Popularity
"When asked about the greatest places he ever appeared, he replied that the band drew their biggest crowds at Lakeside and Lakewood Ballrooms in Barnesville, Pennsylvania numbering over 3,000,000 polka lovers." The emergence of Rock and Roll music provided tough competition, and Solek suggested disc jockeys who run polka programs play more tunes with English lyrics. He was a DJ at WMMW in Meriden, Connecticut starting in 1947.
Walt was known for his exuberant performances and unusual outfits, and he wasn't bothered by criticism deriding the polka music form "He was a musician, a showman, an actor, and an entertainer." When he was home, Walt lived with his wife, Marilyn, and son, Joe, the drummer in his orchestra, son Tom and daughter Anita.
Solek's popularity was helped by his ability to effectively mix comedy and polka together. His song "Who Stole the Kishka?" (originally spelled Keeshka) has been a popular popular party tune since it was recorded in the '50s with English Lyrics. The song was also a hit for the Matys Brothers who recorded it in 1963, and has been performed regularly by other bands and remains a cult classic. His 1981 recording of "Ta-Ra-Ra-Boom-De-Ay" or "We Don't Have Any Money (but We Have a Lot of Fun)" was also popular.
His motto was "Bringing people together through music!". He played polka music during a time when polka was considered un-cool, competing with Elvis and The Beatles, but "he knew how to have a good time and he also new how to make people laugh and forget their worries for a while."
Walt was inducted into the International Polka Association Hall of Fame in 1974. He was a parishioner of St. Stanislaus Church.
Read more about this topic: Walt Solek
Famous quotes containing the word popularity:
“There are few cases in which mere popularity should be considered a proper test of merit; but the case of song-writing is, I think, one of the few.”
—Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1845)
“In everything from athletic ability to popularity to looks, brains, and clothes, children rank themselves against others. At this age [7 and 8], children can tell you with amazing accuracy who has the coolest clothes, who tells the biggest lies, who is the best reader, who runs the fastest, and who is the most popular boy in the third grade.”
—Stanley I. Greenspan (20th century)
“The popularity of disaster movies ... expresses a collective perception of a world threatened by irresistible and unforeseen forces which nevertheless are thwarted at the last moment. Their thinly veiled symbolic meaning might be translated thus: We are innocent of wrongdoing. We are attacked by unforeseeable forces come to harm us. We are, thus, innocent even of negligence. Though those forces are insuperable, chance will come to our aid and we shall emerge victorious.”
—David Mamet (b. 1947)