". . . a series of cost-cutting decisions made by the Trump administration in preceding years that had gutted the nation’s infectious disease defense infrastructure. The “pandemic response team” firing claim referred to news accounts from Spring 2018 reporting that White House officials tasked with directing a national response to a pandemic had been ousted. . . Rear Adm. Timothy Ziemer abruptly departed from his post leading the global health security team on the National Security Council in May 2018 amid a reorganization of the council by then-National Security Advisor John Bolton, and Ziemer’s team was disbanded. Tom Bossert, whom the Washington Post reported “had called for a comprehensive biodefense strategy against pandemics and biological attacks,” had been fired one month prior. . . It’s thus true that the Trump administration axed the executive branch team responsible for coordinating a response to a pandemic and did not replace it, eliminating Ziemer’s position and reassigning others, although Bolton was the executive at the top of the National Security Council chain of command at the time. . ."
Other Ray Jozwiak Offerings
(To Access all Ray Jozwiak - Gonzo Piano music you can copy-and-paste this URL directly to
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MOTHER CHI by Ray Jozwiak - YouLicense.com
Rated Oct 08 • 1 review • jazz • youlicense.com
Review/Stumbleupon
"This is wonderful! I am not swayed a bit by the fact that the song bares my name or that it makes me feel like I'm running carefree through the woods on my toes with fairies and snoopy and woodstock! Bravo my dear man for your vision."
(from http://www.expose.org/index.php/articles/display/oho-gazebo-3.html)
Oho — Gazebo
(Ohomusic OM067, 2018, CD)
by Peter Thelen, Published 2018-08-06
Oho has been making great music since the early 70s, seemingly swerving and dodging any typical styles and genres as they avoided the classification game, instead going for whatever direction their muse took them at any point in time. The three founding members O’Connor, Heck, and O’Sullivan (Hence their name OHO) have long left the band (although Mark O’Connor is a guest one one track here), multi-instrumentalist and singer Jay Graboski who had joined by the time of the band’s first album Okinawa in 1974 is still among the members, all through the years guiding the band through their continuous evolution. And still, on their latest album Gazebo, the band still eschews any kind of classification, other than in a very general sense. In addition to Graboski, the current members include Ray Jozwiak (vocals, keyboards, and accordion) and David Reeve (drums, vocals, keyboards and more), the latter having been with the band since the beginning of the 1990s. In addition, no less than twenty guests have contributed to this track or that adding everything from trombone, french horn, saxes, bass, 12 string, pedal steel, percussion, additional vocals and more. The eighteen cuts herein are all listed as group compositions (with the exception of a couple interpretations) but one can sense that the diversity of what’s on offer here shows that ideas are are hatched and developed by individual band members and from that point developed as a group, having a lot of fun along the way. Thus, the tunes represent more of what the members’ interests are instead of trying to shoehorn their sound into any genre. One can find a little bit of everything herein, though everything on offer is played and sung impeccably by a group of experienced musicians who probably don’t care if you like it or not, it’s what they do, and being independent of any record labels, it’s all at their prerogative and pleasure.
“How Is Where We Go” is a great tune, and a catchy one as well, and pretty much exemplifies Oho’s creation process: write and arrange a great tune with thoughtful lyrics, bring it to life with whatever is needed to perfect it (some pedal steel went a long way in this case, plus additional lead guitar, percussion and vocals), and you end up with a tune that meets a number of criteria of excellence and doesn’t really sound like anything you’ve heard before. The opener “Ring in the Brightness” is a tune that is just as vital, a funky and powerful rocker with a horn section featured. The band does a tasteful cover of Randy Newman’s “Baltimore,” perhaps with a bit more of a rock punch than the original, with some great sax soloing from guest Gene Meros, following that up with “Blood Brother,” a good-timey piano tune that sounds like something from another era, with a horn section featured, and different singers taking their tunes as the song proceeds. “Denial” is another great tune with powerful arrangements and great lyrics and harmonies, built on an acousic guitar roadbed with accordion and other arrangements supporting judiciously.
With a good 65-plus minutes of great new material, the band added a couple excellent tunes “Slough of Despond” and “Limousine” that were on their two previous albums Where Words Do Not Reach and Bricolage respectively, and “Unique” which was an instrumental tune on the former, now is re-featured with lyrics. “Ocean City Ditty” which was originally an overtly commercial sounding single released a few years back by the band, is now remixed with additional female vocals and a horn section, with an overdubbed DJ intro and outro. “Out of Thin Air” is an old Oho tune from the early 90s, but a classic that got a complete re-recording here, much improved from the original that opened the Oho album in 1990. “Bleeding the Fifth” is a downright heavy tune with guest lead vocals from Barry Lee Reichart , a thunderous bass line and overdubbed layers of screaming guitars throughout. The album’s pièce de résistance comes near the end, and who would have thought that anyone could combine The Yardbirds “Over Under Sideways Down” with the famous Disney tune “It’s a Small World” and make it work, but Oho did it, and although this doesn’t sound much like either of the originals (though it tracks the Yardbirds a bit more closely), it’s a great interpretation of both tunes more or less superimposed on one another. Nothing short of brilliant. All taken, Gazebo is another great step forward from a band who’s name is synonymous with adventure and unpredictability.
