- In an otherwise quiet town, on an otherwise quiet evening, something was stolen.

It's a perplexing mystery that continues to puzzle polka lovers even still today.

We do our best to uncover the truth of this unsolved crime on today's program.

Join us for a fascinating episode of "The World According to Polka."

This one takes place on a dark and stormy night, a night in which the wind blew through the trees.

Thunder rolled across the land.

And lightning crashed upon the horizon.

A wolf howled at the moon.

(musician howling) Scaring the animals at a local farm.

The chickens scattered.

(musicians clucking) The cow broke loose.

(musician mooing) (bell clanking) The sheep were worried.

(musicians bleating) The dogs barked warnings to their masters.

(musicians barking) The horses whinnied.

(musician whinnying) Back in town, back in town, the people were sore afraid.

- Well, I speak for the people, I speak for the people, and I say, "I'm sore afraid, yes I am."

- [Musician] You don't have to speak for me, I'm afraid, I'm afraid.

♪ So they shut their doors ♪ And they locked their windows too ♪ - And then a madman laughed.

(musician cackling) ♪ And a window was broken ♪ This window belonged to the local butcher shop ♪ ♪ What was going on that night ♪ It was a robbery - Call the police!

- Yes, it was a robbery.

But only one ♪ One - Thing was taken.

Someone stole the kishka.

- Why?

♪ Someone stole the kishka - Oh god, why?

♪ Someone stole the kishka - I was gonna eat that.

♪ From the butcher shop ♪ Someone stole the kishka - No!

♪ Someone stole the kishka ♪ Someone stole the kishka from the butcher shop ♪ ♪ Who stole the kishka ♪ Who stole the kishka ♪ Who stole the kishka ♪ Someone call a cop ♪ Hey ♪ Round and firm and fully packed ♪ ♪ Had it hanging on the rack ♪ Someone stole that kishka when I turned my back ♪ ♪ Oh you can have my shinka ♪ Take a fine kielbasa ♪ You can take the pierogi ♪ Bring me back my kishka - Kishka!

♪ Who stole the kishka ♪ Who stole the kishka ♪ Who stole the kishka ♪ Someone call a cop ♪ Wahoo ♪ Yasha found the kishka ♪ Yay ♪ Yasha found the kishka ♪ Whoopee ♪ Yasha found the kishka ♪ He hung it on the rack ♪ He found the kishka ♪ He found the kishka ♪ He found the kishka ♪ He found the kishka ♪ Yasha brought it back ♪ Hey ♪ Someone stole the kishka ♪ Someone stole the kishka ♪ Someone stole my kishka from the butcher shop ♪ ♪ Who stole the kishka ♪ Who stole the kishka ♪ Who stole the kishka ♪ Someone call a cop ♪ Who stole the kishka ♪ Who stole the kishka ♪ Who stole the kishka ♪ Someone call a cop (audience applauding) - Being in a polka band, people ask me all the time, "Jake, what's kishka?"

Kishka is a sausage, specifically it's this one right here.

We're at Raddell's Sausage today to learn all about kishka, and this place is a sausage mecca.

They've got sausages of all kinds.

And I could tell you about these different sausages, but I'd rather hear about them in song, which is why we have some amazing guest performers on the program today.

They're called the Polka Brothers, and they're from New York City, and they're coming to us courtesy of WSKG, a fellow PBS station's polka program, "Let's Polka."

