The Machine’s Pump Volume 25 – #2 – February 2022

Hey, it’s the month of love and it feels like, somehow, our species is moving further and further away from that concept. Some folks want to go on and declare civil war and get the maximum hate party rolling. That must be quite empowering; to feel like you can express your anger, unfettered; to let it all hang out, as some pseudo-hippies used to say about 60 years ago. The real hippies were the original off-the-grid-folks, rejecting corporate capitalism and its tentacles of evil. Communes began to pop up all over. I remember a cover of LIFE magazine with a photo of some old-looking young hippies gathered around a teepee or something. I didn’t want to do that, but I did want to embrace the counterculture enough to grow my hair long and play music in front of people. And I wanted to stand out in Texarkana as a “with-it” person, which was very easy to do at the time. I mean, you couldn’t get cooler than a kid in junior high wearing mod shirts and wide belts. And very few of my T-town peers followed suit. I saw the Yardbirds when I was in the 7th grade. The Mods and Rockers were starting to blend and there was Jimmy Page, wearing purple bell-bottoms. At the same time, I was becoming aware of how much I lived in a white person’s world, at the expense of those who weren’t white. Social change spoke to me and I dressed accordingly. Music was the pathway to enlightenment and exploration. And, ultimately, the hippies and their peace and love thing won. Not everyone moved to a commune, but almost everyone had to consider shifting their attitudes. Being an old white racist just was not going to be desirable anymore, anywhere, except in the shadows. It was time to start fixing things and making the world a fairer place. The local KKK lodge was no longer the best choice for a teen dance. You know, obvious, positive stuff was happening. Well, the times, they are a-changing again. It’s now okay for everyone to be righteously pissed-off at everyone else and to express that anger anywhere, anytime; to feel happily entitled and give in to white folk’s God-given right to dominate non-whites like nature intended. To let it all hang out. Jeez, what a mess! So, let’s dance!

Speaking of changing attitudes, I wonder if people have lost their appetite for the likes of live music. Has the public become weary of watching musicians and artists showing off on stage? In general, has the population become more agoraphobic and less likely to venture out at night, when the magic usually happens? Can a show at a club or a concert hall even be something special anymore? For touring bands there are two important concerns. Will the audience be comfortable enough to pack music venues again, which is sorta required to make it financially viable for the bands? And will the bands feel comfortable in an enclosed space full of people screaming and singing along, inviting the aerosols to mingle like crazy? Everyone wants to lose themselves in the music. That’s the reason music is there, in person. It almost feels like we’re all gonna have to relearn how to do this entertainment thing. Indoor theaters are struggling, too. Maybe humans don’t want to go to big indoor movie houses much anymore. We’re at the point where actually doing ANYTHING is a hassle. We can achieve so much satisfaction from looking at a screen, screw everything else. I’m just thinking out loud here. I feel it, too. The scene has been getting bored with the old models for a while. How entertainment is defined in 2022 ain’t nothing like it was defined just 20 years ago. It will, at least, be interesting to see what does happen as people start to really emerge from their cocoons. Whatever, Brave Combo loves a challenge. So, keep an eye on our doings, because we WILL be doing something. We signed the lease on our office/rehearsal space for another year.

Check this out! The long-awaited, fancy, double pink vinyl LP, reissue of the Tiny Tim/Brave Combo album, GIRL, is here! It’s a 25th-anniversary celebration, of sorts. A lot of this is out of Brave Combo’s hands, but I have heard that this is a limited release, appealing to serious collectors. One of the LPS is a remaster of the original. The other is a bunch of moments which never saw the light of day until now, including three previously unreleased tracks. If you’re a Tiny Tim freak, this is probably old news.

Brave Combo has started to play in public again here and there and Mardi Gras is almost upon us. So, experience the best of both worlds. Brave Combo’s Mardi Gras Spectacular at the Armadillo Ale Works in Denton on February 26th! We plan to tear it up and hope you might want to venture out and test the waters and experience being entertained. It will be fun, fun, and even more fun! Perhaps you owe it to yourself to attend. I think so.

One more thing. I think I mentioned in a recent newsletter that we’ve been hanging out with the legendary Jad Fair, who shot to indie/punk stardom with his brother, David, in the alternative lo-fi band, Half Japanese. He and I just wrote a song together and have almost completed a video of us performing it. Stay tuned! And, wherever you are, stay warm and healthy!