Writing . . .

. . . songs . . . 

(from http://thateventuality.tumblr.com/post/65262409680/ive-said-it-before-but-one-of-the-real-reasons-i)
". . .I’ve said it before, but one of the real reasons I started getting into composing is that I thought: ‘Well, if John and Paul can write songs…’…The hang-up of playing my songs to John and Paul always used to hold me back, as I’ve said, because I knew how it would sound finished, and I had to try and convince them in one play. For that reason, there are a lot of numbers of mine that I decided not to do anything about. It was a shyness - a withdrawal - and I always used to take the easy way out. . . Now? Well, maybe I’m cocky! Because now, I don’t care if nobody else likes it. It’s a matter of taste. And maybe I don’t like some of their songs, either. What I still do, though, is to bring out the numbers I think are the easiest to get across. The ones I think will take the shortest time to make an impact… the ones that’ll sound the nicest tunes…Summing me up, I don’t mind admitting that I definitely USED TO BE self-conscious. But now I’ve got less hang-ups about everything, not just music. . ."

What do you think?
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http://www.ohomusic.com 

My latest solo offering, No Frills, is now available at - No Frills

(To Access all Ray Jozwiak - Gonzo Piano music you can copy-and-paste this URL directly to
your browser:  http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/RayJozwiak)

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The Ocean City Ditty Video is now on YouTube
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All We Are Saying . . .

(from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jihadi_John)
". . . [Mohammed]Emwazi was given his pseudonym as John by a group of his hostages. The hostages have said that he was part of a terrorist cell described as "The Beatles", and that he guarded Western hostages while handling communications with their families. The pseudonym makes reference to John Lennon of the Beatles, and other members of the cell are known as "George", "Paul" and "Ringo", in reference to the Beatles' other members. The cell members all had English accents. The pseudonyms "Jihadi John" and "Jailer John" were created by the British press. . ."

(from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2743813/Ringo-Starr-disgusted-ISIS-Brits-nicknamed-The-Beatles-It-s-b-t-They-against-stood-for.html#ixzz3SwYKYyME)
". . . Ringo Starr is disgusted that British jihadis in Syria have been nicknamed 'The Beatles', claiming ISIS is against everything his former band stood for. The nickname was revealed by a former ISIS captive who said the gang of British extremists had been compared to the group from Liverpool because of their accents. The man thought to be responsible for beheading American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff has been dubbed 'Jihadi John', while two other British jihadis are being called Paul and Ringo. . ."

What do you think?

Tell me at
http://www.rayjozwiak.com/guestbook.html  or at
http://www.ohomusic.com 


OHO's "Ocean City Ditty," the CD single is now available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/oho4
(and, if you're in town, at Trax On Wax on Frederick Rd. in Catonsville, MD) OHO is Jay Graboski, David Reeve & Ray Jozwiak.  Please Visit http://www.ohomusic.com 


My latest solo offering, Just More Music by Ray Jozwiak, featuring original, instrumental piano music will be released April 7, 2014  Just More Music by Ray Jozwiak

(To Access all Ray Jozwiak - Gonzo Piano music you can copy-and-paste this URL directly to
your browser:  http://http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/RayJozwiak)

Also, be sure to visit:
http://www.rayjozwiak.com

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Puff. . .

Yeah, sure, Puff the Magic Dragon, blah, blah, blah. . .

Whether you love that song or despise it, Peter, Paul and Mary were much, much more than that!

(from wikipedia.com)
". . .Manager Albert Grossman created Peter, Paul and Mary in 1961, after auditioning several singers in the New York folk scene. After rehearsing them out of town in Boston and Miami, Grossman booked them into The Bitter End, a coffee house, nightclub and popular folk music venue in New York City's Greenwich Village.

They recorded their first self-titled debut album, Peter, Paul and Mary, the following year. It included "Lemon Tree", "500 Miles", and the Pete Seeger hit tunes "If I Had a Hammer" (subtitled "The Hammer Song") and "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?". The album was listed in the Billboard Magazine Top Ten for 10 months, including seven weeks in the #1 position. It remained a main catalog-seller for decades to come, eventually selling over two million copies, earning Double Platinum certification from the RIAA in the United States alone.

