Webshots Community - German Fest 2004
Our German Fest 2004 Gallery is now out on the web. Click the link above to access!!

German Fest 2004

German Fest 2004 was this past weekend and it was an absolute blast!

In fact, I told a lot of people how this year I had more fun than I've had in years at German Fest.

Now for the day to day report:

Friday, July 23
I finally got out of work at 4:30 and ran full bore toward the Fest grounds. I got there and helped out for an hour collecting books for the free admission program they had. I was at the North Gate (by no means the most popular gate) and in that short hour more than 200 books came in. That's more than two every minute--and they were really nice books. It was great to see such generousity of the attendees of German Fest 2004.

A little after 6:00 p.m., I was on the loose again. I said goodbye to the folks at the Gate like Joe Gottweiss and Will Duske, and ran to the Miller Oasis stage. I met up with my parents and some friends for the balance of the evening.

When I got to the Miller, Heidi and Heiko were on the stage. They have a great show. Lots of the music we play on the show was being performed. They have wonderful voices and they really got the crowd excited. (I saw them again on Sunday, and by that time, they already had a local following! It was no wonder with the incredible talent they had on display.) You can visit their website at http://www.heidis-musik-boutique.de .

We did get a soundbite or two out of them while the stage was taken over by the Alphorn contest. One of our friends, John, actually took third place in the Alphorn contest while my music consultant and I were interviewing Heidi and Heiko. Don't worry, we interviewed John, too.

Later, the Oswalder took the stage. Their musicians are first rate and they put on a great show. We got up after the fireworks, which were fantastic again this year, and ran to see the Stettholz Musikanten from the Schwarzwald (just like our new friend, Oliver Thomas!) and had a great time before exhaustion got the better of us.

Saturday, July 24
You all know by now that I put on a great show Saturday morning, despite a tad bit of fatigue going on.

But I was about to get a real wake-up call!

I had my Schnitzel Sandwich (just like always) and was walking toward the south end of the grounds to line up for the parade. Margarit Heitmann saw me on her souped-up, hot rod golf cart and said, "Hey, Tim, are you going down to line up for the parade?" I confirmed and she continued, "Get on." I resisted initially but I got on the cart. She said as we drove to the line up area, "I know which car you are on. I'll drop you off right there."

I know why she drove me. She wanted to see my expression.


A beautiful roadster was there--all decked out in beautiful banners--with my name and show...referring to me as the Schnitzel King!

It turns out the car owner, George of Campbellsport, had heard me on the air that I would be in the parade and he made it his business to have me in his beautiful car. This was truly a highlight of the fest!

During the parade, a great listener (with an ear for detail) remembered me say something about hoping to not have people throw things at me during the parade. Well, a big bag of peanuts came sailing my way. It was all in good fun.

At the reviewing stand, Dr. Deutschen Fest himself (as he demands to be called) Reinhold Ellermann announced me as the host of the Stimmung Stunde--and to all the ladies out there that I was a bachelor.

Unfortunately, no immediate throng. Oh, well.

Saw a lot of great stuff in the cultural "village" on the north end of the grounds, visited my friends from the "Polka Parade" on the South End of the grounds and even caught an interview with another great German recording artist, Guenther Behrle, who just happened to be in town to see America's greatest German festival.

Ended the day with my buddy, Mike O'Toole, and visiting with my relatives Ellenberger.

Sunday, July 25
Okay. By now, I'm wiped out. We brought Oma to the festival today, and yes, I had another Schnitzel sandwich. Yummy!

We went around to various stages and ended up at the Briggs & Stratton stage because it was mainly in the shade. You have to love the Briggs stage for that. Really, the whole festival had great weather and incredible crowds, so it was nice to look for shade rather than cover for once at German Fest.

At one point, I was introducing myself to the MC for the Briggs stage, who was very good, and found myself signed up for the Alphorn contest.

I never even touched a brass instrument before so this was pretty darn scary!

And wait until I play my rendition on the air in a week or two. Then, you will be scared. Really scared!

It was a great time. We handed out our announcements about the upcoming interviews with German recording artists to lots of listeners and friends and had an overall great time.

Tell us about your German Fest experience over on the forum. I'll be looking for you there!!

We made the Journal-Sentinel today!: "If you want to get into der mood before heading out to German Fest on Saturday, German recording artist Oliver Thomas offers an interview to Marta Kretschmann on the weekly 'Stimmung Stunde' radio show. It airs Saturday mornings at 10 on WEMP-AM (1250)."

Oliver Thomas Interview web only clip
A small taste of the Oliver Thomas interview is now up on the main site. Check out the "Clip of the Week" or click the link above.

Oliver Thomas

Oliver Thomas to be interviewed on Stimmung Stunde
on Saturday, July 31

Thanks to the tireless effort of our talent coordinator, Maria Olliges from Meppen, we landed a huge interview--Oliver Thomas. Oliver Thomas is one of the top schlager recording artists in Germany, and he was kind enough to block off some time with Marta Kretschmann, Milwaukee's German Recording Artist interviewer extrodinaire, to tell us all about his exciting career and beautiful music.

Oliver comes from the Black Forest (Schwarzwald) and has recorded many great tunes, including the frequently requested "Zigeunergeigen." In the interview, Oliver will tell us about his musical influences and early development as an artist--as well as his favorite parts of living in the beautiful Black Forest.

You won't want to miss a moment of this exciting interview--not even a second--so tune in Saturday, July 31, for a very special Stimmung Stunde on WEMP, 1250 AM, from 10 to 11 a.m.

(If you can't wait for the interview, try the clip of the week to the right on this page for a special treat.) To learn more about Oliver Thomas, check his website at:
http://www.oliver-thomas.com/

Mother and I just had a very interesting morning. It's all in anticipation of our big announcement to come soon to this website, our newsletter and finally, our radio show.

I gave you a hint, though. My mother is involved. Longtime listeners may know what that means.

Story developing . . .

Tim Kretschmann to be in German Fest parade!

If you listened to this Saturday's show, you already know. I will be in the 2004 German Fest parade. We're honored to be part of the parade and we hope the festival can be as successful as all those in the past.