Alumni

Peter Danielczuk

ANSONIA OFFICIAL HAS SONG ON CD UP FOR GRAMMY
By Joanne M. Pelton - Naugatuck Valley Bureau Chief
(New Haven Register 02-06-2004)

ANSONIA — If there's a polka heaven, it's sure to have a heck of a band.

And in the words of city Alderman Peter Danielczuk, there's a polka angel who "welcomes friends from all across the land": his late wife, Maryann.

A song Danielczuk cowrote for Maryann says, "It's time to dance to heaven's polka bands ... she's pretty as a picture on her dancing feet ... She glides across the stars and rainbows to the polka beat."

Now, the song "Maryann the Polka Angel" will be among stars of the earthly kind, as it is on an album up for a Grammy award Sunday night.

The album, "Strike up the Band," is one of six that have been nominated to win a Grammy in the Best Polka Album category. Danielczuk's song is No. 10 on the album by "Dennis Polisky & the Maestro's Men;" it's 3 minutes and 18 seconds long and has a lively beat. It is sung by band vocalist Jackie Libera, who was recently inducted into the International Polka Association Hall of Fame in Chicago.

"I'm just thrilled that the album was nominated," said Danielczuk, 52, while working

at his job as a sales consultant at Fitzpatrick Chrysler-Jeep in downtown Ansonia. "It's exciting to be part of an album that's a finalist, and the song memorializes my wife forever."

Maryann Danielczuk died nine years ago from cancer.

Last summer, Danielczuk teamed up with Polisky and his Colchester-based band and the two made the song a reality.

Danielczuk said his wife taught polka dancing, and after she died he promised that he'd

pen a song about her.

Danielczuk, himself a sort of a polka fanatic, is fondly called the "Prince of Polka" and has his own polka radio show from 11 a.m. to noon on Sundays on WDJZ — 1530 on the AM dial.

The song for his wife is the second he has written with Polisky — last year he also co-

wrote the polka, "Hooray for the New York Yankees," after his beloved baseball team.

Danielczuk said he was supposed to make the trip out to Los Angeles for the Grammy awards but his elderly parents are ill right now and he can't leave them. He said, however, he would be watching the awards show at 8 p.m. Sunday on CBS. Part of him will be there — he sent a Polka angel pendant to the band to take with them to the awards ceremony.

Danielczuk was not paid for the song, but said that, in addition to the tribute to his late wife, he did it for his friend, Polisky.

Polisky could not be reached for comment, but his band's Web site www.maestrosmen.com says this is the first time the band has been nominated for a Grammy and they will be at the ceremony.

The band has been together since 1996 and has appeared throughout the Northeast. Its

repertoire includes a variety of music including swing, mambo, big band, waltzes and Dixieland. They also specialize in weddings, anniversaries, festivals, concerts and polka Masses, according to the Web site.