Volume 12 – #3 – March 2009

I didn’t get much sleep last night. As far as I can tell, only about three hours. I don’t know why exactly, although I have plenty of reasons too boring to even examine. I sat in the office at my house for a while, with a sleepy purring cat named Eddy on my lap, listening to the song, “Dangurangu” by controversial Zimbabwean superstar, Thomas Mapfumo. But that shouldn’t have kept me awake. “Dangurangu” and a sleepy cat are both quite soothing, actually. I walked through the house, content with my music and cat experience, turning off lights, and started thinking about doors to the unknown, but only good things or solutions to problems, like brushing my teeth. At first I was really comfortable in bed, then I changed position and was comfortable again, and again over and over. But no matter how I stretched or curled it didn’t turn into sleep. I knew I had a lot to do when I woke up and that didn’t help, but I was happy to have the day available to catch up and I didn’t have to do something like repair a sky tram gondola in freezing snow. Then I thought about how many catalogs we get and how much paper they use. It’s stupid. Dealing with stacks of stuff is a major part of what I do, just like you, huh? Whatever, as I attempted to slumber I may have floated over my back yard for a second and mentioned to a squirrel that we’re about to have a special “dog deck” built at the house. Now that’s something to think about when you’re trying to go to sleep. I sure look forward to watching the dogs discover it. I wish I could magically sense what they’re thinking at that moment! I know they’ll be smelling it like crazy and moving around fast, but will their brains try to grasp it at all? No one can tell me, cause no one knows what alphabet dogs use. That’s why I try to look so deeply into my animals eyes. When they’ll lock gazes with me, we can understand each other on a pretty high level and don’t try to tell me otherwise, cause you don’t know what I’m thinking unless you’re in my head. One of our cats, Stacie, doesn’t like cat food made out of beef. She tries to bury it like it’s something in the cat box. And just today I read that eating lots of beef may shorten one’s life significantly. Now, how did Stacie know that? She’s a smart kitty and a wise kitty.

Next door to the office is a brand new recording studio. It’s late at night here in downtown Denton, the wind is howling, but I’m also hearing muffled bass and drums and some sort of keyboard worming through the walls. The sounds are top secret, but as far as I can tell, hit-bound. A girl named Erin Austin is working on her album with an interesting crew of folk from around the country. She came over the other day and told me she had just won the pop/rock category in the 2009 John Lennon song writing contest. Now that’s something to think about and keep you up at night. It’s more than something. It’s a pretty big deal. That’s why the muffled bass and drums sound so confident. The force is with them. The momentum of knowing. Now they’re starting to rock out a little more. It’s been trance-y up to this point.

We were in Sweden once playing in a town called Upsala and we saw a hedgehog by a church near a death metal club at 10:00 PM, and the sun was still fairly high in the sky.

Have you heard the good news? Our new, politically-correct, way to play musical chairs is to never take away a chair when the music stops, so that every child always gets a chair. This version of the game can go on indefinitely. Heaven and Hell are supposed to be forever, too. The idea of an eternity in Hell used to really freak me out. It would never end. Never. I figured there would be bad days and not so bad days, but I could not fathom something unpleasant never ending. Hmmm. It still freaks me out a little. I don’t want to think about this anymore.

Bass players on parade. Brave Combo has been fortunate to have great bass players laying down the low end over the years. In the beginning (1979) was Lyle Atkinson. He contributed immensely to our early punk rock determination to be way different and was with the band for four years, eventually leaving to pursue his interest in computer technology and get off the road. I think he was pretty tired of not making any money, too. That’s understandable. Then Bubba Hernandez exploded onto the scene and was a major player, singer and songwriter in the band for 20 years! Ultimately, he had things he needed to do without the influence of BC and, I think, felt that it was a “now or never” kind of thing. He formed Los Super Vatos with some Houston vatos and began to blaze his own trail. I had seen Ann Marie Harrop play with Guy Forsythe near Austin once and got her card, anticipating Bubba’s departure. A couple of years later she joined the band and immediately won the hearts of BC fans everywhere, amazing everyone at how quickly she learned the material and fit in, especially with the different polka styles. The girl can memorize like a mofo. Alas, she felt like it was time to bring some “normal” stability to her life, met someone special and decided to go back to school and pursue a career in landscape architecture. Did you know she was a code inspector for the city of Austin once? Weird life. Between Bubba and Ann Marie, and as Ann Marie moved into her new groove, our good friend, Ross Schodek, stepped in and helped us fill the gap and stay grounded, literally. This guy is beyond amazing and brings a knowledge of latin styles into the band that has, once again, moved Brave Combo into a new dimension. I said it recently, but, really, you need to hear what Arjuna, Ross and Joe Cripps have been cooking up these days. As well, you should hear Joe’s and Ross’ band, Mi Son, Mi Son, Mi Son. They play in Denton regularly. But Ross, as we’ve always known, is a very busy fellow and leads his own latin ensembles, hoping that a steady weekly showcase for his new salsa project will kick off soon. So, the search for the right bass player for Brave Combo continued and it looks like the chair is once again filled. Fanfare! Longtime buddy, supporter and extended family member Steve Carter (aka Little Jack Melody), is now learning the BC catalog like crazy. We’ve been live-streaming our rehearsals and will do it periodically, so check our site and spy on us as we whip Steve into shape. He’ll also be adding his unique singing voice to our already bizarre vocal blend. So, there’s the saga up to the present. However, don’t be surprised to see any of these incredible musicians on stage with us, especially with 2009 being our 30th year. Hell, we might try to put Ann Marie’s head on Bubba’s body equipped with Ross’ arms, Steve’s legs and Lyle’s sense of humor. Now that would be worth at least as much as it costs to see Madonna or the AMERICAN IDOL SUMMER TOUR. Any questions?

It’s pretty interesting living in a time when exhibition of opulence is almost a sign of someone being either stupid or embarrassingly out of touch. It might not be too cool to show off expensive possessions or flaunt wealth anymore. And, did you hear that it has been scientifically proven that lobsters and crabs experience pain? At least science now backs the obvious. Lobsters, if not plucked from their home and boiled alive, live to be in their 80s and appear to mate for life. I wonder how many people think these are important things to know.

We invited Harvey Pekar to Denton and be a part of the city’s first music conference, called NX35, and he accepted, came to town with his wife, Joyce Brabner, and talked about the importance of keeping music truly creative. He’s been a regular contributor to music magazines, including DOWNBEAT, primarily as a jazz critic. Anyway, Jeffrey acted as moderator for the talk and it went really well. I think everyone in attendance totally dug it. Harvey and Joyce were in town for several days and we all ate a lot and looked at cool stuff in Denton. The weather sucked during the conference.

So, touring season is just about upon us. We’ll be invading some of our favorite Midwest spots in early April (Kansas City, Minneapolis, Lincoln, Cedar Rapids and Chicago) and hope, if you live in or near one of these fine towns, you’ll catch the show. Please check our itinerary for details. Also, look to the future. Many dates around the country are already on the calendar and lots are being added every week. Chances are, you’ll have an opportunity to enjoy the musical antics of Brave Combo in 2009. I say, “Get up, get out and get down!,” meaning get up off the couch, get out of the house and get down with your spouse (or boyfriend or girlfriend or just friend or by yourself, even). In this context, “get down” means dancing, of course. Okay, let’s make something out of this mess or wallow in the past. Now is now. Polka is now.