Howdy Friends!
Happy Groundhog Day Feb 2! Did you see your shadow? What's the verdict? No matter whether we have 6 more weeks or more of winter in store for us, we're going to take it and make the best of it! Hopeful feelings are going around with the vaccines becoming slowly more available, and many of the group our parents are in are getting their second round. Boy are they ready to get out and live again, and we know you're ready too! We should dance to some German polka music!
We're very thankful that a few jobs came in for us in January when we normally would be without gigs. We're now re-setting the living room in to a studio to fulfill a few recordings we're making for some upcoming events, as well as planning another online show. Ross purchased a new computer with a more powerful processor, hoping to improve on some of the things that were going wrong with last year's online shows. He's spent two days just loading all the files on to the new machine, and a couple more days getting the camera, microphones, and everything else working together. Just yesterday, there was quite a bit of trial and error.
We're excited about the shows coming up in February, and the special discount price we're offering for Sunday Afternoon Soirees!
February performances:
Wednesday Feb 3; Polka Wednesdays at Krause's Cafe in New Braunfels, Texas; 6 - 9pm; The Duo
**Krause's is all outdoors. The weather looks perfect this Wednesday, with a high of 76 and a low of 57!
Thursdays Feb 4, 11, 18, 25 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!) and Wein selection! Gluhwein for the winter season! Picnic tables outside if you feel safer dining in the fresh air. We'll come out and play for you if you like!
Saturday Feb 6 and Friday Feb 19, Ross plays solo at Rudi Lechner's Restaurant on Gessner just north of Westheimer, in Houston, Texas; 6 - 8pm.
Saturday Feb 13 (pending) Romantic Polkas and German / Austrian Love Songs at the Sauer Kraut Grill at 734 Crabb River Rd, Richmond, Texas from 6 - 8pm.
Monday Feb 15; Tue Phat Monday! An online Karneval / Fasching / Mardi Gras show with the Das ist Lustig Duo. Live on facebook from 7 - 8:30 on Valina's facebook page.
Thursday Feb 25 online; Harris County Precinct 4 online Heritage Festival. The Duo represents Tomball German Heritage! The video will play on the Harris County Precinct 4 facebook page.
Available Sundays in February and March: Would you like to have 10 - 15 friends over for a Sunday Afternoon Soiree with live acoustic German folk music? Garages and back porches make great places to spend time with friends in the fresh air. We are offering a special discounted price to come play live music for you, unplugged, for up to 2 hours on a Sunday. Currently available are Feb 14, 21, 28, March 7, 14, 21, 28.
And Shopping! We have CDs, t-shirts, and hat pins available for sale, and are happy to ship! What a cool and unique just because, or gift for your Valentine! Get them something they can't get at the store, and help us keep our business going!
Hosting our trips to Europe will resume as soon as international travel is wide open again. We sincerely hope we're able to take our guests to Germany and the Czech Republic this June 8 - Tuesday June 22, 2021. We are going to fly in to Frankfurt Airport with a scheduled arrival of 11:15am on Wed June 9. We will depart from the Munich airport, which currently will require a change of aircraft between Munich and Houston. We're hoping that changes when borders open, and people resume traveling. We are bound by the current airline schedules and other 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, let us know! Our small groups have a ton of fun together!
Website: You can always find out what's happening with us at http://www.prostyall.com. We update our calendar as information becomes available. The store page has shirts, hat pins, and CD's that can make great gifts for your Biergarten loving friends. Also, make sure to subscribe to our youtube channel, as we load videos from time to time up to youtube for those who enjoy watching us "on demand". Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/user/valinapolka
Behind the scenes: Ross and I waited until Jan 25th to take our Christmas decorations down. Outside was down on Jan 7, but we wanted the cheerful lights, sparkly stuff and family heirlooms to surround us a while longer inside this year. Since Jan 26, we've been madly cleaning and prepping the living room to be a video recording studio again. We've both been doing some extra work helping our parents out. Ross doing some handyman stuf, and I'm doing some deep cleaning at my parent's house. It does feel good to have the hands busy to achieve a goal. Ross has also been nurturing some baby plants he hopes to grow this spring. He managed to keep one tomato vine going through winter, and there was one little 2 inch red tomato ready to eat mid January! There are some baby peppers in the kitchen window, some baby tomato vines in the patio, a fresh water seaweed for our rain barrel with the fishies in it, some baby trees he fell in love with in South Padre that he hopes might survive here. His hard work in the garden that started a few years ago with a baby blood orange yielded 5 juicy deliciousnesses this winter!
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 going to return! The blessings remain in abundance, and we're thankful for that. Y'all stay healthy, stay safe in the weather winter is bringing, and we hope to see you somewhere soon!