Volume 10 – #8 – August 2007

In the blink of an eye, you’re even busier. We were in New York City just weeks ago (August 1), about to perform at Joe’s Pub, and I got an email asking if we would be interested in composing and recording the theme song for a new television show. Two important facts: The show is about college football life. And it was scheduled to premiere nationally in less than one month (August 30). Now, anyone that knows me, knows that I don’t follow sports at all and couldn’t be less interested. It doesn’t matter if it’s golf or soccer or poker or power eating or computer gaming. I really don’t care. I enjoy riding my bicycle and swimming and I used to water ski, but competing or even watching others compete never pushed my buttons. I remember being in the high school band hoping that our team (The Texarkana Tigers) wouldn’t make it to playoffs. Marching rehearsals and games screwed up every Thursday and Friday night. I thought that any band members that were rooting for our team to win were idiots. Most of the football team acted like they hated us, anyway, and thought we were nerds, which we were. But the football players were even bigger nerds, like 20 to 30 pounds bigger. In 2007, with a few decades under my belt now, I see all of the high school experience much differently than I did then and realize we were all self-conscious, insecure wanna-bes. All you can be in high school is a wanna-be. You’re not old enough to actually be something, but we all thought we were something. We acted like we knew stuff, but, come on. We lived in Texarkana! Oh yeah, we knew things, like what street the school was on and how long it would take to get from the State Line A & W Root Beer stand to downtown. Or maybe we were hip to what movies were showing at The Paramount Theatre. At least I knew when Mouse and the Traps were playing at Joey’s (groovy live music teen club on the southeast edge of town). There were maybe only 10 other kids in my class of about 400 that ever even went to Joey’s. Whatever, my point is that I’ve never payed much attention to sports. So, of course, when Brave Combo got the offer to create this new “football” song, we jumped on it, even if we were touring like crazy, bouncing like polka dots from one side of the country to the other, promoting a new album, with virtually no time off. So, we found the most convenient place to meet with the clients (Sioux Falls, South Dakota) and sealed the deal. The sheer fact that our paths were crossing in such an unlikely location was a definite faith reinforcer. “It’s destiny. Don’t fight it,” I thought. And now it’s a done deal. We have supplied the show with two rockin’ themes and lots of incidental music. Oh yeah, it’s called BIG TEN FRIDAY NIGHT TAILGATE. And is on FOX’s Big Ten Network. Perhaps if you “Google” the program name you can find out where to see/hear it. I think there’s a good chance you may also hear some snippets from POLKA’S REVENGE (our new CD) tossed here and there. The first installment airs Labor Day Weekend. Watch it if you can find it. Did you know that there are actually eleven teams in the Big Ten Conference? And it blows my mind that I can name them all (and their mascots). Funny world.

Speaking of television, in June of 2008, PBS will begin airing a new animated series (the network’s first ever) called CAR TALK. It’s about the surreal cartoon life of Click and Clack, the famous auto-repair genius brothers and their weekly question and answer radio show. Anyway, earlier this year, we got a call from the TV show’s producer, Howard Grossman, asking us if they could use our version of “The William Tell Overture” for the main theme and then he asked if I would be interested in scoring the show and producing a Brave Combo soundtrack. Wow! What? We’ve done events with Tom and Ray (Click and Clack’s real names) before. One time we performed at their Halloween costume contest in Boston and one time we were on PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION with them. I knew they liked our music and that Doug Berman, the producer of their radio show, had been a great supporter over the years. But I wasn’t prepared for this offer. I immediately accepted and have since been to meetings in New York and Los Angeles. It was an amazing honor to be considered for this, but it’s even more amazing to have the chance to work with the whole CAR TALK team. More about this as it develops. If I wake up and figure out that this is just a dream, I’ll let you know.

Our trumpet player, Danny O’Brien was man-handled at the San Francisco airport because he forgot that his mouth harp was in his back pocket. Let him know how sorry you are.

More hot weather fun. Almost everything’s a blur, but it’s been a fantastic summer so far. There have been too many cool experiences to try to write about them all, but on several occasions we’ve stayed at motels and hotels that were near food outlets. Cable TV choices have been generally decent, too. We’ve also noticed that accordions are absolutely not even underground anymore. They’re everywhere. There was an entire accordion orchard near a festival that we played in July. We plucked a few and got the hell out of there with old Farmer Bellows screaming at us behind the fence, “Stop monkeying around with those accordion trees. Get out of here!” You know, counter culture is alive and well in more places than you’d think; in a lot more hearts than you would think.

WEST FEST! Our good friend, Danny Jerabek, from the Wisconsin band, Copper Box, will be joining Brave Combo for six exciting sets at West Fest on Labor Day Weekend. He’ll be playing button box, trumpet (Dos Dannies Caliente!), and trombone. Also, ex-Comboid, Tim Walsh, will be dropping in and rockin’ the woodwind section. The music is going to be, at least, very full and loud. I hope, for your sake, you don’t miss this spectacular event. Pick up a map and look around the middle of Texas for the little village of West. It’s near Waco.

Check out our new CD, POLKA’S REVENGE. It contains 20 electrifying tracks and if you buy one at a show before 2008 rolls around, you’ll only pay $10 for it. That’s two for $20. Ten for $100. Keep one for yourself and you’re covered for nine Christmas presents.

The times they are a changin’. The public outrage at Michael Vick’s (dog-killing football dude) sociopathic shenanigans has surprised a lot of people. I’ve been saying for a long time that the world is waking up. Everyday, more humans are finding it harder to ignore the fact that animals have feelings and are just as capable of experiencing fear and pain as they, themselves, are. It’s like a wave of awareness is sweeping the land. Even hunters hate this guy’s guts. And I bet a lot of really scary men in prison totally LOVED their dog. I wonder if Michael Vick has thought about that. This is so pathetic I’ll probably never mention it again. Humans have all the power. Animals are pretty defenseless.

We continue to perform like crazy. Please look at our itinerary and see if we’re appearing near you. If so, you know what to do. Charter a bus, pick up all your friends and prepare to be a jolly bunch. Polka music causes your brain to release the same endorphins that you get when you combine sex and chocolate and winning the lottery. Followed by a profound peace of mind. The seas really will part as you glide along the ocean floor on your magic carpet. Try it. You’ll like it! And don’t forget the immortal words sung by Hayley Mills, with her twin sister, Hayley, in the original version of THE PARENT TRAP. “Let’s get together, yeah, yeah, yeah. Why don’t you and I combine. Let’s get together right away. We can have a swinging time.” And then, many years later, Buffalo Springfield (Dusty’s son) warned, “Somethin’s Hap’nin Here.” And years beyond that Barry Manilow cooed, “Mandy, you came and you went without something or another.” Don’t let one more day go by without doing what you should have done in the first place. You know what that is. Sweet day dreams.