Most Recent Update:  6-01-2009

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6-1-2009:  Schedule Updated

5-5-2009:  Pictures Added to Photo Gallery

5-5-2009:  Spring Newsletter Added to Website

5-5-2009:  SQUEEZEBOX Apparel Now Available online!

5-5-2009:  Homepage Updated, Mollie's Award

5-5-2009:  Join Our Mailing List By Clicking HERE

5-4-2009:  Schedule Updated

1-7-2009:  JOIN US ON THE ULTIMATE POLKA CRUISE!  (click here)


MOLLIE IS NAMED 2008 USPA FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR

Congratulations are in order for our very own Mollie B, who was named the 2008 Female Vocalist of the Year by the United States Polka Association! Nominees are voted upon by members of the USPA, and the winner receives their awards at the Annual USPA Convention and Festival, which will be held in Cleveland, OH on Memorial Day weekend, 2009. CONGRATULATIONS, MOLLIE!!


Squeezebox Apparel Now Available Online!!  Click Here For Details!

 

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Fall 2008/Spring 2009 Recap

 Since September of 2008, we have played engagements all over the Midwest and even on the east coast including jobs in Connecticut, Indiana, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin! The response we have received from all of you has been tremendous, and it is truly appreciated! YOU are the reason we log all of those miles on the van, and we thank you for your continued support. We hope you have enjoyed our music as much as we have enjoyed performing for you and we hope we’ll get to see even more of you over the next couple months, as our schedule is filling up quite nicely for 2009, taking us to some new venues and events.

 
 

First, though, we’d like to recap where we’ve been the past couple months. September was an extremely busy month, and started off with the Hoagland, IN annual Oktoberfest. The crowds (and German beer) were great, and it was nice to see a bus group of Ohio Polka Boosters members make it to the fest. The following weekend was our first ever FIVE day weekend, which started in Frankenmuth, MI for their Oktoberfest. If you have never been to Frankenmuth, MI, we highly recommend it, and their Oktoberfest is simply incredible. We were blown away by the amount of people in attendance the two days we played, and look forward to playing there again this fall! There were also plenty of people there from Germany, who said they thought the Oktoberfest in Frankenmuth was as close to Munich as you can get! We made a stop in Paulding, OH for the Flat Rock Creek Fest between our engagements in Frankenmuth, and upon finishing up on Saturday night at the Oktoberfest, we crawled in the van and set out for an all night drive to Chippewa Falls, WI, for their Oktoberfest. We had just enough time to stop and get a quick shower before we set up and started performing in Chippewa Falls. They also have a great Oktoberfest with a bunch of different bands, so if you’re in the area this fall, this is definitely a festival to check out. We finished off the “weekend” with a Monday evening performance for the Milwaukee Accordion Club. This club brings in a variety of music including polkas for their monthly meetings in Franklin, WI, and their warm reception and large crowd were the perfect way to end the weekend!

October 2008 kept us busy with lots of Oktoberfest engagements including performances for the Columbus, Ohio Maennerchor (German Men’s Chorus) and The D.A.N.K. Club in Benton Harbor, MI, just to name a few.  We also made our first trip “out east” in October for a weekend that brought us to several new venues: Pillar Polkabration in the Catskills of New York for a Friday afternoon performance at the Fallsview Hotel, a polka dance on Saturday in Buffalo, NY, and an Oktoberfest dinner/dance in Allentown, PA for the good folks at WALN cable radio. We were honored to receive such a warm welcome at all three of our first eastern performances. Dick Pillar runs first class events and polka weekends, and if you ever want to see the beautiful Catskill Mountains and enjoy a polka weekend, he is definitely the guy to contact! Also, our friends at WALN in Allentown, put together quite an Oktoberfest Celebration for us. They have polka music that is broadcast over the internet every weekend with a live webcam set up so you can watch the DJ in the studio. Check them out online at www.walncableradio.com.

In November, we made our first appearance in the Pittsburgh, PA area at a dance put on by Larry Placak at the SNPJ club. In addition to being a DJ, Larry is also a bandleader and has a very good Slovenian style band. Again, another great responsive crowd. Thanks Larry! We also appeared in Frankenmuth, MI at the Bavarian Inn along with the Marv Herzog Reunion Band for a dance put on to benefit the Marv Herzog Scholarship fund to a near sell-out crowd. This will become an annual event, so contact Teresa Herzog early to get advance tickets! The following day we headed North to Maple City, MI for a “Deerhunter’s Ball.” Those folks sure love their polkas! We sure had fun!!!

December found Squeezebox in the Wausau, WI area for a 20th Anniversary dance for the Wisconsin Polka Boosters.  Although the weather outside was chilly (-10 F), it warmed up quickly inside with the large group in attendance. Thanks to all the Wisconsin Polka Boosters, their officers, and Lynne Krause for bringing us up to the Wausau area again and supporting us! Also, we were videotaped by Michelle Genrich and her “crew” and that taping was rebroadcast on a local television station.

