The Machine’s Pump Volume 20 – #7 – July 2017

I am alone at the Brave Combo office, in downtown Denton, Texas, a block and a half south of our historic city square. It’s straight-up 10:00 PM. Next door to our office is a rehearsal/music lessons space and a rock band is rockin’ out right this minute. I can hear the guitar pretty well and the bass very well. The drums, not so much. The bass is going ba-ba-ba-ba-baaa-baaa-baaa, over and over. Now the guitar is holding a long sustained note. Okay, I can hear the drums better now. They’re sorta matching the bass, which is standard for a rock rhythm section. I imagine whoever is next door is feeling the vibe! They sound a little bit southern rock, but also somewhat Who-ish. It’s a trio. Uh-oh, here comes a drum solo. A short one. Oops, I think the bass player missed a note. Probably got carried away. Yeah, they’re definitely into the jam thing. This town is full of musicians. Everywhere you look, almost everyone you see is either a musician or resembles one. It’s a hipster-driven, movers and shakers scene. And I’m at work, doing my bit to keep the insanity alive. Brave Combo is on vacation for about three more weeks and I hope to go out clubbing a little and hear some of the new bands making waves, while I have time. I’ll be listening for something to surprise me or knock me out or, at least, entertain me with cleverness or funny outfits. I wonder how the band next door looks. They’re starting to sound more like early Black Sabbath. I bet they’re not wearing tuxedos. Whatever, I wish them the best and hope they get the song worked out and stop rehearsing soon. Whoa! I think they stopped, just as I finished that last sentence. That’s weird. Okay, it should be easier to concentrate.

Speaking of vacation, I have never been so busy! I’m constantly doing stuff like trimming shrubs, singing through my new vocal processor and worrying about how great we’re making America again. Everything is topsy-turvy. For you, as well, perhaps. I don’t know what I thought life would be like in 2017, but I didn’t expect so much shrub trimming. I actually did have a premonition, so-to-speak, about three years ago, which revealed to me how easy it would be for the USA to become a police state, so the current political climate hasn’t been a total shock, in a way. Things have felt eerily familiar. Social media’s obsession with the concept of celebrity has concerned me for some time. It’s the downside of kitsch; when the superficial wins over substance and no one cares or even notices. It feels like humans are being challenged, on a worldwide scale, to seek the truth and to embrace authenticity. Some folks want their voices to be the loudest in the room, just because they want their voices to be the loudest in the room. Not because they have thoughtful ideas or anything worthwhile to propose. They only respect the biggest and the most. Nothing else matters. In the world of music, there are ways one can artificially enhance YouTube views, to make it appear to be more popular than it actually is. This is so other people will look at the view count and think the video is cool. Everything is like that these days. Reality TV show stars can apparently reach the highest levels of fame by being nothing but famous and all the nobodies at home in Wherever, USA, have conditioned themselves to trust this nothingness with all their hearts. This is a great time to hoodwink people if you’re in the hoodwinking business. Amen, anyone? In some ways, we’ve never been dumber, although I fear we’re on our way to being even dumber than we are now. I wonder if we’re losing the ability to be real; if our imagined image is just too powerful.

Then there’s “Bimbo Jet” by El Bimbo 1974!

Speaking of music, I was just driving to the office, listening to Denton’s brand new local terrestrial station, KUZU-FM, and they played “Nothing Earthly,” from our live SYMPHONIC POLKAS album. Now that is a deep cut and a welcome thing to hear. If you live within three miles of the station, check it out. It’s 92.9 on your FM radio dial, baby!

People ask me all the time which gig they should attend. I usually say they’re all fantastic and, in fact, they are. If I have anything to do with it, every performance will be well worth the price of admission, especially those free city concerts. But, on occasion, a show stands out as a true not-to-be-missed event. And one of those is coming up right away. On Saturday, August 19, Brave Combo is playing at the legendary Antone’s, in Austin, with two fantastic bands, Max Baca y los Texmaniacs and The Gulf Coast Playboys. This will be a dance party deluxe; a spectacular triple bill at a great venue! Also, this is our first time to play the new Antone’s, so we’re pretty stoked about this for a few reasons. We’ll all be playing hard-core Texas music right in the middle of Texas. If you’re within a hundred miles of us that night, you’re crazy if you don’t show up. I may be playing a brand new accordion, as well. Have I made my point? I better be sure the club’s mirror ball is working.

But if you just can’t swing it, there are mucho other opportunities to check out our groovy sounding grooves in the coming months. Dates are being added weekly, so keep your eye on our itinerary. In September, the beautiful Levitt Pavilion is coming up! Westfest is coming up, too! Jeffrey Barnes will be with Brave Combo that weekend and there’s a reliable rumor percussionist, Mike Dillon, will be joining us, as well. Hmmm. Okay, The Levitt Pavilion and Westfest are two more not-to-be-missed events. Oh yeah, we’re also performing at the Pearland iFest and, of course, the McKinney and Ft. Worth Oktoberfests (great festivals) and at the amazing Austin Austoberfest at the real-deal Scholz Garten, in Austin. Okay, the entire month of September is a not-to-be-missed event. Damn it! Let’s Polka!

PRECIOUS MEMORIES. Once, when I was in high school, I was starting a band with a drummer friend, who was my age, and three older, sorta square, college guys. One night we were trying to think of a name for the band and the bass player suggested we call ourselves The Haight-Ashbury Hippies. He’d also designed a logo with the words forming the shape of a syringe. We didn’t go with it.

That’s all for now. Gotta go do a bunch of stuff, some of it will not be fun. My mother always told me that life isn’t supposed to be fun all of the time. I’m finally convinced. Mother would be proud.

Final thought: How about that North Korea?