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| EDITORIAL:
TRAVEL Got Welk? Explore Bandleader’s ‘Wunnerful’ Life ----------------------------  For some visitors, the luxurious sprawl of the Welk Resort’s
amenities, and the surrounding 600 acres of picturesque countryside
are merely gift wrapping to the precious square footage allotted
to this museum, a loving tribute to resort namesake Lawrence Welk. Depending on your age, you’ll remember Welk as a bandleader extraordinaire from 1924-1951, “The Wonderful, Wonderful Ballroom Years.” Or maybe you’ll recall that during that magical period he was “America’s Foremost Accordionist,” whose signature sound was so hip and happening that it was known only by his initials – “The Champagne Music of L.W.” Or perhaps he’s best recalled for “The Lawrence Welk Show,” which bubbled on ABC from 1955 to 1971 and still fizzes in syndication. The museum’s self-guided tour is a biography-cum-geography quiz. It tells Welk’s tale from his days as skinny farm boy from North Dakota to the Honolulu Fruit Orchestra (an early band) to “Shanghai Honeymoon” (his first recording). At points in between and beyond, you’ll come across antique instruments – including his first accordion, authentic photographs, poster art, and the famous bandstand used for his long-running, L.A.-based television show. The cumulative, nostalgic effect practically screams “kitschy kitschy coo” – especially if you get your picture snapped next to the cardboard cutout of Welk in his trademark white tuxedo with tails. But in today’s parlance, the totality of the experience is “all good,” or as Welk himself might say, it’s “wunnerful, wunnerful.” Originally published in The San Diego Union-Tribune, May 12, 2002 |
