Volume 15 – #4 – April 2012

BIG NEWS OF INTEREST TO ALL EARTHLINGS. Our new CD, SOUNDS OF THE HOLLOW, is finished. We should have thousands of copies in our hands by early May, just in time for our local/regional CD release wing-dings or wang dang doodles, whichever you prefer. Please mark the following on your “engagements” calendar. The Dallas party is at The Sons of Hermann Hall, on Saturday, May 12, the Denton party is at The Abbey Underground, on Friday, May 18, the Austin party is at Jovita’s, on Saturday, May 19, the Houston party is at Dosey Doe’s (in the Woodlands, actually) on Thursday, May 31 and the Ft. Worth party is at Scat Jazz, on Friday, June 8. These are all great venues, full of good vibes, good sound, good drinks and friendly people, trained to make your trip to the moon, I mean your evening with Brave Combo, a fantastic experience. Passports are no longer necessary. As an added incentive, we will be selling the new CD, at the designated CD release events, for a ridiculously, embarrassingly low price. Whatever, bring wads of cash, or your credit card, with you.

Speaking of SOUNDS OF THE HOLLOW, the title has two meanings. The “hollow” refers to a place, so to speak and a state of mind or an altered perspective. But don’t worry about that. It doesn’t matter. In fact, it’s a hollow, and the opposite of matter. It’s nothing. But, the album has much more than nothing on it. There are 15 songs, plus an intro, an outro and two moody interludes. The songs are, as follows:

1. Baby, Baby, Baby, Don’t – This is an old Italian folk song, played as a cumbia (with new lyrics provided by us) which morphs into an old Russian folk song. The arrangement that inspired our version was sung in French by a Vietnamese recording artist.
2. Seduction – Ft. Worth accordionist, Ginny Mac, joined the band in 2011, but this new CD is our first to feature her amazing talent. “Seduction” is one of her original songs.
3. Fiesta – In the Fellini movie, 8 ½, a woman is seen dancing on a beach in front of some teenage boys. This is the song driving her passion. Some people call it “The Rumba,” because it was called that in the movie. But the real title is “Fiesta” and it was written many years earlier.
4. Rose Maria – A Polish polka standard. The first version I ever heard was by Ray Budzilek from Cleveland.
5. Tattletale Twist – Another Polish standard, but this one played as a twist. Orlando accordion star, Joe Oberaitis, sent me a cassette once with cool modern, kinda techno/disco-fied arrangements of old Polish songs. One of those inspired this.
6. The Dance Lesson – It’s an original Little Jack composition and actually is a rumba. That’s Jack singing, too.
7. Snowflake Reel – Traditional song from Nova Scotia. It’s a reel and, apparently, written to honor the snowflake.
8. What Do You Want – This is a fast polka, written by me. It’s a remix of a song we released on a 7-inch vinyl record in 2011 and it has nothing to do with romance.
9. History of a Love – Famous old song which we play as a rock tango, of course. Mucho many folks have recorded this classic and now we have, as well.
10. Zombiefied – Also previously released on our vinyl record in 2011. Another BC original, featuring band alumnus, Bonnie Norris on violin.
11. Jesusita en Chihuahua – This is a polka that transcends all polka boundaries. Czech-style bands play it, Polish-style bands play it, Slovenian-style bands play it, German-style bands play it, Brave Combo-style bands play it, Conjunto, Tejano and Mariachi bands play the hell out of it. You’ve heard it even if it doesn’t sound that familiar, which it probably will. This song immediately says, “Hey, it’s a polka party!”
12. Mambo Dolito – This is an old latin groover, probably from Mexico. Brave Combo played it a couple of decades ago and decided to revive it. Jeff used to play two horns at once on this one.
13. Where I Belong – Original pop song with an anthemic chorus, about being yourself, which is a common theme in Brave Combo’s music.
14. America, the Beautiful – You know it, you love it, but you’ll really love it as our Conjunto-style polka. And, yes, that is the sound of a Tejano bar in Tijuana you hear in the background.
15. Making Out in the Bowling Alley – Inspired by the sound and the times of famous dance band leader, Billy Vaughn. It’s a dreamy double-sax way to say the party’s over. So, there you have a brief description of each song. Now it’s up to you to take it to the next level and introduce it to your ears.

Speaking of CD release parties, we are planning them all over the country this summer, so please keep an eye on our itinerary.

Hey, did you hear that the four Brave Combo members from our silver era (roughly 1984-1992), reunited, unexpectedly, at the 35 des Refuses festival, in Denton, recently? That would be myself, Jeffrey, Bubba and Mitch. We played about 30 minutes and were extremely loud, but also pretty damn rocking, too. There are photos and video floating around.

Speaking of that silver era, Brave Combo made its first trip to Japan a little over 20 years ago. We would never have gone, at all, if it were not for Mr. Toyo Nakamura. He was the editor of MUSIC MAGAZINE, Japan’s equivalent to ROLLING STONE, and loved to travel the world, in search of new, unusual music. Somewhere, he stumbled upon our album, HUMANSVILLE and returned to Japan with it and, ultimately, convinced a very open-minded, somewhat artistically-radical, production company, B. U. SYNDICATE, to take a chance on us and bring us over. So, they did and we did. The result was a little tour, which introduced us to Japan’s music scene. This opened up everything, under the midnight sun, to us. Mr. Nakamura often featured us prominently in the magazine (lots of full-page, color photos included), asked me to write articles and reviews for the magazine, helped set up interviews and basically gave us his gigantic stamp of approval. And before we knew it, Japan seemed like our second home. What an amazing time that was. Sadly, we heard recently that Toyo Nakamura had died. He was almost 80 years old and, apparently, had decided his life had been full and fun enough. He jumped from the roof of a condo he had just purchased, after leaving his vast musical estate, including lots of rare instruments, to various institutions in Tokyo. Personally, Toyo Nakamura was a friend and one of those rare supporters to whom you feel immediately connected. I remember how reassuring his smile was. He provided Brave Combo with a magical experience that turned into a huge part of the band’s history. RIP Toyo Nakamura.

I was honored recently to receive an award from the National Accordion Association at their annual convention in March, recognizing me for my support of accordions and accordion music. I was quite touched by the acknowledgment and got a plaque and everything. Hmm, do I need to consider opening the Brave Combo Museum and Massage Parlour, or something like that? Is it time? We can sell Brave Combo post cards, massage oil and maybe something like cans of hominy. That covers everyone.

Okay, believe it or not, the music continues. Please come out and see and hear what all the fuss is about, assuming there is a fuss. We, Brave Combo, still find that playing music is a super fun thing to do and hope you pick up on our groovy vibe sometime soon. Until then, remember that polkas are all around you, if you just tune your head to that station.