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POLKA-VARIETY
DUO
In
the wake of the devastating loss to the polka world of Steve Meisner,
many area bandleaders, myself included, are stepping up to help fulfill
his contracts to the best of our ability. There is not a musician on
earth who could fill Steve's shoes, but for the time being, I am
re-offering the services of a full-size band and prioritizing events
and venues affected by Steve's passing to ensure his music and his
musicians play on.
 I am an authentic, third-generation
polka musician from Milwaukee who is dedicated to
carrying on
the
music of the city's
great polka bands from the
past, like Louis Bashell, Tony Rademacher, and Al Roberts.
Since the 1990s, I've performed with my two- to five-piece band, but beginning
in 2023, we've scaled down
to a two-piece band for many of our public performances.
My two-piece band consists of
myself on
accordion and a drummer. My accordion has integrated electronics
providing bass
and other sounds, enabling my two-piece band
to literally produce the same, full, lively, danceable sound of a
three-piece
band, but at a more affordable price.
As a polka band, we can entertain crowds with all the beer hall
favorites
like Roll
Out the Barrel and Who Stole the Kishka, and strike sentimental chords with
classic waltzes such as Waltz Across Texas and The Blue Skirt Waltz, but we actually
boast a repertoire of over 200 polkas and waltzes. We
are firmly
established in Wisconsin's polka music circuit, and are
regularly hired
to provide polka music for Oktoberfests, festivals, fairs,
and all other events wanting an authentic polka experience.
Outside the
polka genre, our repertoire consists of over 200 standards,
foxtrots, two-steps,
rhumbas, cha-chas, swing, classic country, and
Christmas songs. We are often hired by dance clubs for
our
variety music alone, but it is our combined repertoire of polkas,
waltzes, and variety music that makes us the premier band in town for
birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, and so much more.
We
perform
regularly
throughout our home territory of Southern Wisconsin and travel
to
wherever our music is desired, providing music for all occasions:
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- Anniversaries
- Parish
Festivals
- Trade Shows
- Retirement
Dinners
- State/County
Fairs
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- Birthdays
- Fish Frys
- Conventions
- Reunions
- Benefits
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- Corporate
Events
- Christmas
Parties
- Senior
Picnics
- Block
Parties
- Grand
Openings
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- Weddings
- Banquets
- Oktoberfests
- Graduations
- Celebrations of Life
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Upcoming
Public Performances
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JUNE
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Fri.
9
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American
Legion, Fox Lake, WI
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7:30-10:30
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Sat.
10
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Spring
into Summer Festival - St. Monica Parish, Whitefish Bay, WI
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6:00-8:00
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Sample
Our Live Sound
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To
present to you the breadth
of our band's sound, my drummer and I went into the
recording studio and cut some live
music tracks. What you
hear in these demos is a small sample of the polka and variety
repertoire we
bring to our live performances. We recorded these tracks using
the same instrumentation and gear we use on
stage.
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Contact
me for a quote
If you are
interested in hiring my two-piece band for your event, I'd love to hear
from you! I'll check our availability and
provide you with a price quote. Please include these three details
about your event in your
email: date, location, and approximate performance time.
E-mail:
Send
Email
Mail:
Tom
Brusky Band
4055 S. 103rd
Street
Milwaukee,
WI
53228-2005
Phone:
(414) 546-3650. Due to my schedule as a musician, it may take me up to
two weeks to retrieve and return a phone
call during normal hours. For a prompt response, please contact me via
email.
Thank
you.
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Common
questions answered
● Is your
band Polish or German?
A very common
misconception about polka music is that it's either Polish or German,
but it's actually neither. Its roots are in 19th century Bohemia. Over
the
years, various styles of polka music
developed and flourished in the United States, which include Polish and
German styles among others. Our
style of polka music is the
Slovenian style, also known as the Cleveland style, which is the most
popular style of polka music in Southern Wisconsin and across the
Penn-Ohio "polka belt".
● For how
many hours should we hire you?
Live
music for most private parties
typically runs anywhere from about 90 minutes up to four hours, with
the
majority of performances being either two or three hours in length. We
will
perform
for as long or short of a
performance as you need and adjust our rate quotes accordingly whether
you need us to play for three
minutes, three hours, or three days.
● How far
in advance
should we book you?
Although last minute
inquires are always welcome, like
most bands, we book
on a "first come—first
serve" basis. For events during the peak Oktoberfest season (early
September to early October) booking a full year in advance is always
recommended.
● Do you
play any contemporary, mainstream music?
No,
that's simply not the kind of
band we are. The bulk of our variety music is
comprised of standards, light pop, classic country, and
ballroom favorites from the 1930s through the 1970s — songs that your
parents and grandparents remember fondly. This is what has made
us a popular band not just for polka dances and festivals,
but for events like 50th anniversaries and senior citizens' birthday
parties. If you
would like newer music played at your party, we'll be glad to
patch your phone or MP3 player into our sound
system to play
during our breaks.
● Can we
hire you to perform prior to the DJ at our wedding?
Absolutely! This is
actually very common for us nowadays. If you'd like
to bring some traditional, live music into your wedding, consider
hiring us to kick out a set of polka music prior to the DJ taking over.
We can also provide lighter cocktail music before or during dinner.
● How
long does it take you to set up?
It takes us about 20
minutes to set up and roughy the same amount of time to tear down.
● Why
don't you advertise
your awards?
Although
my band members and I are grateful
to be recipients of
multiple music awards, award programs with large voting memberships
tend to recognize popularity
over talent [ see
my News section's "Nominations" article]. Any polka
band,
regardless of
their level of talent, can win music awards if they make
it their mission to win them. That's simply not our
goal. We do not ask for
votes nor do we vote for
ourselves. We prefer that you hire us
strictly
based on the quality of our music — not the quantity of bullets on
our
résumé.
● How loud
is the band?
Volume is a
known problem with many bands, but not with us. At private
parties, our
job is to provide music for dancing and listening enjoyment – not to
cause ear pain. We can literally play as quietly as a small
jazz
combo when
desired, which
is what we are often called upon to do for cocktail
receptions and dinners. We can also pump up the volume when needed. When you hire
us, YOU have the
final say over our volume, not us. If our volume seems too high
or too
low,
please let us know and we'll adjust it until you're satisfied.
● Do you
require a
deposit?
For
some private parties, especially
those on Saturday nights and on weekends during peak festival seasons,
a band
may require a deposit. A
deposit is a portion of the band's fee paid in advance, which is a
standard practice in the entertainment industry. The purpose
of a deposit is to
ensure
a last-minute cancellation does not deprive a band of promised income.
We may request a deposit for
some events, and the deposit will be fully, partially, or
non-refundable depending on the circumstances surrounding the
cancellation.
● Where
is your
Facebook page? Twitter? Instagram?
Although
social media is woven into the fabric of modern society, most everyone
who
uses it is blissfully ignorant of, or willingly indifferent to, just
how much information about them is being continually harvested,
aggregated, and sold to data brokers. My
privacy is more important to me than every benefit
social media has to offer.
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Copyright
© 1996-2023, Tom Brusky LLC
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