The Buffalo Fire Department has the world’s oldest working fireboat and a National Historic Landmark, the Edward M. Cotter, which is docked at the corner of Michigan and Ohio Streets in Downtown Buffalo. But it is also the official mascot of Dyngus Day Buffalo. On Saturday afternoon Dyngus Day Buffalo organizers Eddy Dobosiewicz and Marty Biniasz, were accompanied on deck by folk dancers dressed in traditional Polish folk costumes for a pre-Dyngus Day cruise in Buffalo Metropolis down the Buffalo River harbor.
Also on board were those Dyngus Day Darlings Those Idiots, who had their world-wide release of their first Rock-Polka CD titled “Rock-n-Roll All Night, Polka Every Day,” during the cruise. Think the Ramones, Johnny Cash, Beastie Boys and the Beatles doing the Polka then everybody Polkas! CDs will be available during the festivities on Monday, although the “Kiss Me I’m Polish” shorts will not.
At one point there was a ruckus. Actually there were many … rookie? Rucki? At the middle of the boat there was a lot of commotion. Man overboard? Kishka thief found? Neither, but the sheet music for Who Stole the Kishka was flying around on deck, and panic ensured until all of the music was recaptured.
The Cotter has a pumping capacity equal to that of 11 pumper trucks, making it about the size of an average Dyngus Day super soaker you would have found last night at the Adam Mickiewicz Club on Fillmore just a couple of blocks south of Broadway. Those Idiots performed there during their marathon weekend and again yesterday after the Dyngus Day Parade, which started at 5PM.
Even the ice cooler Those Idiots lug is red and white in honor of the Polish flag. And for members of the band, hitting a sour note comes with the “punishment” of having a drink from that cooler. The taxis on Monday night that supplied free passage home for those that had consumed too many Tyski bears and Sobieski vodkas were red and white as well.
Amidst all the frivolity, there was a touching moment when I overheard Airborne Eddy giving advice to a little kid, ” The secret of life, kid, is to never grow up.” And as we approached the end of our tour, some Idiots thought they saw the remains of Jimmy Hoffa in Buffalo Harbor. And other Idiots thought their defection to Gdansk was complete, until they was what was left of the old Aud in the background. Oh well, maybe next we can take the USS Little Rock for a spin.