The Machine’s Pump Volume 24 – #7 – July 2021

I really thought the pandemic, in the United States, at least, was sorta winding down, despite the anti-vaxxers best efforts to thwart the positive progress. Things were almost looking up. Ah, yes, I remember it well. It was a time for cautious optimism. I even stopped wearing a mask at stores for a couple of months and laughed at how many unopened ones I still had. The same with bottles of alcohol and antiseptic wipes which destroy both bacteria and viruses. It was great! But, noooo! No need to elaborate further on the frustration. You know what’s going on. And you know where you stand on this. However, I guess I have to crawl back inside my head again, imagine stuff and keep working on creative things I can do without an in-person audience. This means, back to spending lots of time playing around with video and trying to figure out how to have impact and make interesting sounds and images which will resonate with someone else. This is the goal of anyone who puts it out there for others to see/hear and judge, but making it to be viewed only on a screen is, obviously, challenging in different ways.

Whatever, I learned a long time ago I can only be myself. Some people love me, some people like me and, unfortunately, some people don’t get me at all and that seems to irritate them. It’s a good thing developing a thick skin also goes with the territory and if one does not develop a really good sense of humor, this biz will never work.

So, here are examples of what I’ve been doing and enjoying. These are just the tip of the iceburg, but a lot of my videos suck, even to me. Anyway, I am getting revved up and am excited to continue exploring this medium, especially if Covid gets out-of-control again and gigs start cancelling. Oh, the future just loves being a mystery. We try to make plans but the next several months look pretty hazy. I’m sure you feel the same. “Que Sera, Sera,” Baby! Embrace the ?

1. “Hora Bialik” is an Israeli folk song and it has an accompanying dance you should see sometime. I screwed around with it a bit.
2. “Expanding Crate Mystery” is self-explanatory and very short.
3. “There Is No Happy Love (I’l N’y a Pas d’Amour Heureux)” is a song I first heard by a French folk/pop singer named Francoise Hardy, when I was in high school. Somehow, I had a couple of her albums, and they were often my just-before-bed listen. This song, in particular, has stayed with me over the decades.
4. “Flying Saucer Verse 3” I composed for a fan of Brave Combo who was in the last months of his life. He’d been around forever and I would talk to him in Austin at our gigs for years. 2020 was not a good year for him. I found out he wanted to be an astronomer when he was little. So did I. Both of us knew a lot about outer space in grade school. He got to hear the verse.
5. “Can’t You Tell, etc.” explains me perfectly, in case you’re curious.
6. “Levan Polka” Well, this is a standard in some circles now; old news, actually. Here’s a snippet of me rehearsing it. It’s a catchy little thing. Have you heard it before?
7. “All My Trials” is an old Bahamian lullaby, which has been adopted by myriad causes. It became an anthem for civil rights in the 1960s and has often been considered an old-style spiritual and some people claim it’s in their hymnals. Elvis even included it in his medley, “American Trilogy.” Basically, the original is about a dying mother, telling her children it’s okay and to not worry about her because better things come in death. Kind of a downer, but it’s a great song. At this point the video is just a bunch of images; a vehicle for the audio. Some may make it to the final edit, but maybe not. Don’t worry.

Two quick news items. We’re currently working on some unreleased Tiny Tim tracks and it appears our recording of “O, Holy Night (Cha, Cha, Cha)” will soon be in another movie.

Okay, that’s it. Please check our itinerary. We are adding dates like crazy for the fall and keeping our fingers crossed that they don’t have to cancel, yet are safe to attend. No matter what, believe it or not, it’s still a wonderful world, even if you do have to go back into your head again. Just make that a fun place. You’ve certainly had plenty of practice by now! Let’s Polka, I hope!