So much music. . .

. . . so little time. . . 

Here's an instrumental performance of an older, never recorded composition, rife with imperfections.  (You sing it.)


Words are all that I have to express all the things I would
Like to be able to tell you  but don't quite know how
Couldn't before and still can't do it now
During all of this time that's transpired little's changed but
A lot has occurred in my thoughts and my feelings for you
Countless superior intellects have searched for answers
I never gave it a whole lot of thought

Until I tried to let you know how much I feel inside
Until I tried to let you know how much I feel inside
for you

I have always believed that it's true very few things I'll
Ever encounter will be quite as precious as you
The magic between us so rare and so new
Though I'm not one of those that you find who has always the
Need to express to so many  exactly what he has in mind
I find I have this burning that's deep down inside me
For words I never needed before

Until I tried to let you know how much I feel  inside
Until I tried to let you know how much I feel  inside
for you

I can't imagine ever having my life depend upon eloquence
And maybe it doesn't
But after all this time together it seems long overdue
And in the end it probably doesn't make a difference in how you feel
If I never say it

Now I'm daily rehearsing the way to articulate
Every syllable nuance and stress when I say
How much I need to have you here today
And I won't give it up easily I suspect that it's
Just as important to you as it is now to me
The words we use themselves have no meaning
So all the more must I make them right

Now that I try to let you know how much I feel  inside
Until I tried to let you know how much I feel inside
for you


Until I Tried
©2007 Raymond M. Jozwiak





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Good. . .

. . . times. . .

In the early 70s, the members of the wedding combo of which I was a member (Reflection, by name), thought our regeneration (after the comings and goings of members in different combos) would be more thorough with a name change and finally settled upon the catchy moniker FUL TREATMENT (yes, ONE 'L') which accurately captured our ability to navigate the crosscurrents of musical genre and essentially play ANYTHING that ANYBODY wanted.  This gloriously selfless intention was more true in theory than practice, but our intentions were sincere, particularly at the start, although that facet of our existence did deteriorate somewhat in time.

Music, fun, abundant work and money were ours.  Good times, as they now say.  Our repertoire had evolved and developed during this period to include Bungle in the Jungle, You're So Vain,  Games People Play (Jethro Tull, Carly Simon and The Spinners respectively).  But then, in what seemed to be a not very long time later, Bruce (our drummer) resigned (abdicated his drum throne-pun intended).  My sister, who at the time worked for the state government, had become acquainted with a young man at the office who, in addition to charming all the ladies there (including her), was a drummer.  Not only was he a drummer, he was a drummer who was receptive to the idea of joining our little musical organization.  His name was Jeff. 

Jeff  'auditioned' and was quite impressive on many levels. He had a powerful touch, yet not without the ability to sensitively accompany a slow ballad. While not subtle, his drumming was strong, steady and something of a departure from his predecessor. We missed Bruce both personally and musically, but we welcomed Jeff and enjoyed the markedly different rhythm keeper and dynamic, debonair character that had become our drummer. I, more than the other members of the band, began spending additional amounts of personal time with Jeff, enjoying his captivating stories, his outrageous personality and his knowledge and appreciation of musical styles. Jeff and I visited many and varied drinking and eating places after gigs and I'd found that not only had the band acquired a fine new drummer, I had found a fun and fascinating new friend.

Keith, our guitarist and one of the founding members, had by this time decided to leave the band, an event that was somewhat bittersweet, as we sometimes longed for a guitarist with a different style.  But he certainly possessed many good qualities, was reliable and added musicality not infrequently.  Jeff had oft-times mentioned his seminary-educated, guitar-playing brother Jay who was also a founding member of a different, uniquely original music-playing organization called OHO. Jeff indicated that Jay would be interested in joining our combo in order to make some money because then, as now, local, original musicians weren't reaping great sums playing their own compositions.  I had no inkling at the time that this event would influence both my music and a substantial portion of my life.  But it has. 

Charisma evidently ran 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 an additional self-confidence that may have been attributable to his age. Similar as they would appear 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]  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' and 'Heat Wave'.  We were all young and relatively carefree, and more frequently than was wise, a gig would turn into a party. . . for the band. 

After  a period, as always occurs in such mini-organizations, Jeff decided to leave the band.  Jay was able to recruit alternate (with Jeff) OHO drummer David and, viola, the rest is history.  At least it's a big part of MY musical history.  Ful Treatment, in the ultimate configuration probably only played together for several years.  But they were fun years. 

