Marianne Trivalos

Sadly, Marianne Trivalos, passed away on Monday November 24. I took the photo on the left this year at German Fest here in Milwaukee. I thought it was so nice to see 3 generations all actively engaged in sharing their heritage with visitors to the fest. Marianne was very proud of her daughter, Heidi, and granddaughter, Maria, and they were always at her side. They will miss her deeply, but most of all her dedicated husband, Dick, will miss her most. They were married for 51 years. You seldom saw one without the other close by. They did almost everything together. Please click here to read the death notice on line at the Journal Sentinal and sign the guestbook with your memories of Marianne.

Marianne was very involved in the German-American community for many years. She and her husband, Dick, were among the original German Fest directors when it started 28 years ago. But she had held the position of Secretary in the German-American Societies for over 25 years before that. Many of you probably remember her from the Saturday morning German classes and are greatful to her for having taught you the German language where she was both a teacher and principal. She was always there with a helping hand as a member of the Bayerischer Vergnuegungs Club.


Our family will miss seeing her out in her garden in the summer and we will no longer be able to wave to her as we drive by. But most of all we will miss her smiling face at the Bavarian Inn making sure the Pretzel booth ran smoothly. Marianne we will miss you!!!


Funeral arrangements are as follows.

Sunday November 30, 4 pm to 7 pm service

Becker Ritter, 140 W. North Ave, Brookfield, Wisconsin

Magdalena has arrived

It has almost been a week since little Magdalena Ann made her appearance on November 19. She was a healthy 8-1/2 pounds and her proud parents, Mike & Laura, are happy they could bring her home to celebrate her first holiday. This will certainly be a memorable Thanksgiving for the Wagner family. Mike's mom, Grandma Irene, is busy sewing all kinds of cute things for her first grandchild and somehow I think this lucky little girl will soon be in a dirndl. Laura's dad, Grandpa Glen, is hoping that Mike will teach her how to fix cars even though she's a girl.

Little Magdalena Ann has a whole bunch of relatives who are lining up to get a chance to babysit, but for now they will have to be happy to just hold her for a little bit while Laura gets dinner started. This lucky little girl was named after her Great-Great Grandma, who celebrated her 95th birthday this year. She was one of the few that predicted that Laura would have a girl; everyone else thought it was going to be a boy. You should have seen all the stuff she got at the shower that was blue. Luckily a girl can wear baby blue too.

Back from Hawaii

Although I have been back from Ted Hierl's cruise to Hawaii aboard the Golden Princess for a few weeks, I finally got my pictures organized. At the bottom of this posting, I have a short slideshow with a sampling of what we saw & did on the cruise. But to see all the pictures and you will go to the Hawaii Cruise page. There are 3 slideshows and instructions of how to download pictures to your computer for free.

Reiner Kirsten put on some great shows. This Schwarzwald native warmed up the audience with some old favorites and introduced them to his new hits. Reiner mingled with the people on the cruise even when he was not performing and soon when you heard him say "Hallo Freunde" there was someone else saying "Hallo Reiner".

The Elstertaler, led by Wolfgang Semmler, again provided 2 show nights of dance music. However one of the highlights was when Semmi sang to his lovely wife, Ilona. He changed the words to the song to address their 12 years together and this year they were married. The Elstertaler really had the place jumping and you can see why Ted Hierl invites them back each year. Andre is a very talented singer and knows what the crowd wants to hear. They also brought with them some of the new hits in Germany and had everyone up on their feet. One morning, Tomas, on the keyboard, joined us for breakfast with this family. Tomas also plays in the new band that accompanies Stefan Mross and it was very interesting getting some inside stories from him.

We were lucky to have a great table of 6 other people to sit with at dinner time. Our table was very mixed with each couple coming from a different state: California, Minnesota, Rhode Island and, of course, Wisconsin. It was fun to hear what everyone had done throughout the day and some of them had some interesting adventures mixing with the locals. There was a table of people from Milwaukee and it was nice to see familiar faces on the cruise as well.

Ted Hierl and his lovely wife, Hilde, deserve a great big thank you for spending countless hours putting together this cruise. There were over 360 people in our group and 88 of them came from Germany. Hilde did all the coordinating and translating that was needed to make things go smoothly. Ted announced that next year's cruise will be going to the Southern Caribbean with the Original Naabtal Duo as the star guests. I have created a new Cruise page with all the details and you can get there by pressing this button . If you want to see the Naabtal Duo in action there are a bunch of links to YouTube so you can get familiar with their music. I will be putting a direct link along the left sidebar of the webpage soon, so if you are thinking of going next year call & reserve your cabin before they are filled up. Please note that if you click on Ted & Hilde's picture you will go to Ted's Webpage where you can listen to his 2 hours Sunday Radio show all week.

