Andy Kochanski knows his South Side bar is facilitating living history.
Of the Wednesday night polka jams at Kochanski’s Concertina Beer Hall (1920 S. 37th St.) he says, “I’ve had the opportunity to help preserve a tradition that is slowly dying. The jams are truly special and old school.”
If polka really is on its metaphorical last leg, though, you could never tell from the enthusiasm bristling through the tavern on a recent midweek visit. The festivity starts slowly around 7 p.m. with a small coterie of regulars sitting at the end of the bar near the small stage equipped with a minimal drum kit to accompany the gentleman whose accordion engulfs his midsection as he remains seated to key and billow out merry melodies. As the participants and audience increase in number, the evening’s energy increases palpably.
“I’d say the polka jam is pretty rare,” says Kochanski, also an arborist for the City of Milwaukee. He tells of a couple visiting from Florida who spoke of an itinerant polka jam that at last settled at a tiki bar on a beach. “There are polka jams all over the U.S., “Kochanski says hopefully, but adds, “I guess you have to be in the know to find them.
