I’ve been staying up later than usual and sleeping later than usual. Sometimes I don’t get out of bed until noon. I’ve been making big plans about various home-improvement projects and actually starting on about 1% of them. I’ve been watching and ignoring the same news you’ve been watching and ignoring, I’ve been hanging out with Jane, my wife, a lot, which is pretty easy. We’ve had a lot of practice. Although I’m sure she wishes she could have her weekends back. Also hanging out with our animal menagerie way more than normal, which I’m digging most of the time. Dogs want to please. Cats want to please themselves. It’s a good thing I’m crazy about all of them. Cooking and cleaning up after cooking has been a good way to fill the hours. Also, I don’t mind sitting and staring and am trying to get even better at it. I’m thinking about the best way to do virtual concerts and iPhone video premieres (See Below). In general, I’m constantly wondering how musicians and artists can actually be engaging and exciting to an audience without being in the same room. This requires me to think out loud, way more than Jane cares to hear, about how to make any artistic expression desirable and relevant enough to be sustainable, now and in the new version of the future. Live music was already struggling anyway. That’s no secret. So, perhaps this is an opportunity to reintroduce ex-club goers, for instance, to something they forgot. Jeez, I have crazy ideas in stable times. Remember those? Stable times? Well, now that we’re living in WTF Land every bizarre minute, I can barely control my need to create solutions for everything around me, specifically how to make art and music fit into a rattled, insecure society. How do you get people to stop and focus AND make it worth their effort? Musicians’ iPhone concerts can come off looking like people playing for tips on the street, which is fine. Some of the best YouTube videos are street musicians blowing everyone away. But, generally, people don’t want to hear more than a couple of songs from street musicians. I always feel like if I invite someone into my realm, it’s my job to see that they are entertained or intrigued or that I’m providing a different perspective which they may find interesting. I always felt like that was the power of Brave Combo. That’s our thing; to screw with a song or a style or a sound and re-present it to our audience so they hear it differently. You know, like an optical illusion. People like optical illusions. There are many challenges involved. One, of which, is to not be too clever. I only play music I really, really like and it’s important to me to interpret my perception of that beauty to someone who goes to the trouble to check out what I’m doing or thinking. I never want anything to overshadow that; the musical specialness. Our hora version of “People Are Strange” has been incredibly valuable to us. It’s a sure-fire get-em-on-your-side show starter. The idea of a Doors song as a fast polka has been a guaranteed mood-lifter for over 40 years. And there are still plenty of people who get the humorous juxtaposition. But, it also works very, very well as a straight-up hora and we regularly insert it into long group dances at weddings and bar mitzvahs. The Doors came up with a great piece of music and playing it well is as important as any shock value we add to the picture. We have standards, you know!!

You can check our itinerary of live shows if you want, but keep in mind it may all change tomorrow or just disappear entirely. I figure concerts, festivals and even club shows will be the last to recover. If you see a musician walking down the street, please tell him or her how sorry you are that people can’t gather right now and start crying, if you can. Six feet apart, of course. This all sucks even worse because most musicians have fragile egos. What a sad world. You know, on second thought, if you see a musician walking your way, just cross the street and don’t risk an encounter. It would just be awkward.

The new album or rather collection of songs is finished and mastered and ready to sell on the road. Uh-oh. No road. So, maybe we don’t need CDs for a while, but we are making videos for all the tracks and will be releasing those through various means, starting immediately. Keep watching our website and social media for fast-breaking news.

And, actually, do check our itinerary occasionally. We will be doing more stuff online, for sure. Maybe a lot more and we want YOU to watch.

Okay, gotta go avoid doing several things and just play with animals. However, it’s nap time around here right now. Hmmm. Which one will I wake up? I love guessing games. It might have to be Twitchie. She’s the only one awake and looks ready-to-go! I hope you are having as much fun as I am! Go team!

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!