Volume 11 – #2 – February 2008
Okay. Let’s get this out of the way. Our album, POLKA’S REVENGE did not win a Grammy for Rock Album of the Year or best Heavy Metal Bluegrass Children’s Album. We don’t know what happened. We also didn’t win the Polka Grammy, but weren’t expecting to and were just happy to be nominated again. So, please stop crying. You know, like I’ve always said, “Two Grammys are plenty, unless we win a third someday, then three will be plenty.” Whatever, there’s just no time for tears because there are more and more polkas to learn and arrange and perform and record and release. Losing is cool.
Speaking of POLKA’S REVENGE, the premiere Internet polka music network, 247 POLKA HEAVEN, conducted a poll of the best recordings of 2007 and, wow, Brave Combo did very well. In the “Variety Polka CD” category we came in 2nd. In the “Best New Songs” category “Stan Blout Medley” came in 6th and “At The Polkafest” came in 8th. And Category #5 lists the top five polka entertainers of the year as follows:
1. Polka Family Band
2. Brave Combo
3. Eddie Blazonczyk’s Versatones
4. Jimmy Sturr Orchestra
5. Fred Ziwich and the ISM
This is particularly gratifying because, almost exclusively, polka music fans cast the 4500 votes. We are extremely pleased and honored that our efforts have been recognized by the polka community in this way and want to thank everyone that supports us.
DOWNER NEWS
The treatment of downed cows (can no longer stand up for whatever reason) at slaughterhouses and stockyards around the country is one reason I became a vegetarian. There has been a lot of media attention given to this recently due to renewed worries over contaminated beef so perhaps you are also hearing about what’s going on in those hell holes. I stopped eating cows around the time Brave Combo was born because I just could no longer be a part of the cycle of suffering inflicted on these innocent animals. I do respect that the decision to eat meat is a personal and private thing, but if you are considering becoming a vegetarian, watch this video. It will probably seal the deal.
https://community.hsus.org/campaign/CA_2008_investigation/e665d59z7jimi5w?
SIMILAR TOPIC. My life-long favorite candy is M & Ms. You may have heard of them and maybe even eaten a few. It’s recently come to light that Mars, the company that makes M & Ms, has been conducting inexplicable and inexplicably cruel animal experiments in the name of research for some time. Conversely, Hershey, Mars’ biggest competitor, proudly claims that they have never had a need to do such a thing. PETA has begun a campaign to persuade Mars to change its policies, but until they do, no more M & Ms for me.
Speaking of extremely sweet things, Brave Combo will be performing at the 2008 National Accordion Convention in Dallas on March 14. Check our itinerary page for details. I’ll also be debuting a new band that night featuring four great accordionists, Danny Jerabek, Ginny Mac, Patrick Harrison and Bradley Williams. The amazing Wesley Kucera will be on drums and I’ll be playing piano and keyboard bass. It will be just like The Doors, but instead of Jim Morrison and Robby Krieger (guitar) we’ll have a bunch of accordions. This may be the next big thing or may never happen again. Either way, how can you miss it? I’m thinking of a name for the group right now. How about Carl’s Comrades? Or something like The Sandpaper Smoothies or perhaps The Plastic Explosion Inevitable. I was in a band for about two months in Texarkana (between The Lords of Sound and Rasputin and The Monks) called The Plastic Explosion Inevitable. I remember rehearsing at someone’s house, but I don’t know if we ever played a gig. The organist in the band moved to Los Angeles a few years later and was murdered.
Performing with the Mesquite Symphony was a total blast. We really appreciate Roger Gilliam, the conductor/director, for encouraging us to make it happen. We unveiled four newly orchestrated Brave Combo songs at the show (“For Me,” “Golden Opportunity,” “A Little Bit Irish” and “The Denton Polka”) bringing our grand total BC symphonic arrangements to seventeen. The hall was packed with music lovers, which is much better than a hall full of music haters. That would never work. It would be like taking a person who can’t stand pickles to a pickle restaurant. Anyway, I have to say, doing these symphony shows is a gas. Singing along with a bunch of beautiful violins backing me is a thrill that’s hard to beat and I welcome opportunities to do it again. The show was recorded and we’re quite pleased with the results. So, you can expect a new BC/Symphony album by this summer. It’s a big, big sound.
CAR TALK TV rolls along. We are beginning work on episode #6 (there are ten in the series for 2008) and it’s starting to feel like a normal part of life. In case you don’t know what I’m talking about, Brave Combo and I are scoring and producing music for a brand new prime time PBS animated show about Click and Clack, from the popular NPR program, CAR TALK. This is great fun and a lot of work (so I’m glad it’s fun). It feels like we’re composing and recording constantly right now. I guess there’s a good chance the Brave Combo repertoire of original music will more than double by the time the show airs in June. Maybe we can do a night of all CAR TALK music somewhere this summer. Would y’all come out for a show like this? What if we could get Click and Clack there? What if we added people dressed up in costumes that looked like characters from the show? What if we threw in some familiar characters, too, like Santa and Dracula and the Michelin Man? Then, what if we added Jesse Jackson, Andy Rooney and a famous NASCAR driver to the bill and opened the show with the best local Barbershop Quartet we could find? Okay, I know I need to keep it simple, so we’ll blow off the Michelin Man. That might look like some sort of endorsement anyway. Well, let me know if you’d attend such a thing. Oh yeah, I forgot, the Dave Mathews Band, with guests Bono and Prince, would also be there, performing right after the Phish reunion and Fall Out Boy. Henry Rollins will present the opening remarks and introduce a current AMERICAN IDOL finalist to lead everyone in a big mandatory group sing of “Row, Row, Row Your Boat.” Man, this is starting to sound like the annual Finch Family Christmas party. I have a lot of experience with event planning and show strategy. When I was young I would put on original plays and variety shows with my next-door neighbor, Martha Arnold. She was year older, probably around ten, and had a flair for the dramatic. We would write songs and sketches and some longer scripts, pull together a flimsy stage (probably a couple of tables) and put on productions for family and immediate neighbors. That’s when I learned that most of the fun is in the process. Planning to put on a show was better than actually putting on the show. I don’t feel like that anymore.
Speaking of current AMERICAN IDOL finalists, the girl that sang harmony with me on “Precious Freedom,” our rock and roll tribute to July 4th (from the CD, HOLIDAYS), Kristy Lee Cook is in the top 16 on the hit TV show (at the time of this writing). About four years ago she sang during one of our breaks at a benefit in Ft. Worth and we were blown away and asked her to sing on a song we were recording that week. She came into the studio and knocked it out like a pro. We wish her the best and will, of course, continue to follow her career beyond AMERICAN IDOL.
Brave Combo will be a part of Mojo Nixon’s annual radio show/party/concert at The Continental Club, in Austin, during SXSW. The date is Saturday, March 15 and it will be the place to be, so be there. I seem to remember something about Mojo living at the Austin Motel, just up Congress from the Continental Club, many years ago, but maybe it was someone else. I also heard a rumor once that Michael Jackson was living on the square in Denton in the secret backroom of a clothing store named Crazy Legs. This would have been about 25 years ago, around the time THRILLER was released. Can anyone confirm this for me?
Okay, time to re-enter the present and plug the phones back in. Again, more time has passed and there is stuff to do. So, I’ll leave you with a closing thought and wish for you, productivity in the realm of the unknown. “Fight the desire to seek an easy life.” That’s it for now.