The Machine’s Pump Volume 29 – #2 – February 2026

I wake up to a longer-than-endless list of things to do every day, as do you, I’m sure. I’m always trying to do too much, and I don’t even WANT to do most of it. And now that our poor country has turned into the United States of The Twilight Zone (or the Twilight Zone of America, take your pick), just daily tasks have a dark cloud of uncertainty hanging over them, and that makes everything a lot harder. And witnessing a coalition of zombies constantly trying to normalize the ridiculous and dangerous whims of a man, driven insane by his unbridled ego, is jaw-dropping. And yet, I can still feel myself struggling to make sense of the horror show, just so I can establish a way to navigate. But we’re living on the edge of Russia or North Korea. It can happen this fast and, unfortunately, the playbook on how to react is Minneapolis. And I say, “unfortunately,” because that’s how much passion the future is going to require. MINNESOTA TOUGH means something to everyone now, and it’s up to everyone to do something just as committed. An interesting guy often walks around the downtown Denton square with a big sign, sporting a clever, biting statement, usually mocking the current head resident of the White House and his snarky minions. A recent sign said, “PUT CHRIST BACK IN CHRISTIANITY!” I really liked that one and gave him a thumbs up, as I drove by, but he didn’t see me. He always looks pretty serious and determined, which is inspiring. So, I encourage you to live the protest. It works. Target stores are in trouble because regular shopping folks, with money to spend, did not like the company dropping DEI initiatives. And Home Depot, as it turns out, has actually been helping ICE terrorize people at its stores and now the CEO is acknowledging they are having financial worries, as well, due, in part, to making bad decisions. He should also add he’s spineless and stupid. I hope he’s worrying non-stop, even while he’s pretending to pray begging for a miracle from some vague figure he imagines living high up in the clouds. Part of him knows that siding with evil ain’t a good thing. He doesn’t need some god to tell him that. Well, whatever, try to enjoy the freak show and imagine ways to throw wrenches in their nasty works. It’s fun to ponder stuff like that.

MODERN TECHNOLOGY. There’s a crowd-control sound machine, called The Mosquito, which emits very annoying high-frequency sound waves that only people under 30 can hear. And there are sound wave cannons, which can do all sorts of things to those on the receiving end. Look ‘em up.

David Card, owner of Poor David’s Pub, a fixture on the Dallas music scene for about as long as there has been a Brave Combo, is retiring, and he asked us to play his legendary venue one more time before he’s out the door. And we said, “Of course,” of course. So we are doing just that, on Saturday, March 21. Poor David’s was one of the first clubs we played in Dallas (David claims it WAS our first), and my memories of the place are overwhelming. There are just so many. This will be a special night, because David’s a special guy and Dallas has been darn lucky to have him here, providing a great environment, with great sound, where original live music is encouraged and celebrated. You should all come out and pat David on the back, and, as a bonus, you can hear us play!

AND, on Saturday, March 28, Brave Combo will be performing at an event honoring The Hip Pocket Theater in Fort Worth, another stage we frequented in the early days. Yeah, check our itinerary for details and come out to this super groovy happening, too. WE were lucky to be around lots of forward-thinking, creative people when it really mattered. And it’s weird having Poor David’s Pub and The Hip Pocket Theater a week apart, just like the old days!

Okay, gotta go to bed. Tomorrow is studio day. Mixing some crazy music, performed/recorded by Jad Fair, Lisa Cameron, Jeffrey Barnes, and me. I think you’re gonna like the results.

Brave Combo has been on vacation for a couple of months, but that’s about to change a bit. You can start checking our itinerary again now!

Don’t be scared! Let’s Polka!