Fool . . .

https://www.canstockphoto.com/

images-photos/fool.html

I can be a fool just as well as anybody can

Just a little rope and I'll hang myself like any other man

I'm not so different from the rest

So please don't put me to the test

I don't get my kicks when I hurt you or I make you cry

I can find the courage for anything I want to if I try

I know I have to take the risk

A strange dependency I guess

It's a simple case of matter over mind

It's a human race

There are winners all the time

Just a pretty face 

Such a pretty face

I go walking right in her general direction

I go talking without a fear of my detection

And I've been called every name in the book

But I don't care about it 

Some kind of crook may be remorseful

But if you take a look then you'll see

What kind of fool that I can be

You looked at the world your own way rose-colored spectacles

Only heard the things that you chose

Saw what you wanted to see

You didn't look too hard at me

Had no idea what I could be

On the other hand in my case I knew I wanted you

I could see the trust in your eyes

A trust so far out of place

You didn't see through my disguise

It hit you right between the eyes

Now the game I played is all over and done

Though it hurt you so

There's no way you could have won

So it wasn't fair

Do you think I care

I'll do anything to take advantage

Of a situation thrown my way

I'll move a mountain if I think I have to

I'm moving mountains every day

Call me anything that you want

That's your prerogative

Be as honest as you can be

Make sure you hold nothing back

I'll have to take it like a man

I'll do it any way I can

Odds I won't refute what you say

I've heard it all before

Yes I've heard it time and again

Because I've lived it and what's more

It's just of part of who I am

Do you think I'll change can an old dog learn new tricks

Turn my life around 

There's so much I'd have to fix

No it can't be done

I'll just have my fun

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                         No Frills

Flowers . . .

https://ozarkedgewildflowers.com/summer-wildflowers

/sensitive-brier-mimosa-nuttallii/

Wishing upon a star

Takes me so very far.

Just don’t play around with my heart.

You must take special care

Not to damage or tear

Just the smallest little part.

Sometimes I’m not too clear

What is this thing that I fear.

It’s so difficult to describe.

How can something unknown

Make me feel so alone.

I should be the bigger man

But I clearly won’t. 

I’m just a sensitive flower.

I’m such a sensitive soul.

I’m just a sensitive flower.

So I’ve been told.

Maybe the way I react

Lacks some refinement or tact.

I just do the best that I can.

Sometimes we’re out in a crowd

Full of opinion so loud.

I go back inside of my shell.

No matter how very hard

I try to change how I behave.

I just can’t seem to please

All the people even half the time.

Do you think that I can be saved?

In this state of affairs

Don’t get caught unawares.

Just be cognizant of what’s there.

Why do those who can’t see 

Think that some vision can’t be

Advantageous to possess

For someone like me.

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        Black & White Then Back

The Devil You Say? . . .

 

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/sympathy-for-the-devil-

milton-s-satan-as-political-rebel-1.5497049

(from Doctor Faustus: The Life of the German Composer Adrian Leverkuhn As Told by a Friend by Thomas Mann)

". . . the draught from him had got abruptly stronger, so that it went through my overcoat and pierced me to my marrow.  Angrily I ask:  "Cannot you away with this nuisance, this icy draught?" . . . He: Alas, no, I regret not to be able to gratify you. But the fact is, I am cold. How otherwise could I hold out and find it possible to dwell where I dwell?" . . . I (involuntarily): "You mean in the brining pit of fire?" . . . He (laughs as though tickled): "Capital! Said in the good robust and merry German way. It has indeed many other pretty names, scholarly, pathetical, the Herr Doctor ex-Theolugus knows them all, as Carter, exitium, confutatio, pernicies, condemnatio, and so on. But there is no remedy, the familiar German, the comic ones are still my favorites. . . "

Hell
- Squirrel Nut Zippers



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            Ambience & Wine

Denial . . .

https://stock.adobe.com/search/images?k=denial

Denial, performed live in Ocean City (MD) in 2019 by Jay & Ray of OHO. 