I kept somewhat in touch with Jay in the intervening years.  He always treated me to an LP or CD of things he was working on musically.  Then about 2003, I read in the Baltimore CityPaper that OHO was performing at a local venue and I was determined that I would patronize same.  Various associations between Jay and myself (musical showcases at Gallery G in Hampden,  Mystic I) transpired.  Then in early winter of 2011 Jay, David and myself (sans any saxophonist) began rehearsing for Schlongtasm 29 (a showcase of musical acts brought together each year to celebrate Airiad Records' Dan Long's birthday.)  The ex-Ful Treatment rhythm section were reunited after 32 years as the latest incarnation of OHO, playing substantial amounts of original music and covers of far greater integrity . . . and of course, now infinitely wiser,

Good Times INDEED.

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I don't care. . .

. . . this is My Life. . .

Before, during and after the American Legion gig, there were many dances, 'bull roasts', weddings and other affairs to keep us busy.  Still, in spite of many requests for more 'current' material, we persisted in our same-old repertoire, rationalizing, being lazy, but having fun, doggedly tightening-up our musical simpatico until the question of marriage was broached. 

No, I don't mean a a radial, unconventional partnership of some kind among the band members.  I mean my fiance (now wife of many, many wonderful years) and I were planning our wedding.  The date was to be October 6, 1979.  It was sometime in the spring of '79 and I gave some serious thought to how to approach a musical life combined with married life.  Options were to continue in the same vein with the group, make a little spending money, and leave my new wife home alone many weekend nights, or pursue a new band opportunity that may be more challenging, more lucrative or more aesthetically satisfying- but that would still leave the other partner in my new marriage to fend for herself as much, if not more, as staying with the original band would.  Fact is, for all my love of music, I enjoyed spending personal time with this person to whom I was committing the rest of my life.  I enjoyed it, and still do, so much, that the choice was not terribly difficult, I can honestly say. So I announced my decision to my band-mates well in advance, set a 'last' date target, and after a particularly satisfying Saturday night performance at the legion hall, we said goodbye.  There was no animosity, no bad feelings.  There was simply honesty.  We had a fine time socializing during breaks, as usual, and after it ended, I had effectively, and for the time being, retired from music. 

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If my memory serves. . .

. . . my old band-members Jay (guitar/vocals), Jeff (drums), Greg (sax/vocals) and myself (keyboard/vocals) undertook a string of private affairs and wedding receptions. Soon we decided to dedicate ourselves to the pursuit of a regular engagement, most desirably at a nightclub. Our one weak point however in pursuit of this lofty goal was our repertoire. Our rehearsals were few and far between. In fact, I now cannot remember an actual rehearsal with this incarnation of Ful Treatment. To our chagrin, and self-deceiving disbelief, club owners actually wanted the bands they hired to play the current top-forty popular favorites to which the audience could dance. We, in our haughty laziness (or was it lazy haughtiness?) refused to do that. In fact we simply continued to play as much of our uptempo (and preferably 'newer') material instead of succumbing to the current trend of disco music brought about by the recent resurgent popularity of the Bee Gees thanks to the film Saturday Night Fever. In our defense, we did learn a new number or two, just simply not enough to market ourselves as a top-forty act. Another improvement that we opted not to pursue was the hiring of a fifth band member to play the bass guitar, a definite enhancement to a combo's authenticity when reproducing dance music (as well as rock music in general), and mainly for the reason that it would have resulted in another party with whom to share the money.




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Music, fun and more . . .

Music, fun, abundant work and money were ours. Good times, as they now say. Our repertoire had evolved and developed during this period to include Bungle in the Jungle, You're So Vain, Games People Play (Jethro Tull, Carly Simon and The Spinners respectively). But then, in what seemed to be a not very long time later, Bruce (our drummer) resigned (abdicated his drum throne?). My sister, who at the time worked for the state, had become acquainted with a young man at the office who, in addition to charming all the ladies there (including her), was a drummer. Not only was he a drummer, he was a drummer who was receptive to the idea of joining our little musical organization. His name was Jeff.

Jeff 'auditioned' and was quite impressive on a technical level; at least to our plebeian musical sensibilities of the time. Not to slight Jeff's ability to be sure. He had a powerful touch, yet not without the ability to sensitively accompany a slow ballad. While not subtle, his drumming was strong, steady (relatively) and something of a departure from his predecessor. While we missed Bruce both personally and musically, we welcomed Jeff and enjoyed the markedly different rhythm keeper and dynamic, debonaire character that had become our drummer. Not only was Jeff a Ladykiller, he was such a charismatic personality that I suspected he could quite possibly be bi-polar. I more than the other members of the band began spending additional amounts of personal time with Jeff enjoying his captivating stories, his outrageous personality, his knowledge and appreciation of musical styles. Jeff and I visited many and varied drinking and eating places after gigs and I'd found that not only had the band acquired a fine new drummer, I had found a fun and fascinating new friend.




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ANOTHER SHOT
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