The Machine’s Pump Volume 24 – #1– January 2021

What a difference a month makes, huh? Thirty-one days ago, an insane revved-up zombie mob, instructed by the insane revved-up zombie king, had not yet attacked the Capitol of the United States, causing the violent death of several people and injuring hundreds. Once again, we had no idea what was coming. Well, actually, I had a pretty good idea and, leading up to January 6th, was nervously concerned that something bad would happen, just not on the scale of which we are now all too familiar. The non-stop images and videos were both horrific to most, yet inspiring to some. But, there’s no need to fill you in on the details. You know as much as I do and you can easily get all of the freshest news anytime you want.

So, I’ll move on, but before I do, I want to let everyone know that I don’t care who you voted for in the recent election rumble. If your candidates won, congratulations. If your candidates lost, but you’re cool to go with the flow, because this is a democracy, rock on! I hope to see all of you at the next Brave Combo bash, whenever and wherever that might be. I just wanted to make that clear. All well-intentioned Democrats, Republicans, and Independents are invited. You know, music is universal and all that stuff, so let’s party! With that said, continue reading.

I figured something out. But I started figuring it out a long time ago; just before Brave Combo was born. I want to share an important part of it with you. But, as I lead up to explaining the meaning and purpose of this seemingly futile rat-race we call life, I must say this first. If you believe our recent presidential election was stolen and you, to even the tiniest degree imaginable, agree with the actions of those who stormed our seat of government on that now historically infamous day, I respectfully ask that you stop paying attention to Brave Combo and move on without us. Please ask to be removed from any BC list on which you now reside. Come on, do yourself a favor and say goodbye. It’s time to break up. Besides, we should mean nothing to you. Think about it. The whole point of Brave Combo has been about inclusion and celebrating the best part of all people and cultures; to make the world more equal for everyone. So, by definition, certain things just don’t mix with Brave Combo. Above all, hate and racism. We play the music of immigrants and we dig it! And this is the way we’ve been from the very beginning, exploring the constantly evolving world of music, literally. You get it, right? And we chose a genre, as a cornerstone, which happened to be the most kicked-around AND misunderstood, in this vast universe of popular music. We were inexplicably driven to free polka from the prejudices which had kept it chained to the novelty/joke corner of the room for way too long. But, you know why Brave Combo was initially drawn to it? Because, surprise, a lot of the music was simply amazingly fantastic! Who knew? Anyway, I’ll stop there with the band bio. So, if you find yourself proudly in-sync with the boys who are proud, you might want to check out what YOUR good book says about pride (it’s sort of a big deal), get confused and pissed off, and then let us know what scums we are as you leave the building. Okay, stop fuming and wishing me harm, for a second. I sincerely hope you have a fulfilling existence with minimal heartbreak and that you find peace. I mean it! It would be safer for everyone if you did. Besides, I am about to explain the whole damn reason we, as individuals, are here, on this planet and I don’t want to share it with anyone who puts hate before love. You wouldn’t get it, anyway. So, it’s time to eject yourself from the Brave Combo sphere of influence. Thank you for going away. I want your letter of resignation on my desk by morning!

GOOD NEWS FOR MODERN MAN (AND WOMAN AND ETC.). Did I get your attention? I hope so. That was the point. I definitely don’t know everything, but I absolutely, positively unraveled a key part of the mystery for myself, which ultimately led to Brave Combo and I try to let that bit of revelation guide me to this day. It involves an exercise which is very simple, in concept, but quite difficult, if you take it seriously and really want it to work. And it will work, but your desire and persistence will make all the difference. Unfortunately, it demands that you are honest with yourself, especially about your intentions in life. Okay, that’s my teaser, for now. And let me be perfectly clear about something. I ain’t nothing special! I just think I figured out a critical piece of the puzzle and the proof of that has been revealed to me over and over and over, as we’ve maneuvered Brave Combo through several wild and wooly decades of weird shit, creating our own version of insanity; the insanity of obsessively searching for understanding. I guess our next order of business is deciding what we should call our new study group. Here’s an idea. CULT of CARL. Or, perhaps, CARL’S CULT. Both sound good to me and I promise I won’t start asking for money for a couple of weeks, at least, but I do plan to start writing little books with great big type, immediately! And maybe some buckets of survival food which will be good for 100 years.

Whew! That’s enough drama for now. The images of actual gigs are starting to fade in, as we look to a bright future, which will be upon us before we know it. In the meantime, avoid the virus, like the plague, including all of its adorable mutations, and, of course, watch out for those pesky domestic terrorists. In keeping with the theme of the times, we might decide to do something musically crazy at any moment, without much warning. And we have the technology to pull it off. So pay attention to your Brave Combo information conduit. That’s good advice, even in the best of times!