Hurry . . .

. . . Some folks are just plain restless.  They bore easily.  They are unsatisfied with many things within their own life as well as things in the world as a whole. Many times these folks are truly just plain brilliant and go on to accomplish wonderful things for mankind. Sometimes, not so. I am not, by nature, restless. In fact, I can be quite complacent at times. There was a time however, when I felt so very restless that it was severely affecting my attitude. When I was approaching the end of my college career, I found myself eager to get on with a 'real' life in the 'real' world. This was actually a phrase that I used frequently to express my frustration with what began to feel like some kind of make-believe world, or role-playing exercise. I simply wanted that chapter to end and to get on with career, personal pursuits and the rest of it. I have not regretted the decisions I have made since that time and I now find a deeper understanding of what I was feeling then.  But also with hindsight, comes an appreciation for those (relatively) responsibility-free days of being young and being a student. . .

Hurry Up and Wait
©2017 Raymond M. Jozwiak

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Sorry . . .

. . . I still don't dig it . . .

. . . football, that is . . .

(from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_It_Was,_Was_Football)
"What it Was, Was Football" is a monologue by comedian Andy Griffith. It was recorded in Raleigh, North Carolina for the Colonial Records label in 1953. Soon, Colonial had sold nearly 50,000 copies of the record and then sold the masters to Capitol Records. Capitol released the record in the same year, which soon had sold nearly 800,000 copies, and was instrumental in launching Griffith's career in television, stage, and film. The record is still one of the biggest-selling comedy records of all time. On the original single, the monologue is credited to "Deacon Andy Griffith."   The monologue is a description of a college football game, as seen by a naive country preacher who attends the game by accident and is entirely puzzled by it. Griffith made an appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1954, in large part due to the popularity of the record.

Still looks that way to me.  

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I'd Like To Thank. . .

. . . (getting a little ahead of myself. . . )


The Washington Area Music Awards recognize significant career achievements by area musicians. Nominations and balloting come from the WAMA membership. Past show participants include Emmylou Harris, Joan Jett, The Clovers, The Orioles, Bo Diddley, Jorma Kaukonen, Jimmy Dean, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Ruth Brown, LaVern Baker, Sweet Honey in the Rock and OHO.

Also announced at the Wammies are each year's inductees to the Hall of Fame.  Deadline: Midnight, Friday October 25

The 28th Wammies Nomination Ballot is where WAMA members vote on who they want to see on the official 28th Wammies Ballot.

You can check out the Artist & Product Registry, for an glimpse of the accomplishments of some of our local musicians. However, an artist does not have to be listed on the Artist & Product Registry to be nominated, nor does being listed guarantee a place on the Nomination Ballot.

To enter your nominations for this year's Wammies by midnight on Friday, October 25, click Nominate.

You can nominate artists who are not WAMA members, but you do need to be a current WAMA member in order for your ballot to count. Not a member? Join or renew at Membership.

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Underappreciated. . .

(from wikipedia.com)
Don Patterson was an American jazz organist. Patterson played piano from childhood and was heavily influenced by Erroll Garner in his youth. In 1956, he switched to organ after hearing Jimmy Smith play the instrument. In the early 1960s, he began playing regularly with Sonny Stitt, and he began releasing material as a leader on Prestige Records from 1964 (with Pat Martino and Billy James as sidemen). His most commercially successful album was 1964's Holiday Soul, which reached #85 on the Billboard 200 in 1967. Patterson's troubles with drug addiction hobbled his career in the 1970s, during which he occasionally recorded for Muse Records and lived in Gary, Indiana. In the 1980s he moved to Philadelphia and made a small comeback, but his health deteriorated over the course of the decade, and he died there in 1988.

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Spook. . .

. . . Handy

(from http://spookhandy.com/wp/biography/)
". . . Spook Handy was No Musical Genius As a Kid ~ He played no instrument, owned no records, and didn’t even have a radio until he was in high school. In fact, he didn’t make the first cut when he tried out for Glee Club in 5th grade.

But he Had a Dream ~ His love for music dates back to his first time watching the Beatles perform on TV. That day a seed was planted – a vision, a possibility of still being a fun loving person when he grew up. And little was anyone to know that one day that seed would sprout.

