TVSquad

One of our favorite pasttimes in this household is watching the RFD-TV network. For all you young 'uns and city slickers, RFD stands for Rural Free Delivery, a method of delivering mail to rural areas that began back in the 1800s.

RFD-TV offers all sorts of rural-inspired shows, like The Classic Tractor Hour, The Porter Wagoner Show, Gaither Gospel Hour, and Hee Haw. Having grown up on a farm and spent my childhood years building forts with cherry lugs and going to the county fair, RFD-TV takes me back.

I must admit, though, I wasn't familiar with The Big Joe Polka Show, even with the town of Cedar, Michigan nearby, which hosts an annual Polka Fest. But the show has quickly become must-see viewing for me and my family. It's like American Bandstand -- only with polka music!

"Big Joe" is Joseph Siedlik, whose interest in polka music began in the 1960s when he started his first radio show in Columbus, Nebraska. Within weeks, the show was a major hit, and all the radio stations in the surrounding areas started broadcasting it, too.

Ok, so maybe we watch The Big Joe Polka Show to narrate it MST3K style (we love Big Joe's colorful wardrobe!), but on the flip-side, it does my heart good to hark back to a time when people of all ages got dressed up to go dance in a banquet hall and listen to polka bands. Some of these shows are fairly recent, and never let it be said that Big Joe doesn't keep up with the times -- he even has his own MySpace page.

Here's a little clip. See if it doesn't warm your heart.