(https://www.factcheck.org/2009/03/social-security-for-illegal-immigrants/)
". . . illegal immigrants are broadly disqualified from collecting benefits from government programs, according to U.S. Code, with only limited exceptions. Those exceptions are:
Emergency medical care (which includes emergency labor and delivery)
Emergency disaster relief that is provided for the short term and is not a cash payment
Limited immunizations and testing, and treatment of symptoms of communicable diseases
Certain community programs, such as soup kitchens or crisis counseling, as specified by the Attorney General
Limited housing or community development assistance to those already receiving it in 1996
These are the only circumstances under which illegal immigrants can lawfully receive government assistance. Notably absent from this list is any type of Social Security benefits. To repeat: Illegal immigrants cannot legally receive Social Security benefits, and Congress isn’t about to vote on legislation that would change that.
Of course, some immigrants who are here without legal permission do end up receiving Social Security and other benefits, through bureaucratic mistakes or through deliberate fraud. . ."
(from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_League_Baseball_consecutive_games_played_streaks)
". . . The record of playing in 2,632 consecutive games over more than 16 years is held by Cal Ripken, Jr. of the Baltimore Orioles. Ripken surpassed Lou Gehrig of the New York Yankees, whose record of 2,130 consecutive games had stood for 56 years. Before Gehrig, the record was held by Everett Scott (1,307 consecutive games), a shortstop with the Red Sox and Yankees whose streak ended in 1925, less than a month before Gehrig's began. Scott broke the previous record which was established by George Pinkney (577 consecutive games) from 1885–1890. . . "
. . . so, give or take, I have logged 2,492 blog posts since I began this, yes many of them were frivolous; some of them were silly; a number of them had absolutely no point at all; several of them contained typos and other errors of which I am NOT proud; some of them were a bit clever. But I did it! And believe me, I well know, expect and deserve NO AWARD. I have posted a blog containing a thought, a fantasy, a musing, a digression, a song, a photo, an otherwise 'unconsidered' (hopefully to someone) issue - but they were there, each and everyday since February 9, 2011. . . and here is the first one . . . (for any and all that may, or may not, give a fig). . .
". . . I've always been curious about blogging and wary of tweeting. I mean, who really wants to know every fleeting thought that crosses my warped little mind? And I base this curiosity and wariness on my own tastes. In all honesty, I have little to no interest in the fleeting thoughts of too many people. If I think about it hard enough, I may be able to conjure up two or three names. But pop 'icons', actors/actresses (or other 'entertainers'), media 'celebrities', 'news' commentators, talk show hosts and politicians for the most part, have difficulty enough formulating a coherent sentence let alone expressing any thought, sentiment or observation about a topic that would be of even the most remote interest to ME. . . So having said THAT, I begin my first blog. Yes, the thoughts, sentiments, observations, incoherent (and hopefully a few coherent) sentences and fleeting thoughts of MINE for all to see! . . What the $*&#k was I thinking???? . . . "
. . . (part of the record) of the "worst president in the history of the United States" - labeled as such by the current president . . .
(http://www.factcheck.org/2016/01/obamas-numbers-january-2016-update/ - as of January 12, 2016)
-Homicides have dropped 13 percent, but gun sales have surged
-The economy has added more than 9 million jobs, and the jobless rate has dropped to below the historical median
-The number of long-term unemployed Americans has dropped by 614,000, but it is still 761,000 higher than at the start of the Great Recession
-Corporate profits are up 166 percent; real weekly wages are up 3.4 percent
-There are 15 million fewer people who lack health insurance
-Wind and solar power have nearly tripled, and now account for more than 5 percent of U.S. electricity
. . . the wonder of modern, digital, recording technology enables one (literally. . . ONE, although not in this case) to conceive a composition of the musical persuasion and to create a record ("As in a record of an event, the event of people playing music in a room". . . Ani DiFranco) documenting a performance of said composition for posterity. Well that's what we're doing here. And, like most of like, good things are worth waiting for.
This tune was conceived quite a while ago as a sort-of 12/8, 1950s-style ballad (think Unchained Melody-like), lyrics dealing, somewhat nebulously, with the phenomenon of gossip. Jay took the tune and OHO-ized it, introducing a heavy rhythmic guitar riff to underpin the introduction (and repeated turnaround) and the unusually-timed, uptempo mid-section to incorporate sonic variety into this longer-than-pop-radio-boss-hit-bound-single-running piece.
