Apr 24, 2025
Staff photo by Fritz Busch The Minnesota Music Hall of Fame (MMHOF), 27 N. Broadway, was established in 1989 to honor Minnesota musicians and their contributions. New Ulm was chosen for its rich musical heritage and community support. A number of 2025 MMHOF inductees will perform 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, April 26 at the museum. There is no admission charge.
NEW ULM — The Minnesota Music Hall of Fame (MMHF) will formally induct six new members Friday.
During a special Induction Ceremony Banquet Friday, April 25 Marv Nissel, Augie Garcia, The Castaways, Herb Pihofer, Mark Kreitzer and Myron Muehlbauer will be welcomed into the hall.
Marv Nissel, is a polka band leader and native of St. George. Nissel began taking concertina lessons at age 13 and played his first dance job at age 15 in 1953.
After an honorable discharge from the U.S. Army in 1963, he bought his first Hengel concertina and moved to New Ulm, playing with many bands including Feez Fritsche & The Goosetown Band, Lester Schuft and the Country Dutchmen and the Cliff Hermel Polk Party Band.
Nissel performed for Vice President Hubert Humphrey at his 1968 campaign dance.
He composed two original songs for the concertina, “The St. George Polka,” and Nissel’s Hoolerie” and wrote more than 500 concertina arrangements.
Nissel and his wife Carol formed the Marv Nissel Band in 1978 and toured the midwest. Their two daughters, Lori and Jodi and Gibbon Ballroom owner and operator Cliff Hermel joined the band in 1986.
In the mid 1990s, the Nissels performed more than 170 times a year around the country. Marv Nissel was inducted into the World Concertina Congress in 2005.
Referred to as The Godfather of Minnesota Rock and Roll, Garcia and his quintet were energetic, with Augie often jumping on top of a piano or lying on the floor, wearing Bermuda shorts, up to six nights a week at the River Road Club under the Mendota Heights Bridge, next to the Mississippi River beginning in 1954.
The band’s hit song “Hi Yo Silver” was recognized as the first rock and roll recording made in Minnesota. Their hits included “Let the Good Times Roll.” Garcia and his band opened for Elvis Presley in 1956 in the Twin Cities.
The band broke up in 1962. Garcia was a Korean War veteran and iron worker, helping build many downtown Minneapolis skyscrapers.
Resurrecting his music career as a solo artist in 1968, he described his music career on Twin Cities PBS station KTCA as “like a paid vacation–we had so much fun.”
The Castaways of the Twin Cities topped the regional charts and reached #12 nationally with “Liar, Liar.” The song has been used in the soundtrack for four major Hollywood movies including “Good Morning Vietnam.”
The Castaways’ album “The House of Leather is widely regarded as the first rock opera that became an off Broadway play in New York City.
Herb Pilhofer formed a combo in Germany that performed nightly at a military service club in Nuremberg and was featured on The Armed Forces Radio Network in Europe.
Settling in the Twin Cities in 1954, he wrote a three-part suite for his jazz quintet and the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra. He was the Gutherie Theater’s first music director and owned the first Moog synthesizer (electronic musical instrument) and Synclavier (early digital synthesizer) in the Midwest.
Known for his innovative spirit, keen mind and a prolific and visionary musical career, he performed live at age 88 at the Crooners Supper Club in Minneapolis.
Bluegrass, jazz and old-time folk music performer Mark Kreitzer was inducted into the Minnesota Rock and Country Hall of Fame. He wrote the music and lyrics for the Minnesota Centennial Show musical, Mark Twain’s Mississippi, based on Twain’s book, “Life on the Mississippi.”
A musical educator at St. Paul Cretin High School and Carlton College, her performs with The Mark Kreitzer Band and The Middle Spunk Creek Boys.
Myron Muehlbauer performs with five bands on trumpet, clarinet, tenor and alto saxophone, flugelhorn, arranges music and specializes in old-time music. He received a certificate award for 52 years of music service from the International Polka Association.
Inductees to the MMHOF are selected by its board of directors.
“We have more than 80 inductee candidates each year. We look at all of them. The biggest qualification is effecting the Minnesota music industry,” said Dodie Wendinger, a MMHOF co-executive director with Bonnie Ubl.
Castaways band member James Donna wrote a book about the band and plans to sign autographs and sell books at the inductee showcase at the museum Saturday.
The sold out induction begins with a social hour at 5 p.m., dinner at 6 p.m. and induction ceremony at 7:30 p.m.
The 2025 Inductee Showcase takes place at 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, April 26 at the Minnesota Music Hall of Fame Museum, 27 N. Broadway. Admission is free.
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