Trump gets black unemployment rate right, but claims undue credit . . . unemployment overall is at a 45-year low and black unemployment did reach a new low this year — but (he took) credit for an awful lot of gains that occurred before his administration. . . Under Trump’s administration thus far, the black unemployment rate has fallen just one point, from 7.8 percent to 6.8 percent. . .
Has the U.S. released terrorists only to meet them later on the battlefield? . . . Trump is correct, though the trend fell dramatically under former President Barack Obama. However, his claim that the U.S. released the man who would become the leader of ISIS is somewhat misleading. The man known as Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was released into Iraqi custody in 2004 — not set free by the U.S. . .
Trump's right, ISIS did lose almost all its territory in Iraq and Syria . . . This is true. By early December, the Pentagon said 97 percent of ISIS-held territory in Iraq and Syria had been liberated. Now, analysts tell NBC News, the threat the U.S. must fight is dangerous lone wolf attacks and resurgences of the extremist group if forces do not continue to stamp it out. . .
Trump's description of the visa lottery program, which came as the president was describing his framework for immigration reform, is false. The diversity visa program grants 50,000 visas a year to individuals who have graduated high school or "two years of work experience within the past five years in an occupation that requires at least two years of training or experience to perform," according to the State Department. . . . Visa applicants are selected through a random, computer-generated lottery. If an applicant is selected, they face all of the same background checks and screening processes as any other immigrant visa applicant to be granted admission, including document presentation, background checks, in person interviews and medical exams.
Did a terrorist enter on the diversity visa? . . . This is half true. Trump is correct that two suspects of recent terror attacks entered thanks to a family connection and the diversity visa lottery program, but both appear to have been radicalized well after they entered the United States, making them homegrown threats.
Can immigrants bring in 'unlimited' and 'distant' relatives? . . . This is false. Legal immigrants can sponsor their spouses, children, parents, and siblings — but distant relatives, like cousins, cannot be sponsored for residency. The family reunification visa process takes years or even more than a decade, preventing "chains" from forming the way Trump suggests, as Politico reported in detail.
. . What's more, there are only so many family visas that can be granted. The numbers are capped by the U.S. government.
Trump claims credit for 2.4 million new jobs, rising wages . . . This is half true. The job numbers are technically correct, but Trump is overstating wage growth and taking credit for jobs added under his predecessor. . . Trump’s first year in office was marked by 2.1 million jobs being added to the economy — the slowest year of job growth in six years — while the other job gains came under President Barack Obama. Wages are indeed rising, but they were not exactly stagnate. They’ve been rising steadily for years, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Have 3 million workers received bonuses? . . . This appears to be true. Americans for Tax Reform, an advocacy group that fights all tax hikes, posted a list on Tuesday of 286 companies giving bonuses or pay raises because of the tax reform bill. . . "At least 3 million Americans are receiving special tax reform bonuses," the group writes — likely where Trump is getting his figure. . . While NBC News has not independently verified the group's count, the figure tracks with USA Today’s reporting that more than 2.5 million workers have received bonuses thus far.
Trump overstates tax relief for middle class . . . This claim is misleading — or, at least, depends on your definition of "tremendous." The middle class does get a tax cut under the new law, but unlike the relief for corporations, those cuts are not permanent. Ultimately, taxes for middle income families will rise. . . "The tax cuts that Trump is bragging about? Those are the provisions that are slated to go away," said Kyle Pomerleau, the director of federal projects at The Tax Foundation, an independent tax policy think tank. Most of the tax cuts affecting individuals expire in 2026. By 2027, 47.5 percent of all households will pay more in taxes than under the previous law, including 62.2 percent of taxpayers in the middle 20 percent of earners. . . . "The current law is an across the board tax cut," Pomerleau said, but, "the expiration of that is going to be an across the board tax increase."
Trump touts GOP tax cuts as "biggest" in U.S. history . . . This claim is false. The GOP tax bill, passed in December, does not amount to the "biggest" in U.S. history, according to the non-partisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. According to their estimates, Trump's tax cut is the eighth biggest in history. . . . As for the reform aspect: "It’s hard to mathematically measure how reform-y your tax plan is," said Kyle Pomerleau, the director of federal projects at The Tax Foundation, an independent tax policy think tank. Still, Ronald Reagan's 1986 reform simplified the tax code in a big way and was probably more "reformish," Pomerleau told NBC News. . ."