Christmas Show presented by Robert Deglau of Continental Showcase

Date & Time
November 29, 2008 - Time: Doors open at: 6 pm -
Show starts: 7:00 pm

Ticket Info

Ticket Cost: $18.oo
Call: Peter Saeman 262-252-3431



Description
Get in the mood for the holidays by attending this Christmas Show featuring artists from Germany and Austria. They will perform many of your favorite old German Christmas songs and bring some great new songs from the Heimat as well. Hey Milwaukee let's come out and support this event. If we want to continue to get German artists to bring their beautiful music to our city we need to show support of these shows and our German language Radio shows. It promises to be a great evening and we will get ready for the holidays ahead.

Armin Stockl has been featured at the Lake Villa German Music Festival many times. This year he was the surprise guest at the Schlagertreff that took place at the Hotel Hagen in Haren Germany. My friend, Maria Olligies, organized this event in Germany which also featured Vincent & Fernando, who will be appearing on the Herbert Roth prize results show on December 21 on MDR 20:15 for all you Shift TV watchers. Armin Stoeckl recently received the 2008 Deutscher Rock & Pop Preis and his popularity in Germany continues to grow. You are truly in for a treat.

Max Lechner is known for his beautiful music and interpretation of old favorites written by Robert Jung, such as, La Pastarella, Rot sind die Rosen, Wir sind alle Kinder Gottes and many more. You will be sure to enjoy these great old Heimat Lieder.

Birgit Pless is from Austria and started her career at a very young age. She is well known as a schlager singer, but has recorded a Christmas CD entitled Weihnachtsrose. Perhaps she will perform her new hit Spiegelbilder.

For more info, go to the Continental Showcase's website.

Location

Elk's Lodge #46

5555 W. Good Hope Rd., Milwaukee, WI 54223-4705

Rheinischer Verein - Hoppeditz Erwachen

Date & Time
November 11, 2008 - Time: 7:00 pm

Ticket Info
Ticket Cost: (details forthcoming)
Call: Mark Semrow 262-549-6557 or Larry Domine 414-527-0962 for tickets or any other information you would like about the Rheinischer Verein.

Description
This event is basically the kick-off to the Mardi Gras season. Come help wake up the spirit of Mardi Gras.

Music: Johnny Hoffman and His Herzbuben Band

For more info, go to the Karnevals Gesellschaft Rheinischer Verein Gruen-Weiss website. http://www.mardigrasmilwaukee.com/

Location
Bavarian Inn
700 W. Lexington Blvd., Glendale, WI

Cheryl Kirking Concert in Oconomowoc

If you are looking for some great entertainment that whole family can attend, be sure to come to the upcoming Cheryl Kirking Concert in Oconomowoc. This is a great time of the year to take a ride with the family and top it off with a fun time at this concert. My boss, Bruce Ramme, is helping host this concert at his church. I have heard this lady's CD and she sings some beautiful songs and she's a great storyteller.

Take a look at this little clip on YouTube

Date: Friday, October 17

Time: 7 pm concert
Cost: Adults $7.00, Youth (12-17) $3.00, and children under 12 are FREE

Location: Good Shepherd United Methodist Church,

209 W. Wisconsin Avenue, Oconomowoc

Press Release

Cheryl Kirking is an award-winning songwriter and author who tickles the funny bones and tugs at the heartstrings of audiences nationwide through her Ripples of Encouragement "Keynotes in Concert." She maintains a deep integrity with scripture while weaving her homespun humor and storytelling with her original music. Her warm, relational style appeals to all ages. Cheryl has written six books, including Ripples of Joy. She is a frequent contributor to the best-selling Chicken Soup for the Soul series and has recorded six CDs of original songs on the Mill Pond Music Label. Books and CDs will be available for signing after the concert. She has been nominated twice for "Best Female Entertainer" by the Independent Entertainers Association and writes songs and worship dramas for several denominational publishers. Her passion is encouraging other to identify and use their God-given gifts to make a positive difference.

Concert proceeds will be used for current mission relief emergencies.

Congratulations Maria

We want to congratulate our friend and former Talent Coordinator for the Stimmung Stunde, Maria Olligies, She had a very successful event, the Schlagertreff, on October 2 where she procuced an evening with Vincent & Fernando, who placed 2nd in the Grand Prix der Volksmusik for the 3rd year in a row. Vincent & Fernando had a beautiful song "Glaube an Gott" that was written by Gunther Behrle. Also appearing on stage were Stefan Behrends, Marc & Loreen and Monika Klaaasen. The Schlagertreff took place at the Hotel Hagen in Haren Germany. Maria, and her husband, Heinz,were very happy with the turnout that evening.

A surprise guest was Armin Stockl. Many Chicago & Milwaukee residents have seen Armin at the Lake Villa Heimat shows hosted by Armin Homann, a Chicago DJ. Armin Stockl recently received the 2008 Deutscher Rock & Pop Preis and his popularity in Germany continues to grow, but we are happy that Armin Stockl is scheduled to be in Chicago in December for a Christmas show. When I have more details, I will post them here.

