I never have put much stock in the interpretation of dreams. The vast and varied array of characters, places and circumstances always appeared to be too outrageous, too unbelievable, to be able to place any stock in or to glean any worthy or rational lesson, instruction or insight therefrom. It almost seemed as if the nature, detail or level of gruesomeness contained in my dreams was purely the result of the food that I consumed at the dinner table and nothing more.
But now in my increasing years (and hopefully accompanying wisdom) dreams, like so many other aspects of life that I (and we all) ponder from time to time, no longer seem to be such a cut-and-dried affair (black-and-white, if you will and NO pun intended). On a (for lack of a better word) 'higher' plane, and when one does not attempt to skew, elucidate or embellish the significance of any one aspect, interpreting dreams may not be so ridiculous a pursuit as I once thought.
In short, I now view dreams in a broad, very, very human way as first, reflecting many and varied thoughts that cross our minds during the course of a normal day. But in addition to a reflection, maybe dreams are also a mechanism to reassure, comfort, or even dare I say - instruct us about situations or issues with which we are confronted being the mortal animals that we are. Much like the strength we glean from the support of friends, family and community in the instance of an abnormal human tragedy. Or even not unlike the comfort we receive during bereavement which girds and grounds and sends us back into the fray of our everyday lives.
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 is now available at - 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)
It seems that every human being harbors to some extent, though not without exception and not all act on it, a desire to control, or shall we say hold power over others. This holds true whether in the confines of a professional office setting or in groups such as clubs and organized religious sects. My first eye-opening experience with this came with my first, full-time job. Some people there eventually were eventually promoted to supervisory positions. Upon attaining that lofty (in their eyes) status, they became just like some others higher in the authority chain who did not necessarily practice ideal organizational management skills. Some even adopted behaviors towards subordinates about which they formerly and vociferously complained. "How can this be?" I thought. . . and still do.
"Those who have been intoxicated with power... Can never willingly abandon it."
– Edmund Burke
"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power."
-Abraham Lincoln
"Washing one's hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral."
-Paulo Freire
"The measure of a man is what he does with power."
-Plato
"It is said that power corrupts, but actually it's more true that power attracts the corruptible. The sane are usually attracted by other things than power."
-David Brin
"Ultimately, the only power to which man should aspire is that which he exercises over himself."
-Elie Weisel
"For the powerful, crimes are those that others commit."
-Noam Chomsky
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 is now available at - 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)
Just look at the morning paper
And tell me what you see
Is something very wrong
Or maybe my eyes deceive me
Somewhere in the local section
A buried paragraph
Someone who had the time to care
And the character to act
The higher the highs
The lower the lows
The older I get
That's the way that it goes
The more that I think that I want
The less that I need
Because I realize how precious
And how short
This time with you may be
When you're young and your biggest worry's
What game you want to play
Such innocence is just surpassed
By the naivete
Take good with the worst
And better
You know they're not the same
Youth somehow brings them all together
Different they are
But subtle the shades
The higher the highs
The lower the lows
The older I get
That's the way that it goes
The more that I think that I want
The less that I need
Because I realize how precious
And how short
This time with you may be
Youth really
Is only wasted
If never
You've tasted
All the bitter
As well as sweet
I hope you don't misunderstand me
Or what I want to say
It's nothing revolutionary
Ignorance won't make this go away
Nobody likes a busybody
Nobody knows it all
There's one thing I can tell you certain
Take none for granted
Short or the tall
The higher the highs
The lower the lows
The older I get
That's the way that it goes
The more that I think that I want
The less that I need
Because I realize how precious
And how short
This time with you may be
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 is now available at - 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)
Just look at the morning paper
And tell me what you see
Is something very wrong
Or maybe my eyes deceive me
Somewhere in the local section
A buried paragraph
Someone who had the time to care
And the character to act
The higher the highs
The lower the lows
The older I get
That's the way that it goes
The more that I think that I want
The less that I need
Because I realize how precious
And how short
This time with you may be
When you're young and your biggest worry's
What game you want to play
Such innocence is just surpassed
By the naivete
Take good with the worst
And better
You know they're not the same
Youth somehow brings them all together
Different they are
But subtle the shades
The higher the highs
The lower the lows
The older I get
That's the way that it goes
The more that I think that I want
The less that I need
Because I realize how precious
And how short
This time with you may be
Youth really
Is only wasted
If never
You've tasted
All the bitter
As well as sweet
I hope you don't misunderstand me
Or what I want to say
It's nothing revolutionary
Ignorance won't make this go away
Nobody likes a busybody
Nobody knows it all
There's one thing I can tell you certain
Take none for granted
Short or the tall
The higher the highs
The lower the lows
The older I get
That's the way that it goes
The more that I think that I want
The less that I need
Because I realize how precious
And how short
This time with you may be
In the early 70s, the members of the wedding combo of which I was a member (Reflection, by name), thought our regeneration (after the comings and goings of members in different combos) would be more thorough with a name change and finally settled upon the catchy moniker FUL TREATMENT (yes, ONE 'L') which accurately captured our ability to navigate the crosscurrents of musical genre and essentially play ANYTHING that ANYBODY wanted. This gloriously selfless intention was more true in theory than practice, but our intentions were sincere, particularly at the start, although that facet of our existence did deteriorate somewhat in time.
