Photo: Steve Meisner - Facebook
Steve Meisner
Steve Meisner
When it comes to the polka music for which he is a second-generation torchbearer, Whitewater’s Steve Meisner purposefully defies the expectation and image some people associate with the genre.
“I have refused to be anything other than myself over the years,” the bandleader—son of late Midwest institution Verne Meisner—insists. “Good or bad, I dress and appear to be and un-ethnic as possible, so I’m not tied to any of the stereotypes that have haunted me since I was young. You know, that old stereotype that if you play polkas. you’re immediately imaged as a fat man dressed in lederhosen playing accordion with a tuba in the band.”
As part of an increasingly bustling itinerary that has only recently resumed after the COVID-19 restrictions, Meisner and his band will initiate the music lineup at Polish Fest, noon on Friday, June 10 from the Miller Stage on Summerfest Grounds. And though the event is a celebration of Polish heritage, Meisner’s booking there even defies the fest’s ethnic basis.
“I am not a Polish Style band but I am a second-generation polka bandleader who, like my father, has had the ability to cross over into other genres of music,” he says. “My style has many names—Milwaukee style, Meisner style or Meisner Magic,” says the International Polka Hall of Fame and Cleveland Style Polka Hall of Fame (Cleveland style polka having its roots in Slovenian folk melodies and its most recognized exponent arguably being the late Frankie Yankovic). Her has, however been a good fit for Polish Fest, as proven by his multiple bookings there.
City with Polka Roots
“I’m thankful to be included at Polish Fest for the past many years just as I’m thankful to have been asked to work at so many of the Milwaukee festival like Summer Fest last September,” Meisner says of our city, often linked to polka in the popular imagination. Fun as Meisner’s music is for him to play and others to dance to on the terra firma of Milwaukee and elsewhere, it’s at least as enjoyable on water. Or so it would seem from the several polka cruises he has hosted and the excursion hosted by fellow genre star Mollie B, scheduled for January 2023.
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“Many personalities have done cruises and tours with fans for years. For polka fans, it started in the late ‘70s with Polka All-Star Cruises and tours to Hawaii, the Caribbean and Europe,” explains Meisner. “I’m looking forwarding to seeing the hundreds of polka fans that will be joining us on the next Caribbean cruise in January.”
Whatever the setting Meiser plies his accordion and leads his fellow players in song. Generating happiness is one the touchstones of his career, both in its inspiration and continuation. And he has his father to thank for much of that
“He was a very large figure in my life,” he says of his polka legend paterfamilias, “and our family schedule very much revolved around his full-time occupation, which included traveling and meeting happy people who were always very friendly to our family.” Generating and receiving the good vibes germane to Meisner’s joyful music has gone into a third generation, and maybe a fourth, too.
Family Business
“All of my three children are musically gifted and all have played instruments in band,” Meisner says. “My oldest, Whitney and Lindsey, developed stage fright when they were little but are stars again whenever they join me on stage for some singing and dancing. My youngest, Austin, started playing on stage with me and my father when he about eight years old on the accordion and guitar singing a few old Hank Thompson songs. He graduated to the sax in middle school and while a teenager. The paramount of his career was performing with me at the Library of Congress and the Kennedy Center in Washington DC. Now my wife, Barb, and I are working on our six grandchildren. Hopefully I’ll get one out of the bunch that sticks with it.”
When he’s not persuading his grandkids to carry on his legacy of musical joy, however, Meisner has plenty of shows to play and promote. As for his next, he encourages, “I look forward to seeing and meeting every Meisner fan at the upcoming Polish Fest. If you want to happy, bring your family and be happy with all the rest of us happy people who will be at Polish Fest.”