And The Dream Grew ~ It happened on a stiflingly humid New Jersey morning the summer after graduating Rutgers University (Phi Beta Kappa) with a major in Math and Business. Spook had been offered several lucrative jobs in the actuarial field. He had been groomed for this career by his parents and teachers because he was good at math as a child. He had three job interviews lined up for the day. But…

Spook Always Carried with him a Lust for Living “Outside the Box” ~ His “what if” and “why not” questions raised many eyebrows. His unorthodox religious perspectives got him kicked out of Catholic school after 1st grade. And somewhere in the back of his mind he never gave up on the dream he had when he first saw the Beatles. So, on that fateful morning as he stood in the mirror hopelessly trying to tie his tie, a sudden and unforgiving truth overwhelmed him. The world of convention was not his fate. Sure, math came easy. But his lessons were to be learned through his heart, not his mind. That day he gave his suit and tie to the local thrift shop, bought a used Yahama guitar for $50 and set out to follow his heart’s dream. . ."

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I don't care. . .

. . . this is My Life. . .

Before, during and after the American Legion gig, there were many dances, 'bull roasts', weddings and other affairs to keep us busy.  Still, in spite of many requests for more 'current' material, we persisted in our same-old repertoire, rationalizing, being lazy, but having fun, doggedly tightening-up our musical simpatico until the question of marriage was broached. 

No, I don't mean a a radial, unconventional partnership of some kind among the band members.  I mean my fiance (now wife of many, many wonderful years) and I were planning our wedding.  The date was to be October 6, 1979.  It was sometime in the spring of '79 and I gave some serious thought to how to approach a musical life combined with married life.  Options were to continue in the same vein with the group, make a little spending money, and leave my new wife home alone many weekend nights, or pursue a new band opportunity that may be more challenging, more lucrative or more aesthetically satisfying- but that would still leave the other partner in my new marriage to fend for herself as much, if not more, as staying with the original band would.  Fact is, for all my love of music, I enjoyed spending personal time with this person to whom I was committing the rest of my life.  I enjoyed it, and still do, so much, that the choice was not terribly difficult, I can honestly say. So I announced my decision to my band-mates well in advance, set a 'last' date target, and after a particularly satisfying Saturday night performance at the legion hall, we said goodbye.  There was no animosity, no bad feelings.  There was simply honesty.  We had a fine time socializing during breaks, as usual, and after it ended, I had effectively, and for the time being, retired from music. 

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Cannonball. . .

(from wikipedia.com)
Julian Edwin "Cannonball" Adderley (September 15, 1928 – August 8, 1975) was a jazz alto saxophonist of the hard bop era of the 1950s and 1960s. Originally from Tampa, Florida, Adderley moved to New York in the mid-1950s. His nickname derived originally from "cannibal," an honorific title imposed on him by high school colleagues as a tribute to his fast eating capacity.

His educational career was long established prior to teaching applied instrumental music classes at Dillard High School in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Cannonball moved to Tallahassee, Florida when his parents obtained teaching positions at Florida A&M University. Both Cannonball and brother Nat played with Ray Charles when Charles lived in Tallahassee during the early 1940s.[ Cannonball was a local legend in Florida until he moved to New York City in 1955, where he lived in Corona, Queens.

By the end of 1960s, Adderley's playing began to reflect the influence of the electric jazz avant-garde, and Miles Davis' experiments on the album Bitches Brew. On his albums from this period, such as Accent on Africa (1968) and The Price You Got to Pay to Be Free (1970), he began doubling on soprano saxophone, showing the influence of John Coltrane and Wayne Shorter.[citation needed] In that same year, his quintet appeared at the Monterey Jazz Festival in California, and a brief scene of that performance was featured in the 1971 psychological thriller Play Misty for Me, starring Clint Eastwood.[citation needed] In 1975 he also appeared (in an acting role alongside Jose Feliciano and David Carradine) in the episode "Battle Hymn" in the third season of the TV series Kung Fu.

Joe Zawinul's composition "Cannon Ball" (recorded on Weather Report's album Black Market) is a tribute to his former leader.[3] Pepper Adams and George Mraz dedicated the composition "Julian" on the 1975 Pepper Adams album (also called "Julian") days after Cannonball's death.

Songs made famous by Adderley and his bands include "This Here" (written by Bobby Timmons), "The Jive Samba," "Work Song" (written by Nat Adderley), "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" (written by Joe Zawinul) and "Walk Tall" (written by Zawinul, Marrow and Rein). A cover version of Pops Staples' "Why (Am I Treated So Bad)?" also entered the charts.

