robert Deglau of the Continental Showcase radio show has put together a fabulous Christmas Show. Robert enjoys bringing German entertainers here to Milwaukee and hopes all the listeners of his radio show will be there.


It will feature the well-known duo, Claudia & Alexx. These rising young stars have already had several accomplishments in their short carreer. In 2006, they competed (representing Germany) in the Grand Prix der Volksmusik, singing Siebzehn Sommer.

If you click on the link below, you can see/hear it for yourself on YouTube.


In 2008 they won the prestigious Herbert Roth Preis and went on to make numerous appearances on television & various tours. This year, they again competed in the Grand Prix der Volksmusik with the song, Mama danke. If you would like to see/hear their performance, go to the Continental Showcase webpage; Robert has a YouTube link at his website.

Claudia & Alexx are very popular in Germany and it is really great that we will be able to see them LIVE here in Milwaukee. Please remember that if you want to continue to get German entertainment to Milwaukee, you can show your support by comming to this event. Click on the link to Claudia & Alexx's homepage and sign their Guestbook. Let them know you are looking forward to seeing them here in Milwaukee.

Also, Chris Holzer, will be enteretaining you that night. Singing old favorite German Christmas songs and some of his popular recordings like, Wenn du ein Engel bist. The M & M Musikanten will again be playing for your dancing pleasure after the show (just like they did last year).

This is a great opportunity to talk to some German singing stars right here in our city. You do not have to travel to Germany to see some fabulous entertainers. I hope to see you all there.

Date: December 4, 2009 (Friday)

Time: 6:30 pm

Tickets: $18.00 - call Peter Saemann,
.262-252-3431

Bavarian Inn & Heidelberg Park (Map)
700 W. Lexington Blvd, Glendale, WI 53127

If you want to continue to have German entertainment here in Milwaukee, be sure to come and support this evening.

20th Anniversary - Fall of the Berlin Wall

It has been 20 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall. This was a historical event, but it meant so much more to the German-American community. Here are some links to some related stories:

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,3982751,00.html

http://www.berlin-wall.com/

http://www.sefermpost.com/sefermpost/2009/11/berlin-wall-merkel-germans-celebrate-20th-anniversary.html

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28677157/

http://gogermany.about.com/od/historyandculture/tp/berlin_wall_fall.htm