(from Nobody Left To Lie To; The Values of The Worst Family by Christopher Hitchens)
". . . Indeed, in what had begun as a rather stilted and fixed campaign, the only outlet for insurgent feeling was that offered in a Republican primary by the eccentric Senator from Arizona, John McCain achieved at least an initial burst of speed by his proclaimed dislike of the system, by his professed distaste for campaign-finance racketeering and by his (apparently) unscripted and unspun style. It was puerile anti-politics but it worked for a space, and drew for its effect on many voters who had registered as Democrats or independents. Nowhere within the echoing emptiness of the Democratic fold was there any hint of a live dialogue. And McCain, of course, had voted to impeach and to convict Clinton, and had gravely upset Governor Bush of Texas, in the course of the South Carolina Primary, by comparing him to incumbent President. ("You don't," said Bush in a tone of outrage, "you just don't say that of a man."). . . "
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://http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/RayJozwiak)
(from http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/01/26/escaped-california-prison-inmates-reportedly-had-hours-long-head-start.html)
". . . The three men sawed through a quarter-inch-thick grill on a dormitory wall and got into plumbing tunnels before sawing through half-inch-thick steel bars as they made their way behind walls to an unguarded area of a roof atop a five-story building. There, they moved aside razor wire and rappelled to the ground using the bed linen.
The escape has drawn comparisons to last summer's breakout by two inmates at the Clinton Correctional Facility in upstate New York. A major difference is that while the search for Richard Matt and David Sweat focused on nearby woods, Nayeri, Tieu and Duong escaped in the middle of densely populated Orange County. . ."
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)
. . . and understandably so. I was the son of the offspring of Polish immigrants who came to Baltimore in the early 20th century to escape deplorable economic conditions and an unstable political climate. There are no cotton fields in Baltimore. (Trust me.) But the song, I Never Picked Cotton, written by Bobby George and Charles Williams is the inspiration for this musing.
(from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Never_Picked_Cotton) ". . .The plot of "I Never Picked Cotton" is told in first-person, mostly in flashback from the perspective of a native of a poor sharecropping family in Oklahoma.
In the first verse, the song's protagonist — the youngest son of a coal miner who died working in the mines — bitterly recalls his family's past and upbringing. He recalls (as a young boy, too young to work on a cotton plantation) how his mother, brother, and sister all picked cotton to support the family, while his dad died in the coal mine. Seeing that this is not the type of life he wants to live, the boy resolves that when he is old enough to do so, he will leave the farm and his family.
One night, the protagonist makes good on his vow, stealing $10 and a pickup truck, and leaving the plantation, never to return. He then turns to a lifestyle of partying, "and I took it all with a gun". His criminal lifestyle ultimately leads to a fight with a local redneck on a Saturday night in Memphis, Tennessee; the redneck insults the protagonist's origins and is killed in return.
The protagonist, fingered as the killer, is found guilty of murder and sentenced to death by hanging. Just hours before he is sentenced to die, he reflects on his life and notes that "there ain't a hell of a lot, that I can look back on with pride" – except that he made good on his vow to "never pick cotton" like his family did. . ."
My earliest recollection of hearing this tune, which I then thought was one of the 'toughest' and now think one of the most clever and well-constructed country songs I've ever heard was from somewhere around 1970 or 71. My parents undertook, on a regular (with occasional exceptions) an outing to our local 'Topps' retail outlet, to shop for . . . I'm not exactly sure WHAT. I thoroughly enjoyed accompanying them to visit the record (vinyl LP) department, but in my later childhood years not so much. On one particular Friday evening, after partaking of our regularly scheduled Catholic, Friday, fried fish dinners, I respectfully declined from participating in that evening's shopping event and instead offered to stay behind and wash the dinner dishes. When choosing to spend my Friday evening in such a manner, which I did numerous times, I would tune into WBMD-AM, our local country music station, on an old RCA combination phonograph/AM-FM radio in the dining room, turn it to a sufficient volume level to be able to hear it in the kitchen next door while washing dishes, and proceed with my post-dinner activity. Silly, trite, trivial - maybe. But it's ALL MINE!
