Hey, this is Paul Martin. And Ray the Roadie. For the Rock and Roll Chicago podcast.

Happy New Year, Ray. Happy New Year, Paul. Oompa-pa.

Oompa-pa. Oompa-pa to the New Year. Okay, what is that supposed to mean? It means we're going to be doing some polka today.

Some polka-ing. Polka-ing, yeah. Yeah, you and I should head down over there by that- It's none of my business what you're doing over there.

We can head on over there, down by there, to that Baby Doll Polka Club there, down by the Jewels. I see. So you're telling me that we're talking to Eddie Caruso Jr. today, right? Yes, we are.

Eddie Caruso- A legend in Chicagoland polka. His father, Eddie Caruso Sr., obviously- Yes, Ergo the Jr. Right. Was the owner of the Baby Doll Polka Club and played polka music and wrote the Baby Doll Polka song, and he was a legend, and Eddie Caruso Jr. is as well.

Yes, he is. He's keeping on the music scene and the polka scene. Yes, which we found out will never die.

Nope, nope. Won't. Will never die.

Okay. All right, well- As long as Mama's got a squeeze box- Daddy's not going to sleep at night. That's right.

Let's go see what Eddie has to say about himself, his legendary father, and the world of polka. Let's do it. Welcome to the show, everyone.

Today, in our endless search for musicians from Chicago, we've come across Eddie Caruso Jr. How are you, Eddie? The polka- Doing good. The polka master right here. Appreciate that.

Good morning, Paul. Good morning, Ray. How you doing, Eddie? Excellent.

Excellent. Great. So, Eddie, tell us, start us out with your history, and I know your dad was the polka king.

Yes. And he had the Baby Doll Polka Club, and tell us about the early days, just start off there. Well, back in the days, like you mentioned, my mom and dad owned the Baby Doll Polka Club, and that was a bar on the southwest side of Chicago, 7315 Southwestern Avenue.

They opened that in 1954, and went from 1954 to 1980, and they would change locations by Midway Airport, 6102 South Central Avenue, and we had that from 1980 to 2004. So my mom and dad had 50 years of polka fun, and back in the early 1930s, my dad was voted America's Prince of Polkas, and he played the button accordion, and had the bar, and just everybody loved him. And I'm trying to carry it on, the old Carossa tradition.

That's great. That's great. Now, I understand you played drums, and you started out playing drums, correct? Correct.

Yeah. I started playing drums when I was seven years old, and played with my dad's band, and that was a lot of fun, you know, playing drums at the Baby Doll Polka Club on a Sunday afternoon, and going jobbing around sometimes with my dad and his band, the Merrymakers, a lot of fun, a lot of fun. I see you've played quite a few, you've traveled quite a bit, played in television, played movies, too? Oh, yeah.

Through my mom and dad's bar, the Baby Doll Polka Club, they ran annual tours to Europe, to Hawaii, Caribbean cruises, so we'd always take like 200 people with us wherever we went, and we would play polka music, we'd rent halls wherever we were, and just had a gas, you know? Always fun. That was back in the, what, 70s, 80s, and 90s. Now, as a kid, did you, did you, you played with your dad's band, even, what about school and what have you? Oh, yeah.

Well, weekends were the jobs, you know? I still went to school, I went to St. Rene School in Chicago, St. Rita High School in Chicago, Marine Valley, and, where's that at, Palos Hills? Palos Hills. There you go, yeah. Yeah, Palos Hills, right.

And so, that was a weekend kind of thing, and I was, you know, traveling with my dad, mostly local, because we played mostly at his bar on a Sunday afternoon, I would kind of sit in with the boys in the band, so it was a good way to start. Well, you know, I see, I see your wife is playing with you now, right? Oh, yeah! Boy, the last, oh, you noticed that, huh? Good. Well, her name was Michaelene, but I call her the girl drummer.

She's been performing with us for about five years now, and never played drums before in her life. She's a retired hospital administrator, and one day I needed a drummer, and she said, I'll give it a try, because she, her and I, we used to go dancing and stuff, and she's got great, the great beat, and now she's, I fired the other drummer, now she's my real drummer. She's got them all mad at me, but, so the girl drummer's in the band.

