pianogonzology: July 2016

Sunday, July 31, 2016

I Am . . .

. . . a Company Man . . .

. . . maybe not . . .

I'm feeling dead on my feet
I've got the stubble on my chin
Spent half the night on the job
I'm gonna bring that new account in
There ain't no supper on the table
The lady knows just where I've been
I do the best that I am able
With the limited resources I have
In matters of the heart
And if it's coming down to minding my own business
It's just the business I've been minding
That I've been minding all the time
You gotta make up your mind

I only wanted to
Grow up shooting outlaws
While riding on the back of a horse
But that just wasn't a part of the plan
My mother told me to always be a good boy
But I'm a company man
I do the best that I can
My wife and children will
Have to wait in line for my time
Cause I'm a company man

This looking bad isn't good
The only answer is ignore it
A little pain here and there
You get some medicine and cure it
It's not that I can't take the pressure
The pot is boiling all the time
It's only that I'm being
Measured by the powers in the boardroom above
They're always watching me
And if I miss an opportunity to make another
To make a dollar they will find it
And it will certainly be missed
Another cheek to be kissed

I only wanted to
Grow up shooting outlaws
While riding on the back of a horse
But that just wasn't a part of the plan
My mother told me to always be a good boy
But I'm a company man
I do the best that I can
My wife and children will
Have to wait in line for my time
Cause I'm a company man

I was so young and idealistic then
Couldn't see the trees for the forest
Most of the time
Until I tasted all the choicest wines
Saving money up for that rainy day
Finding phony rendezvous getaways
Am I really fooling somebody
Or is it the pay

I was a child of the light
I always learned to do the right things
And though they said I was bright
There's still a fire inside me burning
For all the riches that I'm missing
For all the love I never found
I wonder who she might be
Kissing in the middle of a cold winter night
When left alone again
I wonder just what I would do if she would leave me
Pack up the kids and run away
Without a singular goodbye
Why in the world would she try

I only wanted to
Grow up shooting outlaws
While riding on the back of a horse
But that just wasn't a part of the plan
My mother told me to always be a good boy
But I'm a company man
I do the best that I can
My wife and children will
Have to wait in line for my time
Cause I'm a company man

Company Man
©1996 Raymond M. Jozwiak

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Saturday, July 30, 2016

Lies . . .

(from No One Left To Lie To; The Values of the Worst Family by Christopher Hitchens)
". . . Just as the Republicans case against the presiden seemed to be lapsing into incoherence, in the first days of 1999, Matt Drudge uncorked the black baby again. . . And Drudge-whose want of discrimination in the respect is almost a trademark-openly says that he'll print anything and let the customers decide what's actually kosher. . . (It means for one thing, that you have no right to claim that you were correct, or truthful, or brave. All you did was pass it on like a leaker or some other kind of conduit). . .'

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Friday, July 29, 2016

No No No No . . .

(http://www.caintv.com/hillary-golly-i-had-no-idea-th)
Whenever there's a scandal involving a Clinton, you can be sure that the Clintons knew nothing about it. They are forever "out of the loop" when it comes to the sleazy, underhanded activities of their lackeys. This has been true in virtually every nefarious Clinton-based plot for the last twenty-five years, and there's no reason to think anything's changed. . . As always, when it comes to the DNC tipping the scales in her favor during the primaries, Hillary Clinton had no idea. . . This weekend, during a 60 Minutes interview, she was asked about the DNC's efforts to destroy Bernie Sanders on her behalf. The exchange was edited out of the broadcast version of the Q&A, but it's available via the CBS website. . ."

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Thursday, July 28, 2016

Just As Long . . .

