German Fest: Sunday
The weather was perfect this day and everyone had a blast.

Danube Cultural Society
The DCS had a stunning performance on the Leinenkugel's stage today. They followed a Mardi Gras performance and really took the stage for their own. Great work.

Tanzsterne
The Heimatsterne, er Tanzsterne, performed at the Harley stage today to rave reviews. We hope to have video of this and the DCS performance on the site in the near future.

German Fest: Saturday
Another great day.

Schlauberger
We shot some great video of Schlauberger today and we hope to have that interview up on the site in the next week or so.

If you missed Schlauberger while they were in town: shame on you!

Parade
Everybody loves a parade. Ours was no exception.

There were over 60 units in this year's parade and tons of convertibles, marching bands, and performing groups winded their way down the German Fest grounds.

Chikeria
Big surprise! Chikeria tore up the joint that evening. People were having so much fun it was scary!

German Fest: Friday
Just got home from the first night. Obviously after all three days, I want to put together a more complete report, but I have some musings I wanted to capture before going to bed.

Great Attendance
I'll admit I was cynical. The end of the 4:30 - 6:00 p.m. free entrance to all comers had me gravely concerned about attendance this year. When I arrived at 3:00, it was already a nice crowd and it continued to swell throughout the evening. I grabbed Klaus Fromme for some quick comments and he was as puzzled as I as to what brought upon this great attendance.

Good Times
A lot of people were having a great time. For those that found them, Die Schlauberger on the south end of the grounds were doing the best they could with their stage. You definitely want to take the time to find these guys!

Video
Oh! Did I get some good video already. Oh, boy! Wait 'til I put this together for you all.

Interview Tomorrow
We're hoping to have the Volkslieder volks (get it?) call us on the show tomorrow. They have a booth on the south end of the grounds and come from Berlin so it should be an interesting interview.

Must...sleep...now...

German Fest Article in Thursday Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel

Did everyone catch the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article in the paper Thursday? To discuss what you thought of it, we've started a thread in the Forum. To see this thread, follow this link.

And how are you spending German Fest eve?

I've been offered a possible Internet German radio program, but I would need a sponsor for one ad a week. If anyone is interested in going into this venture with me...please let me know.

The countdown is here. German Fest is almost here!

I'm not liking the looks of the weather for German Fest.

If you want to see the five day forecast, it's easy to do. Go to the bulletin board page and check out the calendar near the bottom of the page. Cool, eh?

I just hope a nice stiff breeze whooshes up and carries that badness away.

Yesterday, my parents had their family tree party. Now, usually I wouldn't discuss one of my family get-togethers out on this site, but it was pretty interesting. Not only did more than 50 people come (that's more than some German bands draw lately--if you know what I mean)--but one of our party-goers had genealogy records back to the 1600's and we had a family member from Hungary at the party. (Yes, that's who you heard on the show this week.)

Anyway, it was a lot of fun. I was just wondering if any of the rest of you did genealogy--and if you do, why not drop us a line at the forum? Just say something about it in the "Say Hi!" board.

If you are looking for the Stimmung Stunde's mention in the Milwaukee Journal sentinel, just follow this link:
http://www.jsonline.com/enter/tvradio/jul03/155470.asp

WEBSITE UPDATE:
We've added a week calendar (complete with local weather forecasts) on the Bulletin Board page!

By the way, remember to see Herb and Edna do their live remotes at this year's German Fest. They will be next to the mid gate.

The Stimmung Stunde will not be performing a remote this year.

Well, if all goes well, we should have the NEW website mentioned in Thursday's Tim Cuprisin column. Be sure to look for it in the Journal-Sentinel.

America's largest festival celebrating German culture and cuisine, is offering FREE admission deals during everyday of the 2003 festival. Held July 25th through 2th at the Maier Festival Grounds on Milwaukee's lakefront, you can "FEST for FREE" by taking advantage of these special offers.

Fridav. Julv 25th: From Noon to 6pm, bring a new non-perishable newborn itemonesies, sleepers, booties, diapers, baby wipes, or baby bottles - for donation to the Stork's Nest, and you'll walk through the German Fest gates FREE courtesy of Potawatomi Bingo Casino. The Stork's Nest@, a non-profit program that encourages women to seek prenatal care, was established to ensure that more babies get a healthy start in life. In addition, fest-goers over the age 21 who donate a newborn item will receive a bonus play certificate for Potawatomi Bingo Casino.

Also on Friday, physically challenged individuals and their escorts will receive a FREE entrance through the gates from 12noon to 3pm.

On Sunday. Julv 27th: Attend the 1 0:30am Mass with Archbishop Dolan in the Marcus Amphitheatre and get into German Fest for FREE.

In support of the men and women who proudly serve the United States, German Fest is offering FREE Admission at the South Gate from 1-3pm on Sunday to anyone with an active military 1.0. Active military status includes all of the Armed Forces, National Guard and Reserve Units. Or, donate a non-perishable food item to the Hunger Task Force at the North Gate on Sunday from 1-3pm, and you'll receive FREE fest admission.

