Volume 15 – #3 – March 2012

I’ve been watching and listening to the King Cousins (from the entertainment dynasty, The King Family) sing, “The Telephone Hour,” from the woven-into-the-fabric musical, BYE, BYE BIRDIE. This performance was on a TELEPHONE HOUR KING FAMILY SPECIAL from 1964. Not much to say about the King Family really. They were square and groomed for grandma. The whole family entertained, each member having some TV-worthy talent, I guess, mainly singing and dancing. Anyway, that song, “The Telephone Hour” is an extraordinary piece of music. I remember trying to play it and some others from BYE, BYE BIRDIE at the Chicago club, Lounge Ax, once and getting a great response from the crowd. After the show we talked to the owners, Sue and Julia, about staging a Brave Combo-fied version of BYE, BYE BIRDIE at the club. I could hear the song, “Ed Sullivan” become every bit as majestic as Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody.” I think Sue and Julia were going to sing the girls’ parts or something. They were Broadway musical buffs and very excited about the possibility of this happening. I didn’t really want to do the entire play, just the songs and probably not even all of the songs. Too bad it never happened. That venue was great, but the alley in the back was really dicey. It was almost guaranteed that someone would mess with our van during the show. But that wasn’t as funky as the alley behind the original 9:30 Club in Washington D.C. It was at 930 F Street in downtown D.C. I love all animals, but I don’t want to be around that many big rats in such an exceptionally filthy environment. Actually, I don’t see what’s objectionable about how a rat looks. I think they’re pretty cute and wouldn’t mind being around one or two or even five or six. If I knew that one was clean and wouldn’t bite me and give me a disease, I would enjoy holding it. Pet rats make sense to me. But the alley was pretty dark and I could hear scurrying and whooshing all around me and see shadowy shapes everywhere. I remember counting about fourteen in one little area we were walking through, trying to get back to the street lights at the front of the club. Man, they were zipping around really fast. It was a challenge to avoid stepping on one, but I wished them all the best.

But, to be honest, that wasn’t as funky as the area around Al’s Bar in downtown Los Angeles. Ever been there? I remember us driving away from that place, looking around and seeing a beautiful, fascinating sight; beautiful in the perfection of its despair. It was like a circus-of-the-damned movie set and there was even a toxic-looking smoke hanging, which made the scene even more surreal. I remember seeing twisted human silhouettes of myriad sizes maneuvering through hazy patches of light. It was great to be there.

Well, warm weather never went away this year and neither did that one ice cream truck that plays only “Turkey In The Straw” over and over. I think that particular composition is in the public domain, so if anyone wanted to do a reality show about the poor soul driving that truck, music clearance would be a snap. I would like to know how the ice cream man or woman deals with having to hear a relentless digital rendering of “Turkey in the Straw” from dawn to dusk everyday. It might be an interesting show. The truck could go, as it does in reality, to all parts of town, meeting every kind of person. I will say, Denton’s one apparent ice cream truck is an equal opportunity server, offering its frozen goodies to every neighborhood, from the most humble to the snazziest. I’ve heard that familiar melody from north of 380 to way south of Eagle and from the old Walmart to the new Walmart, and all parts in-between. In fact, I can hear it now, deep in my brain.

What if you had a box with a button on it? And if you pushed that button all the bad people would disappear. Surely this topic has been covered on an old TWILIGHT ZONE or OUTER LIMITS or HAZEL (starring Shirley Booth) or some show along those lines. Obviously the box would have to originate from some cosmic source. No human being can be the ultimate judge of who is good or bad or right or wrong, right? So, let’s say the non-Earthly properties of the box are confirmed and you believe it to be real, fully expecting it to work. And let’s say that pushing the button wouldn’t kill anyone, it would just make the bad people go away, like in a non-painful puff of smoke. I wonder if anyone would feel confident enough in his or her own correctness to push the button. The box, by the way, would be made out of an alien material, adding to the sense that the box is real and can, indeed, wipe out all bad people if its button is pressed. Might be interesting to see who would be left. I think Jimmy Carter would still be here. Of course, pushing the button could just wipe the slate clean and, in fact, if the box was real, that’s what would happen. No one would be left. The line between good and bad can’t be easily drawn.

The new Brave Combo album is finished. Well, the songs have been recorded, mastered and sequenced. We even have CD-release gigs already booked in Denton, Dallas, Austin, Houston and Ft. Worth in May and Early June. So I better come up with a title, a band photo or two, liner notes (with credits) and the package design. Do we go with digi-pacs or eco-pacs this time around? There’s a lot to do, but who cares? And I know almost no one longs for, yet another, new collection of fine Brave Combo sides, but I have to say, you will listen to these songs non-stop, like that poor “Turkey in the Straw” guy, except that you will choose to be a slave. Especially since this is our first release featuring Ginny on accordion. Have you heard her play yet?

Speaking of Brave Combo playing, we are about to be doing a lot of it. Dates are falling into place like termites swarming in the early summer. Please look at our itinerary regularly and make your plans to attend one of our hootenannies soon. We hope to go almost everywhere this summer, so maybe we’ll put on a show near you. If not, come to us. Either way, we’re all winners!