Volume 6 – #11 – November 2003
Okay, dear friends and fans of Brave Combo, once again we’re in the thick of it. It comes around every year, like the flu, or a creeping slime, or a faithful comet flying too close to earth, or obnoxious relatives we try to like, but just don’t. Of course, I’m talking about the holiday season. But, this year, I’m going to try really hard to not be a grinch. Mainly because my memory of Dr. Suess has been so thoroughly soiled by irresponsible Hollywood greed (THE GRINCH and CAT IN THE HAT) that I don’t even acknowledge the word “grinch” any more. Where is the honor in taking some beautifully simple style of writing and illustrating and turning it into an overblown, cluttered mess? Where is the honor in taking something that was once groundbreaking and significant and making it predictable and cliché? Rampant media excess squeezes the life out of almost everything it touches. What’s the logic in telling us all the “behind the scenes” stuff before we even see the movie? The entertainment industry is eating itself, out of desperation, and it doesn’t even know it. This more, more, more, bigger, bigger, bigger attitude is killing the scene, or at least contributing heavily to its demise. “It’s a dog eat dog world” was never more appropriate. There are too many leisure-time options and everyone feels understandably jaded. What do we really believe in other than money, security and convenience? Sadly, enlightenment these days seems to have more to do with finding a less crowded route to work than it does with spiritual awareness. But we can’t help that we’re the idiot guinea pigs of the exploding information age. We’re alive now and the Internet was just recently born. So, we’re stuck with the good and bad of it. Hip, hip, hooray!
On the other hand, holidays are great fodder for song concepts and our holiday song project continues. Check the front page of our site to hear “The Vampire Twist” and “Thanksgiving Day.” We just finished our Christmas-themed anthem, “Coal and Switches,” (to be posted any day) and will be recording a Hanukkah song and New Year’s mambo very soon. We’re having fun deluxe recording these little gems at TM Century, under the watchful ear of Larry W. King (the cool guy, not the CNN guy).
BIG NEWS. I found out yesterday that I’m pregnant. Wait, I don’t mean pregnant. I mean stubborn. Yeah, that’s it, I found out I’m stubborn. Someone asked me to do something and I said “no.” That’s just the way I am. Take it or leave it. And now my catch phrase is, “I may not be pregnant, but I sure am stubborn.” You know, it’s really a good thing that men can’t become pregnant or the world would be in a much bigger mess. Twice as many blessed events would be occurring. That would mean even more cars and an increased chance that AMERICAN IDOL will continue. See, it could be even worse.
SIMPSONS UPDATE. Okay, the official word is that the “Brave Combo” episode (#10 of the new season) of THE SIMPSONS will air in March. It’s such a hard thing to believe, I haven’t wanted to say much about it until it seemed immanent. So, after getting the latest thumbs up from the FOX network and after seeing a recent interview with Matt Groening that mentions our appearance, I’m pretty confident it’s going to happen. However, since we’re still more “underground” than “household word,” I suggest that anyone who cares should record the show, so you can go back and look closer. My instinct tells me we’ll move by in a flash. Whatever, this is an incredible event in Brave Combo’s ongoing history. I think most people will be more excited about this than the POLKASONIC Grammy. We know we’re a lucky bunch of thugs, and we follow the creed of thug life, which is “love our mothers, thank God for the recognition we don’t deserve and torture our enemies before we kill them.” We want to encourage everyone we know to throw a ticker tape parade for us or at least bring flowers to our shows.
Speaking of shows, we have a bunch happening before the end of the year. Check our itinerary and come to at least five. Okay?
ORGANIZED DANCING resurfaces. We have repackaged our EP that includes the original version of “The Hokey Pokey,” and it’s available again. It also contains our only recordings of “Jeepers Creepers,” “Hava Nagila Twist” and dirge version of “The Bunny Hop.” You can order it from us or pick it up at one of our shows. It’s like a cool Brave Combo snack, an appetizer, a teaser, an evil lure, a small encyclopedia of musical whimsy, a quick glimpse into our psyche, a perfect stocking stuffer, a substitute for dog food, etc.
Speaking of dog food, have I ever mentioned the youngest member of my family, Augie, the one-year-old, chow/cocker mix with a severe under bite that Jane (my wife) found in a little field by our house? We’re pretty sure he came out of a cardboard box at the K-Mart parking lot. Although his name is Augie (named after Jane’s father’s middle name, not the once-popular cartoon hound), we usually call him “Baby.” He makes me really happy and loves me so much. He likes to play, play, play, play, play, play. He has a really piercing bark and is usually easy to walk. He has never eaten any human food, doesn’t beg and, to my knowledge, has never relieved himself in the house. When I walk in the door, he looks at me and his facial expression seems to say, “Oh yeah, it’s you! Wow! Oh my God, it’s you! I can’t believe you’re here! Let’s do something right now!”
More dog news. Our fifteen-year-old Beagle/Shepherd mix has been acting strangely lately and her vet said, “Oh, she’s got some of that dementia.”
Speaking of dementia, it’s time to drift into the twilight once again. Thank you all, whoever you are, for supporting our little band of thugs. It’s our pleasure to serve you the best polka music, etc. we can muster and we appreciate your acceptance of our efforts. Enjoy the free time ahead of you and don’t forget the things that are really important in this universe. I’ll try to do the same.