Volume 10 – #5 – May 2007

All Hands on deck! I have an important announcement! United States troop withdrawals from Iraq begin today. Bush and Chaney are so upset about this that they’re resigning immediately and are moving to Mars! Okay, now that I have your attention, the real news is this. Our brand new CD, POLKA’S REVENGE, at the time of this writing, will be ready to order (or buy at our shows) in about a month and may even be available by the time many of you read this (check the merchandise page). It’s a musical extravaganza of 20 (not 10, not 12, not 15, even more than 18) never-before-recorded (by Brave Combo) songs. Initially, we’ll be selling this in the conventional CD package (compact disc, printed sleeves, brittle plastic jewel box, aggravating shrink wrap), but will soon be offering individual tracks for down load from our site, as well. Once again, for better or worse, our style is, literally, all over the map. There are rock polkas, German polkas, Polish polkas, Tex-Mex polkas, big polkas, little polkas, Slovenian polkas, unclassifiable polkas and lots of waltzes, obereks and schottisches, too. By this point you should be frothing at the mouth and counting the seconds. The tracks include, “The Denton Polka,” “I Can See For Miles,” “Crazy Goose,” “Picnic Polka,” “Northside Hop,” “Crystal Pearls,” “Cajun Danish,” “Holiday in Poland,” “Trippy Town (Denton Life),” “Kiss Me, Sweetheart,” “Joy Waltz.” and many more. Unfortunately, I have totally lost objective distance and can no longer hear it. This always happens to me. By the time we finish any CD project, I become a little numb and that’s just when I need to be the most psyched. Oh well, that’s my thing to deal with. I’ll just go get an ear and brain cleansing. Effective and expensive. But, for your fresh ears, my dears, it’s another story. The songs will be like exciting, delicious bits of stir-fried tofu; tasty and good for you. Like in the days when kids got oranges for Christmas to ward off scurvy.

And, speaking of POLKA’S REVENGE, you’ll have myriad opportunities to hear these new songs live and in person all over the USA in June, July and August (the touring season). Check our itinerary page often. At his point, in addition to several stops around Texas, we expect to see you in the following cities: Ft. Wayne (IN), Chicago, Iowa City, Kansas City, Santa Fe, Los Alamos, Albuquerque, Norman (OK), Fayetteville (AR), Little Rock (AR), Innsbruck (MO), Schaumburg (IL), Hammond (IN), Milwaukee, Akron, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Nelsonville (OH), Seattle, Maple Valley (WA), Huntington (NY), New York City, Northampton (MA), Boston, Norwich (NY), Sioux Falls (SD), Lincoln (NE), Los Angeles, San Francisco and Cotati (CA). More dates will probably be added, too. We love to see you at our shows, especially if you dress up as your favorite poisonous spider.

Brave Combo recently contributed a track (“Willkommen Oktoberfest”) to a CD benefiting the organization, Central Texas Dachshund Rescue. The CD is called RESCUE ME and also includes tracks by Vallejo, Terri Hendrix, Shake Russell, Sara Hickman and Trout Fishing in America. For more information or to order the CD, check their web site at www.ctdr.org. Dogs and cats are a big part of my life. We currently have five cats and two dogs living at home with us and they all need both food and attention. This takes time and money. But they all do really funny entertaining things on a daily basis and add a huge hunk to the fun side of living. So, here’s to Augie and Blinkie and Stacie and Dudley and Biscuits and JJ and Sammy Cat! I salute you all for allowing me to take care of you. It’s no secret that I believe animals have a right to be protected from suffering as much as any living creature and that humans have an obligation to monitor the treatment of animals wherever they live. Consequently, the Finch house is a good place for strays to stumble upon. Call me an extremist if you must, but I see in every animal a vulnerable person that didn’t ask to be here and is now living with the cards it’s been dealt. PETA and similar organizations put a lot of pressure on fast food restaurants, like KFC and Burger King to investigate and evaluate their sources of meat (the humaneness of their conditions) and many are finally agreeing to only buy chickens, cows and pigs from free-range suppliers. This is a giant step in the evolution of popular thought concerning the specialness of each living thing. Think about it. How many meat eaters do you know who could kill their own cows or chickens for dinner? Just two hundred years ago it was not uncommon. Now, not only is butchering becoming more esoteric, but the realization of what’s actually going on to create the meat patty for that burger is practically common knowledge and most folks are saddened and repulsed when they find out. As a rule, animals being raised for human consumption live miserable, unimaginable lives. It doesn’t have to be this way, but it is. I don’t mean to sound preachy or to guilt-out anyone. Many of my best friends and co-workers aren’t vegetarian and I know that just my presence at times can be a challenge since I don’t eat meat. Most people are reserved in their exclamations about how delicious their entrée is when I’m sitting at their table and I don’t ever want to be a buzz-kill. I certainly understand that these kinds of life choices are up to the will of the individual, but I also know that, at some point, I had to look at reality and the day-in, day-out suffering caused by muddy stock yards, giant chicken coops, rusty metal chains and confining wooden crates. Once it sunk in, there was no turning back for me. For what it’s worth, there are so many meat substitute products out there these days, even the regular ol’ Kroger has become a wonderland of cruelty-free options. Okay, enough of that.

On a lighter note (a breathy F# above middle C), Banjo, the Australian/Blue Heeler dog we found near Waco a few months ago came to visit us after a gig recently. His adopters, Jill and Frank, brought him out to show us how well he’s doing. The feisty, now somewhat chunky, little guy looked great. This is as cool as it gets.

I recently contributed some liner notes to the CD of a band from Berlin, Germany called Polkaholix (not the Polkaholics from Chicago). They are completely fantastic and well worth checking out at www.polkaholix.de. As with Brave Combo, they are on, as they put it, a mission of polka. We are always blown away to find other musicians that fit comfortably in our little corner of the world. But, you know what, the corner seems to be getting pretty crowded, in a good way, of course. We’ve realized that we are, indeed, part of a growing movement of performers, composers and music aficionados that approach popular music from a different perspective and mind set. Somehow, Brave Combo makes more sense than ever to more and more people. I don’t know how I can say this as live music venues, true alternative radio and record stores are disappearing at a truly alarming rate, but this is how it feels. I guess I’m just hearing so much amazing stuff these days and none of it has a chance through conventional outlets, yet the music is being created and is making its way to me.

Okay, everyone. Brace yourself for Summer 2007. I hope that part of your vacation plans includes a trip to Brave Comboland. We’ll be delighted to play a polka from our new CD, POLKA’S REVENGE, for you (our choice, of course). Onward we go! As should you.