Everything is so complicated.  Everything.  Denton is non-stop-jam-packed with cars and trucks and bicycles and people on foot, everywhere you go.  We are bulging at the seams about to burst.  Pretty soon we will all be flung into space like human cannonballs, from the over-crowding.  And, of course, road construction could pop up, and it does, anywhere, at any time.  I am not exaggerating.  Denton’s official mascot is an orange and white traffic cone (rimshot, please).  And this is just ONE example of how complicated things have become.  The act of thinking is a lot more involved than it used to be.  There are too many topics to ponder and angles to consider.  And where music and art fit in today’s world is not easy to figure out.  Most of the models of the past, based on simple ideas, don’t apply anymore.  Almost no one has the time to stop doing long enough to really listen, anyway.  I know I don’t.  Besides, I have to keep inventing ways to contain, entertain and train animals.  This is a self-inflicted responsibility, for sure, but I still have to do it and be innovative in the process.  That takes energy.  Even just relaxing and watching a movie is not easy.  So many decisions!  Do I go to a theater (regular or restaurant/theater)?  Watch something on regular TV?  Check out all of the options in the Netflix-style universe?  Curl up in a corner and stare at YouTube on my phone all alone in the dark?  All are viable options.  And this doesn’t take into account all of the screen-time each of us puts in on a regular day, looking at whatever, including social media and video games.  I’ve been hearing the term “information overload” for, like, 30 years.  Jeez, where are we now?  There’s no slowing down the train, apparently.  Of course not.  What would make people NOT want more and more and faster and faster?  And most of us, including myself, just keep buying into this as how it is supposed to be.  It’s like a dump truck drops a big load of trash onto my front yard every day and, rather than try to eliminate as much as possible from my life, I try to just keep organizing it all.  So, where does original music fit into this mess?  Should it even try to fit in right now?  If you make original music, how does anyone know?  And a whole lot of folks are coming up with “new” stuff every day.  Every minute!  In Denton alone, 100 new songs are probably born in the same amount of time it takes to walk around the teaming downtown square.  All one needs is a guitar and a mouth.  So many new word combinations are being written.  So many new melody lines are being sung.  So many thoughts are being thought.  I often find myself not wanting to add to the clutter anymore.  Perhaps enough is enough.  It’s not for lack of ideas or opportunities.  We have plenty of material and invitations to perform are still coming our way, but sometimes it seems like the whole world of music is just desperately trying to revive a dying loved one.  The old template is all worn out and used up and the new one is like mush.  It can’t be defined because it can’t slow down long enough.  Plus, nothing is tangible.  And, just so you know, this is not about right and wrong.  It’s about what we want, as a culture and a society, and where we put our priorities.  On the other hand, when no one can figure out the rules, then anything goes.  And that’s a potential plus.  Maybe it’s not just about music anymore, because it just isn’t and can never be the same as it was.  Or, then again, if we devolve into spending our days simply trying to survive, the basic joys of music could return.  For a long time, musicians based the present on knowing how the future would be.  Well, guess what?

Speaking of complicated and WTF?  More and more, if a band performs for a city function, wherever it is in Texas, the band has to register with the city as a vendor; an entity which is selling goods or a service to the city.  This involves filling out lots of forms, some of which may have to be notarized.  It’s a hassle, but, until recently, that’s all it was.  Now, however, if you want to be a part of a city-sponsored concert series, you also have to sign a form stating you don’t boycott Israel and have no plans to boycott Israel before the completion of the contract with the city.  If you don’t sign it, you can’t do the gig.  At this particular time in my life I, personally, am not boycotting Israel or South Africa or Bolivia or Iceland and have no immediate plans to do so.  But, you know, I might disagree with some policy, maybe about the treatment of animals, and decide to not support a person or an entity, in some, most likely, symbolic way.  So, being forced to sign such a form, in order to work, feels a little creepy, at least.  However, it’s the law in twenty-seven states, including, obviously, Texas.  This is weird and unsettling, for sure, but it also forces one to think about how to respond.  After doing some research I understand what’s going on and I invite you to check it out.  I am not making a judgment call on the rightness or wrongness of the law, but it sucks that it affects musicians who are simply trying to play music for people who want to listen.  See?  Complicated!  Who could have seen that coming?  I will say, almost everyone apologizes when they send the form to us.  Of course, I respond by demanding that no meat be served while we are performing, which never works.

