Lucky 13 . . .

 . . . or thereabouts. . .

So the Beach Boys have been exploiting (in a good sense) their 50th Anniversary reunion with a new album and 40-city concert tour.  I will probably not attend any of these concerts but I do have a certain respect for the legacy and the longevity of the Beach Boys.

I am amused by some of the latest videos of the BBs, especially the QVC clip which features 13 (by my count) musicians on the stage reproducing (reinventing, replicating. . . whichever you prefer) the sound that five members formerly produced in live performances - which you can also find on YouTube.

Put forth any theory you like on why it is necessary to have 13 people reproduce what 5 used to do quite well.  I suspect that some younger, stronger voices are necessary to ensure the harmonies are audibly accurate.

I say if you can make music, make it!   And make it loud.

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A Whirlwind . . .

. . . of life (and thoughts) . . .

. . . mastering for a future release;  practicing music for a new Mystic I performance;  documenting compositions for copyright;  trying to compose new things;  'observing' tradition;   cooking for family;  watching one of Christopher Hitchens' last interviews; wondering what to write about . . .

Life is good!

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And now, back to our regularly scheduled program. . .

. . . This break from over five years of regular performance was welcome, and for more reasons than one. During that period I was listening to music that I loved and that inspired me to want to make music of my own. Well, at least music more like what I was getting into than what was popular to sing along with, dance to in a drunken stupor or simply ignore while you ate, talked and generally celebrated some special occasion in your life or just a Saturday night's social event. This I was not getting. And I have myself to blame primarily. I had the freedom to leave my musical situation at the time and seek something more to what I envisioned. But alas, freedom is one thing and drive, determination and action are three others. These, quite sadly for my then musical disposition, I lacked. It really comes down to the fact that I really didn't want it badly enough.

In addition, while thoroughly enjoying the sonic antics of my art/prog/jazz-rock favorites and desiring to play things like those they played, I simply did not have the ability to create like they did. At least not on any substantial or meaningful scale. I wrote things sporadically before my retirement (my Sonata In No Particular Key is appropriate to mention here) but there was no consistent force, or inspiration for that matter, fueling the creation of much original material. I would have loved for a million new, creative musical ideas to flow freely and bountifully from my heart, mind and fingers, but it just didn't happen.

So I went happily and peacefully about building a new, married life together with my bride. My Farfisa Fast Four and Leslie 145 were setup in a prominent location in the den of our apartment for quick and easy access. Truth is, I'm not sure if I even played once a week at that time. But I was building my vinyl record album collection of my favorite jazz cats during the period and joyfully and effortlessly soaking in their music as often as I could. My Coltrane, Dolphy, Adderly and McLean collections grew with much less reliance on the old Tull, Gentle Giant and Yes for musical satisfaction. This too combined with sounds exemplifying the musical tastes of my significant other, sometimes not so willingly or graciously.

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Except for a . . .

. . . false note on an ending to a piano/vocal performance of THANKFUL at a 'church' service this morning, we (Mystic I) performed quite successfully and soulfully today.

Some Christmas (maybe 1%-mas is more accurate) shopping and a relaxing afternoon with dinner followed by a loss by our beloved Ravens.

Less and less is my emotional connection to this holiday. I just feel everyone is out to buy gifts for other people because they're JUST SUPPOSED TO! and not that there is any rational reason for doing so. Of course, if you feel as I do about it, you are branded a 'Scrooge' or other such non-feeling soul who doesn't feel as though he must be generous to others at this time of year when Christian people celebrate the birth of one personage of whom little is factually or historically known and whose purported life and presumed purpose had absolutely NOTHING to do with giving gifts to ANYONE whatsoever.

Well, I must cooperate and 'go with the flow' (at least nominally and superficially) or I may just alienate EVERYONE around me. . . and I just DON'T want to do that!!




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Rockin' circa 1975 . . .

Charisma must have run 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 additional self-confidence that may have been attributable to his age or possibly to a more balanced chemical composition. Similar as they would appear to be 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, by the way.] 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', 'Hello It's Me' and 'Heat Wave'




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Things are getting HAIRY. . .

. . . Perry!!

From MSNBC . . .
'The first lady of Texas was asked after the event to clarify her comments on the latest debate saying that her husband is not “polished” like some 2012 candidates.

“Gov. Romney has been running for president for four or five years, and that was my husband’s third debate,” she told reporters. “I think [Perry] would tell you that the other night was not his best performance. But he is only going to get better, and I think part of the attacks had something to do with it. I think when you have seven arrows being shot at you -- and you are the one person in the middle -- a 30-second rebuttal doesn’t give you much time.”'

PERFORMANCE???


http://youtu.be/xqOMuR5Z530


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What's in a name?

The new video that greets you at the homepage of my website http://www.rayjozwiak.com is a performance of my composition entitled IMPRESSIVE, of which the studio version appears on my latest release ANOTHER SHOT (digital-download-only at)

The title, I would like to explain, is truly not a shameless display of unwarranted ego or any such thing, it is inspired by the John Coltrane piece IMPRESSIONS which has, likewise, a blues-based, modal structure not unlike many tunes on Miles' 'Kind of Blue', and subsequently the title is a corruption of that of its inspiration. (Maybe I should have called it BLUENESS?)



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The Company One Keeps. . .

. . . says a lot about one.

Monday night at Brewer's Alley, was (as always) a pure, pleasureable potpourri of piano performance and otherwise musical patois. Check out the eclectic roster of fine performers: (Hyperlinks are to the left of each name)

Craig Cummings Craig Cummings
Jamie BoydJamie Boyd
Jenny Morgan Jenny Morgan
Teporah Teporah
Rod Deacey Rod Deacey (Rod not only plans, books, schedules, runs sound and co-mcs this venue WEEKLY, but is [as you will hear when he posts some music very soon] a local, talent treasure]
Tomy Wright Tomy Wright

Would it then be immodest of me to say, that's pretty damned good company?

[And I started things off with Tomy, admirably and tastefully, on percussion for most of the set. BTW, I am one of the featured artists on "my-piano.com" this week. (See below)]
my-piano.com My-Piano.com

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Since only hundreds of millions. . .

. . . will probably see this, (I think it was J. Paul Getty who once said, ". . . a million here, a million there, and pretty soon you're talking big money. . . ") I don't think anyone will mind if you listen to the progress we're making on the performance of a song entitled SMILE (All Rights Reserved by Michael Mitchell) by Michael Mitchell on the collaborative, music-networking website Indabamusic.com, which I mentioned in my blog of 2/9/11.

SMILE at IndabaMusic

It's like going into the studio but it's a 'virtual' studio and participants can be located anywhere around the world. And you add your contribution on your own time.

(did I say "probably see this"? I meant to say "probably not")

hear my music at www.rayjozwiak.com