The Machine’s Pump Volume 28 – #7 – July 2025

Hey, I have BIG news!  I just found out my name is on a list, in something called “The Epstein Files!”  Woo-Hoo!  Talk about Christmas in July!  That’s good, right?  To be in The Epstein Files?  Do I win something?  This must be something like the “Top Ten Dentists in Denton!”  Whatever, I guess you can tell how excited I am.  Maybe I’ll get a new TV!  Or a transistor radio.  I got one of those for Christmas once.  Santa gave it to me.  And it worked!  At night, in bed, I would listen to KTFS.  After 10 pm, the station played all easy-listening, and they called it “Mostly Music!”  No commercials.  Just dreamy instrumental tracks and an occasional voice, male or female, saying, seductively, “Mostly music.”

Speaking of those pesky Epstein files, it does make me wonder if karma is, indeed, a real thing.  Almost all authoritarian figures from the past have met with very bad final days, usually full of fear and paranoid suspicions just before a grisly end or suicide.  Not pleasant and restful.  Rather, the effects of addiction.  Addiction to power.  Consequently, one so inclined might try to compensate by renaming stuff.  Only a deeply paranoid and, frankly, profoundly insecure person would pour concrete over a beloved rose garden or change the name of a highly revered performing arts center to his own name.  The bully, on the playground, can, apparently, eat all the ice cream he desires, as long as half the kids are too scared of him to make him share.  These are very interesting times, yes?  As people lose their spines do they become more like worms.  No, worms are cool.  And they’re all spine.

And it’s amazing that the richest person in the world gets caught up in that whole power thing, too, and winds up becoming the biggest idiot in the world.  A total joke!  I’m sure that wasn’t his plan, but, indeed, his reputation went south faster than one of his rockets.  Now, this is the fodder for quality television.  We’ll see what happens when power guy gives Epstein’s coconspirator a pardon, telling his Christian base it’s actually okay to abuse, molest and exploit children.  As even Jesus noticed, most of HIS followers were sheep, with no ability, I guess, to think for themselves, other than they knew they wanted to belong to a tribe.  And what better tribe than God’s Tribe?

I know I’ve mentioned this a couple times already, but do find time to dwell on this fascinating astronomy fact now and then.  If you wanted to fly from Earth to the edge of our galaxy (the Milky Way), it would take you 100,000+ light years.  A light year is how far you would travel in a year moving at 186,000 mile a second.  Non-stop.  Constantly. There are around 5 billion stars in The Milky Way, which is a medium-size galaxy.  And each star probably has a planet capable of supporting life.  And there are lots and lots of galaxies, full of stars, many much larger than the Milky Way.  It’s okay to feel and be insignificant.  It should be liberating.  Okay, I’ll probably bring this up again.

The future is now and it’s okay, because it has no choice.  My friend, Paul Slavens, and I have been dabbling in the A.I. music world a bit.  Paul, a lot.  Myself, when I visit him.  Anyway, I know it’s a dark realm to enter, but so was early electronic and synthesized music.  Or music concrete.  Or chance music.  Or conceptual art.  Or performance art.  Or beatniks.  Or even disco!  So, here are a couple of examples of what one can create in 1-2 minutes, after typing in the lyrics and choosing a few prompts.  Lightning fast!   Two versions of “Alone in a Zoo” and one version of “Grandma’s Drugs.”  These are a little rough around the edges and the A.I. brain makes some weird decisions fairly often, but if you’re looking for an alternative to video games or gardening, don’t be scared and figure out how to make A.I. work for you or, at least, entertain you.  And we’ve discovered that Brave Combo is in the A.I. brain, meaning, you can enter “Brave Combo” as a prompt and there’s a good chance the singer will sound sorta like me.  Everything is always changing and we can either try to affect the change in a positive away or adapt to it.  Longing for the past is not only counterproductive, it’s simply an impossible dream and not a noble one.  It’s just about fear and insecurity and too much attachment to what’s known already.  Nostalgia is the enemy of the pioneer/explorer spirit.

Okay, Brave Combo is a band, and we have been on vacation most of the summer, with a few spectacular gigs sprinkled in, but things are about to rev up!  We’re rehearsing and learning new ways to excite you and entice you to the other side.  That’s our job!  So, please check out our itinerary and come out.  We take this very seriously because, we, as well, are very insecure and don’t want to look foolish!

Have a fab day today and another one tomorrow!  And don’t be scared!