The Patriotic Polka

Today we went to the Indianapolis Slovene Fest, hoping for some good ethnic food and music. The food was rather disappointing, though we did get to see two roast pig heads. The music was better, though the polka band sounded decidedly German, no hints of east European modality or asymmetric meters to be found among the tubist's oom-pah-pahs. But the $5 cover charge was well earned by the first number, a polka version of The Star-Spangled Banner. In previous posts I kidded about the changes Peter Breiner made to the national anthem, but at least he kept it in triple meter. Not only was the question about our visual acuity accompanied by accordian, it was set in the fine polka beat of 2/4. I didn't know whether to salute or dance.