It feels like we’re living in the first 30 minutes of a bad 1970s end-of-time disaster movie, right about the time everyone is figuring out that something very bad is happening. You know, a stupid, sideshow barking wanna-be dictator has a grip on a hostage nation, a deadly disease for which there is no medical cure is circling the globe, the stock market is tanking, and, of course, there’s global warming. Starring Burt Reynolds, Dom Deloise, Rip Tayor and Angie Dickinson. The part of the wanna-be dictator is being played by Tor Johnson. If you’re younger than 45 you might need to Google some of these names, especially Tor Johnson. When I was a kid, I bought many, many, many monster movie magazines. I still have most of them. One movie, featured occasionally, was THE BEAST OF YUCCA FLATS. It starred Tor Johnson as a Soviet (Russian) scientist who had some secrets, and he was defecting to the USA. Anyway, he was being followed by the KGB, and Tor, while avoiding his pursuers, stumbled right into an area where atomic bombs were being tested. Poor Tor. He got a big ol’ dose of radiation and became the beast. He couldn’t run very fast, though (large and out of shape), so he never seemed like much of a threat to me, but he somehow found a scantily-clad woman to carry around, monster-style. Many film buffs consider this to be one of the worst movies ever made. You should go to your neighborhood Blockbuster Video store and rent a VHS copy for your next family movie night. Anyway, back to the real-life disaster movie we are all seeing unfold daily. Seriously, it’s also not well-written and full of clichés. Is this the best we can do? Our 2020 disaster reality movie is not any better than THE BEAST OF YUCCA FLATS? Now THIS is depressing! As a species, we’re a pretty big mess right now. Everyone is all nervous and jittery and we don’t know who to trust. The unknown is scary. It always is. But it’s also potentially exciting and full of possibilities. Nothing will ever be settled, so you can choose fear or not fear. You can choose hate or love. You can choose empathy or self-centeredness. You can give or take. You can also shrink-wrap yourself, move to a remote part of the country and stockpile guns and delicious survival food. Geographically, most of the country is remote, so finding isolation should be pretty easy. Man, this has to be a great time for all the doomsday preppers around the world. “Finally,” they sigh, collectively!

THE BRIGHT SIDE. If civilization lasts, we are piling lots of gigs into this crazy year. Just get some nice-looking designer face masks and come on out. Our music will address the needs of the moment. Brave Combo has always tried to provide a unique perspective; an alternative viewpoint. And we’ll continue to do that. Check our itinerary often. Dates are being added weekly.

The new album is finished! This is great news for Eric, our recording engineer. I’m sure he’s enjoyed as much of it as he can stand. But that just lets you know how finely we have crafted this release. Of course, there is still much to do. The album needs a title. The jacket isn’t finished. The CDs have to be manufactured. The videos are only about 1/3 finished. But the music is mixed and mastered and ready to be presented. Overall, it’s a somewhat different sound for Brave Combo. One might call it Brave NEW Combo, as we have been mistakenly called, on occasion, for decades. You know, Aldous Huxley’s novel, BRAVE NEW WORLD? People have sworn to us that Brave New Combo was the name of the band in the beginning, because they were there. Whatever, it might be appropriate now. The band officially turns 41 in a couple of months, so we can call ourselves anything we want. Get out of our way, whippersnappers!

In the early days of Brave Combo, we played all up and down Dallas’ Lower Greenville Avenue. We regularly rocked Nick’s Uptown at one end and Tango at the other, eventually settling into a more rootsy vibe at Poor David’s Pub. But one night we started to notice the crowds dropping off, dramatically. It was happening up and down Lower Greenville. The scene was moving to Deep Ellum in downtown Dallas, so we had to move, too. Our home club soon became Club Dada, where we performed for years. We loved it and had some of our most amazing moments at that club. Everything was super exciting. Deep Ellum was just starting to get noticed by the general public, but the cool cats were already there making it happen. One of the coolest cats I ever knew was the doorman at Dada, John “Beard” Brewer. I spent lots of time talking music, musicians and musical instruments with the guy and always dug it. Beard was the ultimate supporter and very protective of his musician friends. I never thought of him as a bouncer, although I did see some crazy stuff go down at the club a few times. To me he was the club’s greeter; the calming maître d. He had a gentle raspy voice. I can easily hear him in my head telling me some obscure fact about my Telecaster (guitar). Beard died recently, at 67 years old.
He was cremated and had his ashes scattered over his cats’ graves at a pet cemetery. Now THAT’S my kind of guy. RIP peace, Beard!

Okay, I gotta go stock up on a bunch of canned goods I’ll never eat. Have an exciting, nail-biting month. I like it when one of my cats stops cleaning itself but doesn’t pull its tongue back in all the way, then looks around, with it partially out, acting like everything’s normal. If you’ve seen this, you’ll know what I mean. If not, go adopt a cat. Or a dog. Dogs do it, too. Whatever you do next, good luck! You will probably need it. POLKA ON!

