Scandinavian Cyber-Posten

Welcome to the Scandinavian Cyber-Posten!

The Scandinavian Cyber-Posten is my blog for the band. Ever since I started reading The Machine's Pump on the Brave Combo website I've wanted my own blog. After all, I'm a creative and intelligent person and I have thoughts on a lot of things. Here's a place where you can read what I think about a variety of topics. I hope you enjoy what you read. If you have any feedback on what I've written, email me at toby@smilinscandinavians.com

Monday, January 21

A New Year of Polka!

Greetings, Scandinavian Fans!

2008 is here. No, it's not that I was slow to notice. I was very busy working on various projects: remodelling the bathroom, fixing the brakes on my wife's car, doing end-of-year taxes, etc. Usually the slow period for the band begins in November, at the conclusion of Oktoberfest season. This year, the gigs just kept coming all the way through yesterday. We had a couple weeks off during November and then it was time for the Christmas Tree Lighting in Leavenworth in early December and then Christmas at Third Place Books followed by New Year's Eve in Tacoma. It makes for a busy holiday season!

Yesterday we played one of our finest performances in recent memory. We took part in the Accordi-O-Rama Concert at Town Hall in Seattle. There were many things that made the concert special: Tom Demski joined us, we played some of our showiest material, we shared the stage with some superb musicians including Bulgarian, Irish, Chinese and Contemporary American performers. The overall level of musicianship was very high on everyone's part. It was especially nice to be included in a concert setting where we were recognized as performing artists, not just a band playing a dance. We're very serious about what we do and try to always bring a high level of artistry to our performances. It's very gratifying when people notice that.

Right now we're working on a lot of stuff for the coming year. My lovely wife is busy working the phones getting our gigs booked for the year. I'm also hoping to start a new album this year. It's been far too long since the last time we recorded anything. We're actually starting to run out of CDs which is good in one way; that means more room in the storage building! It also means that I need to get my act together and release a new album sometime soon.

In the meantime, I encourage all of you to go to iTunes and download my polka podcast. Just search for "Smilin' Scandinavians" and you'll find the tracks from our most recent album and also my podcast. The podcast is free to subscribe to and has lots of great polkas and other related music for you to listen to.

Take care and have a happy, polka-filled 2008!

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