Lustige Leute Newsletter April 2021

Full spring time and Easter greetings!  The flowers are blooming, pollen is in the air.....gesundheit!.... and people are out and about again.  It is good to see all the smiles on faces! 

There are some fun things coming up this month, and we hope you'll be able to join us for something soon! 

It's been pretty amazing to watch the grass and trees around here go from completely brown and empty to busting with green all over!  It was kind of strange, everything looking like autumn with spring busting out at the same time.  Ah, Texas weather!  It didn't affect the bluebonnets though!  Those little guys are bright as ever and blooming everywhere!  I wrote a song about Bluebonnets last year.  I really need to get it going so I can play it while they're in bloom! 

April performances: 

Thursdays April 1, 8,15, 29, at The Sauer Kraut Grill at 734 Crabb River Rd, in Richmond, Texas from 6 - 8pm.  They have excellent food, and a great Bier (lots of Paulaner, and local craft brews, even some Altstadt!) and Wein selection!  Picnic tables outside if you feel safer dining in the fresh air.  We'll come out and play for you if you like, just ask us! 

Wednesday April 14; Momma's at Sengelmann, 531 N Main St, Schulenburg, TX, from 6 - 9pm.  Delicious American homestyle dishes, pizza, and daily specials.  Great bar with friendly service. 

Saturday April 17; The Sauer Kraut Grill Halfway to Oktoberfest Party!  734 Crabb River Rd, in Richmond, Texas from 1pm - 7pm.  Splitting the stage with Auf Geht's! 

Friday, Saturday, Sunday, April 23 - 25; Germanfest in Muenster, Texas!  Three days of German and polka music in the Tanzhalle!  Admission is $10 Friday or Sunday, $15 on Saturday. BUT, anyone in complete German Tracht (costume) will be admitted free! 

The three piece party band is there Friday 12pm - 1:30, 2pm - 3:30, Saturday 12:20 - 1:50, 4pm - 5:30, Sunday 2:30 - 4pm.  Our friends the Alpenmusikanten will also be there!  The Tanzhalle is an indoor venue, with wide open garage doors for fresh air.  The party goes on rain or shine. 

Looking ahead: 

Sunday May 23; Polka Sundays at Krause's Cafe in New Braunfels, Texas; 2 - 5pm; The Duo 

ALSO!  Crash course polka and waltz dance lessons with Valina!  12pm - 1pm! 

Krause's is all outdoors.  There are heaters if it's cold and fans if it's warm. 

Friday, Saturday, Sunday, June 4 - 6; Tomball German Heritage Festival in Tomball, Texas!  Three days of fun the way only Tomball can make it!  4 stages of continuous German and polka music with a little American and bluegrass sprinkled in.  Folk dancers, cloggers, contests, games, and a big celebration for the long awaited 20th anniversary!  We hope you can join us out there!  Admission, parking and shuttle are all FREE!  The 4 piece band plays Saturday from 1:30 - 5, and Sunday 12pm - 2pm, all at the Grady Und Sandra Platz located near the corner of Pine and Market. 

Host your own "we're vaccinated" party!  Call us for pricing and availability if you have something to celebrate in April or May!  We're available to play for you as a duo unplugged, or we can bring all of our specialty folk instruments, have our fiddler, tubist or drummer join us, or even bring a party pack of Paulaner goodies with us to set the atmosphere, and fun gifts for the host! 

HOPING to host a "land cruise" by luxury coach here in the USA this summer!  The places we are watching closely to see if bringing groups for tours will be possible are Vicksburg MS, Memphis TN, St Louis MO, Hermann MO, Kansas City MO, Tulsa OK, and Eureka Springs AR.  Many of the places we'd like to take you to visit are currently still not taking groups on tours.  Others are.  We are planning to do a trip in mid June for 2 weeks.  All Lustig Tours include live music, so we will be bringing the instruments along and creating our own private parties all along the way.  I am deep in the coordinating phase of building this trip, making lots of phone calls and sticking close to the CDC updates.  As soon as I have some concrete information, I will send out a separate e-mail with all the details and pricing.  What fun it would be to have our own rolling private party for 2 weeks! 

Hosting our trips to Europe will resume as soon as international travel is wide open again, and boy do we hope that will be possible in 2022!  We have postponed that wonderful itinerary to Germany and the Czech Republic once more.  We now plan to depart on Tuesday June 7, 2022.  That trip will end on Tuesday June 21.  A second trip will begin with departure from the US on Wednesday or Thursday June 22 or 23 and end on Wednesday or Thursday July 6 or 7.  The second trip will visit Switzerland and the Black Forest.  We are watching Europe closely for updates, but as of now, there are still lock-downs.  We are bound by many factors beyond our control, but will do our best to provide you the best experience we can.  If you'd like to join us for travel to Europe in the future, we'd love to have you!  Our small groups have a ton of fun together!  There will be an option to go on both trips, so if you're interested, please let us know!  We'll make sure to give you all the details as they come in. 

Website:  You can always find out what's happening with us at http://www.prostyall.com.  We update our calendar as information becomes available, and always keep the upcoming gigs and last minute changes on the home page.  The shop page has shirts, hat pins, and CD's that can make great gifts for your Biergarten loving friends.  Check the calendar page for Oktoberfest dates; they're starting to confirm schedules! 

Social Media:  We can be found on Facebook, Youtube, and MeWe.  You can subscribe to our Youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/valinapolka , friend us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/valinapolka , and / or MeWe!  http://www.mewe.com/i/valinapolka   Join our group on MeWe "Das ist Lustig and Lustig Tours! 

Behind the scenes:  Now that some time has passed, we're seeing the results of the freeze in February.  Most of the plants Ross winterized are showing signs of life with little spouts of green everywhere.  Even the blood orange may survive!  He finished the repairs on all the pipes at his parent's house, and has been planting tomato and pepper plants.  I have been exercising on my bike quite a bit, usually 12 miles 2 or 3 days a week.  The dirndls are beginning to fit a little again!  Otherwise, focus has been on doing a little cleaning, a lot of coordinating for the Tomball German festival coming up in June, and playing some special music for a dear friend's celebration of life.  Last, but not least, Ross is scheduled for his first vaccine shot this Friday!  Hopefully I will follow soon after. 

We're thankful for you, our friends who enjoy and support our music, and who read our monthly mailers.  We're thankful there's a vaccine here, and making its way into the community, and we're thankful there are therapeutics that are available.  Better times are slowly returning!  The blessings remain in abundance, and we're thankful for that.  Y'all stay healthy, stay safe and we hope to see you somewhere soon!

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