The Machine’s Pump Volume 20 – #5 – May 2017

A Good Place To Start. Check out this live video of Arthur Lee and Love performing, “Alone Again Or.” Then check out the Armenian song “Karmir Nur,” by Armen Hovhannisyan.

An observation. It appears that about half of the country is just non-stop boiling mad and ready to kick somebody’s ass; anybody’s ass will do, but preferably someone not white. And the other half is scared to death that we’re all on a crumbling roller coaster, about to leave the tracks, while the boiling mad folks are so blinded and controlled by their anger they’re simply oblivious to the imminent destruction. I wonder if a person is more dangerous when anger turns into fear or when fear turns into anger. Right now it’s obvious who’s more on the angry side and who’s more on the scared side. No matter what, we are certainly witnessing the damaging reach of human ego. And, unfortunately, I guess we’re all getting used to it. Is this how it feels to become “great again?” Oh well, unbridled capitalism was always a terrible idea. Now we’re living through the inevitable result of justifying, even applauding, greed. Maybe this is, sadly, as far as our little USA experiment can go, especially now that every other person has a gun and could very well be one of those boiling mad Americans. It’s weird to be more frightened of white Christian males than any other demographic in the country.

Speaking of demographics, I have a new term. Alt-Christian. You can imagine how I would characterize someone who falls into that category, right? I don’t even need to describe him or her, do I? I’ll just say that in Alt-Christianity, self absolutely comes first and Jesus barely matters. Also, if you are an Alt-Christian, you’re probably setting off bullshit detectors right and left and don’t even know it. That’s because Alt-Christians embrace piety, despite what the Good Book says. It truly sucks that the United States of America is now perceived as one of the darkest, creepiest places on Earth: no longer a welcoming land of compassion and understanding. But facts is facts, Baby. “You can’t always get what you wa-ant.”

A Positive Spin On De-evolution. Punk rock originally grew out of despair and hopelessness and turned out to be one of the best things that ever happened to pop music. Art is always a survivor and sometimes reflects the environment in a way that can make things more bearable.

Entertainment news! My friend, singer/songwriter, Sara Hickman, has retired. She played her last show recently at Poor David’s Pub, in Dallas. I don’t know exactly what retirement means to her, but I have a feeling she will continue to create things. I do know this. Not much in Groovy-ville makes sense anymore, based on how things were, say, 20 years ago. Once upon a time, live music was one of the top choices of cool things to do, but the audience who fueled it all, who craved the scene, is pretty much gone. Everything has become foggy and ill-defined, from the performing musician’s point of view and this makes it hard to stay relevant. Hell, it makes it hard to even want to stay relevant when people won’t look up from their phones. Plus, recorded music is either cheap or free to the public. That’s a bizarre twist on how it was. I don’t sit around, though, and pine over the good ol’ days. How things ARE is how things were destined to be. We were always going to end up here. The upside to this sad news, as I mentioned earlier, is that artists and musicians tend to do their best work when all hope is gone and they feel backed into a corner. It’s definitely too bad that no one but a handful of people will probably experience those displays of brilliance. But that doesn’t have to be your fate. Go to a live music show in the middle of the week, at a small club, in your town, this month. “Sit down, have another drink,” as Frank Yankovic used to sing about 100 times during his show.

And, still speaking of live music, please check our itinerary. There are many opportunities to see AND hear Brave Combo in the upcoming weeks. Also, look for new recordings, new photos, new videos, new t-shirts, new promotional items (Brave Combo toothbrushes) in the upcoming months. Try to have fun. Good luck!