Volume 12 – #2 – February 2009

Brave Combo will begin celebrating our 30th Anniversary in a few months. We technically had our first gig in April of 1979, but things didn’t really kick in until the summer. Actually things probably didn’t kick in until about 1985, or maybe things haven’t quite kicked in yet. Whatever, I heard the old term, “leap of faith” recently and thought about how so many things we did in those early years represented enormous leaps of faith for the members of Brave Combo. We knew almost nothing about anything and the indie “how-to” books were still years away from being written. We could tell that something was going on in the world and thought there was a place for a polka-rock band, but that’s about all we knew. It seemed that getting out on the road was a good idea and as I look back at the calendars from those days, money was definitely not the motivation. None-the-less, taking the BC sound to the masses, seemed to be important and New York City was a logical destination. Through our friends, fellow Texas Rockers, Joe King Carrasco and The Crowns, we were able to land a gig at a club in Manhattan, but had no way to get ourselves there. We didn’t even have a van at the time we committed to the performance. Somehow we were able to scrounge up four or five other shows in the 2 ½ East Coast swing, but our total pay was less than $500. That means total, for four musicians, for 2 ½ weeks. Anyway, after paying about $3500 for a very used van and another $500 on repairs (it broke down in Tennessee, North Carolina, Brooklyn and Missouri) during the trip, we came back quite in the hole, but not discouraged. That one important gig was the reason we took the leap. The god of rock journalism, Lester Bangs (Google him), was sitting there checking us out and apparently thought we were groovy enough to put at the top of his “Pazz and Jop” poll that appeared weekly in THE VILLAGE VOICE. Kurt Loder had already mentioned us in ROLLING STONE (“Random Notes” was his domain in the early 1980s), but nothing carried the weight of a Lester Bangs endorsement. After that, it seemed we could barely keep up with the requests for our LP, MUSIC FOR SQUARES. We were even reviewed in the French edition of ELLE magazine. We knew that someone might hear us and think novelty, but we also knew that the opposite was possible. This band’s intention was never to be a one-punchline joke. We had that going for us and could only hope that other people would see it, too. My point to all of this is to demonstrate how critical it was for Brave Combo to live up to its name, to put money, convenience, comfort, predictability and, to a degree, safety aside and jump into the void. Something told us to do it and that something was ourselves. That corny inner voice that’s different from the voice that controls you through fear. The first two or three years of the band set certain standards for how we would conduct ourselves in the future and taught us to have faith and to pay attention to that thing that’s trying to guide us. Beyond that, I don’t know what it is. I believe you can have it with or without religion, though, for some people it’s easier to experience if it’s attached to something more “concrete” than nothing. We had nothing. I don’t remember asking for God’s help AND we were attempting to be some sort of mutant polka band. This shouldn’t have lasted more than a couple of weeks. But now, Brave Combo is almost 30 years old. In that 30 years we’ve probably made more bad decisions than good ones and only about 10% of our “sure things” have come about, but we still have faith and follow that feeling. Besides new challenges can sometimes be more fun than a drag. Specific details on 30th Anniversary events will follow as we figure them out. Check our site often and plan to attend.

Denton’s first pop music conference, NX35, is happening. The dates are March 12-15, 2009, just before SXSW kicks off in Austin. This would be THE time to come to Denton. Our friend, Harvey Pekar will be here discussing jazz criticism and his new jazz opera. We will never look better or hipper. So, please come and experience us at our best, or at least, most interesting. Fall in love. Stay a while. Brave Combo will be performing at the Boiler Room on, appropriately enough, Friday, the 13th. They should have a panel that day called, “All The Things That Can Go Wrong In A Band.” You know, since it is Friday, the 13th. Any band in attendance will be an authority on that subject. www.nx35.com

We played a party in Dallas recently and needed to load our equipment into a service elevator to take us to the private party room on the 17th floor. At the same time lots of workers were using the same service elevator to load, literally, tons of sheet rock, old carpet, plywood, etc. down from the 14th floor and out to the dumpsters. This was on a Saturday night. They were working frantically and we really needed to get to the 17th floor with our stuff. It was an enormous hassle for everyone, but the private club was pretty swanky with a commanding view of north Dallas. Arjuna pointed out Mark Cuban’s house. Anyway, we were griping about how stupid the load-in was when the club manager came up to us and asked if we knew why they were giving the 14th floor a face lift. She said it was the new office of George W. Bush and he was moving in on Monday. That guy is still getting in our way.

NEWS FLASH! Brave Combo has just recorded a polka that will be featured on a new album by some big-time Denton pop stars. Our evil plan is really starting to take hold. Can’t tell you anymore than that for now, other than it will be a summer release and, hopefully, impossible to avoid by August. Taking it to the kids, Baby!

The fun has just begun. We’re getting our ducks in a row and marching them into the new frontier, the vast unknown or whatever you want to call it. Exactly what am I talking about? I’ll tell you. We have started broadcasting some of our rehearsals live and taking requests over the Internet while we practice. Since it is, technically, a rehearsal, we have to get down to business and try to forget that the camera is there (tastefully positioned to capture our best sides, of course) but we do dance around a little and accidentally talk about people we know and put funny things on our heads. Unfortunately, we don’t usually give even ourselves more than about 48 hours notice, but will get the word out the best we can via Facebook, Twitter and the BC email list. Maybe we can put a banner on the front page of the web site that flashes “LIVE BC REHEARSAL TONIGHT!” Or something like that. There was an old church in East Denton that had a blue neon sign along the top of the roof that flashed, one word at a time, in a row, “JESUS IS COMING SOON.” It’s gone now and Jesus isn’t back yet. Most bands these days must become more marketing machines than musicians and explore every way possible to reach fans and sink in their fangs. We need your blood, your money, your every thought to make ourselves bigger and even bigger still. Then when we get that big we’ll get even bigger as we bite more innocent victim’s necks and swallow soul after defeated soul. Jesus better get here quick before this polka monster gets completely out of control and forgets the reason we’re all here, which is, uh, hmmm. Well, why are we here? Other than to be the inevitable result of sex between humans. Is the act the reason? Does anyone think there are not enough people on this planet? Like that old Burt Bacharach song, “What the World Needs Now is Babies and More Babies.” Dionne Warwick sang that song and too many other BB hits. Those two were like the powerhouse duo of dull. The songs were clever, yes. Too clever, yes, usually. And Dionne’s voice was just plain weird, though frighteningly distinctive; perfect for the popular pastel hues of the 1970s? Hell, yeah. And they were held in high regard, as were Barbra Streisand and Burt Reynolds. One time we played a party at Barbra Streisand’s house in Malibu. She wasn’t there, but we saw pictures of James Brolin hanging around. I tried to imagine a bunch of people having a party at my house while I was away. That makes me feel just a little nauseated, so I’ll go back to my original thought here, which is that we (Brave Combo) are, on occasion, doing a live streaming thing. So, spy on us.

Please keep your beautiful eye on our itinerary. Dates are being added daily and perhaps one is near you. And remember that one day inevitably leads to another. There’s a reason, but don’t worry about it. Just make the best of what’s in front of you, if you can. I’ll try to do the same. Now on to the house of confusion, where I live. Stabilize the rudder and polka till you drop.