PITTSBURGH - It is the stuff of legend that accordian player-turned-band leader Lawrence Welk got his big break at Pittsburgh's William Penn Hotel in the 1930's when an unidentified dancer said Welk's band's sound was as "light and bubbly as champagne." From then on, Welk's distinctive sound was known the world over as "Champagne music." Welk never forgot Pittsburgh, apparently even in death. Although Welk died almost fifteen years ago, he is making a comeback of sorts at the William Penn, according to members of the housekeeping staff and a bartender who claim they have seen Welk skulking about the hotel in recent weeks.
"I saw him a one and a two times," said jittery hotel maid Velveeta Lugosi-Welk (no relation to the ghost), "and it was not wunnerful, wunnerful." She described Welk as wearing a blue pastel polyester suite, with wide lapels and a "loud" shirt-tie combination.
Bartender Bradleys Welk (no relation to the ghost) told the Carbolic Smoke Ball: "[Welk] just floated into the tap room and told me turn off that rap music. I turned it off even though it wasn't rap music, it was Simon and Garfunkel." The bartender said he was more annoyed than frightened by Welk's apparition. "But, it did creep me out when those bubbles started dropping from the ceiling his band started to play Winchester Cathedral," he said. "I thought it was a terrorist attack or something."
GHOST OF LAWRENCE WELK HAUNTS WILLIAM PENN, SAY EMPLOYEES
SURLY SPECTRE OF CHAMPAGNE MUSIC MAKER COMPLAINS ABOUT RAP MUSIC, COFFEE SERVED AT HOTEL