I was looking at some of your videos, and I saw it said, Eddie and the boys from Illinois. Correct. Yeah.

And it said, with wife, or, and wife. And wife, yeah, yeah, yeah, because a lot of times, we'd be playing, and the friends would be dancing, and they would say, wait a minute, it says, all it says is boys from Illinois, what about the girl, you know? Yeah. So I had to get the little signs made, and matter of fact, just the other couple months ago, I had to buy new band cards, it says, boy and girl.

Oh, I see. The boys and girl from, you know, I'll tell you what, you know, you know how women are. Sure.

But, it's a lot of fun. Now, tell us about the Baby Doll Poker Company, closed, what year was that? 2004. Yeah.

We closed in 2004, and that was a bar that every weekend, Friday, Saturday, and Sundays, we had a live poker band, and we had a live radio show, too, from the 50s to 2004, every Sunday afternoon, on AM radio, 1490 AM, it was called the WOPA out of Oak Park. And my parents had their radio show every Sunday afternoon from five o'clock to six o'clock. Now, did you take the club over, or did you run the club for a while? Well, I was always there, my mom and dad always owned it, my dad passed away in 1998, and my mom is still going strong, and she's 93 years old, don't tell anybody I told you that.

So she always ran the place, and the family always helped out. That's great, that's great. And it was a weekly, you know, it was open seven nights a week on Western Avenue, and then when we went to Central Avenue, and then I started playing with my band there back in 1978, no, 1976, I started my band, I started playing accordion in the early 70s.

And so then I started playing accordion, and I got my guys together, and we played there, I think our first job was on a New Year's Eve, because the band canceled out, and my dad needed a band. So he said, well, you know, son, I hate to have you play, but you know, so we played it, and we've been playing accordion ever since with the band, that was our first job, was a New Year's Eve at the Old Baby Doll, probably 1976. In my neighborhood where I grew up, I remember my folks would go over there some Sundays and hang out.

Oh, that was great, that was a place to go. Every Sunday afternoon, we had a live radio show, it was actually Friday, Saturday, Sunday, it was a big, Paul, it was a giant place, what held about maybe 400 people. And the one bar was on 73rd and Western.

The one on Western? Okay. Yes. Did you ever hear of Fat Johnny's Hot Dogs? Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah. Right across the street from there. I know, I know the place.

And Fat Johnny's is still there. Isn't that crazy? Yeah, it really is, yeah. Oh, man, no french fries at Fat Johnny's.

Nope. Yeah. No.

So, we were there from 1954 to 1980, and every weekend there was music with the live radio show. Then we moved over to Central Avenue, 61st and Central, right by Middle Airport. That was pretty cool, because we had a big window in front, the planes would be coming in, you know, and it was really a nice place.

Not as big as the old one, but we still had the live radio show, and we had Wild Chicago came out there a couple of times. Remember Wild Chicago? Yep. We were on that show a few times, it was a lot of fun.

Jenny Jones, from the Jenny Jones show, they came out and filmed a little segment there, and Eye on Chicago. So it was a popular place, when sometimes when the Bears would play on a Monday night, the camera crew would come in and just film the planes taking off for Monday night football and stuff. It was a lot of fun.

A lot of good memories there. I think it was Bobby Skaefish, NWS? Yeah, Loop. And XRT used to always give the weather a report from the Baby Doll Polka Club.

Yeah, Skaefish, he's one of my Facebook friends. And yeah, the weather at O'Hare was what, but weather at the Baby Doll, you know, they used to say it midway, so that was kind of cool. Speaking of radio, did you do something with Jonathan Brandmeier as well? Oh yeah, we were on his show a lot of times in the morning.

Whenever he needed a polka band for a Kashmir Pulaski day or some kind of Polish holiday, he'd give us a call, we'd perform on the live radio shows with him. That was a lot of fun. When did you switch from drums to accordion? Probably the early 1970s.

