Volume 16 – #8 – August 2013

GUMMY WORMS. I remember when I first realized that the gummy worm/gummy bear revolution had occurred without me having a clue that this giant candy industry even existed. But there they were, everywhere; rubbery, almost elastic shapes with the texture of how I imagined firm mucous would be. Whatever, a new thing had solidly established itself in modern society and I knew I would never be able to relate. Many of my friends looked at gummy worms the same as they would a Hershey Bar. This feeling was similar to the time I realized that all of these songs I would hear snippets of zooming past top 40 radio stations on the dial were from one album. RUMOURS by Fleetwood Mac. This was just like discovering that majority of the current members of Brave Combo now had fond memories of and a lot of knowledge about the TV shows, GOOD TIMES and THE BRADY BUNCH. Those television programs, the album RUMOURS and gummy treats might as well have been what the kids on Mars were into, as far as I was concerned. Somehow, all of this revolutionary stuff happened without any input from me. As a musician, I was shocked to find out how many copies Peter Frampton had sold of his live album. At the same time, my fascination with pop culture and its invisible power has never wavered, even when I didn’t know what was actually going on, or should I say “trending” at the moment. Well, to say the least, this phenomenon happens to me on a weekly, if not daily basis, now; the feeling that everyone else is hip to something that I’m, ignorantly, not. Somehow, I’ve been able to convince myself that I’ve been on the cutting edge when, perhaps, I’ve just really been out-of-touch. You know, although running a band is insanely complicated on so many levels, I prefer simplicity, which means “not too complicated.” I like the fact that I can take a photo and send it to someone, but expanding too much on that and creating little 7-second videos that repeat over and over or trying to understand what’s so special about Instagram just ain’t gonna happen. I remember the old debate, art versus craft, which was all the rage when I was in college. You know, are you looking at the image, itself, or the technical quality of the image. Craft is very gadget-oriented but potentially low on substance. Art, if it’s doing its job, may have no relationship with craft at all; at its core, conceptual in nature. Conversely, craft is always tangible in nature. I don’t know what Brave Combo is about really. Our inability to define what we do is part of what we do. I want to embrace and elevate all music but also want to laugh at it all and remind Opera that it’s no better than Classic Rock or Appalachian Folk. The process of making music in this band is also the process of making all music equal. In that context, the coolest current trends, might be thoroughly missed. How can there be so many big stars that I never heard of? Well, that’s part of the mainstream landscape now. And I do put the emphasis on “stars.” In the tradition of pop music, most big names today will be one-hit wonders tomorrow. That’s nothing new. The whole point has always been to maximize a fad, bail out and move on. But now, with the world’s addiction to social media and how it appears to give everyone’s voice significance, has made the forest so dense, it’s almost impossible to navigate. So, what I’ve been spending most of my time on these days is walking one of my cats (no leash, we just sorta walk together), Spunky. We go around the neighborhood, hang out in people’s yards, hide in shrubs, eat some grass, writhe in some catnip growing in a flower bed (very popular stop on the way). I take my phone and might make a few calls, but my focus is on Spunky. Sounds like fun, huh?

BIG POLKA. Okay, the 2013 polka season has landed! That means we will probably play more polkas in the next two months than we have in any two-month period since the beginning of Brave Combo. Polka is alive and well in our world, that’s for sure. Festivals are polka-popping up everywhere, seriously. Look at our schedule. It all begins Labor Day Weekend with Westfest, in the town of West, Texas. This is where the fertilizer plant exploded a few months ago. It’s a pretty heavy way to kick-off the polka festivities, but quite appropriate, actually. Even with the temperatures likely to be above 100 degrees, the town needs the relief Westfest brings. There will be nine other polka bands in addition to Brave Combo. Beyond that, check our itinerary. Perhaps you need a polka fix, too. That’s why we’re here. And, if we weren’t doing this, I would just be spending even more time with animals, so it’s good for me to have a break from that occasionally. Keep looking up and out and down and in. Laughter or slaughter. The choice is yours. Gotta go. It’s Polka Time!