Volume 8 – #12 – December 2005

THE 2005 YEAR IN REVIEW
We looked to the left. We looked to the right. And we proceeded with caution. Well, not caution exactly. More like, determination. We were cautious on slippery roads in the fog. We were cautious with our guitars, accordions, horns and drums in dark alleys. But we accepted lots of challenges. It was an eventful year; quite eventful, actually. We won a Grammy and lost a defining member of the band. We toured aggressively, almost painfully, yet learned more new songs than we have in years. We released an album of original holiday songs, called HOLIDAYS! that’s being received surprisingly well for such an esoteric concept. We played The Austin City Limits Festival when it was 106 degrees and Cedar Cultural Center in Minneapolis when it was well over 100 degrees colder. We were on the radio a lot and had our music in some movies here and there, often without our knowledge (really weird). We played many, many polka events (Czech, German, Polish, Slovenian and Tejano) and, believe it or not, even upset some people along the way. We learned again that you can’t make everyone happy, though we continue to try. And, sadly we were constantly reminded that we’re only human (damn reality).

The biggest news in Brave Combo Land was the departure of our long-time bassist, Bubba Hernandez. This could have, and perhaps should have, crippled us to a slow crawl. The idea of losing Bubba seemed unfathomable. And then, suddenly it seemed entirely possible. Brave Combo is a group of individuals, but it’s mainly an idea, when executed with care, that becomes bigger than the sum of its parts. I don’t know how, exactly. I often feel like a carefully chosen pawn in a bigger picture I barely understand. Music isn’t something you can hold in your hand or eat or put on your skin to protect you from the sun. Music is essential to some, a luxury to some and invisible to others. We organize and bat around sound waves and expect an audience to show up whenever we perform. How arrogant is that? It might even be stupid in these practical, paranoid days. Who’s got time for music in such a convenience-driven society? Across the board, but especially at the local level, it appears interest in the live music club scene is dropping faster than baseball size hail (which we experienced once, but that’s another story). Consequently, festivals and concerts fill in the gap. And we are very grateful that our quirky show fits so many oddball festivals and events around the country. Brave Combo financially supported lots of folks again in 2005, and 2006 seems to be shaping up well enough to continue that trend, but we’re not about to just coast. This is a promise. We want the band to grow and change in the process, so we’ll stay excited and inspired. And we know our fans will be able to tell when we’re neither. It’s unsettling, in a way, that Bubba is starting to feel more like a part of BC’s history. I feel his mark on the band diminishing and if I had time to ponder it too much, it would probably be pretty sad. But then I hear a Swedish/klezmer song, like “Honga,” for instance, and there’s just no time to be sad. We have to get busy and learn that song. We also have to get busy and learn the songs we just wrote and recorded for HOLIDAYS! and that takes time. There are a lot of words that must go in a particular order in several of the songs from that CD. Every time we rip into “Vampire Twist” I think, oh well, I hope the words all come out right and in the correct order. I’m sure Jeff experiences the same with “Postcard From New Orleans.” This is hard work sometime. One-nighters will wear one down, but that’s just the way it is. Every night I try to push it as hard and as far as I can. I think I achieve my goal about 1/3 of the time, but that’s enough to keep going. We hope you’ll all continue to hang in there with us and that, as the world inevitably gets more unstable, you’ll turn to us as part of your security blanket. We’re planning a lot of non-practical things for the new year and want to share every agonizingly glorious moment with you. I think 100 of you should start traveling with us. We could set up camp on the edge of town and terrorize the evil city officials with the strains of “Holiday In Poland.” I want to mount some indoor/outdoor speakers on the roof of our office in Denton and play a polka at noon and midnight everyday, like the chimes of a church. Move to Denton and make me do it. Did you know Denton produced two Miss Americas, Phyllis George and Shirley Cothran? One time I asked Shirley Cothran if she would go to the top of the Morrison Mills grain elevator with me and let me sing the song, “Miss America” to her. She agreed, but her agent said no, as did the manager of Morrison Mills. It didn’t discourage me. That was before Brave Combo, if you can even imagine such a thing.

Exciting news. You can download tracks from both LET’S KISS (new Grammy winner) and HOLIDAYS! (newest release) at www.iTunes.com. Then you can transfer them to a computer chip smaller than a seed tick and have the chip inserted under your spleen. Most tattoo shops can do this. To activate the songs, you simply hit your stomach hard. The track played is determined by how many times you hit your stomach. And it’s perfect for listening while you’re swimming, cause the sound travels through your body via bone conduction. Although, it is a little difficult to hit your stomach hard under water.

As I have mentioned a few times, Brave Combo will be performing our music with a symphony orchestra in Dallas in February. Come out to the show and marvel at the, uh, well, I don’t really know how to describe it because I don’t even know how it will sound yet. This will be the first of its kind. I hope it doesn’t suck. BC and the Symphony will be jammin’ to “Flying Saucer,” “Mystery Spot Polka,” “Three Ducks Waltz,” “Nothing Earthly,” “A Night On Earth,” “Busy Office Rhumba” and many more.

I would like to dedicate this edition of THE MACHINE’S PUMP to the memory of my friend, Tommy Ables, who was murdered a few days before Christmas just outside Texarkana. He was a life-long musician and worked a day job as a car salesman. One afternoon a 17-year-old boy came to the lot to test drive a BMW. Tommy went with him. The teenager drove the car to a deserted road in Waldo, Arkansas and shot him. That was it for Tommy. His daughter will have to live the rest of her life without him. Tommy was a keyboardist for several Texarkana bands over the years and continued to make music an integral part of his life. The boy who killed him went directly to a high school basketball game with the car and bragged to some friends about what he had just done. He was arrested within 24 hours. He’ll be tried as an adult and will probably go to prison, with no possibility of parole; a wonderful opportunity for him to become the “gansta” he imagines himself to be. Rest in peace, Tommy.