Yeah, and I started playing, I think I was in grammar school. I took organ lessons, and then that kind of led me to the accordion, and I would still go to my mom and dad's Baby Doll and just sit along, sit in with the bands, just kind of pick up stuff. And I only took lessons for about six months, and all the rest I learned by ear.

So I'm still doing it, you know, I could read music, but mostly I could hear a song, I could probably play it for you in a couple minutes. Right. I kind of picked up my guitar when I was 20 years old, I was playing along with one of the songs.

Well, there you go, yeah. I mean, if you could play the key of C, G, and F, and B flat, you could play along. I was going to say, a lot of it seemed to be the key of C, yes.

Yeah, that's my vocal range. Yeah, yeah, that's awesome. A lot of fun.

And then every Saturday, back in the day, my mom and dad had a polka show, a TV show, right? I bet your parents would have remembered that. It was every Saturday on Channel 26, which was WCIU. And every Saturday, a live polka show from this, like for 30 years, from 70-something to 90-something, or yeah, early 70s.

And every Saturday was a live polka show. That sounds familiar. I do believe they watched that also, because I believe Lawrence Welk was also on Saturdays.

There you go, yeah, yeah, that's right. My dad's show was on at 6 o'clock, and as a matter of fact, Lawrence Welk was on at 7, 7.30, if I recall. Right.

Well, speaking of Lawrence Welk, I know you played, it says you played drums with Myron Florin. Yes. And I remember as a kid listening to Lawrence Welk, and he said he was introduced to the great Myron Florin.

Oh, the way he would say it, yeah. Oh, yeah, we played many festivals with him throughout Wisconsin and Minnesota and the Dakotas and stuff back in the day. What a great accordion player, and what a really personal, wonderful guy also.

Now, why do you think that polka music is so popular in Wisconsin and the northern Midwest? It's probably the cheese. Something in the cheese. What's in the cheese? Because it seems like it does have a territorial… It does.

…point against. The Midwest, it really does. I don't know.

But then, now, you know, the West Coast and the East Coast, there's a lot of polka bands in New York, there's a lot of polka bands in California. So it is, like you said, more popular in the Midwest. But all worldwide, there's, you know, back in the day, accordions were made in Germany and in Austria, and it's Italy.

So they've been around forever, you know, and it's a lot of fun music. And you go to a festival, and the kids enjoy it. You know, we do a lot of Oktoberfests.

And Long Adore's beer, there's a lot of fun. In fact, we met Ray at a little Oktoberfest in Brookfield. In October, you guys came out.

That was a lot of fun. Thanks for coming out that day. I think the, like, Wisconsin area, Minnesota, you know, Dakotas and stuff, a lot of, like, Eastern European and Northern European people settled there, and that was their music.

That's true. I'm half Slovenian and half Polish. And there's, you know, there's the Germans that love the polka, there's the Slovenians, the Serbians, you know, everyone.

That's all right. Like you say, Ray, in that area, a couple in Minnesota, there was the Iron Range, they called it. Those are all the Slovenian workers there, and they just brought the old-time music with them from the old country.

I was just going to say, from the old country, from, like you said, Germany was popular, accordion music was popular, along with the Polish community as well, right? Oh, sure. You get it. German music.

That's, we, matter of fact, back in the day, we, when my mom and dad ran tours to Europe, we played in the Lone Brow Tent for about 10 years straight at the Oktoberfest with just thousands of people. That was really a great memory. Wow.

That's very cool. And we brought back the chicken dance. Remember the chicken dance? Back in 1970-something, they were going crazy out there.

They were like, what the hell is this dance? They're all going like this and doing all this stuff. And we brought it back, and it just went crazy. Still going kind of strong with the chickens.

I think you had a chicken hat on, Ray, didn't you? And in Brookfield, I think you had a chicken hat on. You actually got them. Oh, no, no.

He wasn't wearing his chicken hat, was he? Oh, boy. Well, I wish we had a picture of that. I think we do.

Oh, jeez. Speaking of Ray coming out and seeing you in October, how have you survived the COVID, the whole COVID situation? Pretty much. It was pretty much slowed down a ton.

