Lustige Leute Newsletter September 2021

Howdy Friends, and welcome to our new friends! 

Oktoberfest is here, and while we're super excited to get on the road to see our friends and play our music, our hearts are heavy when we think about all that is happening in the  world around us.  There is nothing we can do but keep moving forward, make the best of it, and help our friends in need.  There are some days when even that seems silly when we see all the darkness in the world.  We hope the festival season will give you an opportunity to place sadness and worries aside for a few hours and go out for some carefree fun and frolic.  Our hearts and minds need these breaks, especially when times are hard. 

Oktoberfest shows started already on August 20 for us.  We've already put 1500 miles on the touring van!  Rehearsals have been going well, and we're busy putting the finishing touches on some new music.  Of course, it's always rough the first time out in public with a new song, but we're ready to take that step with a few of these! 

Oktoberfest Season performances: 

-- Walburg Fest, 3777 FM 972, Walburg, TX; 
Saturday Sept 4; 6pm & 9pm 
Sunday Sept 5; 12pm & 3pm; Ross, Robert, Jeff, & Valina; Free admission; Continuous entertainment both days with the Walburg Boys and the Alpenmusikanten. 

--The Sauer Kraut Grill, 734 Crabb River Rd, Richmond, TX; Stubenmusi (pub music unplugged) with the Duo 
Thursdays Sept 2, 9, 30;  6 - 8pm 

-- Bavarian Brauhaus, 109 N Main, Bryan, TX; 
Friday Sept 10; 6:30 - 10; Oktoberfest Show with the Duo 

--The White Horse Tavern, 400 N Main, Burton, TX; 
Sunday September 12, 4:30 - 7:30; Allison's Birthday!  The Duo;  BYOD: Bring a Dish to share; Allison will be celebrating her birthday, cooking on the dance floor, not in the kitchen!  ...bring cash / credit card for the bar - Bier, wine, set ups 

--Fresh by Brookshire's, 6991 Old Jacksonville Hwy, Tyler, TX; 
Tuesday and Wednesday Sept 14 & 15, 5pm - 8pm; Oktoberfest on the Patio!  The Duo 

-- Addison Oktoberfest, Addison Circle Park (north of Dallas) TX; 
September 16 - 19; The four piece party band at the Musikzelt;  Ross, Robert, Jeff, & Valina 
Thursday 7:45 - 9:15, Friday 6:00 - 7:30, Saturday 7:00 - 8:00, Sunday 4:00 - 5:00; 
Valina is MC for the Musikzelt. 

-- Oktoberfest Fort Worth, Panther Island Pavilion, Fort Worth, TX; 
September 24 - 25; The four piece party band; 
Friday in the Wiesn Tent 8:00 - 8:45 and 10:00 - 11:00; Ross, Robert, Jeff, & Valina 
Saturday in the Spaten Hall 3:00 - 4:00, 5:00 - 6:30, 8:00 - 8:30; Ross, Robert, Jeff, & Valina 
Valina is MC Thursday Sept 23, Friday and Saturday. 

-- Das Manor Haus Oktoberfest, 111 N Post Oak Ln, Houston, TX; 
Sunday September 26; 3pm - 7pm; Ross, Robert, Jeff, & Valina  Tickets required for this all inclusive package (Dinner, Bier, Wein, music, lawn games, Stein races!) 

-- Saint Arnold Oktoberfest, Saint Arnold Brewing Co, 2000 Lyons Ave, Houston, TX; 
Friday Oct 1; 6pm - 9pm; Ross, Robert, Jeff, Valina & dancers 
Saturday Oct 2; 6pm - 9pm; Ross, Robert, Jeff, Valina & dancers 
Sunday Oct 3; 1pm - 4pm; Ross, Kerry, Jeff, Valina & dancers 
Tickets required. 

-- Oktoberfest, The Sauer Kraut Grill, 734 Crabb River Rd, Richmond, TX; 
Saturday Oct 9 1:00 - 2:45; The Duo; Outside under the tents 

-- Oktoberfest, Roughtail Brewing, 320 W Memorial Road, Oklahoma City, OK;Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Oct 15, 16, 17; Ross, Robert, Jeff, & Valina; Times TBD; General admission, and VIP tickets available; Scroll down on their website to October to find the links. 

-- Oktoberfest Show, Momma's at Sengelmann, 531 N Main, Schulenburg, TX; 

Wednesday Oct 27; 6pm - 9pm; The Duo 

-- Wurstfest, Landa Park, New Braunfels, TX; 
Das Kleine Zelt: 
Saturday Nov 6; 6:05 - 7:05, 8:40 - 9:35, 11pm - 12:00;  Ross, Robert, Jeff, Valina & dancers 
Sunday Nov 7; 3:30 - 4:50, 6:30 - 7:30, 9:05 - 10:00; Ross, Jeff Valina & dancers 
Stelzenplatz: 
Tuesday Nov 9; 6:45 - 7:40, 8:55 - 9:45; Ross, Robert, Jeff, Valina & dancers 
Wednesday Nov 10; 5:30 - 6:25, 7:50 - 8:45; Ross, Robert, Jeff, Valina & dancers 
Friday Nov 12; 5:30 - 6:35, 8:15 - 9:20; Ross, Randy, Jeff & dancers 
Saturday Nov 13: 2:10 - 3:10, 4:50 - 5:45, 7:15 - 8:15, 9:40 - 10:35; Ross, Randy, & Jeff 
Sunday Nov 14; 2:15 - 3:15, 4:50 - 5:50, 7:30 - 8:30; Ross, Randy, Jeff & dancers 

The homepage of our website will reflect every performance except the private ones.  Often when we're on the road, we don't have access to update our facebook pages, but will always (as long as my cell phone works) update the home page on our website if there is a last minute change.  You're always welcome to give us a call or send a text if you want to make sure we're going to be where our calendar shows we're going to be. 