Drums are soon to follow. We kind of like how its coming along. You? . . . .
Third-Hand Intelligence
work-in-progress recorded at The Bratt Studio (Bill Pratt at the helm) by OHO- Jay Graboski, David Reeve & Ray Jozwiak
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)
. . . for those who haven't checked the facts . . .
(from http://www.factcheck.org/2015/01/obamas-numbers-january-2015-update/)
". . . Jobs, paychecks, corporate profits and stock prices have all improved since our last report on the Obama statistical record. . . The economy has now gained nearly five times more jobs under President Barack Obama than it did during the presidency of George W. Bush, and the unemployment rate has dropped to just below the historical average. Real weekly earnings are up 1.7 percent, thanks in part to a plunge in gasoline prices. Corporate profits have nearly tripled, and stock prices have soared. . . "
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)
Carlos Alomar and Nile Rodgers, former collaborators with David Bowie, recently commented on the latter's work habits during his creative heyday. “In order for him to stay up all night and finish the tasks at hand, it (cocaine) was a huge factor. Its function was to keep you alert, and that’s what he was doing. It did not stop his creativity at all.” Alomar admitted that it occasionally affected their concerts. If Bowie forgot a lyric, it fell to Alomar to pick up the lead vocal until Bowie could find his place in the song. Bowie gave up drugs in the late ’70s, but by then they had already done some permanent damage. Rodgers, the Chic mastermind who produced Bowie’s smash hit 1983 album, ‘Let’s Dance,’ said, “He told me there are years of his life that he doesn’t remember. He said, ‘I know that’s me singing, I know that’s my record and my picture, but I don’t remember writing the songs, I don’t remember going into the studio.’”
Bowie came to the public's attention in 1969 when his song "Space Oddity" reached the top five of the UK Singles Chart. After a three-year period of experimentation he re-emerged in 1972 during the glam rock era with the flamboyant, androgynous alter ego Ziggy Stardust, spearheaded by the hit single "Starman" and the album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. Bowie challenged rock music conventions of his time and created the largest cult in popular culture. But in true creative fashion, Ziggy was only one facet of a career marked by continual reinvention, musical innovation and striking visual presentation.
In 1975, Bowie achieved his first major American crossover success with the number-one single "Fame" and the hit album Young Americans, which Bowie himself characterized as "plastic soul". The radical shift in style initially alienated many of his UK devotees. He then confounded the expectations of both his record label and his American audiences by recording the minimalist album Low (1977)—the first of three collaborations with Brian Eno over the next two years. Low, "Heroes", and Lodger, the so-called "Berlin Trilogy" albums, all reached the UK top five and received lasting critical praise. In the late 1970s, Bowie had UK number ones with the 1980 single "Ashes to Ashes", its parent album Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps), and "Under Pressure", a 1981 collaboration with Queen. He then reached a new commercial peak in 1983 with Let's Dance, which yielded several hit singles. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Bowie continued to experiment with musical styles, including blue-eyed soul, industrial, adult contemporary, and jungle. Bowie's latest studio album The Next Day was released in March 2013.
(thanks to http://ultimateclassicrock.com/david-bowie-cocaine/?trackback=tsmclip and wikipedia.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
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://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_McLean) (Don) McLean's other well-known songs include: "And I Love You So" was covered by Elvis Presley, Helen Reddy, Shirley Bassey, Glen Campbell, Engelbert Humperdinck, Howard Keel and a 1973 hit for Perry Como. "Vincent", a tribute to the 19th-century Dutch painter, Vincent van Gogh. Although it only reached No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100, it proved to be a huge hit worldwide.[citation needed] It was a No. 1 hit single in the UK Singles Chart. This song was covered by NOFX on their album titled 45 or 46 Songs That Weren't Good Enough to Go on Our Other Records, and also appears on the Fat Wreck Chords compilation Survival of the Fattest. "Vincent" was also covered by Josh Groban on his 2001 debut album. "Castles in the Air", which McLean recorded twice. His 1981 re-recording was a top-40 hit, reaching #36 on the Billboard Hot 100 in late 1981. Wonderful Baby", a tribute to Fred Astaire that Astaire himself recorded. Primarily rejected by pop stations, it reached #1 on the Billboard Easy Listening survey. "Superman's Ghost", a tribute to George Reeves, who portrayed Superman on television in the 1950. "The Grave", a song that McLean had written about the Vietnam War, was covered by George Michael in 2003 in protest against the Iraq War.