Matter of fact, I just did my end-of-the-year calculations since the middle of March is when all this started, right around St. Patrick's Day, right? Right. And I probably had the whole year booked. We always play around 200 times a year at festivals, VFWs, moose lodges, anniversary parties.

And so everything got canceled. My whole playing out book has all the red Xs on it. I had 96 red Xs.

I just counted the other day. Wow. From March to this year, to end of the year.

That's got to hurt. Yeah, it does. We've been doing it for seasons now.

Just because of the feeling, right? A feeling from not playing. But, I mean, it also hurts the pocketbook, I'm sure. Oh, it sure does.

Yeah, it sure does. We've been doing it ever since I was in my 20s, actually 18 years old. Matter of fact, I just got a couple cancellations for January already.

So the cancellations are still coming in. I was going to ask you next how it looks for 2021. Right.

So far, I've had maybe 11 jobs booked for January. And so far, five or six have been crossed out. Our music is mostly for the older people.

So I do a lot of senior dances and stuff. So they're still afraid to come out, which is understandable. But I did towards June and July and August, we did a lot of outside stuff because the weather was nice.

So I had different jobs come in. So we still did a few jobs from March until the end of the year. So it turned out pretty good.

Not as good as before. Who's all in the boys? Who are all the boys and girls in the band? And girly, right? Well, my basic band is a four-piece band. I play the accordion.

I have a Baldoni accordion, which is made in Italy. And it has the little MIDI thing set up that has the organ and the piano and all that cool stuff in there, electronic bass. And I have a trumpet player that lives in Blue Island.

And I have a saxophone player from Crest Hill and the girl drummer that lives with me. My wife of 20 years. So a four-piece band, and sometimes we go bigger.

We'll add a second accordion player or add a guitar player if they want to do some of the old-time rock and roll stuff. So the basic band is four of us. And then we do a lot of solo.

I do a lot of solo work also. So between that, it used to be like close to $200, 200 jobs a year and stuff. So hopefully this year we'll pick up a little bit.

When we saw you in Brookfield, your wife sat in for a song or two, but you had a different drummer. Yeah. Well, that's Joe from Lions.

And that was his job. That's his hangout. Joe's, what's it called? Joe's Saloon.

Yeah, Joe's Saloon. And that's his hangout. So whenever we play there, we have Joe play along with us.

And he's 83 years old, still playing the drums. That's it, 83 years old. Isn't that crazy? Isn't that great? That's awesome.

Fantastic. That was such a nice day. We had all the problems with the virus still in October, and they set us up outside.

They put the tents out there. So that's what we did mostly for the end of the year was the outside tent stuff, so it turned out pretty nice. That's awesome.

Hope I make it to 83 years old. Oh, there you go. You will.

You will. You play anything? You play instruments? Yeah, I play guitar. Okay.

And Ray, you're a drummer, right? No, guitar. Guitar. Okay, guitar.

Very good. Wonderful. But I love the accordion.

I've always played the accordion and drums. And I love playing drums, too. So if you guys ever need a drummer, give me a call.

All right. And my sister played the accordion. Okay.

So when I was growing up, I dabbled a little bit with her accordion. I never took lessons. I just messed around with it.

Cool. Now, speaking of accordion, I have a question for you. Sure.

What's the difference of an accordion versus a button box or a concertina? What are the differences in those? Okay, they are completely different. Yeah. The accordion is just like a piano.

So if you strapped a piano on your stomach, you could play an accordion. So it would be a little heavier. But the accordion… You still have to squeeze, right? Yeah, right? You still got to go in.

You squeeze in and out. And when you squeeze it, you still get the same sound. But when you play the button accordion or a concertina, it's like a harmonica.

When you pull in or pull out, you get two different sounds. When you breathe in, breathe out with a harmonica. So the fingering is totally different.

It's not your average A, B, C, D. It's all in fifths and stuff. So it's a little more complicated. And it's buttons instead of a keyboard, correct? Correct, yeah.

I've got one around here somewhere. Yeah, my dad bought me one back in 1976. And it's a beautiful button box.

And it's just like, you know, it's completely different from an accordion. And if you play it by ear, if you can play like five or six songs, you can pick up the rest of them because you can kind of feel it like a guitar, you know? Right. You can feel where you're going with it.

