Another weekend, another time drain. This time, the annual jaunt to Frankenmuth for the Summer Music Festival. It was good to see my wife's family, but I'm bummin' at the hour glass phenomenon. The summer activities have taken all my time and pretty much killed any "cerebral" activities on my part. I've been trying to be a good sport, but I'm starting to resent it because I know the Fall blitz--constant football and other kid activities--is going to be on top of me faster than John Edwards on a new hair brush. I have a handful of writing projects I want to get done, but they're looking increasingly quixotic. Oh well, there's always the cerebral alternative: TV. I have a couple of 'em. I can watch and watch and watch . . .
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The Festival changed its set-up, which I found interesting. I'm pretty sure the Festival used to be called the "Bavarian Summer Music Festival." Then they dropped "Bavarian" from the name. Now it looks like they're dropping it from the music (any Frankenmuth experts out there are welcome to correct my memory). The Festival used to feature polka music, but now polka is just one type of music offered. They've also reduced the amount of polka music. In past years, they had two tents: one dedicated to slow, waltz-type polka (where we sat) and one dedicated to rock-polka and country-polka, much faster and louder and pretty entertaining (not where we sat). Now the entire operation is crammed into one tent. There wasn't enough seating (we sat outside) and the slower polka has been eliminated, and a lot of people don't even dance anymore. They just stand in front of the bandstand and watch the bands play. It all suited me just fine, but I felt bad for Marie's parents. They like to watch the dancers and they like the slower polka music.
I suspect the Festival is simply reflecting different demographics, and I'm guessing "straight polka" can no longer bring in the crowds. If anyone has a different slant on polka's popularity, let me know.
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That's all for today. I have to be halfway across the state at 10:00 for a hearing, and I'm running late already.