From 2 - 4pm on Sunday, present your Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel Press Card at the Mid-Gate, and you'll be able to enjoy the festivities for FREE.

All week-end long - All day Friday, Saturday and Sunday, show your Milwaukee Brewers Baseball Ticket Stub from the Houston Astro series played on July 23rd and 24th, and you'll pass through the fest gates FREE.

FREE is Good - especially when going to German Fest 2003! Festival hours are noon to midnight on Friday and Saturday (July 25th and 26th) and noon to 10:30pm on Sunday (July 27 ). For more information, please call (414) 464-9444 or visit the website at www.germanfest.com.

The new clip of the week should be up momentarily. Listen to it over and over.

We have our winners from this week's German Fest ticket giveaway. They are:

Erna from Germantown
Ruth from Racine
Tom from Greendale

Congratulations to all our winners! A lot of new names this year--must be a lot of new listeners!

Well, here it is! Donauschwaben Cultural Society performing
at the Zoo video is now on the media page.
Check it out today! WARNING: Video is 2-1/2 minutes so it will take a lot of time
to download. Let the whole video download, then play, for smoothest playback.

Just finished the editing of the video. Now I have to convert and upload the file. Whew! This is a lot of work!

Hoping to get the video of the DCS performances at the Zoo on the site Friday. I'll keep you posted!

Well, I just got back from the Milwaukee County Zoo. The Donauschwaben Cultural Society (DCS) performed and it was a big deal. They danced for an enthusiastic crowd that assembled to see the famous "Schatzi Polka."

But don't worry. We plan to have an edit of some of the video we shot tonight on the website (probably we'll put in on the media page). We're hoping we can get it up there by this weekend, but we'll see with all the stuff going on this week around the old Webmeister's castle.

Okay, back to the dancing. I was amazed to learn that Julie apparently has a fan club. After one of the dances, I distinctly made out a voice shouting "Way to go, Julie! Woo-hoo!" Who knew?

I also interviewed some of these dancers and we hope we can put together something that isn't just remarkably lame for the radio show and the site. But you never can tell with this stuff.

I'm also happy to say, we were at the zoo for over 2 hours and neither of us--my mother or I--came down with a case of monkeypox. I am filled with pride.

By the way, Irene was making some big talk about finding a picture of me when I was kid to embarrass me. She has been making this same lame claim for years, but as I explained to her, just as today, it is impossible to take a bad picture of me. IMPOSSIBLE!

Irene. She's all talk.

If, particularly after reading this, you feel the need to talk back (and we've never known of a time when Irene, in particular, wasn't interested in talking) to us, go to the forum at the Stimmung Stunde forum. Registration is so easy even adults can do it! This is the best place to make requests for the show or to make fun of people like Irene. Enjoy!

Hey, minipoll usage is at an all-time high! Make sure your vote is counted. Look over there on the left and vote early (and often!)

Just one silly comment in the forums changed the tide of the voting. Let's get cracking, folks!

Have you tried the new forum yet? Check it out at http://www.stimmungstunde.com/forum/index.php.

It just takes minutes to register and then: post away! Try it out today!

Time to announce our German Fest ticket winners for today's program.

Congratulations to Phyllis of Milwaukee, Heidi of Colgate and Dolores of Milwaukee!

Remember, you can win, too! Tune in every Saturday from 10-11 a.m. for the Stimmung Stunde on WEMP, 1250 AM.

Yeah, yeah. I know!

My voice went over the air while I did the ticket giveaway. Whoopsie!

I'll get you the names of the winners in the next day or so on the site.

I need to go to sleep. Been a long development day!!!

Well, I'm exhausted.

Version 3.0 is rolled out. The biggest news, of course, is the new web address: http://www.stimmungstunde.com. Much easier than our old web addresses, that's for sure!

Also part of the upgrade, a nice simple design.

Big news: The brand new forum. I'm aware the old forum was ugly. I'm aware it was difficult to use and not easy to work with. Now we're using a state of the art XMB forum supported by an SQL database. (I think I officially geeked out there!)

Also, make sure you read the article on the history of the website out on the home page. I think you'll find it informational and fun.

The Donauschwaben Cultural Society Youth Group (yep, the good one) will be performing on July 8, 10 and 11 at the Milwaukee County Zoo to promote, you guessed it, German Fest. They will perform in front of the entrance to the Aviary Building. These are special nights for zoological society members, but if you are a zoo member, come by at 5:30, 6:30 or 7:30 to catch them dancing!

BTW, I was kidding about the beer and cigarettes.

More on German Fest!

Free Friday by Potawotomi Bingo.

German Fest will have free admission on Friday, July 25th from noon to 6:00 p.m. Just bring new, non-perishable newborn items like onsies, sleepers, booties, blankets, sweater, diapers, baby wipes, bottles of beer, cigarettes, etc. Festgoers over age 21 who bring a donation will receive a bonus play certificate from Potawatomi Bingo Casino. Stork's Nest is a non-profit program designed to increase the number of women who seek prenatal care, in an effort to assure that more babies gat a healthy start on life.