. . . as I don't have to bloody my hands

I'll be your Blood Brother
By your side through thick and thin
I'll be your Blood Brother
Just as long as I don't have to bloody
My ha - ands

Barrooms sure have a funny way
Of bringing loyalty out in a man
Buy a drink and tell a joke
And buddy you've got you a friend
But keep a good eye upon that friend
Because he really doesn't give two hoots
And don't say anything about his Mom
His girlfriend or his army boots

I'll be your Blood Brother
By your side through thick and thin
I'll be your Blood Brother
Just as long as I don't have to bloody
My ha - ands

Walked into an auto-mo-showroom
I need some wheels but got no money to spend
When a guy with an ugly tie
Walks out and acts like he's my long-lost friend
I said hey Buddy I've a purpose here
And if you please I will accomplish my goal
So don't you slap me on the back again
Cause if you do I might just lose my control

I'll be your Blood Brother
By your side through thick and thin
I'll be your Blood Brother
Just as long as I don't have to bloody
My ha - ands

So please be careful when you meet someone
Who'll make a promise at the drop of a hat
And don't provide them with encouragement
You will regret the day you offered him that
Cause everybody needs some empathy
But just how willing
And how far will they go
To really help you when the chips are down
Can they be trusted half as far as you throw them

I'll be your Blood Brother
By your side through thick and thin
I'll be your Blood Brother
Just as long as I don't have to bloody
My hands

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Wednesday, July 27, 2016

David . . .

. . . does not like drum solos . . .

. . . and this is not, nor does it contain a drum solo 'per se.' It does, however, contain some fine work by Mr. Reeve of OHO. OHO is David Reeve, Jay Graboski and Ray Jozwiak.

Out Of Thin Air
OHO Live Bourbon Street On The Beach, July 2016

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Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Unity. . .

". . . Schmunity. . .

(from No One Left To Lie To; The Values of the Worst Family by Christopher Hitchens)
". . . The admission that Clinton is a political conservative, who has moved the Democratic Party to the right while relying on rather prostituted "correctness" constituencies, is one that few authentic conservatives allow themselves. The concession does, however, show an understanding of "triangulation" and it does possess some explanatory power. By the spring of 2000, it was clear that the liberal pulse of the party was to all intents and purposes undetectable. Even former Senator Bill Bradley, returning to the hustlings after marinating for a while in the casks of Wall Street, looked discountenanced by the utter failure of the patient to respond. And he was only seeking to awaken the liberal reformist instinct in its mildest and most manageable form. He didn't even brush the G-spot. . ."

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Monday, July 25, 2016

Great . . .

Headline . . .

. . . well, OK. ANOTHER great headline . . .

American Gas Will Be First to Pass Through Expanded Panama Canal

-American Journal of Transportation

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Sunday, July 24, 2016

The Music . . .

. . . goes round and round . . .

. . . whoa-oah. . . and it comes out HERE . . .

(from http://usuncut.com/politics/dnc-email-leak-exposes-bias/)
". . . On Friday, the whistleblowing website leaked approximately 20,000 emails that were allegedly sent by top Democratic National Committee staffers like chairperson Debbie Wasserman Schultz (who referred to a top Bernie Sanders aide as a “damn liar“) national press secretary Mark Paustenbach, and communications director Luis Miranda. This data dump is “Part One” of a series from WikiLeaks they are calling the “Hillary Leaks,” and Guccifer 2.0 has taken credit for the hack behind this first set of emails from the DNC. . . The emails show an unprecedented level of collusion between top party officials and political reporters at establishment newspapers, as well as DNC staffers obviously favoring Hillary Clinton while devising ways to attack Bernie Sanders. . . In one email with the subject line “Bernie narrative,” Paustenbach ponders a way to attack the Sanders campaign as “never having their act together” with Miranda, suggesting they plant a narrative in the media that the Vermont senator’s presidential campaign “was a mess.” . . . Despite Wasserman Schultz repeatedly denied allegations that she was favoring Hillary Clinton in the primary, but WikiLeaks’ emails expose her treating the Sanders campaign as an adversary. . ."

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Saturday, July 23, 2016

Listen . . .

. . . to one of your own . . .