Looking ahead: 

These shows are tentative: 

Sept 29; Oktoberfest dinner and a show; The Union Kitchen; Katy, TX; The Duo 

Oct 7 and Oct 28; Stubenmusi; The Sauer Kraut Grill; The Duo 

Oct 19 - 24; Linde Oktoberfest Tulsa. Tuesday night specialty showcase dinner, Wednesday night Sponsor night, Thursday - Sunday full festival.  Times and stages TBD 
Dec 11 - 12; Tomball German Christmas Market; Times and stages TBD 

Host your own Christmas party!  Call us for pricing and availability if you have something to celebrate in November / December!  We're available to play for you as a duo unplugged, or we can bring specialty folk instruments.  Nothing says Christmas like German Christmas carols and American ones played on cowbells!  Need an authentic European (Dutch) Saint Nick?  We can offer that as well!  Our Saint Nick is fluent in Dutch and German, and knows the history of how Saint Nick came to be. His beard is real, and his robes are hand made. 

Hosting our trips to Europe   Both trips for the summer of 2022 are close to capacity.  Would you like to travel with us to Germany and the Czech Republic, Tuesday June 7 - Tuesday June 21, 2022?  Or to the Black Forest and Switzerland June 22 - July 7, 2022?  Our small groups have a ton of fun together!  Can't choose?  There is an option (and a discount) if you go on both trips.  There are two double rooms left available on the first trip June 7 - 21.  The Swiss tour June 22 - July 7 has one double room available.  The number of guests for each trip will not exceed 26, so social distancing will be possible, even on the bus.  If you're interested, let us know soon!  https://www.prostyall.com/lustig-tours-holiday 

If you'd like to join us for travel to Europe in the future, we'd love to have you!  There have been many requests to return to Austria, so unless we're forced to postpone again, Austria is on the wish list in 2023. 

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 https://www.prostyall.com/shop has koozies! (they fit party cups, pint glasses and Wurstfest cups!)  The famous "Prost Y'all" sign is in stock again and available for sale too!  Won't that look awesome on the wall of your favorite relaxation spot!  We also have shirts, hat pins, and CD's that can make great gifts for your Biergarten loving friends. 

Social Media:  You can find us on Facebook, and Youtube.  You can subscribe to our Youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/valinapolka , friend us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/valinapolka  "like" us on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/prostyall/  We have an instagram, but don't know how to use it. 

Behind the scenes:  We're thankful to be as busy as we are!  Hopefully we'll make up for some of the losses from last year.  We've had time this past month to finally work on the new music we wanted to have ready for the Oktoberfest season.  In addition to arranging new music from Germany,  Ross wrote a polka; his first ever!  He named it The Valina Polka.  I think he has a crush on me ;)  He thought of it in early July, but wasn't ready to play it in public until August.  Then, I wrote some verses (I think I wrote the melodies to them, but am not sure, as they sound so familiar, I don't know if it's something I heard somewhere, or if it's just an earworm, so I was used to hearing it before I finished writing the lyrics! ...that was a run-on sentence...)  Anyway, I wrote verses to go with a traditional Dutch chorus that is soooo fun to do in a Biergarten!  It's something I remember doing with a Dutch band at a Dairy Break festival in Stephenville.  Of course, it's performed in Germany as well, but I heard it in Dutch first.  While Ross has been working on music, tending to some baby plants that are finally showing a little promise, and updating some computer equipment, I celebrated my birthday by re-doing our upstairs bathroom.  I pulled the old wallpaper off the walls - I think it's been there since they built the house in the 1970s - then I textured, primed and painted.  It's so much brighter and fresh looking in there.  Even though it was hard work, it was like a break, and gave me the change in scenery I needed to be more productive in the office.  I also got to eat myself silly; Ross' parents took us for Japanese and my parents took us for Indonesian, then our friends in Oklahoma took us for American food and included a huge cake which took several days to finish.  It was a good birthday.  Ross is still dealing with some shoulder pain, but we're discovering it flares up when we're working out in the heat a lot.  He's eating healthy and drinking all he can to stay fully hydrated, which is hard to do when it's 97 and extremely humid.  ...I guess we finally got our summer heat...  He's exercising and stretching daily to keep the whole area strong.  I'm also doing some extra upper body exercises so I can help lift the speakers and sound cabinet at gigs.  We need to keep our bodies healthy and sturdy enough to roadie for ourselves for at least another 10 years.  Speaking of the weather, my goodness!  We are praying for our friends in Louisiana and Mississippi, and hope things will get back to normal for you sooner than later.  The photos of the devastation are heartbreaking.  We're overwhelmed with horror when we think of what's happening in Afghanistan.  We meet so many former and currently serving military.  We feel helpless.  All we can do is pray our citizens, the people who have been helping us, and our military can get out as safely as possible.  Some have already given all, and some of them so young, they've never even had a Bier in public without "breaking the law".  Our hearts hurt for their families and loved ones.  Our minds are not capable of even imagining... All we can do is pray.   And we will keep doing what we're doing, and hope that a little of what we do will help others somewhere along the way. 

That's all for this newsletter.  Your support and friendship means so much to us!  Stay healthy, stay safe, share a smile with a stranger, and we hope we get to "prost y'all" along the Oktoberfest road soon!

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