Volume 5 – #2 – February 2002

The February issue of Texas Monthly contains an article about Brave Combo and our impact on the national polka scene. It’s by John Morthland, a writer from Austin we’ve known a long time. He’s been actively interested in polka music, especially South Texas conjunto, for many years and I like the article. It’s almost 100% accurate. However, a few people have mentioned that his facts concerning our following in Chicago are not correct. Chicago is, and has long been, one of our best markets. Those of you who come to our shows at Fitzgerald’s probably notice that it’s usually a sardine situation. And we’re grateful for that. But sold-out shows at a venue like Fitzgerald’s don’t necessarily mean acceptance by the polka world. Chicago is a serious polka nerve center and musicians like Eddie Blazonczyk and Freeze Dried have supported and encouraged us for years. Promoters like Fred Hudy and Patrick Henry have done the same. But reaching the hardcore polka fans has been a tricky process. Consistent airplay on polka radio shows and broad-based awareness is just now happening. The pop/rock/eclectic music scene hasn’t noticed much about what’s been going on in polka. Since we’re not really part of any scene (music programmers and record store owners still don’t know where to put us) we can almost move back and forth like ghosts. That’s why we occasionally become invisible on stage. Maybe some weekend in 2002 we’ll do our typical variety show at Fitzgerald’s on Friday night and a polka show somewhere else in town on Saturday night. Who knows?

When I was a kid in Texarkana there was an auto salvage yard on the edge of town that had a chimpanzee in a cage in the parking lot. He actually had a little house in the cage and mainly hung out in there. I am sure this was not good, but my brother and I would always take our cousins to see the poor thing. We would go mainly at night because the sight of the monkey peering out through his door had maximum impact after dark. It was bizarre and a little creepy, but now I realize it was mainly sad. One time my brother invited a friend over to our house to hang out for an afternoon. They were about four years older than me. Anyway, at some point we all went to the forest behind our house to walk around and we came across a turtle resting by the edge of a pond. My brother’s friend picked up a big rock and smashed the turtle’s shell before I could tell what was going on. He continued to pummel the turtle until it was dead. I remember being frozen in disbelief, unable to make myself stop him. It made me sick and ashamed. I liked the guy until he did this and then his act of brutality defined him in my head forever. It made me realize that, by and large, animals are totally vulnerable to our whims. They’re pretty darn helpless with beings as smart as humans around. Suffering is suffering, whether you’re a pig or a chicken or debutante or a lobster or a doctor or a mother. And it’s incredibly arrogant of humans to think that animal suffering is less potent than their own. Okay, I’m going to make someone mad or defensive or something. I’m sorry, I don’t mean to. Whatever, this is just my opinion. But if I see someone stoning a turtle these days I’m likely to lasso the jerk and drop him into my personal vat of boiling acid. Okay, I’m sorry again. Perhaps I would simply try to stop him and get all of his friends together for an intervention.

I’ve been contacted by the Bigfoot Society. They read the account of my Fouke Monster sighting in a past issue of THE MACHINE’S PUMP. The Fouke Monster is/was a bigfoot (yeti) that lurked in the swampy woods near Fouke, Arkansas. A movie was made about it, called THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK. Fouke is just a few miles from my hometown, so I knew many of the fine local actors that starred in the movie.

I love polka music. I love all styles of polka music and I have lots of it on vinyl, cassette and CD. So, that’s my situation. Also, there is a non-stop Internet polka radio station called 247 Polka Heaven (www.247polkaheaven.com) that features a variety of shows that highlight different polka styles. They broadcast out of Cleveland from station WELW. It’s primarily an oldies station, but devotes many hours a week to polka programming as well. They (WELW and 247 Polka Heaven) have decided to make 5-6 pm M-F (EST) a more adventurous polka hour than the norm and have asked me to host their Friday slot. I’m going to try it for a while and see if it can fit into my life comfortably enough. I want it to fit. I want to do this. So, listen to the sound of my education. I don’t know how good I’ll be as the talking DJ guy, but I promise you great music, at least from my point of view. I’ll be playing constantly rotating examples of most existing polka styles and say what I think between songs. People in Cleveland can hear the show on regular radio too. On the Internet station the show will be rebroadcast Saturday morning at 10 am (EST).

POLKA IS NOT THE ONLY MUSIC THERE IS. I am always on the lookout for unusual or unique music at record stores, department stores, thrift stores and flea markets. It’s fun to check out the “strict-tempo” ballroom dancing CDs. You can’t have too many versions of “Volare” in your collection. It adapts well to almost any dance style, as do many great songs. I’m tempted to buy almost every ballroom tango CD I come across, especially the ones I find at truck stops. Yesterday I found a CD at the Galleria in Dallas called 40 GREEK MELODIES. No artist is mentioned anywhere on the jacket. This is not a good or bad sign, however. It’s one long orchestral medley, which includes 40 Greek melodies, I presume. Unfortunately, it’s encoded on the CD as just one long track, so I can’t jump ahead to any favorite tunes. It’s always just #1. This is a big drag. But musically, the CD is okay and the song titles are like, “Washing Clothes At The River,” “Don’t Listen To Gossip, Dear” and “A Boy From Chio Anchored.” The other CD I bought is 50 YEARS OF THE SAN REMO FESTIVAL which is like an Italian pop music Star Search kind of contest. And, guess what? One of the selections is “Volare.” It was a San Remo winner in 1958. I bought a few San Remo compilations in the late ’70s and always found them interesting. I could depend on each album containing at least four songs worth a second listen. Unfortunately, according to the liner notes of my recent purchase, the festival has fallen to scandal: predetermined winners and some female singers winning because they dressed provocatively and looked sexy to the judges. All I can say is “Viva San Remo!”

Okay, the party’s over for tonight. The town custodian is rolling up the streets of Denton one by one and that means it’s time to turn off the computer and roll up the keypad. Everybody go to sleep now. Wear earplugs if you have to.