Right. Well, see, we learned something today, Ray. Yeah.

Concertinas, I don't play concertina. But I do play the button accordion. I think they say that a concertina is even different from a button box.

Oh, really? So the fingering is even different. So you got me on that one. So it's just like anything else.

I love the button accordion. It sounds really European. It's got that nicer, deeper sound to it and stuff.

But you get a different sound as you open or close it, right? No, same sound. But it's the same sound, but you've got to play different notes. You can't hold down a G and press in because you'll pull out, you'll get a different sound, like harmonica.

Right, right. But accordion, you can pull it in and out as much as you want and stuff. Very interesting.

That's very cool. But it's a beautiful instrument. There they all are.

As a matter of fact, I've got my little Strollin' Accordion here I use, just as the regular accordion, nice little Italian one from the 1950s. That's my Strollin' Accordion. And then I have the button box, which I should show you, but it's in the case over there.

Do you have any of your dad's accordions? I have his original button box that he had back in the 1940s, or 1930s actually, yeah. But I never want to play it because I don't want it to fall apart. So I'll take it out and give it a little squeeze once in a while.

But back in the day, back in 1948, my dad wrote the Baby Doll Polka. Ray, you've heard that? Paul, you ever heard this one? Yes, sir. Yes, sir.

Can I play a short version of it for you? Sure, go ahead. The accordion. You are my baby doll.

Sing along. You are my baby doll. You are my baby doll.

You're my sweetheart now. That's awesome. 1948.

1948, wow. And this is the accordion that you play, you know, you get the same note in and out. Right, right.

Right. And the button box, if I did that, I would get two different notes. I think I've got to charge you for that.

See, now we learned something. Yeah, I think you guys owe me $0.25. Okay. Let me get $0.25. Send me a bill at the end of the month, will you? Yeah, I'll send you a bill, yeah.

Hey, how about the movie Home Alone? Have you seen that movie? Yeah. Yeah. Did you know I was the accordion player in the back of the truck? Right, right.

As a matter of fact, we do. Oh! One of our claim to fame, you know, that was back in, what, 1990. The Kenosha Kickers.

Correct, yeah. That was John Candy's band, right? Yes. Oh, yeah, that was all my band, all my guys.

Right. And John, that was our Kenosha Kickers for the movie, yeah. His band in the movie, right, right.

Correct. So how was it working with him? How was it working with... That was great. We filmed, we had, I think, three segments of the movie.

We spent 18 hours with John Candy. We were at Meg's Field. Oh, really? We did all our stuff at Meg's Field.

If you see us in an airport, it's supposed to be in New York, but it's actually Meg's Field. Right, right. Who produced that? Who directed that? John Hughes and Chris Columbus.

John Hughes, right. Yeah. You're the last remaining member of the Kenosha Kickers, aren't you? Isn't that crazy? Yeah, there was seven of us.

And John Candy passed away, and all the other guys in the band passed away. And the last of the Kickers. Still kicking.

Still kicking, that's right. Yeah. The funny thing about our segment, when we're in the back of the truck with John Candy and Kathleen O'Hara, where's O'Hara at? We were in the back of the truck with them, and we're playing our music.

And it looks like we're driving down the road, but we're just, we're standing still. We're sitting in the back of a budget truck at a warehouse at Meg's Field. And the camera crew are outside the truck, pushing it back and forth.

So it looks like we're going down the street. They're actually, yeah, they're pushing it, you know, each side, you know, so modern technology. It's kind of discouraging when you actually see what goes on behind the scenes like that.

The things that are happening aren't really happening. No. John Candy was just great.

We had breakfast, lunch, and dinner with him, and just cracking jokes. And John Hughes was, he was a lot of fun. He was, Candy's telling us a joke, and Chris Columbus is trying to direct everything, and trying to make a movie.

And John Candy's in the back of the truck with us, telling us a joke. And he's stopping production because we're listening to his joke. And it was just funny, you know.

It was a fun time. How did you get picked to do that, or get hooked up with that? Through my mom and dad's bar, the Baby Doll Polka Club. They needed a polka band.