♪ Your girl left town just the boys around ♪ ♪ I know a place you can go ♪ Lots of drinking and thinking about meat and potatoes ♪ ♪ And cooking them up real slow ♪ ♪ Put the meat in the wrap and tie it up and get a packet ♪ ♪ And let that meat smoke in the barn ♪ ♪ Get it all cured right ♪ Have a sip take a bite ♪ And I'll be sure to see you ♪ At the sausage festival ♪ Sausage festival ♪ Sausage festival now ♪ Hey hey hey ♪ Sausage festival sausage festival ♪ ♪ Sausage festival now ♪ I'll see you there at the sausage festival ♪ ♪ Sausage festival ♪ Sausage festival now ♪ Hey hey hey ♪ Sausage festival sausage festival ♪ ♪ Sausage festival now ♪ You've got kielbasi and vealasi ♪ ♪ And pastrami and salami ♪ Vienna bratwurst and Spam ♪ Jerky Tofurky ♪ Hot dogs and bangers ♪ And technically cured ham ♪ Taste some ♪ And have you heard of the mustamakkara ♪ ♪ It's made with the dried blood too ♪ ♪ There's rindenwurst knockwurst ♪ ♪ Bockwurst and rockin' wurst ♪ Lots for me and lots for you ♪ At the sausage festival ♪ Sausage festival ♪ Sausage festival now ♪ Hey hey hey ♪ Sausage festival sausage festival ♪ ♪ Sausage festival now ♪ Let's all run down to the sausage festival ♪ ♪ Sausage festival ♪ Sausage festival now ♪ Hey hey hey ♪ Sausage festival sausage festival ♪ ♪ Sausage festival now - Brother Jeff on the sax.

(audience cheering) Hey Brother Bones, you want to help me sing about the sweet, sweet meats?

- You know I do.

- All right, let's do it.

♪ Kielbasi vealasi ♪ Pastrami salami ♪ Vienna bratwurst Spam ♪ You've got your jerky and Tofurky ♪ ♪ There's hot dogs and bangers ♪ And technically cured ham ♪ Take a frankfurter ♪ Have you heard of the mustamakkara ♪ ♪ Made with dried blood too ♪ There's rindenwurst ♪ Bockwurst ♪ Knockwurst ♪ Rockin' wurst ♪ Lots for me and lots for you ♪ At the sausage festival ♪ Sausage festival ♪ Sausage festival now ♪ Hey hey hey ♪ Sausage festival sausage festival ♪ ♪ Sausage festival now ♪ I'll see you later at the sausage festival ♪ ♪ Sausage festival ♪ Sausage festival now ♪ Hey hey hey ♪ Sausage festival sausage festival ♪ ♪ Sausage festival now (audience applauding) - Thanks guys.

- So that was the Polka Brothers from NYC, as featured on our fellow PBS station, WSKG.

But right now, we're here with Chris from Cleveland and Raddell's Sausage.

- Hey, how's it going?

- Hey man, you're one of the sausage guys, right?

- I'm one of the sausage guys.

We make it, we sell it, we live it, we breathe it, we smoke it.

So it pretty much just embalms us in a way, you know?

- I love it.

(Chris laughing) You are everything sausage, so tell me about Raddell's.

It is a pillar of the polka community and ethnic communities here in Cleveland, right?

- Yeah, so my great-grandfather, Ludwig Raddell, he came over from Slovenia in the late 1800s, and then he joined the Marine Corps, fought through some of the stuff in the Pacific.

And then when he came back from the First World War, he came back to a Slovenian community here and he started making sausage.

And back then it was more of a cottage community thing.

You could actually start your own business out of wherever you were living.

My grandfather, Bill Raddell, he had a place on Grovewood in Collinwood.

My dad, he bought this off of a guy named John Check because he liked the facility better.

So we started making sausage in this place in the '80s.

I've been sweeping floors here since I was like 11 years old.

But we've been in this neighborhood since about 1919, and we're happy to be a part of this big Slovenian ethnic and polka community here in Cleveland that spans a lot of nationalities.

- [Jake] Yeah, not just Slovenian sausage, right?

- Right.

- What kind of sausages do you have?

- So we make everything, from Slovenian, Polish, Hungarian, Italian, even to like Cajun sausages.

- How much meat moves through here on a given week?

- So just in the Slovenian smoked klobasi, we make anywhere from 600, 700 pounds a week in the summer, to some weeks in the winter, we're moving 10,000 pounds of that out the door.