Adderley was initiated as an honorary member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia fraternity (Gamma Theta chapter, University of North Texas, '60, & Xi Omega chapter, Frostburg State University, '70) and Alpha Phi Alpha (Beta Nu chapter, Florida A&M University).

Adderley died of a stroke in 1975. He was buried in the Southside Cemetery, Tallahassee, Florida. Later that year he was inducted into the Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame. . ."

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We've tried to tell him. . .

. . . that the car is worth preserving. . . at least FOR NOW!!

For some reason, Russ is not as keen on preserving the automobile which was bestowed upon him upon graduation and his subsequent relocation to Los Angeles. (City of Angels, as that cowboy fella says)

Sure, it's old. 'Bout twelve years now. Sure, it's got lots of miles on it. Around 150,000. But it's a Toyota. Those suckers have been known to last 200 or more thousand miles if maintained.

And we've been encouraging the maintenance. And he's done it. As far as we know. But whenever an oxygen sensor or an electric window goes up he gets discouraged.

Not that we don't understand. After all, he's trying to develop a career in the movie industry. Motion pictures. Film. You know. So work isn't always regular, steady, stabile, conventional, lucrative. . . you get the picture. (Pun intended)

But STILL. It's a car. That runs. That was FREE. Yeah you have to put money into it. But not to purchase it. It's paid off. It's YOURS baby!

Be clear. I am not belittling his point of view. We love the guy. It's just a little frustrating to hear that the next time something other than an oil change is required to keep the car on the road, he may just throw his hands up and say. . .
THAT'S IT. And we're not really sure that's in his best interest at this particular time. That's all.




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It's like the Hokey-Pokey. . .

. . . "That's what it's all about."

(from msnbc.com staff and news service reports Msnbc.com staff, KCCI.com, and the Times-Republican contributed to this report. updated 10/19/2011)
"An Iowa couple married for 72 years died holding hands in a Des Moines hospital within 70 minutes of each other last week after a car accident that also injured another couple.

"They're very old-fashioned. They believed in marriage 'til death do you part," Dennis Yeager, the son of Gordon and Norma Yeager, told KCCI.com. The accident that claimed Gordon, 94, and Norma Yeager, 90, happened Oct. 12, when the couple left their State Center home for a drive shortly after 8 a.m. At the intersection of Highway 30 and Jessup Avenue, just west of Marshalltown, Gordon pulled "away from the stop sign and failed to yield to a westbound vehicle," according to Sgt. Joel Ehler of the Iowa State Patrol. The driver of the other car, Charles Clapsaddle, 64, of Marshalltown, was unable to stop to avoid a collision, Ehler said.

Yeager was facing pending action by the Iowa Department of Transportation to have his license removed, but citing privacy concerns, said he could release no additional details on what prompted that action. The Yeagers' children told KCCI.com that their parents never liked being apart ever since Norma Stock married Gordon Yeager on May 26, 1939, in State Center. And they were relieved that the couple was able to spend their last moments together at the intensive care unit of the Marshalltown hospital.
"They brought them in the same room in intensive care and put them together — and they were holding hands in ICU. They were not really responsive," Dennis Yeager told KCCI.com.

Gordon died at 3:38 p.m. surrounded by their family and holding hands with Norma.
"It was really strange, they were holding hands, and dad stopped breathing but I couldn't figure out what was going on because the heart monitor was still going," said Dennis Yeager. "But we were like, he isn't breathing. How does he still have a heart beat? The nurse checked and said that's because they were holding hands and it's going through them. Her heart was beating through him and picking it up."

Norma died at 4:48 p.m., according to KCCI.com. "Neither one of them would've wanted to be without each other. I couldn't figure out how it was going to work," the Yeagers' daughter Donna Sheets told KCCI.com. "We were very blessed, honestly, that they went this way."

The Yeager’s children said the couple complemented each other. "Anybody come over — she was the hostess with the mostess. ... The more she did, the more she smiled," Dennis Yeager told KCCI.com. "Dad would be the center of attention, like, 'Wheee look at me,' and mom was like 'get him away from me!' You know we even got a picture like that." And even though they argued every now and them, "They just loved being together," he said. "He said 'I have to stick around. I can't go until she does because I have to stay here for her and she would say the same thing,'" he said.
The couple reportedly were holding hands Tuesday at their funeral in their casket. Their family said the plan was to cremate them together and mix their ashes."




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