And when in Chicago, if you need a polka band, you call Carossa. Right. So that's how it all, and we went there.

And I think we had to play a song for them at New Chair East. That's where their studio was. We went there, and up on the north side, Winnetka.

Right, well, that's where the movie was basically filmed at. Correct, yeah. Or the home was there, anyway.

Right, that's right. And I think they had their studio in that high school that closed down. New Chair East or West, or something like that.

And they called us, and they liked it. And we laid a soundtrack down. We had to go to a studio to record our music.

And then a couple days of that, and a couple days of filling with John Candy. And we never thought it would be this big, right? It's a great movie, and it's a classic, actually. 30 years ago.

Isn't that crazy? 30 years. You're a legend. Oh, there you go.

In my own mind. Tell us about some of the music that you've created, and that you've written. I did write a few songs.

Pardon me? You've got 12 albums out? Yeah. We started with the album and the eight tracks. The eight tracks and the cassettes.

And then, of course, the CDs. Now we're doing this little, they call it the polka stick. You stick it in your USB thing.

I call it a polka stick. And my first recording was back in the early 70s. And did you happen to have it right here? It's called Not Your Average Polka Band.

And that was one of our first recordings. We did it at a studio in Chicago. We had a recording studio back in the day.

And we had some original stuff. I wrote a song, our theme song, The Boys from Illinois. I wrote the words to that.

I wrote a nice song for my daughter called the Lauren Marie Polka. I wrote a little waltz for my sisters called the Three Sisters Waltz. I wrote a song for my wife called the Two and More Polka.

I debuted that at our wedding 20 years ago. And so I wrote about maybe seven or eight songs, a couple of nice waltzes on the button box, Turolohoff Waltz. I was sitting in Munich, Germany, looking outside on the deck, playing my button box.

And I just started playing. And it's a nice little waltz. So maybe about five or six originals.

But we play all the standard songs, you know, the Roll Out the Barrel, the Bare Barrel Polka, all the ones you like. I don't want it. You can have her.

She's a Packer fan. You know, I mean, yeah, but it's fun. And every time we do the Bear Steam song, you know, we do the Bear Fight song.

But I don't think we have any fight this week. Are you still writing any music? Well, I did write in March when there was no place to play. I had my accordion and all my stuff set up downstairs.

And I wrote My Pajamas Polka. And it's a cool song because I've been in my pajamas for, you know, for a few months. And it's on YouTube.

You could go to YouTube. It's My Pajamas Polka. And it goes, I'm at home in my pajamas waiting for the sound all clear.

You know, it's a cute little song. Yeah. And it's on YouTube.

And that got a lot of hits on it, too. So that's about the latest thing I wrote, My Pajamas Polka. So now you've got some awards as well, Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012.

And It's Time to Polka was nominated for Song of the Year, correct? Yeah. Well, I forgot I wrote that song, too. Yeah, a couple of years ago.

Yeah. It's one of my original ones. That's our latest CD, It's Time to Polka.

And I wrote that song. And the National Polka Association was nominated for Song of the Year that year. It's time to polka.

It's time to polka. It's time to have some fun tonight. So grab your partner, your polka partner, and twirl them around the floor all night.

Because we're not here for a long time. We're here for a good time. So party and polka all night.

So and then the other awards from the Chicago Music Academy. That was a lot of fun. We had fun with that.

And the United Polka Association was a big thing. I was accordion player of the year there. I got a Frankie Yankovic Award.

Did you ever hear of Frankie Yankovic? Oh, sure. He used to polka. That's Weird Al's dad, right? Who's that? Oh, yeah.

Weird Al's dad. That's what they claim. Right, right.

And he was a great guy. He's a great legend. Frankie and my dad were great friends back in the day.

My dad was born in 1918. And I think Yankovic was born around the same time, too. And they used to tour together and travel together.

And Yankovic would play at my dad's bar and stuff. So I loved his music. He was my dad.

And Yankovic were two of my great influences on my style and the way I like to play. And we even did a Pepsi commercial. Did you hear about that? Oh, yeah.