With the smokehouse running 24/7, you go home, and my wife, she just kind of goes, "Take a shower," 'cause I smell like hickory smoke and garlic, so.

- I think you smell wonderful.

- Thank you, thank you.

- I love it.

And Chris, today we're here talking about kishka.

Now what makes kishka a special sausage, or different than other sausages?

- Well, kishka is blood sausage.

- Blood sausage.

- Kishka goes back to that old mentality that we used to have when we were living on farms, you use the whole hog.

The community would come together, you'd kill a few pigs, you'd save that blood, and you'd make the blood sausage.

You'd make this specific sausage on that day because the blood, there's no way to preserve it, right?

You have to use it up that day.

And it's a mix of rice, spice, very traditional.

Some people might think it's a little strange, hearing blood sausage, there's blood in, ew.

Yeah, it's a sausage.

It's just an absolutely delicious part of our community.

- Well, thank you, Chris.

We're here at Raddell's, we're learning a ton about sausage, and a ton about kishka, which is blood sausage.

Why would anybody want to steal blood sausage?

It sounds like the plot of a Saturday morning cartoon where a band of mystery-solving teens is out with their dog.

♪ Oh once upon a midnight dreary ♪ ♪ I woke with something in my head ♪ ♪ I couldn't escape the memory ♪ Of a phone call and of what you said ♪ ♪ Like a game show contestant with a parting gift ♪ ♪ I could not believe my eyes ♪ When I saw through the voice of a trusted friend ♪ ♪ Who'd only humor me and tell me lies ♪ ♪ Yeah humor me and tell me lies ♪ ♪ And I'll lie too and say I don't mind ♪ ♪ And as we seek so shall we find ♪ ♪ And when you're feeling open I'll still be here ♪ ♪ But not without a certain degree of fear ♪ ♪ Well what will be with you and me ♪ ♪ I still can see things hopefully ♪ ♪ But you ♪ Why you wanna give me the run-around ♪ ♪ It is a sure-fire way to speed things up ♪ ♪ When all it does is slow me down ♪ ♪ But you ♪ Why you wanna give me the run-around ♪ ♪ It is a sure-fire way - Zoinks!

♪ To speed things up ♪ When all it does is slow me down ♪ (head popping) - Zoinks!

(musician gasping) - Whoa.

- Jinkies, the vampire was really Mr.

Williams, the museum curator.

- He stole the kishka to hide the missing diamonds from the exhibit.

- And I would've gotten away with it if it weren't for you meddling polka musicians and that mystery-solving mutt.

- That last tune may have had some members of our audience giggling, but we can assure you, kishka theft is no laughing matter.

And the Chardon Polka Band is not the only band caught in this web of intrigue.

We will now take you back to the Polka Brothers out of New York City, the city that never sleeps.

In that case, their band must be very tired.

- We'd like to welcome to WSKG "Let's Polka," the good band from New York City.

Let's please welcome the Polka Brothers.

(audience applauding) (lively polka music) ♪ The mama pajama rolled out of bed ♪ ♪ And she ran to the police station ♪ ♪ When the papa found out he began to shout ♪ ♪ And they started the investigation ♪ ♪ It's against the law ♪ It was against the law ♪ What the mama saw ♪ Was against the law ♪ The mama looked down and spit on the ground ♪ ♪ Every time my name gets mentioned ♪ ♪ The papa said oy if I get that boy ♪ ♪ I'm gonna stick him in the house of detention ♪ ♪ Well I'm on my way ♪ I don't know where I'm going ♪ I'm on my way ♪ I'm taking my time but I don't know where ♪ ♪ Goodbye to Rosie the queen of Corona ♪ ♪ Seein' me and Julio down by the schoolyard ♪ ♪ Seein' me and Julio down by the schoolyard ♪ ♪ Whoa in a couple of days they come and take me away ♪ ♪ But the press let the story leak ♪ ♪ And when the radical priest come to get me released ♪ ♪ We was all on the cover of Newsweek ♪ ♪ And I'm on my way ♪ I don't know where I'm going ♪ I'm on my way ♪ I'm taking my time but I don't know where ♪ ♪ So goodbye Rosie the queen of Corona ♪ ♪ Seein' me and Julio down by the schoolyard ♪ ♪ Seein' me and Julio down by the schoolyard ♪ ♪ Seein' me and Julio down by the schoolyard ♪ ♪ Seein' me and Julio down by the schoolyard ♪ ♪ Seein' me and Julio down by the schoolyard ♪ ♪ Seein' me and Julio down by the schoolyard ♪ ♪ Seein' me and Julie down by the schoolyard ♪ (audience applauding) - My brother Zack on the drums.