Now for some good news!  Cleveland International Records, which sorta ceased to exist after its founder, and our very good friend, Steve Popovich, Sr., passed away almost ten years ago, is back in business.  We released two albums with the label, receiving a Grammy for one and a nomination for both.  Steve was a one-of-a-kind guy.  He was ruled by his passions, which were music and his family.  He came out to hear us one night at the legendary Bluebird in Nashville, beginning a long personal friendship and professional relationship.  I encourage you to Google “Steve Popovich” and see what “pops” up.  You will be astounded at his achievements.  Anyway, his son, Steve, Jr., is reviving the record company and rereleasing some of the titles, including POLKASONIC, our 1999 Grammy winner.  We are super-excited about this, not just because our album will get a new, fresh push, but also because relaunching the label is a tribute to Steve.  Here’s to the Popovich family legacy!  Let’s see what happens!

IT’S POLKA TIME!  On Saturday, April 6, you should come out to beautiful Scholz Garten, in Austin, Texas, for a night of revelry and polka!  The Texas Shrine Brewer’s Association is throwing down a wing-ding, featuring beer and Brave Combo.  Also, it’s a donation event.  The cover is whatever you want it to be.  Pick an amount between, let’s say, $5 and $500.  We play 7 to 10pm on the big outdoor stage.  This is a great place to dance, too, as you probably already know.  Also in April, Brave Combo is performing at the Ft. Worth Main Street Festival and the mighty Denton Arts and Jazz Festival, which feels like it’s coming around about once a month these days.  And, Brave Combo alumni, Bubba Hernandez and Jeffrey Barnes will be joining us for all of our shows in April.  How can you NOT come out?

Twelve new studio tracks are almost finished.  You will LOVE them all.  Start thinking about how you won’t be able to live without them.  You are getting sleepy….

Please check out our itinerary often.  Dates are being added weekly.  The world is getting funkier all the time, so we might as well get funky with it.  So, come out to our shows and get funky with us.  Just like always!

So I guess another year is wrapping up and, once again, a new one is ready to take its place. I’ve seen this before. Everyone looks back at the previous 12 months because we, apparently, can’t help it. I suppose it’s important to us to assess what just happened. The older I get, the more I feel like everything just happened. Twelve months feels barely longer than two. Plus, I’m just not past-oriented. I don’t long for the good ol’ days, whenever they were. There are certainly many events I remember fondly and I suppose, if I could hop into a time machine and walk around my hometown in the 1960s again and look at it with modern eyes, it would, admittedly, be entertaining. However, I have somewhat recently cataloged all of the Brave Combo videos, going back to our first rehearsals, and I gotta say, I don’t want to relive a single minute. The experience was pretty overwhelming and, ultimately, rather nauseating. Too much to take in. Lots of places and miles and situations and people. I was surprised at my reaction. I probably tried to watch and label too many at a time, but boy-o-boy did I get tired of myself. There were moments it didn’t look like anything to me. But mainly I was just happy I still had a reason to keep making new stuff, because I love making new stuff. And I know I drive everyone crazy with my desire to constantly create and change things up and, on top of that, be as perfect as possible, but that formula seems to work for me. In just a few months Brave Combo will be 40 years old. That’s four decades of imagining what doesn’t exist. That’s a pretty long time, right? I mean, that’s nothing compared to how long dogs have been domesticated. But compared to how long it takes to eat your average meal, it’s an eternity. Plus, most of our songs are on the short side, so a night of Brave combo involves roughly 45-50 songs. Multiply that by 40 years. Okay, I’m starting to feel nauseated again. Whatever, if I were to do a year-end round-up, I think it would be something like, “We live in a Twilight Zone-style cartoon and 2018 was full of stupid shit!” But with the new year comes new hope and, I must say, I am sorta optimistic about 2019 and very grateful that Brave Combo still has so many opportunities to perform and to be self-indulgent. We’re so appreciative of the support which continues to come our way. I’m always amazed I actually make money doing this; enough money to support a bunch of animals, including several who don’t live at our house. They have no idea how expensive they are. They don’t even know what money is. They just know I am, somehow, there to take care of them.