I did see that. And I looked it up. Yeah, that was kind of fun.

It was back in 2000 or 2001, I think. They flew us to New York, and we did the commercial. And it was all about I think if you buy a six-pack or a 12-pack or a case of Pepsi, you get little coupons.

You can create your own CD. So it ran all year. And we got a lot of play on that.

It was kind of cool. So something always comes up. You never know.

The polka thing is it'll never die. People say it's not that popular. But I disagree.

I've been doing it for over 50 years. And I've been playing a lot every year. And it's fun music.

Yes, it is. Yes, it is. It's a lot of fun.

And I agree with you. I don't think it'll ever die. No, it's a lot of fun.

Hey, you know, back in the 80s, I had a rock and roll drummer play with me. You did? You never guess who it was. Who was that? Smashing Pumpkins, Jimmy Chamberlain.

Oh, Jimmy Chamberlain. Yeah. He played drums with me for four years back in the early 80s.

Isn't that crazy? That's wild. He's from Joliet. A lot of my friends and band members are from Joliet.

And a friend of a friend hooked us up. And he just, what a great drummer at the time. And who would have thought that he'd just keep going and going.

On 45, we did the chicken dance on a 45. Pardon me. Let's see.

Are you still there? No, we lost him. Look at this. The bird at the chicken dance on a 45.

Wow. Do you have any of these? Jay Chamberlain, hard to tell, but Jimmy Chamberlain right there. Very cool.

So that's one of our things, too. He was such a great kid. Well, kid, yeah.

We'd be playing a polka job. And he brings all these drums, all these drums with him. I go, Jimmy, he's got three or four cymbals.

He's got a Roto-Toms, all this stuff. I go, what are you doing with all this stuff? You don't need all this. I don't want to say shit, but you don't need all this stuff.

But it was a great experience for us. And he still mentions it once in a while, too. I retired from a real job a few years ago, and I was still playing and working.

That was kind of fun. And I just loved to play. Polka music, I've been doing it ever since I was seven years old.

And I just love it. And we meet so many people. And lately, well, before the pandemic, we were doing a lot of weddings.

But we were like a token polka band. Because the aunts and uncles and grandparents wanted to hear some old-time music. Sure, sure.

And the bands that they have, or even the DJs that play it right. Right. There you go.

So they would have the DJ play. And then about between 10, 11 o'clock at night, we'd bring our accordions in and drums. And people would have a few drinks.

They'd play polka. We'd play polka for about a half hour. And that's what we've been doing.

So if you ever need a polka band, count us in. All right. Now you said, I noticed this as you played some rock and roll.

What kind of, and you said sometimes you have a guitar player. Yeah, we do the old stuff. Johnny B. Good.

You know, that kind of, the twist, that kind of stuff, you know. On the accordion? On the accordion, yeah. Right.

I play my three chords, you know. C, F, and G. Three chord progression. Right.

And that's a lot of fun. We do old time country music. We do the achy, breaky heart.

They like to do the line dances still, you know. Sure, sure. But mostly, besides our polkas, we play the old time music.

The Frank Sinatra, the Dean Martin music, you know, stuff like that. So people like to hear the ballroom stuff, you know. So we not just play polkas.

We do a variety of stuff also. So how do we find you social media wise or on the web or whatever? Yeah. Well, that's great.

We are on Facebook, of course. Just you can, Eddie Carosa, Google me, or not Google me. I'll friend you.

Right. But the main thing is our website. We have a website, EddieCarosaJr.com. OK.

And that's out there. Or just Google Eddie Carosa, and a lot of stuff comes up. And we'd love to come out and play.

So if you or anyone out there in your listening audience, we're a polka band. And we play old time music, too. And Oktoberfest is great.

We strap on the lederhosen. So we play all the good lederhosen, the good Oktoberfest music. And so.

I see you're wearing them now, right? Well, you know, I got my sweatshirt on. Yeah, I got the lederhosen on somewhere. I still got my pajamas on.

I got my German hat and everything, a chicken dance. So we're always ready for that. And we're always ready to roll.

