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Date Posted: 11/ 2/09 8:29am
Author: Amy Rabideaux, Journal-Sentinal
Subject: Dave Martinsek

Dave Martinsek's life was music
By Amy Rabideau Silvers of the Journal Sentinel
Posted: Nov. 1, 2009

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Dave Martinsek
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Dave Martinsek was never happier than when he was making music, which worked out just fine because it made other people happy to listen.

"He was with Louie Bashell's band and he played with Frankie Yankovic, the Polka King," said Mike Woitowicz, banjo player and friend.

"When Frankie Yankovic came to play, he needed guys who could really cut the mustard, so he called Dave," Woitowicz said.

Martinsek played with lots of other groups, too, including Woitowicz's Banjo Barons Ragtime Band and the Dixie Barons Dixieland Band. He kept playing until his health began to fail about a year ago, and even then he'd pick up an instrument, if he could, when his friends came to visit.

David Martinsek died Oct. 24 of complications from heart disease. He was 74. He was a longtime resident of Caledonia, last living at the veterans home in Union Grove.

Music was the family business. His father, Anton "Tony" Martinsek, was a musician who ran the Martinsek Accordion School and Sales.

"Polkas were hot starting in 1948," Martinsek said in an interview last year. "The biggest years were the 1950s. I'd say there were 20 accordion schools around."

One family story starred young Dave - he was maybe 3 at the time - and a famous musician.

"Lawrence Welk was in town, playing at the Riverside, and he wanted a tune-up or something on his accordion," said Lynne Hahn, Martinsek's sister. "So he called my dad and my brother went along. My dad was busy talking to Lawrence Welk and then my brother wandered off."

The older Martinsek realized he was missing and frantically began searching, even rushing out to Wisconsin Ave. to look for his son. He came back in, still frantic.

"And here he was sitting on Lawrence Welk's lap," she said.

Did her brother remember that incident?

"He claimed he did, but I don't know," she said, with a laugh. "But it was a true story."

By the time he was 7 or 8, Martinsek was studying piano. He just naturally picked up on how to play the accordion, and he became accomplished on the string bass.

"He began playing when he was 16 - that was with polka bands," Hahn said.

After graduating from Pulaski High School, he earned an associate degree and then went into the U.S. Navy. He returned and earned a business degree, working for many years in claims with a local insurance company.

"I first met Dave when we played together almost 40 years ago," Woitowicz said. "He played piano and I was on the banjo. It was during the sing-along craze. We played at Someplace Else on Water St. for years. It was one of those places that gave you peanuts in the shell and you threw the shells on the floor."

Some gigs just kept going.

"We played at Meyer's restaurant twice a month for 17 years," Woitowicz said of his Banjo Barons Ragtime Band. "That was a good run until about a year or so ago."

Martinsek was involved with other groups, including the Wisconsin Accordion Quartet and the Milwaukee Accordion Club, said accordion musician Beverly White Persa.

"He was a music historian. He knew everything about everything," Persa said.

He also was a proud member and involved with the musician unions in both Milwaukee and Waukesha.

Martinsek collected accordions - he probably had 30 at one point - including instruments owned or played by Welk, Yankovic and Bashell. They were all the more special to him because they were instruments that his father had sold or worked on for the musicians, Hahn said.

At 55, he decided to retire early, so he could spend more time on his music.

"That's why he retired early," his sister said. "He enjoyed the music the most, most, most. That was his life. He was a gentle man, a gentle music man."

Other survivors include nieces Diane Penzkowski and Jennifer Higgins; nephew Thomas Hahn; and cousins.

A private service will be held.

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