Frank'n'Ellie's Ultimate Polka Odyssey! Part 1 of an Occasional Series!

Ellie and Frank were serious polka fans. I don’t remember much about Ellie though I did interact with her when I was a kid. I remember even less about Frank, but he was not my blood relative: Ellie was my grandfather’s sister.

Frank’n’Ellie lived in Altoona, Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania is a hotbed of polka action, and Altoona was probably one of the hubs around which much of this action spun.

Frank’n’Ellie went to many polka festivals. I’m not sure if they stayed close to Altoona or took road trips around Pennsylvania, and maybe even Ohio, to hear cool polka sounds.  One way or another, Frank’n’Ellie made the polka scene.

How do I know this? I own Frank’n’Ellie’s record collection. Unfortunately, once I took possession of these records, I integrated them into my larger collection, rather than keeping the Frank’n’Ellie collection intact. So I can’t examine their records and muse over them as a curated set of music.

However, I can report on certain Frank’n’Ellie’s records as I randomly encounter them, since many of the polka albums are lovingly inscribed to Frank’n’Ellie by their favorite artists. Polkas That Swing by Bud Hundenski & His Corsairs is one of those albums, signed by Bud himself. That title is no lie: the Corsairs led by the mighty Hundenski, did indeed swing.

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