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 and Ray Jozwiak.
My latest solo release, '2014' of original, instrumental piano music, can be downloaded digitally at:
(or you can copy-and-paste this URL directly to
your browser: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/rayjozwiak4)
(from http://www.billboard.com/biz/articles/news/legal-and-management/5820021/lost-johnny-cash-album-out-next-spring)
There's new never-before-heard music coming from Johnny Cash. Cash's estate is releasing "Out Among the Stars," an album he recorded with Billy Sherrill in the early 1980s that was never released by Columbia Records, then disappeared when the company dropped Cash in 1986. Turns out Cash and his wife, June Carter Cash, stashed the tapes - along with just about everything else that came into their possession. . .
. . . Columbia paired him with Sherrill, a producer and Country Music Hall of Fame member who was then the president of CBS Records Nashville. One of the main architects of country music's so-called countrypolitan sound, Sherrill helped push the genre toward pop sounds and conventions - and away from Cash's more independent-minded ways.
The pairing came at a time when Cash was at a low ebb in his popularity. The music on "Out Among the Stars" is taken from 1981 and `84 sessions, at a time when country music was going through great change.
It was clear record company executives didn't think much of the outcome. They put out a few more Cash albums after the recordings were made, but never used the music from those sessions before dropping him. Sherrill backed Cash with a band that consisted of fellow Country Hall of Fame member Hargus "Pig" Robbins and a young friend of Cash's named Marty Stuart. . .
. . . [It] was recorded during some of the most difficult years of Cash's life. He felt like he'd lost his legacy and he was still dealing with the fallout from personal problems including infidelity and drug addiction.
He soon met producer Rick Rubin, though, and wrote a coda to his career that gave his life something of a mythic quality.
Johnny Cash was born in Kingsland, Arkansas, the fourth of seven children to Ray Cash (May 13, 1897, Kingsland, Arkansas – December 23, 1985, Hendersonville, Tennessee) and Carrie Cloveree Rivers (March 13, 1904, Rison, Arkansas – March 11, 1991, Hendersonville, Tennessee). Cash was named J. R. Cash because his parents couldn't think of a name. When Cash enlisted in the Air Force, they wouldn't let him use initials as his name, so he started to use the legal name John R. Cash. In 1955, when signing with Sun Records, he took Johnny Cash as his stage name.
The Cash children were, in order: Roy, Margaret Louise, Jack, J. R., Reba, Joanne and Tommy. His younger brother, Tommy Cash, also became a successful country artist.
In March 1935, when Cash was three years old, the family settled in Dyess, Arkansas. He started working in cotton fields at age five, singing along with his family simultaneously while working. The family farm was flooded on at least two occasions, which later inspired him to write the song "Five Feet High and Rising". His family's economic and personal struggles during the Great Depression inspired many of his songs, especially those about other people facing similar difficulties.
Cash was very close to his older brother, Jack. In May 1944, Jack was pulled into a whirling head saw in the mill where he worked and was almost cut in two. He suffered for over a week before he died on May 20, 1944, at age 15. Cash often spoke of the horrible guilt he felt over this incident. According to Cash: The Autobiography, his father was away that morning, but he and his mother, and Jack himself, all had premonitions or a sense of foreboding about that day, causing his mother to urge Jack to skip work and go fishing with his brother. Jack insisted on working, as the family needed the money. On his deathbed, Jack said he had visions of heaven and angels. Decades later, Cash spoke of looking forward to meeting his brother in heaven.
Cash's early memories were dominated by gospel music and radio. Taught by his mother and a childhood friend, Cash began playing guitar and writing songs as a young boy. In high school he sang on a local radio station; decades later he released an album of traditional gospel songs, called My Mother's Hymn Book. He was also significantly influenced by traditional Irish music that he heard performed weekly by Dennis Day on the Jack Benny radio program.
