Volume 3 – #11 – November 2000

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION DEBACLE: Well, truth is indeed stranger than fiction. I don’t know what to say. A bunch of people stood in the rain in Austin and Nashville for hours and hours for nothing. And no one said a word about polkas. What a mess. We’re all idiots. Hail to the new chief. His name is _______________. Fill in the blank at the appropriate time.

BIG NEWS: SOME PEOPLE MAY NOT CARE FOR MUSIC. I know this is hard to believe, but I think it’s true. Some people live their lives with no need for music whatsoever. BIGGER NEWS: MOST PEOPLE CAN TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT. Now I know this is really shocking, but I’m afraid it may be true as well. There is so much stuff to choose from. All kinds of stuff. Cute stuff. Hard stuff. Sweet stuff. Round stuff. Green stuff. Thin stuff. Paper and stuff. And, of course, religious stuff. And music is everywhere. So much music. Yet the CD is so unprecious. It’s an extremely cheap piece of plastic, usually accompanied by a tiny booklet. And it feels like the sound could just slip off of it somehow. Years ago if you were walking down the street and saw a smashed cassette or 8-track tape on the ground, you probably wouldn’t even check it out. But if you came across a vinyl LP or 45 (seven inch single), you probably would pick it up and look at it. It would be out of place on the ground. Vinyl discs were supposed to be handled carefully and pampered. I put CDs in the same category as cassettes and 8-tracks. They’re disposable. CDs litter the landscape, literally. And we’re so fascinated with technology, we don’t care. In fact, the really exciting news is that you can squeeze music out of your phone line into your computer. That’s as special as a computer greeting card. No object at all. And sometimes it seems (I’ll put Brave Combo in this tangled mess as well) that there is so much nothing out there. Anyway, back to my original point. People that like music and make listening to music an important part of their life are in a teeny weeny minority. In a way, it takes work to focus on music these days. I love music and my life is basically music, but I can understand how it could be ignored and then forgotten. Talk radio is pushing music off NPR and no one is really complaining. Talk radio makes people think they’re listening to something interesting, but often it seems like PEOPLE MAGAZINE, which is great to look at while you’re sitting on an airplane or waiting to get your teeth cleaned or your muffler fixed. It’s fluff stuff. And ad agencies are paid millions of dollars to turn everything into fluff stuff, so we’ll feel normal buying it. Even things with substance seem to have none anymore. Everything is low impact now, especially sex and violence. Computer graphics and special effects are totally predictable and, frankly, boring. Packaging reduces everything to “trendy and temporary.” How can people be turned on by anything anymore? MORE BIG NEWS: It doesn’t really matter that most people aren’t passionate about music. That makes it more exotic and mysterious in a way. Music people might be sharing a secret language reserved for a chosen few. They might be part of some advancement of human enlightenment or just lazy drug addicts. However, I will say this as a counter to my theories stated here. There are no significant anti-music crusades happening right now that I know of. And I have to admit that sometimes I have my own little anti-music moment and put earplugs in my ear. It’s nice.

Speaking of earplugs, as you may or may not know, I am somewhat interested in pinpointing and relieving headache pain. And I have found something interesting. If you can figure out which side of your head the ache is primarily on, put an earplug in your ear on that side and go about your business. Let me know if it helps.

Change is inevitable and exciting. Brave Combo has a new drummer. He’s male and the youngest member of the band. His name is Paul Stivitts. He’s very good and getting better by the minute as he figures out what the heck is going on. Brave Combo successfully snags another innocent soul and pulls him into our evil web of depravity. The curse claims another hapless victim. Alan couldn’t take it anymore. He jumped ship and swam to Austin. Good luck, matey. Whatever, we’re locked in the studio, rehearsing like crazy and digging it. Wipe that frown off your face. It’s polkatime more than ever! Come out to our shows and see what Paul looks like.

Our trip to the Northeast at the end of October went very well. A film crew followed us around for most of the shows. Click and Clack, the Car Talk guys, were delightful. And, you know what, Cleveland does rock.

TIME OFF: Brave Combo will be playing no public shows until the end of November as we work in our new drummer. This is a rare opportunity and quite welcome. Maybe we’ll catch up on a few neglected things. Anyway, check our itinerary. You’ll notice as we come roaring back, it will be time for (uh oh) a month of Christmas music thrown into the regular mix. The holiday season is officially here again.

Speaking of the holiday season, the elusive Time-Life polka collection I compiled recently is now available. It’s called THE TIME-LIFE TREASURY OF POLKA. The CD # is HBTMLTPO62 and the cassette # is HBTMLTPO64. Although I had to compromise with the record company to some degree, I am very happy with it. Some of the tracks are just incredible. Happy hunting.

One more thing. I was watching an episode of DRAGNET (Jack Webb’s gripping television drama from the past) and it was about Sergeant Friday and his sidekick, Gannon, attending a conference on police/community relations, to be held at a rustic lodge. As they entered the front door to register, they walked on a bear skin rug with the head still attached and didn’t look down and say anything like, “My God, watch out, don’t trip over this poor creature’s head.” Can you imagine a couple making love on the rug by a fireplace, constantly bumping into the bear’s head? Would that be sexy? What’s wrong with me? Does anyone have any tickets to Mars? Goodbye for now.