Rockabilly Rocks! Fest and more Finnish-American Research In Finland

Well, the road to Finland was rough and rocky (30 hours!), but comparatively, the FinnAir direct flight back from Helsinki to Chicago was absolutely lovely. I had an incredible time in Finland and before I forget, I want to take a quick moment to thank those who made it all possible: To KK and Lauri Ollari, the organizers of the Rockabilly Rocks! festival in Järvenpää, Finland—that was awesome!!

Many thanks for inviting me be a part of such a cool festival. The Vanhankylän Kartano venue was amazing, the hospitality beyond generous, and Tuusula Lake—the same lake on which Jean Sibelius, Alexis Kivi, Juhani Aho, Pekka Halonen, and other famous Finnish artists built their homes (Alvar Aalto even designed some of the homes there, too)—was simply breathtaking. Once the weather cleared up, well, there couldn’t have been a better spot anywhere in Finland for such a festival--Truth! It was wonderful to see so many friends whom I haven't seen in some time and the bands on the bill were killer—I particularly enjoyed sets by the Truly Lover Trio, Russia’s Diamond Hand, the Swedish cats in Tupelo Highshots and Ed Cavin’s Blue Kings, and of course some killer Finnish groups that I really dig—the Rockin’ 8-Balls, Hal Peters Trio, Whistle Bait, the Million Dollar Tones, Pete Boy R'n'R Trio, 20th Flight Rockers, and Limiteds. I’d seen Paul Ansell’s Number Nine and the Blue Cats a few times before and they were again super fun, and of course I enjoyed hearing and meeting Matchbox—authors of my all-time favorite neo-rockabilly tune (see: "Rockabilly Paukkuu"). And of course, DJ Farmer John and DJ Daryl kept us rockin' until the wee hours. The whole event was a real testiment to the diversity of music that falls under the "rockabilly" umbrella. Most of all, I want to thank KK, Jake Lähdeniemi, Jussi Huhtakangas, and Jani Ahtiainen for holding everything together during our first set without any rehearsal (no thanks to American Airlines!) and still rocking the masses. Somehow it all worked out. And of course, I owe an extra special thanks to Jake and KK for playing a completely different set with me on Saturday and pulling that one off too. That second set was super fun, especially with the guest spot of Alexander Diamond rocking some Johnny Horton with us (now that’s some USA-Russia collaboration I can get behind!!), as was guesting with the Rockin’ 8-Balls (paras bandi mailmaassa!) for a little Link Davis-Starday mayhem. Lots of videos and pics are getting posted online and its great to see them popping up. Kiitos Hank Lemmetti, Kari Ponkilainen and kittos kaikkille!

Rockin' at the Rockabilly Rocks! Festival in Järvenpää, Finland. Photo by Hank Lemmetti

Rockin' at the Rockabilly Rocks! Festival in Järvenpää, Finland. Photo by Pasi Rytkonen.

After the festival I feel incredibly fortunate to have met with some of the foremost music scholars in Finland and I owe thanks to Mikko Mattlar and Kim Emil Ramstedt for organizing their fantastic PHDJ series with Vesa Kurkela, who gave a great talk about the history of music in Helsinki. I also really enjoyed talking with Saijaleena Rantanen and Pekka Gronow about their Finnish-American music research and exploring some of the ways in which we might partner up in the near future. Some exciting stuff is in the works! Getting a private tour of the National Library of Finland’s Music Archive, visiting the Sibelius Academy, and touring the Alvar Aalto--Art and the Modern Form exhibit at the Ateneum were also trip highlights, but most of all, I loved seeing and catching up with my Finnish pals. My many thanks to Taina and fam for spending their last day of holidays with me and Salla at Linnanmäki, to KK and Saana for their kind hosptitality and the delicious Finnish pirogis, to Pete Hakonen for the stellar company and always good record deals at the Goofin' Records shop in Helsinki (and for restocking my personal Goofin’ Starday Sessions CD supply), and also my many thanks and belated birthday wishes to Salla for generously hosting and making time for me and getting me up to speed on the Track and Field World Championships in London. You’re the greatest--Thank you all! It was a super short trip and I didn’t get to see nearly everyone whom I had hoped to see, but if I didn’t get to see you this time around, let’s find a way to make it happen in the near future! Finland or Wisconsin, or anywhere in between! Kiitos paljon!

 Rockin' the '50s American diner in the middle of Helsinki with dear friends.

With Pekka Gronow, talking about both Finnish and Finnish-American music. Photo by kind woman.

Photo by me. "The Giant Pike" by Akseli Gallen-Kallela, "An October Day in Aland" by Victor Westerholm, "Bohemian Fiddler" by Ida Silfverberg, and the infamous "Aino Myth" triptych by Gallen-Kallela, seen at the Ateneum.

Ridin' the rides at Linnanmäki and getting super dizzy. Photo by Taina Vehkasalmi.

Weekend Trip through Wisconsin's Finnish-American Heartland

Wow, I know I'll be in Finland in just one week, but I am amazed at just how much Finnish culture and heritage there is right here in Wisconsin. I began my weekend by heading to Pulaski, WI to celebrate a part of my own Polish background in Wisconsin at the Pulaski Polka Days--which was incredible! Overwhelming amounts of beer, bratwurst, Polish pastries, and polka! Lots and lots of polka! They even had two stages per tent, so there was never a lag in music or dance for 12+ hours. Both exhausting and amazing! I polka'd so much that I didn't even have time to book a room for the night so I slept in my car. On Saturday morning I took a trip to Merrill, WI to meet with Rod and June Maki of the Finn Power Band, but as I was leaving town I stopped for some Polish pastries, a quick trip through the arts and crafts tents, and then--in a thrift store on the outskirts of Pulaski--I found this Alvin Styczynski LP on Cuca Records which accurately proclaims, Polaski is a Polka Town! 

