Other Ray Jozwiak Offerings
(To Access all Ray Jozwiak - Gonzo Piano music you can copy-and-paste this URL directly to
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(source: http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1997-03-09/features/1997068134_1_cell-holmes-dig)
The recent escape of two convicted killers from Clinton Correctional Facility brought to mind a story I had read years ago about an equally resourceful but less threatening inmate who earned the distinction of the 'only resident of the Maryland Penitentiary to ever dig his way to freedom."Tunnel Joe" Holmes, who on July 8, 1949 was in the eighth of a 20-year sentence for burglary, decided to dig for his freedom. His major motivation was as he feared that his long imprisonment would cause him to "blow up -- as he'd seen others do in nearby cells," said The Sun. After 20 months of steady labor chipping at the slate cell floor under his cot, he completed a narrow, muddy tube 70 feet long that carried him 26 feet down and under the prison's walls to a grassy plot to nearby East Eager and Forrest streets, from which he made his escape. It took Joe 40 days to complete the project and taste freedom. The tunnel, dug with only a nail attached to a stick and bare hands, was only wide enough for him to wiggle through. As he dug, Jo packed the dirt in hand-sewn bags to bring to the surface and flush away in his toilet. He even designed a 9 foot deep by 6 wide drain to dispose of 140 gallons of water nightly. In the early hours of Feb. 18, 1951, Joe packed his clothes and $152 in numbers winnings took forty five minutes to make his way through the tunnel. Upon emerging, he changed into dry pants and shirt and cleared the 7-foot picket fence near the warden's house and dropped into Eager Street. He wisely high-tailed it through Wilmington, Del., Philadelphia, Pa., and New Haven, Conn., returning to Baltimore. Joe was eventually apprehended by police during a Howard Street shootout in a bowling alley after he pulled a $5 holdup the cook in wealthy home on Mount Vernon Place. Joe passed away in 1973. Not sure whether he was 'out' or 'in' at the time.
The case of Matt and Sweat in New York may be every bit as dazzling, but in the present climate of fantastic feats, unconscionable acts and extremely bad people, Joe's story somehow holds a bit of atmospheric romance and harmlessness. . . at least for me.
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)
(from Straight, No Chaser; The Life and Genius of Thelonious Monk by Leslie Gourse)
". . . Invited to witness a rehearsal with Monk and Charlie Rouse, (Robert) Kotlowitz (for Harper's) wrote:
Monk feeds . . . Rouse . . . a note or phrase at a time, a mouthful to be digested to bewildered shakings of the head. It can take the entire two hours to get one full minute of music set between the two. Monk and Rouse say their notes, as though music were the simplest, most direct language available to man, and even more, as though B-C sharp, played on an instrument, means something as precise and unmistakable as C-A-T. Throughout the rehearsal, Monk directs with short comments. "You're not making it," he says placidly after the seventh repetition of an octave jump. "Dig it" Well into the next phrase, Monk says, "Don't tough the note, hit it. And when you it it, augment it."
When he was satisfied, Monk said slowly, "Solid" To Kotlowitz, who was listening to the repetitions, he said, "This dragging you?" . . . "
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