Speaking of 2019, we will be updating our itinerary soon and adding lots of new dates. As usual, we are on vacation for most of January and February, but on Saturday, February 23, we will perform in concert with the Odysseus Chamber Orchestra in McKinney, Texas. Symphonic arrangements of Brave Combo songs, with us playing along! We seriously dig hearing our music played by lots of violins and oboes and harps and french horns and then singing along with it, karaoke-style, in front of an audience. Pretty thrilling stuff for us. Mark it on your calendar.

LET’S GO SHOPPING. We ordered a bunch of IT’S CHRISTMAS, MAN! CDs (1990 release, contains original BC recording of “Must Be Santa,” which our friend, Bob Dylan, covered) for the season and they were a hit, so we are going to try expanding the BC store to include vintage vinyl, cassettes, publicity photos, posters, and myriad oddball things. The Brave Combo office/studio is about to pop with stuff. Jeez, that TV show, HOARDERS, even called about shooting an episode (just kidding). We’ll let you know when the inventory is ready to check out and clear out, hopefully by mid-January. Start getting excited now, though. In the meantime, we do have a few copies of IT’S CHRISTMAS, MAN! still in stock. It’s a classic album and, as Brave Combo says, “Christmas is always just around the corner.”

JOE CRIPPS’ BIRTHDAY PARTY. Our friend, a comrade in music and fellow traveler, Joe Cripps, has now been missing for about two years and two months. In October of 2016, he just disappeared. He was living in Little Rock at the time. Joe played percussion with Brave Combo for over two decades and was a partner in the band, as well, for several years. We toured the world together. January 5, 2019, is Joe’s birthday and on that date, an army of his fellow musicians will gather at Dan’s, in Denton, for the second annual commemorative blow-out. At that event, an announcement will be made about a scholarship which is being established in Joe’s name. Although the reason we will all be getting together is sad beyond words, Joe was bigger than life, so we plan to rock out and make a lot of noise in his memory. Several bands are playing. You should come out and party with us.

I am working diligently on my new project, The Carl Finch Sound, and now have about 60-70 new songs/ideas/pieces almost ready to perform. As well, I am returning to the studio in January to finally finish work on twelve new tracks. I remember, when I was about 11 years old, realizing I wouldn’t have time, one summer, to do all I wanted to do. I made a list, including lots of fun stuff, and barely accomplished anything. It’s still the same, over fifty years later. Forever hard to complete things. This is everyone’s burden. Revved-up in the beginning, worn out halfway through. You gotta dig deep to tie up all the loose ends and when you’re dealing with something like music, it has to be, at least, recorded and performed well and should be, at least, a little interesting. This is a tall order these days, considering how much music and art is being produced. Here’s a shocking fact which should discourage anyone from considering a career as a musician/artist. Spotify uploads 20,000 new recordings every 24 hours.

Hey, Bubba Hernandez and Jeffrey Barnes are still hanging around, playing fantastic shows with Brave Combo. We do three-part harmony, like the Chordettes. Or were they four-piece? Well, we can do that, too, if we want, like the Chordettes, in case they were a four-piece ensemble. Speaking of the Chordettes, here’s a song by another singing group from that era which probably wouldn’t fly in 2019. HAPPY NEW YEAR to one and all!