- Again, thanks to the Polka Brothers and "Let's Polka" on WSKG for those performances.

Now, polka music is known as the happiest music on planet Earth, but we're talking about "Who Stole the Kishka" today, one of the saddest polka songs ever written.

It's got minor chords and a melancholy story, but it's not the only sad polka ever written.

In fact, the Chardon Polka Band is going to play you another tragic polka right now.

And our music on the show is from Kent, Ohio, and our performance at Hometown Bank where we're engineered by Bobby at Woodsy's Music.

♪ I'm looking for a place to go so ♪ ♪ So that I can be alone ♪ From thoughts and memories ♪ So that when the music plays ♪ I don't go back to the days ♪ When love was you and me ♪ Moja droga, ja cię kocham ♪ Means that I love you so ♪ Moja droga, ja cię kocham ♪ More than you'll ever know ♪ Kocham ciebie całym sercem ♪ Love you with all my heart ♪ Return to me and always be ♪ My melody of love ♪ I'm looking for a place to hide ♪ ♪ My sorrow and my pride ♪ I just can't get along ♪ For the love that once was mine ♪ ♪ It keeps on hurting all the time ♪ ♪ Where did I go wrong ♪ Moja droga, ja cię kocham ♪ Means that I love you so ♪ Moja droga, ja cię kocham ♪ More than you'll ever know ♪ Kocham ciebie całym sercem ♪ Love you with all my heart ♪ Return to me and always be ♪ My melody of love ♪ Oh la la la la la la la la ♪ My melody of love ♪ Oh la la la la la la la la ♪ My melody of love ♪ La la la la la la la la ♪ My melody of love ♪ Return to me and always be ♪ My melody of love ♪ Return to me and always be ♪ My melody of love (audience cheering) - Polkas can be happy.

Polkas can be sad.

Today's episode was about a blood sausage stolen out of a butcher's shop, its whereabouts still unknown today.

What kind of place do we live in where someone would commit such a crime?

And in what world would such a crime go unsolved?

The answer is "The World According to Polka."

♪ There's one thing I desired of this you can be sure ♪ ♪ A hunger burned inside me for the one behind your door ♪ ♪ But I just had to open wide ♪ I put my love way deep inside ♪ ♪ I tasted sweet the leaf of a sausage thief ♪ ♪ It was me ♪ I stole the kishka ♪ And if you want it back you'll have to go through mishka ♪ ♪ You should have slept with one eye open ♪ ♪ Beside your sausage rack ♪ It was me who stole the kishka ♪ ♪ And you're never gonna get it back ♪ ♪ It's just a little kishka you probably have some more ♪ ♪ I didn't mean to cause a scene and start a sausage war ♪ ♪ But this is where the thieving stops ♪ ♪ Why'd you go and call the cops ♪ ♪ Take it if you can out of my dead kishka hand ♪ ♪ It was me ♪ I stole the kishka ♪ And if you want it back you'll have to go through mishka ♪ ♪ You should have slept with one eye open ♪ ♪ Beside your sausage rack ♪ It was me who stole the kishka ♪ ♪ And you're never gonna get it back ♪