Graying . . .

 . . . heads . . .

(from http://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/mysteries/grayhair.html)
". . . Parents often cite having teenagers as the cause of gray hair. This is a good hypothesis, but scientists continue to investigate why hair turns gray. In time, everyone’s hair turns gray. Your chance of going gray increases 10-20% every decade after 30 years. Initially, hair is white. It gets its natural color from a type of pigment called melanin. The formation of melanin begins before birth. The natural color of our hair depends upon the distribution, type and amount of melanin in the middle layer of the hair shaft or cortex.

Hair has only two types of pigments: dark (eumelanin) and light (phaeomelanin). They blend together to make up the wide range of hair colors.

Melanin is made up of specialized pigment cells called melanocytes. They position themselves at the openings on the skin’s surface through which hair grows (follicles). Each hair grows from a single follicle. . . the hair follicle has a “melanogentic clock” which slows down or stops melanocyte activity, thus decreasing the pigment our hair receives. This occurs just before the hair is preparing to fall out or shed, so the roots always look pale.

Moreover, Dr. Tobin suggests that hair turns gray because of age and genetics, in that genes regulate the exhaustion of the pigmentary potential of each individual hair follicle. This occurs at different rates in different hair follicles. . ."

What do you think?

Tell me at
http://www.rayjozwiak.com/guestbook.html  or at
http://www.ohomusic.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.  Please Visit http://www.ohomusic.com 


My latest solo offering, Just More Music by Ray Jozwiak, featuring original, instrumental piano music will be released April 7, 2014  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)

Also, be sure to visit:
http://www.rayjozwiak.com

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NOT . . .

. . . because of skin color, not because he wasn't 'tough' enough with Putin, not because of the ACA (well, maybe that one too- but not for the popularly held conservative reasons), not because he uses a teleprompter, not because he spoke to elementary schoolers standing on a 'my ABCs' carpet. . .

NO. . . but this president concerns me because. . .


(from http://rt.com/usa/obama-ndaa-detention-president-288/)
". . . President Barack Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act of 2013 . . . giving his stamp of approval to a Pentagon spending bill that will keep Guantanamo Bay open and make indefinite detention for US citizens as likely as ever.

The president inked his name to the 2013 NDAA . . . to little fanfare, and accompanied his signature with a statement condemning a fair number of provisions contained in a bill that he nevertheless endorsed.

The NDAA, an otherwise mundane annual bill that lays out the use of funds for the Department of Defense, has come under attack during the Obama administration for the introduction of a provision last year that allows the military to detain United States citizens indefinitely without charge or trial for mere suspicions of ties to terrorism. Under the 2012 NDAA’s Sec. 1021, Pres. Obama agreed to give the military the power to arrest and hold Americans without the writ of habeas corpus, although he promised with that year’s signing statement that his administration would not abuse that privilege.

In response to the controversial indefinite detention provision from last year, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-California) introduced an amendment in December 2012 that would have forbid the government from using military force to indefinitely detain Americans without trial under the 2013 NDAA. Although that provision, dubbed the “Feinstein Amendment,” passed the Senate unanimously, a select panel of lawmakers led by Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Michigan) stripped it from the final version of the NDAA two week later before it could clear Congress. In exchange, Congress added a provision, Sec. 1029, that claims to ensure that “any person inside the United States” is allowed their constitutional rights, including habeas corpus, but supporters of the Feinstein Amendment say that the swapped wording does nothing to erase the indefinite detention provision from the previous year. . ."

What do you think?
Tell me at
http://www.rayjozwiak.com/guestbook.html 

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)

'2014' available April 8, 2014 at http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/RayJozwiak
Pre-order your copy of "2014" at the iTunes Store NOW

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)

Also, be sure to visit:
http://www.rayjozwiak.com

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Hurt . . .

I thought my skin was growing a bit thicker after over ten years of huckstering original music performance and recordings but for some reason, certain things still hurt. A natural-born salesman I most certainly am NOT! When applying for employment upon college graduation I unconditionally dismissed any and all job openings that hinted of sales.  I generally feel that if someone wants or needs something, they will seek it.  Consequently I never wanted to be the one to present them with something which I WANTED them to want or need.

Truth is, my stance on the matter has not really changed in essence since then. The one thing that HAS changed is that, after learning about what constitutes a successful music career (and I guess I have to qualify that by adding "commercially" to 'successful' because let's face it, if you have any talent, ability or passion about music, you do want to reap rewards in the critical and/or financial realms) I am now able to 'salesify' enough to confront a potential audience.  That's just marketing, plain and simple.

So in my joy at being on the WAMMIE ballot for Best Jazz Recording, I thought that, since (from the WAMA website) 'nominations and balloting come from the WAMA membership' that I would bring my good fortune at being nominated to the attention of the WAMA membership because, as a WAMA member myself, I sometime read hastily and more oftentimes FORGET things.  Frequently a small reminder can be most useful. A small reminder is what I intended to send the WAMA members, light-hearted, brief but to the point. So while I don't know all the WAMA members personally, I thought we had a common bond in our 'support' of the Washington area music community. I guess not all WAMA members feel that bond.

Turns out that two 'reprimanding' comments were returned to me in response to my request for a vote;  one from a member I do not personally know and another from one I do.

*Sending unsolicited mass emails to DC musicians that you don't know asking for you vote isn't the best way to gain their support.

*I don't really care much for begging for votes.  Please don't include me
on your list.

Granted the comments were innocuous enough (at least maybe one more than the other) and I have removed the two names from my mailing list in respect of their wishes, or in the case of the first, his implication.

But still . . .
        . . . it hurts.

What do you think?
Tell me at
http://www.rayjozwiak.com/guestbook.html

My latest 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)

Also, be sure to visit:
http://www.rayjozwiak.com

Tweet