(by Ronald Reagan, 1980 at http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=85199)
". . . The election will be over soon, autumn will become winter, this year will fade into next . . . and yet, the decisions we make tomorrow will determine our country's course through what promises to be one of the most perilous decades in our history. . . What kind of country, what kind of legacy will we leave to . . . young men and women who will live out America's third century as a nation? . . . In thinking about these questions, many Americans seem to be wondering, searching. . . feeling frustrated and perhaps even a little afraid. . . Many of us are unhappy about our worsening economic problems, about the constant crisis atmosphere in our foreign policy, about our diminishing prestige around the globe, about the weakness in our economy and national security that jeopardizes world peace, about our lack of strong, straight-forward leadership. . . Americans . . . seek a vision of a better America, a vision of society that frees the energies and ingenuity of our people while it extends compassion to the lonely, the desperate, and the forgotten. . . No person who understands the American presidency can possibly hope to make every decision or tend to every detail in the national government. But he can promise to bring to government the best leaders in this nation and put them to work for the American people. . ."

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Friday, July 22, 2016

Listen . . .

T - the number of police officers killed in the line of duty has risen by almost 50 percent in one year
Fact - the number of law enforcement officers killed on the job has increased 8 percent, compared to this point in 2015.

T - homicides last year increased by 17 percent in America's 50 largest cities. That's the largest increase in 25 years. In our nation's capital, killings have risen by 50 percent. They are up nearly 60 percent in nearby Baltimore."
Fact - the percentage increase was large because the number of homicides in 2014 was relatively small. Meanwhile, homicide trends have been split in the major cities so far this year: Out of 63 agencies reporting to the Major Cities Chiefs Association, 32 cities saw a decrease in homicides in the first quarter of 2016, and 31 cities saw an increase.

T - Nearly 180,000 illegal immigrants with criminal records, ordered deported from our country, are tonight roaming free to threaten peaceful citizens.
Fact - in fiscal 2015, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported nearly 140,000 convicted criminals, but ICE has estimated that nearly 1 million noncitizens with final deportation orders remain in the United States. Crimes committed by this group are not documented. A significant percentage of their crimes involve immigration violations and nonviolent offenses, according to historical records.

T - The number of new illegal immigrant families who have crossed the border so far this year already exceeds the entire total from 2015. They are being released by the tens of thousands into our communities with no regard for the impact on public safety or resources.
Fact - From October to June, just over 50,000 families were apprehended at the southwestern border, up from about 40,000 in all of the previous fiscal year, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. But overall apprehensions, including of unaccompanied minors, are running only slightly higher than in 2015 and remain far less than in 2014, 2013 and 2012.

T - Decades of record immigration have produced lower wages and higher unemployment for our citizens, especially for African -American and Latino workers.
Fact - Distinction must be made between legal and illegal immigration. The flow of legal immigrants has increased over the past four decades, stabilizing at roughly 1 million people obtaining lawful permanent resident status every year since 2001. The unauthorized immigrant population increased from about 4 million in 1990 to about 12 million in 2007. But researchers estimate that the number of illegal immigrants has been essentially stable since then because of the large number of unauthorized immigrants who left the country during and after the Great Recession.

T - 2 million more Latinos are in poverty today than when the president took his oath of office."
Fact - From March 2009 to March 2014, the most recent year for which statistics are available, the number of Latinos in poverty increased by 750,000 people, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. But the overall number of the Latinos grew by nearly 7 million. So the percent of Latinos living in poverty declined from 25.3 percent to 23.6 percent.

T - Household incomes are down more than $4,000 since the year 2000 - 16 years ago.
Fact - Median annual household income was $57,206 in June, down slightly from January 2000, when it was $57,826 in 2016 dollars. So household income is essentially flat, not down $4,000.

T - Forty-three million Americans are on food stamps.
Fact - This is the lowest number of people receiving food stamps since the program reached its peak in 2013, a sign that the economy is finally improving enough to help the desperately poor families who depend on it.

