Monday, January 26, 2009

brave combo

My kids' 2 favorite CDs are both by Brave Combo (my dad terms them a nuclear polka band). I'm reminded on this youtube clip that they're 2-time Grammy winners. Behold, the rock version of the Hokey Pokey:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kK_lIcv7sic

The animation is just a little weird in my opinion, but the song is a favorite here. Best part? "Put your tongue in, your tongue out, your tongue in and blblblblbl". This is from the Group Dance Epidemic CD. The kids also love their version of the Chicken Dance. Random facts: A friend tells me the Chicken Dance was originally recorded in Dutch. I checked up on it, it is true, and you can learn more than you ever needed to know via a simple internet search. For better or worse, so much trivia is available at our fingertips these days. I had cause to reflect about changes in technology when my son asked me if TV was only in black and white when I was a kid. I denied it right away, but then had to think about when our family actually acquired a color TV ... we definitely had the black and white one for a long time. I can remember it in the house we moved into when I was 8. We had a color one too, but the black and white was in the other room ... its case was "harvest gold".

Back to Brave Combo -- they're a Denton, Texas, band and also claimed by the Univ. of North Texas (in Denton). So they're kind of a big deal in my home town. It's a funny thing, the whole "prominent citizens" or "important people who came from here". The nice thing about Brave Combo is that they're still based in Denton, unlike most famous people who come from someplace, but quickly depart for bigger opportunities. Here in Prague we celebrate Franz Kafka, Alfons Mucha and Mozart (half of Europe stakes some claim to Mozart, it seems like). Prominent Czechs living today include Vaclav Havel, Madeline Albright and Paulina Porizkova.

These famous people lists of course only exist for small places. I can't imagine a list of famous Americans or Parisians. But famous Belgians are one of those trivia things mentioned above. And then there are the places that are small enough and birthed a person famous enough that the famous person pretty much takes over the whole town. Stratford-upon-Avon, I'm talking about you. Also Hannibal, Missouri ... can't think of any others right now. Someday I might get remembered as the most famous person to have owned my toaster. Hehe.

4 comments:

Susan said...

They are so awesome. That's Denton, isn't it, in the animation?

Georgia and David said...

Catherine asked me the same question about B&W tv recently and I, too, denied it. But in the back of my mind I was thinking of that old harvest gold dinosaur. I remember fighting with Zach b/c TMNT and the NKOTB cartoons came on at the same time Sat mornings, so one of us had to use the B&W tv to watch our show.

Bowling for Soup claims Denton as well, although they're from Wichita Falls. Utah is most recently famous for The Fray and David Archuleta (who I despise. Apparently it is un-Utahan to feel so, but I really don't like him. They even made the local corn maze in the shape of his face. Ugh.)

Susan said...

That little harvest gold TV was top-rated by Consumer Reports and lived up to it. It lasted and lasted and when we finally gave it away, it was still working. The color set was a gift from your grandfather who felt sorry for you and wanted you to watch Sesame Street in color. Otherwise, we'd probably still be watching in black and white. And, of course, I remember going across the street to see the first television set in our neighborhood. The screen was about 5 inches by 5 inches.

Morgan said...

No! He got a corn field?!? That's ... creepy.