Saturday, we made our first appearance at the Amerahn Ballroom in Kewaskum, WI for a Christmas Sing-a-long with a 4 hour dance that followed. Our Christmas sing-a-longs have become quite popular and really help put everyone in the holiday mood. Thanks to Dennis Gehring and also Scott Lopas from WTKM in Hartford for sponsoring this dance. We’re looking forward to doing it again in December 2009! We hope you’ll join us and get in the Christmas Spirit with some Christmas Music, polkas and more!

We left immediately from Kewaskum, WI and drove through the night (and through a snowstorm) for our next performance, which was in Bay City, MI at the LFA Hall. We had a wonderful weekend, but by Monday morning when we finally got back home, it was definitely time for some sleep!

In January 2009, we appeared for our good friends Betzel & Rosie Smith in South Milwaukee for a polka dance which again, had a great dancing and listening crowd. In addition to booking Squeezebox for a couple jobs so far, Betzel and Rosie also run quite a few dances throughout the year and they bring in a variety of different bands. Please try to support your local dances not only when clubs run the dances, but also when individuals are willing to take a chance and help out bands that are coming through their area. Without your support, those dances would have to come to an end.

Following our Milwaukee appearance, we headed up to the Oneida Casino in Green Bay, WI for 3 straight days of appearances. These shows were open to the public and were free of charge to come in and hear the music. The folks at the Oneida Casino are a real class act, and treated us exceptionally well, and we were so happy to have a couple of bus groups come in from Chicago to see us, in addition to all of the “locals” that came out! THANK YOU!

We’d like to thank all of you who contributed to making our fall 2008 and spring 2009 a huge success. Additionally, we have several new sponsors in addition to a couple of repeat sponsors who help make this newsletter possible. We hope you’ll support their events, and when you do, please tell them you heard about their event in the Squeezebox newsletter. Their advertising in our newsletter, allows us to continue to mail out over 2000 newsletters to over 40 states and Canada. (that doesn’t include all of the newsletters that get sent via e-mail!). Additionally, if you have an e-mail address, and if you wouldn’t mind having us remove you from the postal mailing and sending it to you via e-mail, please let us know! We are trying our best to keep the costs down with our newsletter so we may continue to send it out twice a year. Also, feel free to make copies of this newsletter or pass it on to your friends when you’re done reading it! Tell your friends they can subscribe to our newsletter by simply mailing us a request in the mail, in an e-mail, or by subscribing on our website by clicking HERE. Thank you again for all your support!!!!!
 


Preparing for our second recording & expanding our schedule!  Bring SQUEEZEBOX To a Town Near You!

Over the next couple months, SQUEEZEBOX will be hard at work once again in the studio, working on our SECOND recording, which at this point will be called "Freshly Squeezed."  Stay on the lookout for this much anticipated release from SQUEEZEBOX!

ALSO, WE'RE STILL LOOKING TO ADD SOME MORE DATES TO OUR SCHEDULE!  If you know of a festival or event in your area that is looking for live music, please feel free to pass along our contact info!  We welcome any opportunity to perform in new areas and new venues!  Click HERE for our contact information!


SQUEEZEBOX Announces release of "SQUEEZE ME"

SQUEEZEBOX is proud to announce the release of their debut recording, entitled "Squeeze Me"!  This new recording has a wide of variety of music, including 8 Polkas, 2 Waltzes, and 6 foxtrots/two-steps.  CLICK HERE to visit our recordings page, where you can download samples of the songs and place your order for your own copy!


SQUEEZEBOX is a live band, based in NW Ohio, that specializes in multiple genres of music including polkas, waltzes, fox-trots, 2-steps, big band, swing, square dances, and figure dances.  With over 60 years combined experience between the core members of the band, we're able to accommodate nearly everyone's requests at our performances, and strive to please everybody in attendance, both on and off the dance floor!

With our diverse play list and solid vocals in English, Czech, German, and Polish, we are able to adapt to any venue, ranging from town festivals, polka festivals, German festivals and Oktoberfests to weddings, anniversary parties, church festivals and music festivals.

SQUEEZEBOX began originally in the late 1990's under a different name, known at that time as "The Bratwurst Boys", which was a part time spin-off band consisting of members from the Grammy Nominated "Toledo Polkamotion."  However, as the band and members evolved through the years, and we continually added new material to our play list, it was evident that the name we were using unfortunately had us pigeon-holed as a "polka only" band....  We can most certainly play polkas and we love to play polkas....  AND MUCH MORE THAN JUST POLKAS....  hence, the name change.

SQUEEZEBOX is made up of three solid musicians with extensive backgrounds in the performing field: Ted Lange, Mollie Busta, and Dave Burner.  Check back soon to be able to check out everyone's biography once that information has been added to the site! 


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