Sometime in August, about four months ago, Texas was really hot. I was concerned about our AC at home. It shouldn’t still be working so well. We thought we might have to replace it years ago, but it just keeps on doing its thing. Anyway, Christmas Holiday music seemed a long way off. Polka season hadn’t even happened yet. Slowly, but surely, though, time marched on. The days got shorter and by October the temperatures began dropping dramatically. Not much Autumn in Denton this year. September was stupidly warm, then, suddenly, it was cold. Then everyone was anticipating Halloween and once that happened, the flood gates opened. Halloween equals Thanksgiving equals Christmas equals New Year’s Eve. Bam, Bam, Bam, Bam! Everyone’s all revved-up now, ready to travel in bad weather and spend, spend, spend. An unseen force has taken control and is moving us along. I find this phenomenon both curiously entertaining and curiously annoying. No one can really escape being involved to some degree. Our poor little town is bursting at the seams and it appears Dentonites are hitting the stores in record numbers this year. Why not? We have Target, Bed Bath and Beyond, Best Buy, Kohl’s, Rooms-To-Go, Party City, Macy’s, Guitar Center. You name it, we’ve got it. Just like you, wherever you are. We even have our token struggling mall and two different theaters where you can eat a full meal during the movie, just like watching TV at home, without the luxury of being able to pause it. This town is full of stuff, ready for the masses to buy and take home. And the masses in Denton number about 10,000 more people than were here in 2018. Whatever, during this “most wonderful time of year,” stuff is definitely king. New things in boxes give us a thrill. We simply LOVE boxes with stuff in ‘em. The problem is that we sorta do this all year long. Most of us, if we can afford it, treat ourselves every day to special things. According to reruns of the old TV show, THE RIFLEMAN, back in the wild west days, for Christmas, you might only get an orange. I know, I know. This isn’t a new observation. People have been trying to get back to “the real meaning of Christmas” and away from over-commercialization since I was a little kid. But, apparently, a healthy economy depends on all of us spending extravagantly as much as possible. I mean, would things fall apart if we didn’t buy tons of new crap constantly and then, at the end of each year, go consumer berserk? It doesn’t matter. I’m just thinking out loud. Nothing can change, so it’s hardly worth pondering. And besides, the holiday season has been very good for Brave Combo over the years. It has added about 30 songs to our permanent repertoire. Bob Dylan even covered one of our arrangements (“Must Be Santa”) for his Christmas album a few years ago. We did a whole tour of Japan in support of our album, IT’S CHRISTMAS, MAN, a year before we even released it in the USA. Did you know Japan goes Christmas bonkers, too? Maybe even more so. But Jesus isn’t really part of the festivities. Love hotels are, though. Anyway, I’m always thinking about how to improve something or make it more efficient or, perhaps, even more meaningful. It really bugs most people around me that I’m constantly unsettled. From my point of view, there’s always something different around the corner, waiting to be discovered, created or fixed. The world is forever new. Merry Christmas!

Speaking of now, Brave Combo has some super-duper shows coming up. The Holiday Funhouse is waiting for you! On Friday, December 6, we return to Andy’s, in Denton, for our annual hometown bash. On Saturday, December 7, we’ll be at Poor David’s Pub, in Dallas, for our annual North Texas bash. On Friday, December 13, we are really excited to bring the funhouse to Knucklehead’s, in Kansas City. Our good friend, Mike Dillon, will be joining us for this show. If you live within 100 miles of KC, you must attend this event! On Saturday, December 14, it’s the ultimate Christmas happening, at mighty FitzGerald’s, in Berwyn (Chicago), Illinois. Another good friend, Danny Jerabek, will be on stage with us, playing some excellent notes! And on Sunday, December 15, it’s matinee party time at the Zoo Bar, in Lincoln, Nebraska. Get off your butt and come out and party with us. You can sing along with everything! “O, Holy Night (Cha Cha Cha)!”

Speaking of Christmas music, we have just received a shipment of IT’S CHRISTMAS, MAN CDs. This has been somewhat tricky to order in recent years, so we’re glad to have a decent stock for the holidays. BUT, do not tarry, if you want one. They tend to sell out. It’s a classic. Go to our store right now and order several today!

So, here we are, nearing the end of another year. Things seem hopeless, in many ways. The United States is divided into two tribes and, it appears, the best we can hope for is “our side” keeping a lid on “their side,” whatever that means to you. Unfortunately, winning-at-all-costs doesn’t really work anymore, especially when our enemies are the people with whom we share the country. I think people want to get along more than certain people in high places would have us believe. When I’m walking my dogs, and cars pass by, I usually wave and smile at the drivers. Almost every time, even if those people don’t look anything like me, they will do the same. Most people want you to like them and they want to please you, believe it or not. We are united in our insecurities and long for acceptance. This is a wonky world and no one knows what will happen next. It might behoove us to concentrate a little more on the ways we’re all similar. For instance, I’ve had a pretty terrible cold for over two weeks. I bet we can all be united in our desire to not catch really bad colds. See, that’s a place to start. Most of us like our favorite foods and hate road construction. We all, I assume, hope to sleep well and wake up refreshed. And I’m sure we would all like to put five dollars in a slot machine and get back five thousand. That would put almost everyone I know in a good mood, even if they had a headache. Oh yeah, no one likes headaches, probably. We can agree on that, right? Okay, you can take it from here. Have a Damn Happy Holiday Season. Make music part of your fun. Yes, fun! Have some fun!