Denial appears on OHO's Gazebo and also on Ahora, our latest release.

 
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            Another Shot

Me? . . .

 

https://www.hobbydb.com/marketplaces/hobbydb/subjects/minion-bob-character

Who, irrespective of religious affiliation, disposition or lack of any at all, can't appreciate a well-done spiritual song?  And by the way, one sure-fire way to determine if your sore throat is serious enough to call in sick to work is to recite, as low, serious and slow as you can, the line, "Why me lord?"

Why Me?
- Kris Kirstofferson

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                 Critic’s Choice

Variations . . .

 

https://biologydictionary.net/genetic-variation/

Plunge is a Jay Graboski original which appears on the OHO album Gazebo.  This improvisation resulted from trial-and-error in formulating a keyboard part for Plunge. A challenging set of changes on which to improvise. This performance is replete with the growing pains of a work-in-progress. 

   

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                                     Grains

Of The Road . . .

 

https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo/heavy-traffic-jam.html?sortBy=relevant

He's in a rage

Simply because

Guy in that car,

Bout twice his age,

Is driving quite slowly.

Tries to contain

His temper as such.

Behind the wheel

He can't do very much.

But he simmers. 

This is the point

Where the tire

Hits the road,

Metaphorically.

Contains himself.

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            Ambience & Wine

Plunging . . .

 

https://www.shutterstock.com/search/high-dive

OHO performs Plunge, live in Ocean City,  MD in 2018.   Plunge is from OHO''s 2018 album GAZEBO.

 

See all things OHO at: 

Website - http://www.ohomusic.com Amazon - https://www.amazon.com/s?k=ohomusic&i=digital-music&ref=nb_sb_noss

and https://www.amazon.com/music/player/albums/B09GD8134K?ref=sr_1_1& iTunes - https://music.apple.com/us/artist/oho/4399843  You Tube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/user/ohomusic and https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCw37xsKB0YlxgDhagA_yXPA Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/ohomusic/ Pandora - The OHO Channel Soundcloud - https://soundcloud.com/ohomusic

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        Black & White Then Back

Music . . .

 

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                         No Frills

Why? . . .

https://clipground.com/why-clipart.html

. . . BECAUSE!  (Besides, I'll bet you've never heard it.)

(from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mingus_(Joni_Mitchell_album))

". . . a collaboration (Joni Mitchell) with composer and jazz musician Charles Mingus. Recorded in the months before his death, it would be Mingus's final musical project; the album is wholly dedicated to him. Mingus was released on June 13, 1979. . . The album is quite experimental, featuring minimalist jazz, over-plucked, buzzing acoustic guitars, and even wolves howling through "The Wolf That Lives in Lindsey". All of the lyrics are by Mitchell, while the music for four of the songs was composed by Mingus, three being new tunes, a fourth being his tribute to saxophonist Lester Young from his 1959 classic Mingus Ah Um, "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat", for which Mitchell wrote a set of lyrics. . . . As with the release preceding, Don Juan's Reckless Daughter, Mitchell hired personnel from jazz fusion group Weather Report, notably bassist Jaco Pastorius to play on the sessions. Mingus would also mark the first reunion of saxophonist Wayne Shorter and pianist Herbie Hancock in the studio since recording together on Shorter's seminal Native Dancer album, featuring Milton Nascimento, released in September 1974.

The album is spliced with excerpts, which are labelled "(Rap)", from recordings provided by Sue Graham Mingus, including a scat singing interplay between Joni and Mingus, and Charles and Sue arguing over his age at a birthday party. In "Funeral", Mingus and others discuss how long he will live and what his funeral will be like. He refers to the Vedanta Society and asserts that he is going to live longer than Duke Ellington, who died in 1974, aged 75, by saying, "I'm going to cut Duke!". . ."

Mingus died January 5, 1979 at the age of 56. 

God Must Be A Boogie Ma
- Joni Mitchel & Jaco Pastorius

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            Another Shot

The Folk . . .