Sacred Heart Church - Sarma Sale

Date & Time
October 10 - 11, 2008

Ticket Info

No advance tickets - Pay at the door
Ticket Cost: Depends on the menu items you choose.


Description
I have not attended this event in the past, but I understand this is a very popular event. It features homemade Sarma that you can buy and take home with you. Sorry I do not have any other details.

Location
Sacred Heart Church
917 N. 49th St. (1/2 block north of Wells St.), Milwaukee, WI

Night Angels are coming to Wisconsin

If you attended one of the performances by the Berstetaler Blasmusikanten last month, you may want to take note that another German band is coming to Wisconsin next week. I received an e-mail from Otto Werner of New Ulm and he is bringing the Night Angeles to West Bend and Hartford next week.

However Otto asks that if anyone is interested in booking the Night Angeles for Saturday, October 4, please give him a call: 507-354-2990 or send him an e-mail: 2rbow1@newulmtel.net.

Otto will provide more details as they become available, so watch this space for any updates.

Sunday, October 5, Church Festival in Hartford, Wisconsin (details forthcoming).

Monday, October 6, West Bend Cinema Brewhaus in Downtown West Bend.

Cinema BrewHaus
125 N. Main Street
West Bend, WI 53095
262-334-7655

The Night Angels are a group of 6 Hobby-Musicians from the ages of 30-50 years old. They met each other when we played in the Original Siebenbürger Blaskapelle (brass band) in Munich, in which several of them are still members. This band has been together for the last 16 years, and enjoy having fun making music.

They have performed all over Germany, and were on tour in Hungary and Rumania. Performances range from simple birthday celebrations to large city festivals or company events. Their tour in the USA will include La Crosse, Wisconsin Oktoberfest, October 1st through the 3rd; New Glarus Hotel and Restaurant, New Glarus, Wisconsin, October 7th and 8th; New Ulm, MN Octoberfest, October 10th and 11th; and of course West Bend & Hartford, Wisconsin.

Congratulations Richard Dahm

If you were watching the Emmy show on Sunday, you probably found it to be the same as usual. But in our family it was something really special. Richard Dahm won an Emmy as the headwriter on the Colbert Report. Why is this so special to us? Well, as a child Richard and his sister, Jennifer, played with our boys. He was always a very talented kid. He was reading out of a book well before he started school and later he showed a lot of talent in drawing. My boys loved visiting the Dahms, because Richard always made them laugh.

Richard's father is a German immigrant who came here with his family when he was a boy. We were good friends with his parents for many years but as the years passed by our connection slowly slipped away. However, recently I started working with Richard's Uncle Harry and it was so interesting to hear how very successful Richard had become. He has kept me up-to-date with the Dahm family and let me tell you that whole family is very proud of Richard.

Richard was very instrumental in starting the now very well known newspaper, the Onion, while he was still living in Wisconsin. He wrote a book, The Cultural Idiocy Quiz, and been a writer on a long list of TV shows.

Lately, he has been writing for the Colbert Report and this year was his 4th Emmy nomination. Well, the number 4 must be his charm, because he won. Take a look at the photo below.

Semino Rossi receives 12 Gold Records

Yesterday, September 20, we were watching the Musikanten Stadl. It took place in Munich at the Olympiastadium. Also, it was taking place opposite the opening day of Oktoberfest in Munich.

It was a great show, but one of the highlights was when Andy Borg presented 12 Gold records to Semino Rossi. He also premiered his new CD pictured on the right. Take a look at the video cut I have below of the surprise presentation of 12 gold records and then Semino Rossi sings "Rot sind die Rosen" that is on his new CD.

Semino Rossi was one of the interviews we had on the Stimmung Stunde back on June 11, 2005. If you would like to hear that interview, just click here or look along the left sidebar and you can click a player button directly.

Marc Pircher fills the Hall in Berumerfehn

Our dear friend and former Talent Coordinator for the Stimmung Stunde, Maria Olligies, teamed up with Stefan Behrends to present the 2nd annual Musikparade. This year Marc Pircher provided the music on September 7 in Berumerfehn, Germany.

The hall had been sold out for months and as usual, Marc Pircher, had the place hopping. Just take a look at the pictures that are posted at Stefan Behrends website.

Next Maria has been getting ready for October 2 where she is producing an evening with Vincent & Fernando, who placed 2nd in the Grand Prix der Volksmusik for the 3rd year in a row. Vincent & Fernando had a beautiful song "Glaube an Gott" that was written by Gunter Behrle. If anyone is planning on being in Germany on October 2, give Maria a call to put some tickets aside for you. Vincent & Fernando will be appearing at the Hotel Hagen in Haren Germany. Maria, and her husband, Heinz, got some very nice local coverage in the newspaper. Just double click on the newspaper articles below, so you can read them.

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