I am so tired of thinking too much. I’m so tired of checking the news to see what new depressing thing has happened. I’m so tired of trying to wrap my head around the thought processes of evangelical Christians. I’m so tired of disliking others because they’re idiots. It feels like, in 2016, we all moved to a weird, distorted version of where we had been living. Indeed, something has allowed, even encouraged, the worst side of humanity to rise to the surface and feel just fine about it. October has been a horrific month in the USA. I guess the killing of eleven people in a synagogue is part of making America great again. I feel like we are witnessing the dissolving of American society and the de-evolving of humanity. The explosion of social media, a platform designed to “unite” us, has mainly been about the explosion of ego. Me against you. Now that Pandora’s Box is wide open, a dangerous, fear-spewing monster has been put in charge of the country. I just need to figure out a way to embrace all the crazy stuff going on and be thankful and honored to be living in such a bizarre, volatile, out-of-control era; to be alive at the actual tipping point of climate change. And to actually see the USA flirt with becoming controlled by right-wing nationalism. How special is that? No matter what, I have to stay a little attached to this ridiculous realm. I still have to write up contracts and make business phone calls. I have to set up gear and plug in cables. I have to pay bills and drive within the lanes. Friends and family, including lots of animals, depend on me every day. So, there are many reasons I must keep it together. But it’s become harder to find anchors; reliable stuff. And we’re all learning too much about how to con people and how to live comfortably with lies. Okay, now I am tired of this paragraph. Jeez, go vote!

Check out this song, “Shprayz Ikh Mir,” by the Klezmatics. Viva music of immigrants!

Hmmm, David Byrne is about to release the entire TRUE STORIES movie soundtrack, including the stuff I wrote and recorded. That explains why Warner Music has been calling and sending me forms to fill out. Okay, that’s very good news.

LET’S not POLKA! The 2018 polka-blitz season has officially come to a close. This was one intense bunch of gigs! So many notes! Thank you to all who came out to our shows and dances and got down with us.

Did you know that a classic line-up of Brave Combo has been performing together most of this year and will continue to do so in November and December? I’m talking about Jeffrey, Bubba, Danny, Alan and myself. The five of us recorded two Grammy-winning albums not too long ago. Don’t know what 2019 will bring, so you should scramble to check us out before the year (or time) comes to an end. Hear songs you haven’t heard in a long-ass time or maybe ever.

Speaking of classic Brave Combo, our beloved musical brother and long-time BC member, Joe Cripps, has been missing for two years. It’s just as hard to believe now as it was in October of 2016. I can’t believe Joe hasn’t been around since the presidential election. Man, oh man, he would have had some choice words for certain people in high places. We all miss him and hope we can, someday, know exactly what happened.

Speaking of the past, above is a gig photo we unearthed from the 1990s. Over the decades Brave Combo has performed at, perhaps, hundreds of wedding parties. One time we were playing such an event in Dallas and the groom asked if his dad could sit in on a few songs. Of course, we said yes. It’s his wedding. The father turned out to be Roger McGuinn of The Byrds. So, indeed, we played a mini-set of his hits. From left-to-right, it’s Jeffrey, Bubba, Roger, Mitch (on drums in the back) and me on piano. We were so cool at that moment. All five of us!

Please check our itinerary often. Dates pop in when you least expect it. Of course, holiday shows are around the corner. Make your plans now!

Also, my new side project, The Carl Finch Sound, will be performing one more fabulous show this year, in Denton, at LSA (south side of the downtown square), on Thursday, November 8. I have been in the studio recording new material from this endeavor and hope to release it, with videos, early 2019. As well, good ol’ Brave Combo has recorded several new tracks, including our latest version of “The Clarinet Polka,” featuring Robert Hokamp flying though the melody on guitar. I gotta get busy and pull this stuff together.

And speaking of good ol’ Brave Combo, next year, 2019, will mark 40 years of nuclear polka. I may not ever mention that again or we could wind up throwing a bunch of celebratory bashes. I can’t really dwell on this too much, though. Not yet. But I’ll probably get myself psyched up for it. It’s no big deal, really. I mean, it’s not like it will be our 43rd year or anything like that. Everybody calm down.

For now, let’s focus on the present and what’s right in front of us. If you have not voted, do it now! Then go have a nice dinner.