 

https://cronkitenews.azpbs.org/2017/01/20/amid-sea-of-maga

-hats-arizonans-relish-moment-of-trumps-inauguration/

 (from Doctor Faustus by Thomas Mann)". . . you need only tell a crowd they are 'the folk' to stir them up to all sorts of reactionary evil. What all has not happened before our eyes -  in the name of 'the folk,' though it could never have happened in the name of God or humanity or the law!  But it is the fact that actually the folk remain the folk, at least in a certain stratum of its being, the archaic; and people from Little Brassfitter's Alley and round about, people who voted the Social-Democratic ticket at the polls, are at the same time capable of seeing something demonic in the poverty of a little old woman who cannot afford a lodging above ground. They will clutch their children to them when she approaches, to save them from the evil eye. And if such an old should should have to burn again today, by no means an impossible prospect, were even a few things different, 'the folk' would stand and gape behind the barriers erected by the Mayor, but they would probably not rebel. . ."

 
Where You Lead I Will Follow
- Carole King

 

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                                     Grains

Thanks . . .

https://www.history.com/topics/thanksgiving/first-thanksgiving-meal

. . . for only part of the story 

(from https://truthout.org/articles/the-thanksgiving-myth-reflecting-on-land-theft-betrayal-and-genocide/?gclid=Cj0KCQiAveebBhD_ARIsAFaAvrGb2QMEtUcgcjOkkM6fywbmDbM4sznmsLCYbdLJPRnx4jYe9Kg8qFMaAuGLEALw_wcB)

". . . following the bloody Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a national holiday in 1863. Back then, Americans were desperately in need of unity and inspiration. Hence, the myth of the first Thanksgiving was born to inspire and unite. . . the Wampanoag people of the Eastern coast of the Americas noticed unfamiliar people in their homelands. These unfamiliar people were English pilgrims, coming to a new land which they dubbed “America,” in order to settle and create a new life. . . The Wampanoag were initially uneasy with the settlers, but they eventually engaged in a shaky relationship of commerce and exchange. Also, in observing that the pilgrims nearly died from a harsh winter, the Wampanoag stepped in to help. . . The Wampanoag chief, Massasoit, eventually entered into agreements with the pilgrims, and, on behalf of the Wampanoag Nation, decided to be allies while each nation coexisted in the same space together. At one time, the Wampanoag and pilgrims shared in a meal of wildfowl, deer, and shellfish. . . . After Massasoit’s death, the Wampanoag nation became weakened as a result of disease contracted from the English. It wasn’t long before the pilgrims began tormenting surrounding tribes, burning entire villages to the ground, while indigenous men, women, and children lie sleeping. . .  the Wampanoag began to distrust the pilgrims. The pilgrims soon demanded that the Wampanoag submit to them, and give up all their weapons. . . . Shortly after, the pilgrims and Wampanoag were at war, and in the end, the pilgrims rose victorious. At the close of the war, the Wampanoag were nearly decimated, and the son of Chief Massasoit, Metacom, was killed by the pilgrims . . . A day of Thanksgiving was declared . . . As indigenous nations throughout America were continually betrayed by European settlers, killed by disease, germ warfare, hunted for bounties, sent overseas as slaves, and ultimately pushed out of their homelands and onto prison camps (now commonly known as reservations), few survived the depressing conditions. As a result of centuries of historical trauma, indigenous nations today have staggering rates of depression, mental health disparities, suicide, and deaths due to alcohol and drugs. . . glossing over the very real consequences of colonialism, the mythical version of Thanksgiving creates a fairytale of land theft, betrayal, brutality, and genocide, virtually functioning to erase the very real and traumatic experiences of entire indigenous nations. This phenomena of whitewashing and outright erasure of indigenous history, in many instances, is not only inhumane and oppressive to the indigenous people, but it is also unfair to all Americans who stand to learn from rich and equally tragic history. . . leveling out of myth creates space for new conversations and lessons of unity, and deeper understandings of what it truly means to be a good human being, and that is something to be thankful for. . ."