(from http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/first-read/trump-s-presidency-enters-uncharted-waters-n793446))
The president’s job approval rating hovers between 35 percent and 40 percent. Key American corporations have withdrawn from his business-advisory councils after the response to Charlottesville. He’s regularly lashing out at members of his own party. His top advisers are calling up liberal publications — and letting loose. Forty percent of Americans want him impeached, according to a new poll. . . And we’re (at publication) on the 210th day of his time in office (without a major legislative accomplishment under his belt, and with a special counsel already investigating him and his team).
The church of music
Holds no ham and oyster suppers
We're all just deacons
With our boots upon the ground
Marching into mystery
In command but
Still can't quite see
The church of music
Won't require your weekly presence
You'll find it stays with you
No matter where you are
No dogmatic postulates
No demands on
Your fidelity
It can end the darkest night
Carry you through the hours
Know not if it’s wrong or right
Make no mistake
It’s divine
This church of mine
There are no fiery demons
In what I believe
It’s not for me to say
Who’s what and where they go
All things flowing naturally
No controlling
Power over you or me
It can end the darkest night
Carry you through the hours
Know not if it’s wrong or right
Make no mistake
It’s divine
This church of mine
Stricly spiritual
No trace of any politics
Lurking in the mix or in the fabric
Only what is good
No room for hate and no deceit
Honesty
Sincerity will move you
And me
This church won’t interfere
With what you think or do
Your body and your mind are
Yours and yours alone
No one tells you what to say
No one criticizes
What you feel inside
It can heal the deepest wound
Shine a light in the darkness
Warm a chill in any room
Make no mistake
It’s divine
This church . . .
It can end the darkest night
Carry you through the hours
Know not if it’s wrong or right
Make no mistake
It’s divine
This church of mine
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)
".
. . I would like to send you a copy of my latest release (via whichever
medium YOU prefer) Black & White Then Back in hopes of a review,
interview or other airtime.
Creative Musician Ray
Jozwiak's new, digital-download only, solo, instrumental piano music
release BLACK & WHITE then BACK transports you to aural locales
inhabited by emotions, sentiments, memories, hopes, joys and challenges
we've all encountered. You may even hear a snippet of a song you
remember from childhood, have flashes of your first date, recall aromas
from the kitchen when you visited your grandmother, remember your
favorite summer vacation or when you fell in love.
BLACK & WHITE then BACK is available through digital distribution only (www.cdbaby.com).
"RAY
JOZWIAK is back with his gonzo piano, boldly taking us to places no-one
has gone before, not even him! (Rod Deacey, Board Member of the
Frederick Acoustic Musicians Enterprise (FAME), Musician, Performer,
Writer, Poet, Organizer, Emcee, Bluesman 11/20/11
". . . Anywhere
he dabbles along the piano keys, he produces sonic glitz forming
impressionistic images. . . " (Susan Frances, cdreview.com)
". . .
He’s got some terrific ideas there and an unusual approach to rhythm
and song structure. These are fantastic assets and more than one of his
songs could find tons of fans who appreciate music which isn’t the same
ol’ same ol’ all the time. . . " (Paul Sedkowski, Fairplayformusic.com)
I
would like to send you (either digital music files via 'WeTransfer.com'
or a physical CD-whichever you prefer) of my new release of solo, piano
recordings.
. . . they're everywhere. Possibly even in your chair right now.
That's right. I would like you to be a critic. Simply visit http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/rayjozwiak3, listen to the samples, (hopefully buy the album), then login to CD Baby.com and write your own review. And you can write anything you want! Tell everyone you love it, hate, find it distasteful, were offended, were bored, danced all night after listening, would never listen to it with a Savignon Blanc. . . WHATEVER YOU WANT! Because, simply because, I would love to hear from you.
Black
& White Then Back transports you to a complete range aural locales
inhabited by emotions, sentiments, memories, hopes, joys and challenges
we've all encountered.
Genre: Jazz: Piano Jazz
Release Date: 2013
available for download only
Tracks
song title
time
1. Cheer
5:47
2. Blood Brother
8:04
3. 12 Hours
6:37
4. Always You
4:19
5. Low Lights
4:44
6. Distraction
6:29
7. 3rd Hand Intelligence
9:55
8. Goosefight
5:42
9. Little Men
6:08
10. Zed
5:49
ABOUT THIS ALBUM
Album Notes
Creative
Musician Ray Jozwiak's new, digital-download only, solo, instrumental
piano music release Black & White Then Back transports you to aural
locales inhabited by emotions, sentiments, memories, hopes, joys and
challenges we've all encountered. You may even hear a snippet of a song
you remember from childhood, have flashes of your first date, recall
aromas from the kitchen when you visited your grandmother, remember your
favorite summer vacation or when you fell in love.
Ray Jozwiak, Gonzo Piano [Gonzo: Definition of GONZO 1: idiosyncratically subjective but engagé 2: bizarre 3: freewheeling or unconventional especially to the point of outrageousness ] has
been making music of one kind or another for over forty years. He
currently writes, records and performs his unique original music and
also participates in the creation of prog/rock/folk/jazz music with
Baltimore's longtime, iconic band "Oho"