T - Fifty-eight percent of African American youth are not employed.
Fact - According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate among blacks 16 to 19 years old was 31.2 percent in June. This official unemployment rate refers to people who are actively looking for work, as a percentage of the total available workforce.

T - Another 14 million people have left the workforce entirely.
Fact - Half of the decline in the labor participation rate since 1999 is due to the retirement of the baby boomers. Economists estimate just 15 percent of the drop in the labor force involves people who want a job and are of prime working age (25 to 54).

T - America has lost nearly one-third of its manufacturing jobs since 1997, following the enactment of disastrous trade deals (by previous administrations)
Fact - The economy has added nearly 1 million manufacturing jobs since 2010, the low point after the Great Recession.

It is simplistic to pin blame for the decline in manufacturing jobs on trade agreements. Increased efficiency and technological advancement have also played a major role.
(thanks to http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/politics/ct-donald-trump-convention-speech-fact-check-20160721-story.html)

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Thursday, July 21, 2016

Years . . .

. . . ago . . .

. . . my friend Bob, also a musician, alerted me to the fact that some jazz players, mainly pianists such as McCoy Tyner and Chick Corea, voiced chords in unique and interesting ways, a fact with which I was quite unfamiliar. At the time mind you, I was entering the twilight of my years of accordion lessons and listening to art/prog-rock bands like Jethro Tull and Gentle Giant. The lessons providing invaluable theory experience and an unrivaled discipline in practice and dedication; the art/prog providing tremendous inspiration and motivation to create; although at the time, I was quite unable to create the kinds of things I would very much have like to created. Nevertheless, this unique voicing of chords, one tactic of which Bob was very explicit, was the use of fourths - resulting in a slightly non-conventional, yet pleasing and ever-adaptable sound as opposed to a major triad or some inversion of same. In any case, although I didn't fully grasp the enormity of this discovery at the time, I did attempt to employ it and have incorporated it into my musical thoughts and deeds ever since. One such composition that utilizes the concept is, as of yet tentatively titled, posted here in all its undecided and raw, new-born glory . . .

Step It Up(in progress)
©2016 Raymond M. Jozwiak

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Wednesday, July 20, 2016

More . . .

. . . money . . .

So I said
I've got a roof o'er my head
Some people can't even say the same thing
But it's still not a fact
I can take any comfort in
I want more to make up my legacy
I'm not poorbut everybody's telling me

Money can't buy everything
You've heard it time again
No money can't buy happiness
When will you learn this fact of life my friend

So I said
I've got my very own bed
I don't give it much thought
When I lay down my head
But it's cold and it's lonely
In December on the street
Why do you tell me these kinds of things
I want more of luxuries that wealth can bring

Money can't buy everything
You've heard it time again
No money can't buy happiness
When will you learn this fact of life my friend

I want to be a squire a king a country gentleman
If I can if I can
I want to get respect Ffor what I have
And not for what I am
Just a man just a man

So I said
It's more than daily bread
That I. . . . . . . .

Money can't buy everything
You've heard it time again
No money can't buy happiness
When will you learn this fact of life my friend

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Tuesday, July 19, 2016

Concepts. . .

. . . worth . . .

. . . considering. . .

(from Treatise On The Gods by H.L. Mencken)
". . . As I have said, the history of this great innovation (heaven and hell) is vague, and we know very little about its early stages. Many Jews, it appears, opposed it; the Sadducees, indeed, held out against it to the end. In Ecclesiastes III, 19-20, it is flouted openly: "For what befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; . . . as the one dieth, so dieth the other. . . . All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again." And again in Ecclesiastes IX, 2 and 5: "All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked: to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth no: as is the good, so is the sinner. . . . For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not anything, neither have they any more reward." But the idea of immortal life was too sweet to be extinguished by any such skepticism, and so it persisted among the Jews, and the scheme of post mortem rewards and punishments with it. . ."

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