The Truth
- Handsome Boy Modeling School

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                 Critic’s Choice

Knowledge . . .

https://unsplash.com/s/photos/knowledge

(from https://www.commondreams.org/views/2022/11/16/note-apology-nations-younger-generations-we-failed-you)

". . . perhaps the most important of the reasons Millennials and Zoomers are so badly screwed these days are the various changes in our tax code that began in the 1980s. . . Reagan dropped the top income tax rate on the morbidly rich from 74% down to 27%, and cut corporate tax rates from 50% to functionally nothing. . . America's richest millennial, Mark Zuckerberg, owns fully 2 percent or 1/50th of ALL the wealth of ALL millennials in the country. . . The average billionaire pays an income tax rate of under 3%, and the majority of our nation's largest corporations not only pay nothing in annual income taxes but most have so gamed the system that they get money back. . . And where does that money come from?  It's taken out of the taxes the government collected from you and me. . . This 42-year-long process, with Reagan's original massive tax cuts amplified by trillions more in tax cuts for the morbidly rich from the Republican George W. Bush and Donald Trump administrations, has produced a $50 trillion transfer of real wealth from the middle class to the top 1%. . ."

I Know
- Finoa Apple



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                         No Frills

Unique . . .

 

Revisiting the song Unique from 2018's GAZEBO by OHO. Much work, many iterations, beautiful French horn (Thanks Bruce!), superb engineering, then (late in the game) a lead vocal switch from Lisa to Jay and lush harmonies (including Lisa) by Bill Pratt.  Good things are definitely worth waiting for.





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        Black & White Then Back

Gotta Have 'Em . . .

 

https://pjlibrary.org/beyond-books/pjblog/april-

2018/20-beautiful-books-about-friendship

(from https://www.proflowers.com/blog/friendship-quotes)

“Friendship is the hardest thing in the world to explain. It’s not something you learn in school. But if you haven’t learned the meaning of friendship, you really haven’t learned anything.” 

— Muhammad Ali

“Don’t make friends who are comfortable to be with. Make friends who will force you to lever yourself up.” 

— Thomas J. Watson

“The most beautiful discovery true friends make is that they can grow separately without growing apart.” — Elisabeth Foley

“Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.” 

— Anais Nin

“Life is partly what we make it, and partly what it is made by the friends we choose.” 

— Tennessee Williams

“They may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel.” 

— Carl W. Buechner

“Find a group of people who challenge and inspire you; spend a lot of time with them, and it will change your life.” 

— Amy Poehler

Friends
- Buzzy Linhart



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            Ambience & Wine

Variation . . .

 

https://www.istockphoto.com/photos/broken-plate

abnormality alteration change deviation discrepancy disparity divergence diversity fluctuation innovation modification mutation shift variety aberration adaptation bend break contradistinction contrast curve deflection departure digression displacement dissimilarity dissimilitude distinction diversification exception inequality novelty swerve turn departure unconformity

Variations on 'Broken.'  

'Broken' is cut#1 on the album GRAINS 

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            Another Shot

More Reflecting . . .

https://www.dreamstime.com/illustration/considering-options.html

On the surface calm, collected.

Charming, smiling, ready wit.

Quite engaging, as expected.

Likeable, I must admit.

In confidence, I could detect

Appreciation seeping slightly 

From behind a tacit grin.

Agreeable, I found his person.

Determined, he was bound to win.

But with time, or certain people,

Different shades he did reveal

And sometimes certain circumstances

Made his empathy concealed. 

Time eventually separated

Paths we took; our fate, I guess.

The residue of mixed perceptions

Of his good and bad were left.

Ambivalence was what remained

In my memory; how he impressed.

But neither malice nor ill-will 

Did cross my mind, did I entertain.

And yesterday some bad news reached me.

Circumstances are very dire.

The awfulness of twist of fate

Has sparked a sympathetic fire.

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                 Critic’s Choice