The American Pie album features a version of Psalm 137, entitled "Babylon". The song is based on a canon by Philip Hayes and was arranged by McLean and Lee Hays (of The Weavers). "Babylon" was performed in the Mad Men episode of the same name despite the fact that the song would not be released until 10 years after the time in which the episode is set.
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)
My latest solo release, '2014', can be downloaded digitally at:
(or you can copy-and-paste this URL directly to
your browser: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/rayjozwiak4)
. . . from Doug Alan Wilcox; articulate, evocative and engaging singer songwriter
and good friend. . .
(from http://www.dawilcox.com/doug_alan_wilcox_true.html)
On the making of “True”
I had been through a particularly crappy Winter - bouts of depression and malaise had kept me fairly off-kilter for months. Fortunately, I was able to use that pain to write a couple of new songs and had yet a few more tunes that were in the live show rotation but hadn't been recorded so figured it was time to get into the studio. In hindsight, the activity of recording probably saved me many more weeks of ugly mood. Things do happen for a reason.
Along about this same time, my friend and fellow singer/songwriter Rick Windon asked if I would be willing to to take a lyric he had rattling around and try to put my spin on things. The result, "It Only Feels Like Love", while not at all a happy song, is still perhaps my favorite on "True" (btw, this IS a mostly POSITIVE album, really..........).
Now, I've never spoken to other artists to see if their experience is the same but the recording process always takes on a life of it's own for me. I invariably go in with a plan that disintegrates into dust within days. However SOMETHING GOOD always happens in place of that plan.
In this case, the two brand-new songs that I was sure were going to be on this record ended up being set aside for another day - they just didn't fit the flow that was taking shape for "True". I got the idea to write a couple of instrumental, sound-scape-type pieces - not quite songs but bits to tie other songs together.
Another great friend, pianist Ray Jozwiak, had offered his services earlier on and I threw two of the instrumentals his way. One gained lyrics in the meantime and became the title track and first cut on the CD. These "sounds-capes" really mark a departure for me and I think lend a whole different tone to the collection.
This is what I mean by a project "taking on a life of it's own". Things tend to happen very organically and it's always an intriguing and surprising adventure (for me at least) to see what I end up with.
So in the end, it all came along well in the course of just over two months. My lovely wife helped with production duties (a woman with a very good ear!)
and didn't fuss when I was locked up in the studio or spending time glued to the computer with headphones - listening over and over to mixes.
As you can see other places on this site, all my current recorded work is posted at BandCamp.com. Everything there streams for free so please feel free to drop by - no commitment. I hope you enjoy listening as much as I enjoyed making this, and all, my records - and if you like what you hear, you know what to do............. :)
Of "True", Betsy Burnam says: "......... It's beautiful; almost Zen-like lyrics and feeling but with humor and gentle passion. Doug opens his heart........."
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)
My latest solo release, '2014', can be downloaded digitally at:
(or you can copy-and-paste this URL directly to
your browser: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/rayjozwiak4)
. . . is that really a question? . . . anyway . . .
Created by Hailey Boyle on January 31, 2014
LOS ANGELES, CA Creative Arts, Music, Film
The Basics: After 11 years I am finally recording a comedy album. "FUNNY LIKE A DUDE" will be recorded live at The Glasgow International Comedy Festival this March (details below) and will be released in May 2014. Meanwhile I have theater rentals for the previews, sound guy, video guy, editing guy, plane tickets, train tickets, and maybe if I'm real lucky a shirt off the clearance rack with no holes in it. So if you know you want my album you can donate now, and when it comes out I send you the greatest comedy album of all time! Basically it's like when I wanted to make shirts. That worked out awesome by the way, thank you guys! I am much more financially stable now that I have shirts to fluff up my income on the road and I could not have done it without your generosity.
Lots of folks have asked me why I don't have an album already. The answer is because I want all of my albums to be kick ass. 1 hour of material doesn't necessarily mean 1 album for me. Lately as I have more chances to headline and I realized that my favorite jokes, the ones I really love, now run about an hour and 15 minutes or more. So now is the time. Like to over analyze stuff? Me too! That's why I wrote the next few paragraphs, so enjoy.