Cash enlisted in the United States Air Force on July 7, 1950. After basic training at Lackland Air Force Base and technical training at Brooks Air Force Base, both in San Antonio, Texas, Cash was assigned to a U.S. Air Force Security Service unit, assigned as a Morse Code Intercept Operator for Soviet Army transmissions at Landsberg, Germany "where he created his first band named The Landsberg Barbarians." He was the first radio operator to pick up the news of the death of Joseph Stalin.] After he was honorably discharged as a Staff Sergeant on July 3, 1954, he returned to Texas.
What
do YOU think?
http://www.rayjozwiak.com/guestbook.html
You can NOW download
your
very own copy of Ray Jozwiak's
newest release:
AMBIENCE & WINE
Johnny Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century. Although he is primarily remembered as a country music artist, his songs and sound spanned many other genres including rockabilly and rock and roll—especially early in his career—as well as blues, folk, and gospel. This crossover appeal led to Cash being inducted in the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and Gospel Music Hall of Fame. Late in his career, Cash covered songs by several rock artists.
Cash was known for his deep, distinctive bass-baritone voice; for the "boom-chicka-boom" sound of his Tennessee Three backing band; for his rebelliousness, coupled with an increasingly somber and humble demeanor; for providing free concerts inside prison walls; and for his dark performance clothing, which earned him the nickname "The Man in Black". He traditionally started his concerts by saying, "Hello, I'm Johnny Cash." and usually following it up with his standard "Folsom Prison Blues."
Cash, a troubled but devout Christian,has been characterized as a "lens through which to view American contradictions and challenges." A Biblical scholar, he penned a Christian novel titled Man in White, and he made a spoken word recording of the entire New King James Version of the New Testament. Even so, Cash declared that he was "the biggest sinner of them all", and viewed himself overall as a complicated and contradictory man. Accordingly, Cash is said to have "contained multitudes", and has been deemed "the philosopher-prince of American country music".
What
do YOU think?
http://www.rayjozwiak.com/guestbook.html
Also download
your
very own copy of
AMBIENCE & WINE
by Ray
Jozwiak
There is definitely beauty in simplicity. I had earlier found such beauty in country music. My earliest memory of thoroughly enjoying country music is kind of an odd story. My parents, for some unknown reason (and I don't accurately remember precisely WHAT they would purchase) went 'shopping' at a local discount store called TOPPS. They did this EVERY FRIDAY evening. When I was younger, I would go, of course. In my later trips to Topps, I would spend the period in the record section of the store browsing through all the vinyl beauties that were available at the time, popular items of which retailed for $3.47. (I'm not sure why I remember that number. It may simply be due to the fact the I had little money and kept close tabs on how much I would need to purchase things that I found desireable. By the way, Luskins (another retailer of the time) sold record albums for $2.99 so needless to say, I visited Luskins whenever I could.) I found myself drifting toward country music record albums. It's now unclear what, specifically influenced this branch in my musical development, (I do remember my cousin owned the 45 of Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash, which MAY be the original spark to the country music fire that consumed me at the time.) but I do remember (and don't laugh PLEASE) that the television program "HeeHaw" came about before, during or shortly after this time, which undoubtedly provided another opportunity for exposure to country artists of the day.
So I spent my Topps evening looking at Buck Owens, Charley Pride, Porter Wagoner, Merle Haggard, Tom T. Hall and others popular country artists at the time. Later, when my parents embarked upon the weekly jaunt to Topps, I stayed behind to happily wash the dinner dishes. Why happily? Because in the other room, the 'ancient' (even back then) radio we inherited from an aunt was playing WBMD AM loudly enough for me to hear in the kitchen. The 'genre' of the playlist on WBMD at the time - Country Music.
Download your very own copy of ANOTHER SHOT by Ray Jozwiak
small.jpg)