After an incredible roadside stop at Doc's Harley Davidson in Shawano County where I saw an incredible muscle car and motorcycle museum (for free) that includes one of the 2 original General Lee's made by George Barris, watched four domesticated alligators feeding on raw chickens, explored a bird sanctuary that included parrots and macaws and pythons, found a pretty amazing and cheap '50s fish sweater in the adjacent antique mall, and looked into dates for the next available riding camp to get my motorcycle license--I made it to Merill, where I met Rod and June at a really cool '50s burger joint called Chip's Hamburgers. After lunch we met up with my colleague Mirva Johnson from the University of Wisconsin and we headed to the Maki residence, easily spotted from the road by the Finnish flag on the mailbox. The Makis were incredibly gracious hosts and I had a blast practicing my Finnish, learning about their Finnish-American heritage and upbringing, receiving some very useful beginner accordion pointers, and also getting a private concert of Kulkurin Valssi, their newly-written Centennial Polka, and several other Finnish dance tunes. Twas great fun and very much enjoyed and I'm really looking forward to meeting up with them again soon. If anyone ever have a chance to see or book Finn Power in concert, be sure to do it! 

From there I went to Brantwood, WI to stay with Jim and Helen Palmquist at their incredible Palmquist Farm, which according to their website has been "Providing Great Finnish Hospitality Since 1949." http://www.palmquistfarm.com/ 

Beyond great Finnish hospitality, I would add: incredible cabins (Jim is an expert logcabin maker), beautiful property, great company, friendly dog, delicious meals, great ski trails... Just everything one could ask for. It was very difficult to walk the property in the morning and NOT think I was in Finland. Birch trees and lakes everywhere and Finnish names on all the signs in the surrounding area... They even had vintage Lotta-Svard Arabia plates which I thought were pretty cool. 

After breakfast on Sunday I went to visit Bill Hoffman in Knox, WI and he has built up an incredible Finnish settlement with two cabins (inluding Maki Talo, for which June Maki of Finn Power has written an original song, and the Pahka Talo), an outhouse, a sauna, and even a forthcoming chapel in honor of St. Urho on the site of the first Finnish settlement in Wisconsin (and next to the old Finnish cemetery). The property is also filled with ski trails and is just beautiful. It is a truly amazing place and should any of my Finnish friends want to visit a Finnish home away from Finland, it's exactly 4,271 miles from Helsinki :) and about 2 miles away from this monument dedicated to the Finnish settlers of Brantwood, Clifford, and Tripoli.

After a wonderful visit exploring Bill's extensive Finnish folk art and woodcarving collection currently on display at the Brantwood Credit Union, 

and a brief visit to the Knox Creek Heritage Center--which was closed but still beautiful to see--

I went up to Little Finland in the very northern tip of Wisconsin for Viola Turpeinen Day--one of the more popular dance and social events of the year for Finnish-Americans in the region. I got lots of practice with my Finnish language for next week, met some really fun and interesting folks, ate some delicious food, and even got to sit in with Finn Power for a few songs! Now I am most certainly looking forward to the calendar of upcoming events in Little Finland! http://www.littlefinland.org/

Just in case I actually got to thinking I was in Finland the entire time, as I was leaving the dance I saw a bald eagle on the side of the road and it reminded me that it is this very regional diversity and celebration of various cultural heritages that makes this country--and the state of Wisconsin--so great. I stopped to take its picture and we nodded at each other and then I continued down the road and back to Madison.

All and all, it was an incredible trip and one I look forward to making again in the near future. My many thanks to my friend and colleague Mirva Johnson who was documenting events via photo and video throughout the entire trip and kiitos paljon, minun uusia suomalaisia ystäviä Wisconsinista!

Melodiya 7" Record Art from the Mills Music Library Collections

Russia's been in the news a lot lately and in honor of Stephen Colbert's Russia Week I figured I would upload some of my favorite Russian 45 sleeve art from our collections here at the Mills Music Library. The Melodiya label--founded in 1964--was the USSR state-run record label and released a wide variety of musical styles and performances throughout the '60s, '70s and '80s. We have hundreds of LPs, cassettes, and 7" 33s here at MML, as well as discographies and CD compilations of Melodiya content (if there's something specific you are looking for, you can search for it here: https://search.library.wisc.edu), but one of the coolest things about the label were the generic sleeves they created to house their 7" 33 1/3rpm records. Check out some of my faves:

Cuca Records at the Mills Music Library

One of the things I love most about my job as the Ethnic American Music Curator in the Mills Music Library at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is that we get an acquisitions budget each year and I am allowed to spend part of it on things I feel make important contributions to the Wisconsin Music Archives. Among my various projects within that mission is completing the Cuca Records catalog. There are so many incredible records on this Sauk City, WI label and its subsidiaries, and fortunately the founder--Jim Kirchstein--is still around to talk about it with us (or, as it were last week, with Bill Malone on his Back to the Country program on radio station WORT--which was recorded and archived in the Wisconsin Music Archives). Here are just a few of the gems I have acquired for the Mills Music Library within the past month, but if anyone else has any Cuca Records for sale, please do let me know. More importantly, if anybody wants to hear these records or take on a Cuca-related research project, come visit us at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the Memorial Library. So far we've tracked down 293 45s and over 100 Cuca LPs, but there's still a pretty good way to go before the collection is complete.