The Machine's Pump | Brave Combo

The Machine’s Pump Volume 23 – #4 – April 2020

I’ve been staying up later than usual and sleeping later than usual. Sometimes I don’t get out of bed until noon. I’ve been making big plans about various home-improvement projects and actually starting on about 1% of them. I’ve been watching and ignoring the same news you’ve been watching and ignoring, I’ve been hanging out with Jane, my wife, a lot, which is pretty easy. We’ve had a lot of practice. Although I’m sure she wishes she could have her weekends back. Also hanging out with our animal menagerie way more than normal, which I’m digging most of the time. Dogs want to please. Cats want to please themselves. It’s a good thing I’m crazy about all of them. Cooking and cleaning up after cooking has been a good way to fill the hours. Also, I don’t mind sitting and staring and am trying to get even better at it. I’m thinking about the best way to do virtual concerts and iPhone video premieres (See Below). In general, I’m constantly wondering how musicians and artists can actually be engaging and exciting to an audience without being in the same room. This requires me to think out loud, way more than Jane cares to hear, about how to make any artistic expression desirable and relevant enough to be sustainable, now and in the new version of the future. Live music was already struggling anyway. That’s no secret. So, perhaps this is an opportunity to reintroduce ex-club goers, for instance, to something they forgot. Jeez, I have crazy ideas in stable times. Remember those? Stable times? Well, now that we’re living in WTF Land every bizarre minute, I can barely control my need to create solutions for everything around me, specifically how to make art and music fit into a rattled, insecure society. How do you get people to stop and focus AND make it worth their effort? Musicians’ iPhone concerts can come off looking like people playing for tips on the street, which is fine. Some of the best YouTube videos are street musicians blowing everyone away. But, generally, people don’t want to hear more than a couple of songs from street musicians. I always feel like if I invite someone into my realm, it’s my job to see that they are entertained or intrigued or that I’m providing a different perspective which they may find interesting. I always felt like that was the power of Brave Combo. That’s our thing; to screw with a song or a style or a sound and re-present it to our audience so they hear it differently. You know, like an optical illusion. People like optical illusions. There are many challenges involved. One, of which, is to not be too clever. I only play music I really, really like and it’s important to me to interpret my perception of that beauty to someone who goes to the trouble to check out what I’m doing or thinking. I never want anything to overshadow that; the musical specialness. Our hora version of “People Are Strange” has been incredibly valuable to us. It’s a sure-fire get-em-on-your-side show starter. The idea of a Doors song as a fast polka has been a guaranteed mood-lifter for over 40 years. And there are still plenty of people who get the humorous juxtaposition. But, it also works very, very well as a straight-up hora and we regularly insert it into long group dances at weddings and bar mitzvahs. The Doors came up with a great piece of music and playing it well is as important as any shock value we add to the picture. We have standards, you know!!

You can check our itinerary of live shows if you want, but keep in mind it may all change tomorrow or just disappear entirely. I figure concerts, festivals and even club shows will be the last to recover. If you see a musician walking down the street, please tell him or her how sorry you are that people can’t gather right now and start crying, if you can. Six feet apart, of course. This all sucks even worse because most musicians have fragile egos. What a sad world. You know, on second thought, if you see a musician walking your way, just cross the street and don’t risk an encounter. It would just be awkward.

The new album or rather collection of songs is finished and mastered and ready to sell on the road. Uh-oh. No road. So, maybe we don’t need CDs for a while, but we are making videos for all the tracks and will be releasing those through various means, starting immediately. Keep watching our website and social media for fast-breaking news.

And, actually, do check our itinerary occasionally. We will be doing more stuff online, for sure. Maybe a lot more and we want YOU to watch.

Okay, gotta go avoid doing several things and just play with animals. However, it’s nap time around here right now. Hmmm. Which one will I wake up? I love guessing games. It might have to be Twitchie. She’s the only one awake and looks ready-to-go! I hope you are having as much fun as I am! Go team!

The Machine’s Pump Volume 23 – #3 – March 2020

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Hey out there! Is there any point in this newsletter? No surprise, but there are no live Brave Combo shows until, at least, June, so no need to check our precarious itinerary for a while. It’s a mess. We are plowing ahead with the new album and accompanying videos, however. At this writing, I believe all members of the BC family, full-time and part-time, are well. Beyond that, my day-to-day is probably similar to yours. Lots of PETTICOAT JUNCTION and spinach. It appears people have been adopting animals more than usual, which is good. The skies around the world have never been clearer and bluer. That’s a plus. Everyday traffic around Denton feels and sounds like Thanksgiving or Christmas and the normally constantly bustling downtown is stone-cold quiet every day and night. Just like you, I’m organizing and repairing little things around the house which I’ve been putting off, but I’m also allowing myself to do nothing. There’s no hurry to do anything, except walk the dogs, feed dogs and cats and clean litter boxes. Those are priorities #1, #2 and #3. See, this isn’t very interesting.

INTERESTING OBSERVATION. I think left-wingers are probably adjusting to our bizarre new world well enough because we’ve been trying to navigate through a bizarre new world for three years already. I know I’ve been sensing the train running off the rails for a long time, as have most of my friends. We are now accustomed to years of “WTF” events. Up was already down for us. It’s like we knew the volcano was going to erupt any day. Everything is perspective, right? Perhaps we should all be more thankful that we are getting to be on Earth for so many mind-blowing, never-happened-before moments. Too bad most of those moments have sucked, so far. 2020 isn’t doing so well, huh? Or is it? If you consider yourself to be a Socialist-Democrat the old crisis/opportunity concept might work in your favor this year. The idea of the government covering basic needs for everyone, every day, is probably sounding way better to a lot more folks than it did a month ago. That old “American Dream” could be heading out to pasture. We have to accept the fact that the “Greatest Country on Earth” was amazingly slow to respond to really loud warning sirens and its leaders decided to play Russian roulette (of course) with the citizens they’re sworn to protect. Why did the people in our highest office downplay the virus threat, pretend it was a hoax and even mock those who were trying to alert the public and organize a response? That’s a puzzler. What was the genius strategy behind that?

Person 1: You know what humor is?
Person 2: What?
Person 1: Pain plus time.

HEARD RECENTLY. “Our planet sent us all to our rooms to think about what we’ve done!”

One more thought on current events. If indeed, we find that this all started from a live “wet” animal market, then how about reevaluating our addiction to meat. Chickens, cows, pigs, ducks, sheep, goats, dogs, bats, salamanders, pangolins, and the list goes on and on and on. Plus, scientists (remember those) have been warning us, for years, that we’re running out of fresh water, largely due to the needs of livestock raised for human consumption in factory farms. Besides, no animal wants to be in that cruel situation, right? Something to think about.

Okay, try not to feel too sorry for yourself, cause someone else probably has it much worse.
Also, there are a lot of musicians and artists dabbling in the unknown on-line, experimenting with living room concerts, trying to figure out what works and what doesn’t and if people/fans are even that interested right now. Music streaming has dropped dramatically since the virus became the only news. Radio-listening is way up. But some cool stuff will emerge from the fear and the chaos. It always does. The biggest song of some recording star’s career will be inspired by recent events. It might be corny and sappy, but it will happen. Did you know Sammy Davis Jr. hated “The Candy Man” and Barry Manilow hated “I Write the Songs?” See, you never know. All together now, from the safety of our houses, let’s sing that old Doris Day classic, “Que Sera Sera,” with conviction! The unknown is groovy, Baby! Embrace it! You got no choice!