Music, fun, abundant work and money were ours. Good times, as they now say. Our repertoire had evolved and developed during this period to include Bungle in the Jungle, You're So Vain, Games People Play (Jethro Tull, Carly Simon and The Spinners respectively). But then, in what seemed to be a not very long time later, Bruce (our drummer) resigned (abdicated his drum throne-pun intended). My sister, who at the time worked for the state government, had become acquainted with a young man at the office who, in addition to charming all the ladies there (including her), was a drummer. Not only was he a drummer, he was a drummer who was receptive to the idea of joining our little musical organization. His name was Jeff.
Jeff 'auditioned' and was quite impressive on many levels. He had a powerful touch, yet not without the ability to sensitively accompany a slow ballad. While not subtle, his drumming was strong, steady and something of a departure from his predecessor. We missed Bruce both personally and musically, but we welcomed Jeff and enjoyed the markedly different rhythm keeper and dynamic, debonair character that had become our drummer. I, more than the other members of the band, began spending additional amounts of personal time with Jeff, enjoying his captivating stories, his outrageous personality and his knowledge and appreciation of musical styles. Jeff and I visited many and varied drinking and eating places after gigs and I'd found that not only had the band acquired a fine new drummer, I had found a fun and fascinating new friend.
Keith, our guitarist and one of the founding members, had by this time decided to leave the band, an event that was somewhat bittersweet, as we sometimes longed for a guitarist with a different style. But he certainly possessed many good qualities, was reliable and added musicality not infrequently. Jeff had oft-times mentioned his seminary-educated, guitar-playing brother Jay who was also a founding member of a different, uniquely original music-playing organization called OHO. Jeff indicated that Jay would be interested in joining our combo in order to make some money because then, as now, local, original musicians weren't reaping great sums playing their own compositions. I had no inkling at the time that this event would influence both my music and a substantial portion of my life. But it has.
Charisma evidently ran in Jeff and Jay's family, as Jay possessed possibly even more of it than his younger, drummer brother. Jay somehow was more in control of the charisma with a certain maturity added to it, along with an additional self-confidence that may have been attributable to his age. Similar as they would appear from my description here, they were actually quite different from each other in reality. But the musical combination radically changed the performances of Ful Treatment much for the better. Jay rocked. [And still does] And following his lead, Ful Treatment rocked as well, at least on some of our repertoire, which at the time included 'You Really Got Me', 'Wild Thing', 'Needles and Pins' 'Twist and Shout' and 'Heat Wave'. We were all young and relatively carefree, and more frequently than was wise, a gig would turn into a party. . . for the band.
After a period, as always occurs in such mini-organizations, Jeff decided to leave the band. Jay was able to recruit alternate (with Jeff) OHO drummer David and, viola, the rest is history. At least it's a big part of MY musical history. Ful Treatment, in the ultimate configuration probably only played together for several years. But they were fun years.
I kept somewhat in touch with Jay in the intervening years. He always treated me to an LP or CD of things he was working on musically. Then about 2003, I read in the Baltimore CityPaper that OHO was performing at a local venue and I was determined that I would patronize same. Various associations between Jay and myself (musical showcases at Gallery G in Hampden, Mystic I) transpired. Then in early winter of 2011 Jay, David and myself (sans any saxophonist) began rehearsing for Schlongtasm 29 (a showcase of musical acts brought together each year to celebrate Airiad Records' Dan Long's birthday.) The ex-Ful Treatment rhythm section were reunited after 32 years as the latest incarnation of OHO, playing substantial amounts of original music and covers of far greater integrity . . . and of course, now infinitely wiser,
Good Times INDEED.
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AMBIENCE & WINE
. . . like a motherless child. Good song. But that's not really what I meant. Sometimes I do feel like a square peg without a round hole in sight.
But that can be a good thing as well as a bad one.
As far as the bad, my best friend and children know and understand me well. That's GOOD, of course. The bad part of it is that I have to be careful when I'm with EVERYONE ELSE!! That's not so bad though. Because if you think about it, life is all about coping with specific situations all the time and no one should expect to be able to relax and completely be oneself all the time. It's education. It's character building. One should be able to receive as well as give. (If you can dish it out, you should be able to take it.) And it's not that I don't WANT to be with others. I do. I know some great people and I thoroughly enjoy being with them and sharing those things that we do have in common. Still though, square peg Man.
My music is sometimes difficult to force into the round holes, especially those round marketing holes. But you know what, that's not going to stop me. Matter of fact, it fuels me. Look at the innovators through the years. Bird, Monk, Diz, Coltrane, Dolphy, Taylor. Not saying I am worthy to be mentioned in such company, but they are inspiration. Even composers of the classics throughout the years were not always appreciated in their own time. Certainly artists and writers find the same circumstances as musicians. Possibly even statesmen. Harry Truman was certainly not as popular in his lifetime as he became with the wisdom of hindsight.
So if you're a fellow square peg, or an ant with an eye on a rubber tree plant, the little train that could, or (insert random cliche regarding standing up to odds that are stacked against you), take heart. Don't compromise a principal that is worth standing up for. Whoa Man, this has gotten a little too heavy. Please, take it Ladies. . .
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