Smart . . .

. . . phones . . .


. . . are honestly and truthfully a wonderfully convenient and efficient tool.  Not only communication via the internet, phone service and email but all the computing capabilities all at your fingertips any time of day (or night).  Magnificent.

But I don't have one. At least not yet. I most certainly have no quarrel with the power and convenience these devices provide.

Back around 2003, when I established my 'Gonzo' brand of independent music, I forced myself to explore marketing possibilities on the web from websites to social media to all the free (and some paid) music promotion and distribution services.  More than ten years later, I am still exploring.  Not only is there a wealth of potential to explore, new opportunities become available almost hourly.

So, you may be thinking, all the more reason to have a smart phone to enable yourself to access this wealth any and all times.  Well . . . yes.   But, in truth, I most certainly am not a 'gadget' guy and do not need to own the latest and greatest of all tech things available at any given time.  I do, in fact, spend more hours on the laptop than many people with whom I have much in common. And I don't need to resolve questions or uncertainties regarding topics of conversation with others instantaneously.  I still am able to research such things at a later time.

I don't intend to discontinue explore web potential to market music.  But once I close the laptop, I don't feel the need to have all that capability in my back pocket for instant access.  When I need to make a phone call, I simply pull out my ancient Samsung fliptop and make one.  No need for a smart phone. . .

. . . at least not yet.

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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A story . . .

. . . that may never, and possibly should never, be told.  It's not a story of a long lost love newly found.  Nor is it the hear-wrenching tale of a family's struggle to survive or to cope with the loss or illness of one of its members.  Not a love story or an account of injustice righted or never righted.  It's actually a story of a fungus.

The story is also one about integrity, honesty, enthusiasm, communication, timing and ignorance.  It began innocently with curiosity at the sighting of an unusual fungal growth which produced a much larger physical manifestation than one normally encounters on a lawn, wood or otherwise green area. And since there was sincere doubt as to the true identity of the specimen, a curious (have I used the word innocent yet?) the layman which encountered it chose to physically probe or otherwise accost the specimen in question out of sheer curiosity. In so doing, the uninitiated soul, without malice or intention of destruction, put an abrupt end to the life of the initially-mentioned fungal being without realizing the full range of implications, mainly as the result of past encounters with such earthly phenomena, albeit of much smaller stature and girth, which were clearly, or practically obviously, not beneficial to humankind as either nourishment or ornamentation.

Not long after the above described encounter, the party involved discovers through casual and friendly discourse, that someone possesses an enthusiastic and affectionate fascination with the very fungus by whom the former was confronted the very day prior.  Turns out the specimen is (most likely) beneficial to humankind as nourishment and may also, in the individual matter of one's own subjective opinion, be perceived as quite beautiful. In fact, the subject of the confrontation was brought up by the very one that accosted the fungus. After conversationally mentioning the encounter with the object and it's particularly impressive dimensions, the culprit learned that the appearance of this particular species had been eagerly anticipated by another party close to the situation and that he would be absolutely thrilled to learn of its whereabouts so that it could be further nurtured and possibly soon harvested.

Due to the phrasing of the initial casual observation and impression, as well as the ardent response that revelation prompted, the culprit was at a loss to relate the details of the complete encounter, i.e. the disengaging of the life form from it root/base.  And that inability haunted the culprit for an indeterminate amount of time with its accompanying feelings of guilt, dishonesty, disingenuousness and lack of integrity.

In hindsight, the best clear, concise, honest way the culprit could and should have related the original thought would have been to include the part about disengaging the thing from its trunk at the very beginning.  But, after all is said and done, a simple and heartfelt apology, although the dastardly deed was done innocently, would certainly not have hurt a thing.

What do YOU think?
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newest release:
AMBIENCE & WINE

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Quotes from Trane. . .

. . . John Coltrane, that is. Forty fours years gone, last week. . .

“I never even thought about whether or not they understand what I'm doing . . . the emotional reaction is all that matters as long as there's some feeling of communication, it isn't necessary that it be understood.”

“All a musician can do is to get closer to the sources of nature, and so feel that he is in communion with the natural laws.”

“Over all, I think the main thing a musician would like to do is give a picture to the listener of the many wonderful things that he knows of and senses in the universe. . . That’s what I would like to do. I think that’s one of the greatest things you can do in life and we all try to do it in some way. The musician’s is through his music.”

“You can play a shoestring if you're sincere”

“I’ve found you’ve got to look back at the old things and see them in a new light.”

“Sometimes I wish I could walk up to my music for the first time, as if I had never heard it before. Being so inescapably a part of it, I’ll never know what the listener gets, what the listener feels, and that’s too bad.”

"My music is the spiritual expression of what I am — my faith, my knowledge, my being...When you begin to see the possibilities of music, you desire to do something really good for people, to help humanity free itself from its hangups...I want to speak to their souls."

"I start in the middle of a sentence and move both directions at once."

“The first violins have the most interesting part.”



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ANOTHER SHOT
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The Roar of the Greaspaint. . .

. . . the smell of the crowd.

Yeah, that taste of public attention, appreciation, the thrill, the communication, the connection between performer and audience cannot be underestimated. It's not ego. It is a need. Like a drug. The accordion band practice refined my experience and perception of the performer/audience relationship.

And after several years of accordion band practice sessions, which were really low-calibre concerts, I'm not quite sure what inspired or motivated me since nothing clear remains in my memory of the motivation, I wrote my first original composition.



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ANOTHER SHOT
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