In 1963 the group also released "Puff, the Magic Dragon", with music by Yarrow and words based on a poem that had been written by a fellow student at Cornell, Leonard Lipton. Despite urban myths that insist the song is filled with drug references, it is actually about the lost innocence of
childhood. . .

The trio canceled several dates of their summer 2007 tour, as Mary took longer than expected to recover from back surgery and later had to undergo a second surgery, further postponing the tour.

Travers was unable to perform on the trio's tour in mid-2009 because of her leukemia, but Peter and Paul performed the scheduled dates as a duo, calling the show "Peter & Paul Celebrate Mary and 5 Decades of Friendship."

The Peter, Paul and Mary trio came to an end on September 16, 2009, when Mary Travers died at age 72 of complications from chemotherapy, following treatment for leukemia. It was the same year (2009) they were inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame.

In 2010, Peter Yarrow and Paul Stookey, the surviving members of Peter, Paul and Mary, requested that the National Organization for Marriage stop using their recording of "This Land is Your Land" at their rallies, stating in a letter that the organization's philosophy was "directly contrary to the advocacy position" held by the group. . ."

What do you think?
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My latest release, Black & White Then Back,
can be downloaded digitally at:

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Alms. . .

. . . for the "poor". . .

(from In God's Name by David  Yallop)
". . . Pope Paul's poor Church for the poor grew instead immeasurably richer. The Vatican divestment of Italian wealth had resulted in men like Sindona and Calvi robbing the world to pay St Peter and Pope Paul. . . "

(from Father Jesus Lopez Saez writes of David Yallop)"
". . . (Yallop) eloquently demonstrates that the Vatican practiced a disinformation campaign. . .Lies about little things, lies about big things. All these lies had but one purpose: to disguise the fact that Albino Luciani, Pope John Paul I, had been assassinated. . ."

What do you think?
Tell me at  
http://www.rayjozwiak.com/guestbook.html

My latest release, Black & White Then Back,
can be downloaded digitally at:

(or you can copy-and-paste this URL directly to
your browser:  http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/rayjozwiak3)

Also, be sure to visit:
http://www.rayjozwiak.com

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John, Paul, George, Ringo. . .

. . . and Ray. Well OK. I didn't LITERALLY become one of the Beatles. But I did learn to imitate, to some childish/childlike extent, a Beatles performance of I Want To Hold Your Hand and She Loves You. I used to sing them to the bus driver on the way to school and to any and ALL of my relatives- most of whom were a more than receptive audience.

This Beatles 'experience' led me to my first public performance. My Mother's sister was a member of the 'Ladies Organization' at her church and one of their activities was an annual Mothers' Day breakfast and showcase. The affair was held in the church hall and consisted of a breakfast of bacon, eggs, biscuits, hash browns, fruits and cakes followed a program of Polish folk dancers, an occasional crooner and some 'talented' children or possibly a novelty act. I was recruited to be the youngest member of the Beatles, this incarnation comprised of some older boys, offspring of other of the 'Holy Family' membership, all of whom I had never met.

We all wore wigs, made cleverly and skillfully of black construction paper, picture THAT, if you will. The Beatles record was played, and we all sang along. No Nilly Vanilly lip-synching stuff for us NO SIR! And I even played my little, plywood, Toy Barn acoustic guitar, which I incidentally didn't even really know how to play. I only knew the 'moves'.

But, fortunately for this group of wayward impersonators, the 'moves' were indeed what counted, because as fate would have it, we were A HIT! Of course not for our musical abilities, though. We were a hit because we were the children of members and relations to members of the ladies sodality at the church. But that didn't matter to us. As a matter of fact, I don't believe I ever even saw those other Beatles again, and if I did, it was never again in a Beatles capacity to be sure. Nor do I know whether or not any of them pursued solo careers (certainly none achieved individual success to the extent that McCartney did) but a lasting impression was made upon me.


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