You know, we love to play. And this is really fun to do this with you guys. And I was watching or listening to some of your podcasts, and I didn't hear about too many polka bands on your podcast.

So this might be a first for all of us. Yeah. Oh, yeah, it definitely is.

But we love to, like you said earlier, we were talking before the show, that we love getting the inside scoop on what's happening with some of the bands and some of the musicians and some of the back story. And obviously, your back story is great with your dad and the Baby Doll Polka Club and everything else. It's very cool.

Well, I appreciate that. We love it. And all the bands out there, you know, hopefully next year, things will be great.

You know, and I know a lot of the guys you've interviewed, they play at all the festivals. So hopefully some of these festivals will come back, you know? Right. Right.

Yeah, hopefully that's all we can do is keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best. Mm-hmm. And we enjoyed those church festivals and some of the summer fest.

I think the last time we played one, we opened up for, remember Deep Purple? Oh, yeah. They used to do the tours of all the festivals and stuff. And Joe Daly, the Sundowners, a real good country band.

That was a lot of fun. I'd say March. Those guys are great.

Oh, yeah. We'd be the first band to start off the festival with the polkas, you know? And all of a sudden, all these motorcycle guys come in. Here comes the Eyes of March, all on motorcycles.

It was a lot of fun, a lot of good memories. Yeah, we've interviewed Jim Peterick and a couple of the guys from the Eyes of March. Yep.

They're great, great entertainers and great musicians as well. Oh, definitely. I love all your – I checked a lot of your podcasts out and listened to them.

So it's a great thing to listen to, you know? And it's nice to have an archive like that. It's wonderful. Well, thank you.

Thank you. We're hoping you share this one when it comes out, and we'll keep you posted on it. But in the meantime, thanks for joining us today.

Thanks a lot, Eddie. Paul, pleasure meeting you. And Ray, thank you very much.

It's thanks to you that I'm here, so I appreciate it. And I hope to see both of you guys sometime this summer. All righty.

I'm sure you will. All right. Thanks.

Polka on. Thanks, guys. Thanks.

Thank you. Okay. That was Eddie Carosa, Jr. I guess he – well, he said his dad was the prince, one time called the Prince of Polka.

But I guess if his dad was the King of Polka, he'd be the Prince of Polka, right? He would be. He would be. Or a duke.

But kind of different for the Rock & Roll Chicago podcast. A little bit. I'm still dancing around a little bit here.

But a musician nonetheless, and he's been around Chicago forever. So we felt we had to talk to Eddie. And we did.

And that's what we got. Eddie's a great guy. Great guy.

I mean, when he's out and about again, you've got to go see him. I mean, I've seen him at some outdoor festivals. It's just a lot of fun, a lot of good time.

Yes, he is. And anybody can polka. I really don't think there's any – I think you just bounce around.

I don't think there's any kind of steps. I beg to differ with you there. I think some true polka dancers would argue that fact.

Well, I'm not a true polka dancer, so that's why I say what I do. But I usually say a lot of things that I probably shouldn't say. Well, you wear a chicken hat.

I do wear a chicken hat from time to time, yes. So that gives me an answer right there, I think. Yeah, you are correct.

And I do the chicken dance from time to time. I've done that. And the greatest thing about some of this music – That says a lot for your character.

Well, you know, I had a drinking problem for a while, and then one day I did the hokey pokey, and then I turned myself around. Oh, did you? All righty then. Well, thanks for joining us this week.

Make sure you look up the Illinois Rock & Roll Museum on Route 66. That's where our usual studios are, except now we're zooming everything. But soon we'll get back to the studio.

Make sure you check out the museum. Donate. They're doing a lot of great work over there.

They're looking for some money to help out with new doors and flooring and stuff like that, and it's coming along really well. A lot of you people out there have already donated, and we thank you for that. You can become a member for mere pittance.

Pittance. I believe it's $25 to be a charter member. All right, well, thanks for listening, everybody, and we'll see you next time right here on the Rock & Roll Chicago Podcast.

Bye-bye. This is Paul Martin and Ray the Roadie, and we're here to talk to you about GHS strings. That's right, Ray.

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