Volume 8 – #11 – November 2005

I have only scratched the surface, if even that. I know much more than I did when Brave Combo was born, but I still don’t know anything, really. My knowledge of the things I know well is really just superficial. I discovered the joy of performing music very early in life and it’s the only place I truly feel at home (except at home, of course). The real world always worried me a little. One day, in the 7th grade I was standing on the front steps of F. Ben Pierce Junior High School, in Texarkana, Texas, looking across the street at Julia Hibbs’ father’s Spud Nut (donuts made from potatoes) store, realizing that I would someday have to make that uncomfortable journey into a job; a career, and a chill ran through me that I can still feel. I thought if I ever had to go on an interview seeking employment, I would never be considered because I wouldn’t be able to stop laughing nervously. Making eye contact with a potential employer was just out of the question. And I could never figure out the point of anything, anyway. We exist and then we don’t. Almost any effort seemed futile in the big picture. The world was full of animals and a bunch of them were people, who were just upright blobs of flesh with arms and legs and eyes and cars. Whatever, my point is that I always felt alien to conventional methods of finding work and making money. My father worked at a Baptist church, taking care of the buildings’ needs, and constantly made things (chairs, tables, doors, etc.) in the elaborate shop the church provided for him. He lucked out, because I suspect he felt the same uneasiness with authority I did. In his case, at least, his ultimate boss would always be God, so nothing earthbound could ever be much of a threat. He was usually in his own world, doing his duties his way or instructing the people under him to do things his way. And he loved to stay busy, busy, busy. He woke up busy. I wake up late and eventually get busy. Often, my most productive time is between 10pm and 2am. If I could pick my location, I think it would be fun to be a night watchman. But, as I mentioned earlier, I’ve also wondered, as millions have, what’s going on. You know, what’s the purpose of anything? Maybe we can know only so much until it’s time to go to the next level, wherever that is. Maybe it’s on the whisker of a walrus or in an old pair of shoes, rotting in an abandoned cabin twenty-three miles northeast of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. What if you could go to a town that didn’t allow cable or satellite or anything; a “good old days” kind of town? But then, what’s so great about nostalgia? We want everything, (the past, present and future) all at once. To become something new is better than living in the past, perhaps. But, remember, I don’t know anything. Sometimes my lack of understanding embarrasses me, but it also makes sense that I’m in the dark. The murkiness is so clear.

Speaking of the unknown, Brave Combo will be performing with some local (Dallas area) symphonies in February. Several of our original songs have just been scored for complete symphony and I have no idea about what to expect. Actually, I’m stunned that anyone wants to go to the trouble to present our music this way, but it’s too late to ponder the reasons, cause it’s gonna happen. Hmmm. Well, there will be rehearsals involved. That’s good. If our songs sound okay with all those instruments, I may just explode on the spot. Maybe we can do this with other symphonies around the country. You know, traveling by covered wagon with footlockers full of musical scores from one hall to another. There would be such a demand for our new sound that even Mozart and Beethoven would want to get in on the action. Then we could have them team up with Elvis and Liberace and sell our CD, BOX OF GHOSTS, in the aisles, during the shows. Okay, this is starting to get exciting. They could hawk CDs and Junior Mints. No, wait, Junior Mints contain gelatin, which is a by-product of rendering plants. So, maybe, CDs and cotton candy. But it should be healthy cotton candy, made out of something like cabbage. It’s settled then. Mozart, Beethoven, Elvis and Liberace will sell Brave Combo CDs and cabbage cotton candy in the aisles while we’re performing “Three Ducks Waltz” with a symphony orchestra. Check our itinerary.

CURRENT NEWS:
Our new recording, HOLIDAYS!, is out of the chute and gaining momentum; another journey with an unpredictable end. We are, in fact, playing several songs from the CD live, including “Postcard From New Orleans,” “Vampire Twist,” “A Little Bit Irish” and “Hey, Little Dreidel.” We’ll be selling copies of HOLIDAYS! below popular prices at our shows for a limited time and hope you’ll take advantage of our generosity this gift-giving season. Think how happy your neighbors would be seeing a little plastic robot walking up to their front door with a copy of HOLIDAYS! strapped to it’s back. If you could program the robot to sing something like “Hey, Good Lookin'” while it’s delivering the CD, that would be even better. Remember, the skies the limit!

By the way, the three-day BC and friends talent showcase in New York City recently was head-poppingly cool and complicated, but in a fun puzzle way. We really appreciate all of our friends that came out (performers and fans) and contributed to the event. Some of it was documented pretty well, I think. More about this later. Or not.

Speaking of the East Coast, the polka power that showed up at our gig in Ludlow at the Polish American Citizen’s Club was, to say the least, humbling. Lenny Gomulka was there, Roger Lichwala was there, Wally Dombrowski was there, Freddie K. was there, Billy Belina was there, Johnny Prytko was there and Hank Guscevich was running the PA. It was an enormously encouraging and somewhat scary thing. And, if they weren’t lying, everyone seemed to really dig the Brave Combo sound.

And speaking of Johnny Prytko and the Brave Combo sound, a Russian arts magazine, AFISHA , will be including a compilation CD in an upcoming issue that will contain a track by Brave Combo that was written by Johnny Prytko, “The New Mind Polka.” It’s on our CD, POLKTHARSIS. I understand that the editor is a fan of ours and that the circulation of the magazine is around 100,000 and distributed all over Russia. Pick one up the next time you’re in St. Petersburg. And TEXAS MUSIC MAGAZINE will also be including a CD compilation of Texas artists that contains a new BC song from HOLIDAYS!, “Groundhog, Groundhog.” I don’t know if this magazine is available in St. Petersburg, though.

Well, the old clock on the wall says it’s time to blend into another dimension. Keep the faith, if you have any, and rock your own world night and day. Come out to a show when you have the time. We’ll play your favorites and then some. Happy Holidays!