Fans of television's Bakersfield PD may have noticed two especially hip things about it. One: It's directed by the talented Tim Hunter, who in Over The Edge, River's Edge and The Saint of Fort Washington made three of the best films ever about the real America. (Over the Edge was a favourite film of Nirvana's Kurt Cobain, and inspired part of the "Teen Spirit" video.
Fact two: theme music, credited to Carl Finch, comes from the Denton, Texas nuclear polka band Brave Combo. Brave Combo transforms every known sort of traditional music -- cumbias, polkas, merengue, cha cha cha -- into instant party entertainment.
Noise bands have brought fresh attention to tiny Denton. But Brave Combo put it on the musical map. They started playing 15 years ago and have made 10 records, all of mixing musical styles. (A good example is their early crowd-pleaser: Jim Morrison's "People Are Strange" rendered as a polka.) But there's always more: waltzes, schottisches, mambos, two-steps, horas, rhumbas,the Twist.
Hava Nagila Twist (Organized Dancing CD) 
BC tour Europe, Japan and the US. Last year, they appeared with storyteller Garrison Keillor and a pair of US Olympic skaters (no, not that pair). During a recent tour to Paris, founder Finch found a discarded matchbook on the ground. Taking this as a sign, Brave Combo started to ponder fire and passion.
Then they recorded Francoise Hardy's "No Way to Say Goodbye". Released on their new personal label Dentone Records, it stormed the Japanese charts. This April, BC will be touring Japan; this summer they tour America. But they continue to record other artists, such as Texas musician and conceptual yodeller Randy Erwin (currently a member of hot act Cafe Noir).
BC also have a program for "Peace Through Polka". Says Finch,
I do think rhythm can help bring about world peace. If people all across the world only start dancing together, they CAN learn to accept and respect each other's cultures.
In July, BC will release an EP for group dancing; as well as the "Hava Nagila Twist", it includes classics like the "Hokey Pokey" (in Britain, "Hokey Cokey").
Order Brave Combo records from: PO Box 233, Denton, Texas 76202 USA; tel (US)817-387-0860; fax (US) 817-387-7057. Discographies will be faxed to you. Foreign orders: include the equivalent of 3-4 to be shipped air mail. For the US, 1.5 should suffice.
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