Volume 17 – #11 – November 2014

Believe it or not, I’m a slacker, at heart. I’ve always been called a work-a-holic, but that’s never been the case. All I really want to do is just hang out and make stuff and not be bothered by the process of putting it in an acceptable form and promoting it. I can be pretty self-entertained by just the process and then checking out what I’ve accomplished, whether anyone else hears/sees it or not. But that’s what everyone does. The hard part is answering the question, “What do I do now with this fine recording or with this great collection of songs?” Most artists/musicians believe in their product. If someone’s written a song that he or she likes, there has to be a point when that person thought he or she has come up with something brilliant, or at least unusually clever. And that’s a fun thing to wallow in. We all gotta be somebody, right? Nobody wants to be a nobody. Whatever, this is a pretty easy level of recognition to achieve; to be fascinated with oneself. But most “creative people,” as well, for some reason, need to be accepted outside of their own skin, which means getting under someone else’s skin; making yourself irresistible. Which ultimately means making yourself so irresistible that enough people are willing to go out of their way and pay money to experience what you’ve created. This is where playtime becomes work and it, generally, sucks. Doing all that is required to keep a band like Brave Combo going is complicated, labor intensive and predictably unpredictable. Basically, there’s a lot to do, whether you’re playing a gig, traveling, rehearsing, recording or promoting. Every step involves a bunch of steps. I often think how ironic it is that, for most financially successful creative people (one’s “art” supports one), the business side takes up 90% of the time expended. That leads me to the point I’m trying to make; that Brave Combo is damn busy right now. I have myriad things to share with you.

First of all, we will be streaming a live performance from our rehearsal chamber on Monday, December 8, for anyone who wants to hear some crazy holiday music and/or some songs from our brand new studio album, THE LIMINAL ZONE. We’ll be taking requests, of course.  Watch via Concert Window on December 8th at 9:00 PM EST / 8:00 PM CST.  https://www.concertwindow.com/shows/10856-brave-combo

Secondly, our annual holiday express makes stops in Lincoln (The Zoo Bar), St. Louis (Blueberry Hill) and Chicago (FitzGerald’s) on December 11, 12 and 13. These are some of the coolest (and hottest) shows of the year for Brave Combo, so stop what you’re doing immediately and make your plans. We only get to play this stuff for a few weeks anyway and this particular season, because of the reunion shows in the middle of the month, leaves one’s opportunities to hear “Must Be Santa” and “O Holy Night (Cha Cha Cha),” indeed, few and far between. And, we’ll be selling our new live album, LIVE AT BLOB’S PARK, for practically nothing at all three shows. You know, the kids just can’t put down their CD players these days, so I can’t think of a better stocking-stuffer than cheap (meaning inexpensive, of course) Brave Combo recordings. Come on out and grab a bag full!

And, speaking of the above-mentioned mid-December reunion shows, they’ll be the perfect end to 2014, Brave Combo’s 35th year. The “second wave combo,” the one that included Mitch Marine and Bubba Hernandez, the band that existed, roughly, from 1985 to 1992, will be tearing it up and gluing it down at three North Texas shows a week before Christmas. You can catch the action at Dan’s Silverleaf, in Denton, on Thursday, December 18, at Poor David’s, in Dallas, on Friday, December 19 and at Fred’s Texas Cafe, in Ft. Worth, on Saturday, December 20. These performances are guaranteed to be fun, funny and intense! I know I plan to have a good time and be intense.

ONE OF DENTON’S PROUDEST MOMENTS. The citizens of our little town, Denton, Texas, stood up to the man on November 4 and voted, by a landslide, to permanently ban hydraulic fracturing (fracking) within the city limits. A lot has been written, world-wide, about our “David vs. Goliath” moment, so I’ll just say it feels really good to be on the winning side, in Texas, for a change. Denton finally becomes the truly cool place it has been aching to be ever since Austin got weird!

Brave Combo lost two important friends recently. As most of you already know, Tom Magliozzi, one-half of the legendary Click and Clack brothers (PBS CARTALK guys) passed away on November 3. Tom, Ray and their producer, Doug Berman, have been serious supporters of the Brave Combo cause for decades. We appeared with them live, performed at their annual Halloween party in Boston (nothing but laughs for hours) and scored and performed all of the music for their animated series, AS THE WRENCH TURNS. Tom’s kindness and sense of humor will never be forgotten.

And on November 26, Stas Przasynski, the leader of the legendary Polish-American band, The Connecticut Twins, died at the age of 89, just months after his wife’s passing. The Twins (Stas and brother, Jan), along with a handful of East Coast bands, revolutionized the polka sound of the 1950s and 60s. Their influence continues today, with a new generation of musicians copping Stas and Jan’s unique sound. We recorded their “Holiday in Poland” on our album POLKA’S REVENGE and that gave me an opportunity to get to know Stas personally. His knowledge of all music was astounding. He was, among other things, a gifted arranger and is credited with shrinking the size of the working Polish-style polka band, from 10-12 musicians down to 5-6 and bringing the rhythm section more to the forefront of the music. Here’s to a great musician, performer and innovator.

That’s it, folks. I can’t spend another minute on this thing. Too much to do (see first paragraph). I hope you all have a fabulous Christmas/Hanukkah Holiday and that it’s more joyous than troubling. Either way, get through it and be optimistic. Another new year starts soon, which means we have another chance to get it together and figure it out. Okay. Busy, busy, busy!