The Back story: I think the reason so much of my new material is becoming my favorite material is because I am at a really cool phase in my life. I am old enough now that people are no longer wondering when I'm gonna have a baby (never), or when I am getting married (it doesn't matter cause you're not invited anyway), and it has been ages since somebody tried to talk me into going back to college. It's a great time to be me huh? I also feel like the last year has been a big one as far as starting to comprehend my own personal responsibility for the impact of my comedy. Now I'm using my brilliant dick jokes to change the world for the better. Also I may be suffering from delusions of grandeur. But speaking of personal responsibility, I should probably explain the album title.
I'm calling the album FUNNY LIKE A DUDE because that has been my little slogan since I started comedy. It has always said FUNNY LIKE A DUDE SINCE 1979 on my business cards. It's a tricky little phrase. It's not very feminist, a fact I have been side stepping by being a dick about it. "It's a statement ON feminism" I would say like a giant gaping asshole, "but forgive yourself, it is very subtle". Spoken like a true self loather. I know I haven't always been fair to women, and I am working on that. I also know that I don't believe that separate can ever be equal. Take the WNBA. I have nothing but respect for those women, but it's not fair to pretend it's like the NBA. The NBA, not the MNBA. I just feel like the job is the job and the bar should be the bar. Gender should be irrelevant. I don't know how many, if any of the women of the WNBA would be in the NBA if they were eligible, but I bet the number would grow in relation to the number of years little girls grew up believing they could be in the NBA. BOOM! Mind blown. Back to me. Right now the most common compliment I get as a comic is that I have met/exceeded the expectations the complimentor has for men. I didn't think women were funny but you were hilarious. You are my favorite female comic. It's a catch 22! On one hand I get mad at them for saying female, not comic, and on the other hand I'm mad at me for feeling like female is an insult. Those are both bad, dirty hands. When I moved to NYC to be a comic 10 years ago I learned fast that if I wanted to get on a show the fastest way was to say I was funny like a dude, thus saying I am actually funny, and probably won't complain about your sexism as I am also a sexist. Not very cool on my part, not very cool on societies part, not fair to the women who came before or will come after me. It's all around lame that those words that got me the chance to show that I am truly talented probably cost other women the chance to show what they can do. This year has been about a shift for me. From a woman that thought standing up for myself was enough, to a woman who thinks standing up for equality is more important than protecting herself. It is a process, and I have just begun. At first I thought that being a feminist meant I had to support all women, be on the side of the sisterhood or what have you. Turns out feminism is really just another word for equality and I know I like that. I don't have to like all women to be a feminist, I have to respect all life. I have to make an effort not to perpetuate the behavior I have been a victim of. I have to try to be fair, which does not come natural for me. I have spent 34 years looking down on other women, and to be perfectly honest, it is still my default setting. Luckily some terrible things happened this year and for the first time I had to look at my roll in making the world less fair, less just, and less productive. I wrote a blog you can read here http://haileymailogram.wordpress.com/ and got a lot of crap for it. I got rape shamed and called a bunch of names but I also started being a better citizen because of it. I have a long way to go just to fix myself, but I'm hoping since the whole thing is making for some great jokes that my "journey" if you will, could inspire some other folks to start trying to do better themselves. Pretending I am a perfect feminist or that I have always been one doesn't help anybody. Admitting that it is a struggle and I have to work at it just might do some good. So the album is called FUNNY LIKE A DUDE cause I have been saying it for 11 years and now I am gonna talk about it instead of pretending it never happened.
The taping itself will be on Saturday March 22nd at The Glasgow International Comedy Festival. This is my third time touring Scotland and Glasgow happens to be my favorite city in all the world to do comedy. I'm told that this is odd because it is mainly industrial and known as the stabbing capitol of the world, but I feel very happy there indeed. I love the comedy community there and the way people regard comedy as an art and a skill, which it is. When I got booked for this festival the first time I had lost faith in my ability. I felt that as a woman who lacked extreme sex appeal I had no place in the world and I would even say that booking saved my life. It seems perfectly fitting now that my first album should be recorded in Glasgow, surrounded by the very women that reminded me that being female doesn't mean anything outside a medical office unless I believe it does. Thank you so much for your support!Additional dates and cities TBA
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).
My latest solo release, Black & White Then Back,
can be downloaded digitally at:
(or you can copy-and-paste this URL directly to
your browser: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/rayjozwiak3)
(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.
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