Lenny Gomulka does not jet around the world like Mick Jagger or grab headlines the way Puff Daddy does. Like most of us, he works 9 to 5 as a midmarket manager for MCI.
Nonetheless, Gomulka is a Grammy nominee. He and his group, The Chicago Push, are vying for best polka albumand with any luck, Gomulka hopes, this is the year some lucky polka band will play for America on the Grammy awards telecast.
“We think someday it might happen, and we’re ready for it,” Gomulka said.”Polka music has not been represented in a modern-day light.”
Every year, Chicago polka fans send sacks of letters to the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences asking for a few minutes of national air time. And every year, polka artists get dissed for the likes of Alanis Morissette and Eric Clapton. But with just over a month before the Feb. 25 telecast on CBS, this time there is a glimmer of hope: NARAS officials have not completely ruled out a polka possibility.
“We really haven’t started putting the broadcast together,” Michael Greene, president and CEO of NARAS, said Tuesday after nominations were announced.”We’ll see what’s up.”
Compared with hip-hop or rock, polka music is perceived as corny and stagnant, and Gomulka is among the first to acknowledge that. For many — including ratings-conscious producers of the awards show broadcast — the genre conjures up images of schmaltzy accordion runs and dated ditties like “She’s Too Fat For Me.”
“There’s all kind of music out there, but polka gets hurt by its name,” Gomulka said. “It’s treated like an ethnic slur.”
Marketing manager that he is, Gomulka has given this image problem some thought. “I think some mass merchandiser will put a new name on polka and start marketing it,” he predicted. “Eventually it will get into the mainstream.”
Gomulka, a Chicago native who now lives in Massachusetts, may be on to something. He cited reggae as a form of ethnic music that has achieved widespread acceptance. And a little TV exposure would go a long way toward helping spread polka’s excitement and upbeat message (while selling a few records in the process).
Not that polka aficionados should hold their breath waiting for a moment in the spotlight — or let up on their lobbying efforts, for that matter.
“We have 500 nominees and only 15 slots on the broadcast,” Greene said. “And every year, that means we have about 485 very upset people.”
