Volume 15 – #7 –July 2012

DECAY OF THE PLAYGROUND. I was watching THE PIERS MORGAN SHOW on CNN a few days ago. The host, Piers, was talking to his guest, documentary filmmaker, Michael Moore, about the most recent mass murder in the USA. Sub-topics included gun control, proliferation of assault weapons, Columbine High School and the general collapse of security in our country. It was pointed out how different the United States is from other countries (murder rate by guns hovers around zero in Japan, for instance) and how we’re falling behind in so many ways (you name it). Both Piers and Michael were wondering why things are the way they are here. Well, of course, I have a theory and here it is. Citizens of the USA have the greatest sense of entitlement of any place in the world. We feel like the world owes us something. No one else does. We are hard-wired to believe in the power and rights of the individual so thoroughly that we can’t help but feel that whatever we want is what we deserve. No one else on Earth looks at life the way an American does and we really can’t help it. Personal freedom, potential unlimited wealth, dog eat dog, impossible dreams. Rah! Rah! Rah! The basic concept sounds tempting. If you work hard you can become rich, have lots of things and enjoy control over other humans. Who wouldn’t want that? Well, there’s only one country that encourages you to believe that those three things are life’s true goals and will throw you under the zooming bus if you don’t figure out how to achieve them. The Good Ol’ USA. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on how you see it, the cracks in our fantasy are getting wider by the minute. People all over this once-great (?) land are starting to wake up and realize that the founding fathers were dealing with the 1700s and that what we’ve become isn’t what they had in mind, anyway. And I’m not talking about drugs and stuff like throwing craps and prostitution. I’m talking about misuse of power and the celebration of greediness, which has turned us into a bunch of freaked-out fakes, trying to pretend to be this or that with these strong stupid opinions or those strong stupid opinions, yet somehow unable to think on our own. We mimic what we admire and proudly pick our side, cause we’re entitled. And although many of us want things to be different, it appears nothing can be done to change our core beliefs and values. Consequently the USA has become just one big politically corrupt, gangster-infused, Hollywood glitzed-out, black and white hating, M & M-loving, party barge of despair; a pathetic cliche of misery with millions of dumb-asses each thinking that the gold ring dangling just out of reach on the merry-go-round is really for him or her. If you’re a typical American, living in the United States, as I am, you are destined, or rather cursed, to feel this way. Welcome to the club, sucker!

Our good friend, accordion superstar, Guy Klucevsek, will be joining us for some crazy music at Joe’s Pub in New York city on August 20. Tickets are on sale now and we hear they’re already moving. That’s good news, but do not tarry if you plan to attend this incredible musical happening. Guy has a new album you should check out before you eat another bite of food. It’s called THE MULTIPLE PERSONALITY REUNION TOUR. We play on half of the tracks, but you’ll love the whole thing. I promise.

Speaking of Joe’s Pub, have you perused our itinerary recently? Well, you should. Between now and November, it’s party time! Coming up right away, in addition to NYC, we will be rocking Blob’s park, between Baltimore and Washington D.C., the Bayway Polish Home in Elizabeth, New Jersey, city concerts in Rochester, NY and Lake George, NY, the Middle East night club in Boston, Longfellow Square in Portland, ME, The Levitt Pavilion, in Westport, CT and more, returning to Texas just in time for a concert at The Levitt Pavilion in Arlington, TX and, of course, the polka behemoth,Westfest, in the tiny Texas-Czech town of West. We will have our new album, SOUNDS OF THE HOLLOW, with us at all shows, ready to sell you as many as you can carry.

Hey Everybody! Brave Combo contributed three little pieces of music to the August 1st episode of FUTURAMA. Two polkas and a surprise number. If you miss it, I’m sure you can find it somewhere.

JOKE TIME.
A bunch of high school girls decided they were going to jump another high school girl and shoot video of the attack for youTube. This was all going to happen behind the 7-11 next door to the El Rancho Taco and Coffee Hut. The plan was set. Two girls would go to the intended victim’s house and see if she wanted to take a walk and maybe get some coffee. One of the sneaky girls would pretend to see a kitten around a dumpster at the 7-11. The three girls would go to investigate and then the cameras would start rolling and fists would start flying. Well, no one knew that a flash mob, made up of the local dance academy and several regional glee clubs, was planning to jump out of various dumpsters around town that very afternoon, singing and dancing to Handel’s MESSIAH. And, you guessed it. The dumpster at the 7-11 was ground zero for the event. As the unsuspecting bad girls were escorting their even more unsuspecting future punching bag onto the convenience store’s parking lot, one of them yelled, “Look there’s a kitten!” Well those just happened to be the code words for everyone to start singing and dancing. Suddenly, people popped out of that dumpster and every other dumpster for blocks. As it turned out the girl who was about to get pummeled knew all the words and picked up on the dance moves right away, joining the gleeful mob. In case you’re curious, the attackers, all stunned by this unpredictable turn of events, slithered away in the confusion of THE MESSIAH dance routine (look out, here come the three wise men, sprinting with Mary and Joseph), actually found a kitten, became convinced that God had intervened and started an anti-bullying youth group at school.

Music writer/author, Marion Jacobson’s new book, SQUEEZE THIS, is about the accordion. It covers a lot of territory and is a great read; full of stories about the instrument and the people who play it. I know, personally, several of the featured artists and was shocked at how much space Brave Combo and I take up. I’m beyond flattered that we are perceived as important contributors to the new surge of popularity the accordion is now enjoying. I highly recommend that you pick up SQUEEZE THIS and not just because Marion says nice things about me and the band. And I was glad to see that she considers my forte more promoting the instrument, rather than playing it, cause that’s the truth. I mean, I’m okay, but I’ll never be as good as someone like Guy or Ginny, BC’s resident accordion virtuoso. And that’s cool with me, for sure. When we first started Brave Combo it was almost immediately evident that we’d stumbled into a gold mine of opportunity, but we had no idea we would wind up influencing so many people and actually doing some good. That was not our intention. Still isn’t. We just like playing music and feel lucky that we are allowed to do it our way.

And speaking doing things our way or your way, you can have it your way, damn it. We’re Americans and we’re entitled to have it any way we want it. You know why? Cause we’re Americans1 And don’t forget it. Unless you want to. And if you do. It’s okay. You’re an American. Okay, I think I’ve made my point. I was entitled to do that, right? And, by the way, don’t worry about what you can’t change. Just try to find something positive about it. Or not. You don’t have to, if you don’t want. You know why?