Howdy Friends!
Happy New Year! We're praying 2021 has found you and yours healthy and feeling hopeful.
Wow, are times ever wild! While we can't control the world around us, we can do our best to try to keep it a happy place for as many people as possible. We're feeling hopeful because vaccines are rolling out, now to the group of people our parents are in. It will be nice to not be afraid to be in close contact with them and go back to goofing off together!
January is usually our slowest month of the year. In normal times, we mostly take the month off the stage to do paperwork, maintain and upgrade equipment, order new merchandise, go in to the studio to record an album, and learn a new song. This year is a bit different. Ross is still busy with maintenance, and I'm still busy with paperwork; tax stuff is still due, and we're gigging as much as the health shutdown will allow.
There's not a lot of new things to tell you about, but we do have some fun gigs coming up in the next few weeks, and we hope to see you at a few of them!
January performances:
Saturday Jan 16 at The Sauer Kraut Grill at 734 Crabb River Rd, in Richmond, Texas from 5:15 - 7:30pm. It's a vendor market and mini festival celebrating The Sauer Kraut's first anniversary! Lots of food available, with Tight BBQ, Snobelle's Sno Cones (and home made ice cream) and of course, The Sauer Kraut Food Truck! Live music from 1 - 7:30! The vendor market takes place from 1 - 4. Come spend the day! There will be a 20x20 tent with heaters to keep you warm, plenty of sunshine and fresh air!
Thursdays Jan 21, 28 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 Christmas season! Picnic tables outside if you feel safer dining in the fresh air. We'll come out and play for you if you like!
Fridays Jan 15, 29; Rudi Lechner's Restaurant on Gessner near Westheimer in Houston, TX; 6 - 8pm; Ross Solo Rudi's still offers their delicious table side Coffee Goodnight, and ooooh, how good that is when it's cold outside!
February performances:
Wednesdays Feb 3; Polka Wednesdays at Krause's Cafe in New Braunfels, Texas; 6 - 9pm; The Duo
**Krause's is all outdoors. We recommend wearing layers, and dressing for the cold. There are excellent overhead heaters, warm drinks, and hot food to keep you warm.**
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!
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.
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!
Do you need a mid-winter pick me up? We would love to bring the Biergarten to your backyard! Backyard or garage parties are a fun way to break up the mundane and grey winter months. Contact us for package pricing and availability.
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 enjoyed a fun spread out Christmas, with both sets of parents, niece and Ross' brother. All sides of our families, as well as a couple of close friends who we invited this year so they would not be alone have said they'd rather gather for the holidays than sit at home. We had windows open and the air circulating. The grownups were at the kids table in the dining room, and the rest of us were at folding tables in the living room. We received a couple of nice gifts for Christmas that allowed Ross and I to go out of town for a few days, just the two of us, to do nothing but relax. We chose to go to South Padre Island. I fed the seagulls without receiving any "payment" from them, and Ross collected interesting looking seashells. We visited the bird sanctuary, and the turtle hospital. We ate breakfast on our little balcony at the hotel overlooking a fast food parking lot with a pretty view of the bay in the distance. We watched the sun rise, we watched the sun set. We watched Jupiter and Saturn disappear on the western horizon. We watched the funny little sanderling birds run in and out of the surf chasing whatever it is they chase. Otherwise, we've been cleaning and working around house. Christmas decorations are still up inside, because we like looking at them, but we'll put them away soon. Our living room will soon become a live music video studio again, since we have a few private clients who have asked for online shows. We might do another facebook live show or two to tide us all over until things are more open.
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 around the corner! The blessings remain in abundance, and we're thankful for that. Y'all stay healthy, Happy New Year, and we hope to see you somewhere soon!