The Machine’s Pump Volume 28 – #9 – September 2025

Brave Combo is very busy! Busier than I want to be, frankly. We are playing a lot and rehearsing a lot, and I’m doing a lot of gig paperwork and interviews and photos are being taken, which is never fun, and we have new T-shirts to sell, along with some newly acquired vintage LPS and cassettes. And, suddenly, local media interest is picking up again. What’s going on? Seriously, I don’t know. I’m pretty sure I’m not getting any better looking. Plus, it feels like polka, specifically, is on the verge of another rebirth, as just a musical form, with no strong obligatory ties to any particular ethnicity or heritage, except as musical influence. Some polka is merging with EDM and a genre called hardstyle in Europe, but there are some positive signs even in our sad, fracturing homeland. Polka can often cross boundaries more easily than other styles, because it’s like a friendly alien visiting Earth, to a lot of folks. Exotic, yet familiar and not usually too threatening. It can be nauseatingly sappy at times. But it can also be in-your-face punk-rock-irreverent and still true to its core being. It’s all about tension and release; actual physical stuff. And then, of course, what one chooses to do with that power. Channeling the power of music is what I hope Brave Combo does best, so everyone can feel it! And, in the process, perhaps revealing new ways to see and hear things. Whatever, check our itinerary. A lot of shows are coming up, full of surprises and thrills. Roller coasters and a two-headed baby, pickled in a jar.

Speaking of babies, I often think of the world as a big dangerous kindergarten; a bunch of nasty kids, picking on scared kids, all in gross adult bodies. Humans are just big ego blobs, usually completely ignoring the reason we’re here. Were we born just to eat and poop and look at screens and sleep occasionally? Is it all about comfort and convenience, to live your life buffered from as much unpleasant stuff as possible, so you don’t have to think about it? Well, I guess, if that’s what someone wants, then, yes, that’s what it’s all about. And the other side of that coin is the idea that the world is yours to possess and experience on your terms, so you can mark stuff off your bucket list. It’s lazy and scared versus revved-up and entitled. Now that sounds like an exciting fight!

Okay, since Brave Combo is primarily known as a polka band, I am going to going to draw from my expertise in that capacity and comment on the impact of the assassination of Charlie Kirk. I did not know a lot about him before he was murdered. I’d seen a few bits of his clips and heard his name a lot, but didn’t pay much attention until after he was gone. I knew he was highly thought of in the Evangelical Christian community. So much so, thousands of folks feel he deserves sainthood. When he spoke, a whole lot of people heard beautiful, wise, caring, loving things come out of his mouth, and they deeply related to his style and how he expressed his opinions. Plus, he was white, with a wife and two children. He was not gay or transgender. To some, he and his family were a perfect, God-fearing, Jesus-declaring package, exactly as “real” Americans should be. And I’m not trying to be snarky or disrespectful. This is just how I objectively perceive the devotion of his followers, with no judgment intended.

However, others, including myself, heard the opposite of love, compassion, and empathy. He came off as a fast-talking know-it-all and, in my opinion, said terrible, hateful, destructive things, nothing at all like the Jesus he claimed to embrace. But, my intention is not to put down Charlie or his followers or even challenge them. He should not have been killed just because he expressed some divisive opinions, which, indeed, resonated with a large audience. Unfortunately, all it takes is one unstable person to screw things up and destroy a lot of people’s lives. My point is this. Both sides see and hear the same thing, but one side thinks it’s uplifting, and the other side thinks it’s hateful and hurtful. Yet, we all must live together. So, maybe we’re past the point of trying to change each other’s minds and just need to start working on how two radically different views of life can live in harmony. Or we can decide we don’t want to grow up. We dig being stupid, selfish babies. I remember riding home from church with my parents and brother one Sunday when I was probably around ten. During his sermon, the pastor mentioned how Jews couldn’t go to Heaven because they didn’t believe Jesus was the true Son of God. But, even as a little kid, I figured the Jews were pretty sure they were right, too. So, I asked my mother how that worked. If we knew we were right, for sure, and the Jews knew they were right, for sure, how does that work? She probably said something like it was our responsibility to help save their souls. Oddly enough, a few years after that she became friends with Rabbi Levine and that totally changed her mind about the poor Jews being stuck in hell. She decided he was not going to hell, no matter what he thought about Jesus. So here we are. One side clearly sees something the other can’t see at all, like one of those optical illusion images where one person sees a horse and someone else sees a lawn mower. I will always see the people who stormed the Capital as insurrectionists, idiotic gullible thugs. The other side considers them heroes and applauds their actions, including violence. During the last Presidential campaign, I never heard any reporter ask any candidate what his/her plans were to bring the country together. I kept waiting for that to come up. I guess no one thought about it and no one had a plan, anyway. Whatever, I love tofu, yet I know some people would gag on it. And I get that. Different strokes for different folks, Baby. I can’t live in a world controlled by the radical right. For one thing, I like more music than just The Village People, Kidd Rock and Lee Greenwood. And nothing against any of those artists. I wish them all peace and happiness. Their music is just not for me, although I did like Kidd Rock a little at one time, he had a funky swagger which got hillbillies wiggling and I really liked the very first Village People album, before our president’s favorite ultimate gay anthem of all time “YMCA,” exploded on the scene. Here’s the track, “San Francisco” from that album. And, I ask again, “Why can’t we just be ourselves and not worry about making others believe what we believe?”

Big News. In October, KXT Radio in Dallas will host a Brave Combo Day, featuring the smart and sophisticated DJs playing unreleased Brave Combo tracks throughout the day. As well, Brave Combo has a track on an upcoming album produced by KXT and What-A-Burger.

That’s enough from me. I’m tired and tired of myself. Here are a couple of little Oktoberfest videos I made for no good reason. Come out and hear our glorious noise!