What a yahu. . .

. . . I mean- YAHOO!! (Freudian slip)

How can a person make one statement, such as maybe ". . . yes, we want peace. . . " then spend the remainder of their 'air' time listing the reasons that they refuse to help bring that peace about in any concrete, meaningful way?

"I say to President Abbas 'Tear up your pact with Hamas and sit down and negotiate, make peace with the Jewish state. "The Palestinian attempt to impose a settlement through the United Nations will not bring peace. It should be forcefully opposed by all those who want to see this conflict end. . . " The man promised “painful” Israeli concessions in exchange for peace but then proceeded to outline a tough negotiating stance. An aide to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas called the proposals a “declaration of war against the Palestinians.”

Unfortunately, our U.S. legislators found his hypocritical words applauseworthy. What a shame! Hopefully the world will get this man's number soon. We can only hope.

Not very 'musical' you say? What better way to promote peace than through the universal language of music. . .



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Down in a deep, dark, dank. . . **

. . . little corner of a basement in Highlandtown, we get together every Friday evening; put together plans to burn the whole thing down. Burn it to the ground. It's the world-wide church of the head-on armageddon. It's all about purity and how we're gonna get some. It's the world-wide church of the head-on Armageddon. And when our god gets his way in his heaven. There's gonna be hell to; gonna be hell to pay.

We can't afford to have anybody of another color living here. Talk to our maker he'll explain the whole thing. We are perfection you can see so clear. But we've got lots to fear. It's the world-wide church of the head-on armageddon. It's all about purity and how we're gonna get some. It's the world-wide church of the head-on Armageddon. And when our god gets his way in his heaven. There's gonna be hell to; gonna be hell to pay.

And people always ask, "Why do you talk like that? One day they'll take you all away." But when know what to say. We've got the NRA. The ACLU keeps us safe. What did you say was YOUR race?

If you don't listen to the things I'm saying, if you don't watch the little things I do. You'll be surprised. These aren't games we're playing. We will exterminate the lot of you. We believe it's true. It's the world-wide church of the head-on armageddon. It's all about purity and how we're gonna get some. It's the world-wide church of the head-on Armageddon. And when our god gets his way in his heaven. There's gonna be hell to; gonna be hell to pay.


HELL TO PAY
©1998 Raymond M. Jozwiak
**(Disclaimer: 'Hell To Pay' is a work of fiction and does not necessarily reflect the views of the author. Any relation to individuals living or deceased is purely coincidental.)



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Maybe I'm Milking It, but. . .

. . .I can't help it.

THE END OF THE WORLD

Why does the sun go on shining?
Why does the sea rush to shore?
Don't they know it's the end of the world,
'Cause you don't love me any more?

Why do the birds go on singing?
Why do the stars glow above?
Don't they know it's the end of the world.
It ended when I lost your love.

I wake up in the morning and I wonder,
Why everything's the same as it was.
I can't understand. No, I can't understand,
How life goes on the way it does.

Why does my heart go on beating?
Why do these eyes of mine cry?
Don't they know it's the end of the world.
It ended when you said goodbye.

Why does my heart go on beating?
Why do these eyes of mine cry?
Don't they know it's the end of the world.
It ended when you said goodbye.

by Arthur Kent and Sylvia Dee
performed by Skeeter Davis


Ray Jozwiak - Gonzo Piano opens the May 23rd Monday Night Songwriters Showcase at Brewer's Alley Restaurant & Brewery with 30 minutes of solo, Gonzo, Fractured Jazz and Improvisational Terror Tactics at the Piano. (take the elevator on the right to the 2nd floor) 124 North Market Street, Frederick, MD 21701, tel: 301-631-0089, Fax: 301-631-1874
www.brewers-alley.com
Frederick Acoustic Music Enterprise (F.A.M.E.)


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P.S. . .

. . . It's 5/22/2011, 12:18 EDT. The world did NOT end.

Ray Jozwiak - Gonzo Piano opens the May 23rd Monday Night Songwriters Showcase at Brewer's Alley Restaurant & Brewery with 30 minutes of solo, Gonzo, Fractured Jazz and Improvisational Terror Tactics at the Piano. (take the elevator on the right to the 2nd floor) 124 North Market Street, Frederick, MD 21701, tel: 301-631-0089, Fax: 301-631-1874
www.brewers-alley.com
Frederick Acoustic Music Enterprise (F.A.M.E.)


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Posting this one early. . .

. . . just in case the world DOES end tonight, maybe you'll be able to read one more blog from me.

Well, what can I say? The only thing that bothers me about this whole WORLD ENDING TONIGHT thing is that a massive unforeseen earthquake (or other disaster), or cosmic crash, or stray meteor or WHATEVER could happen at ANY TIME. It's just a friggin' fact. That's what it's all about to be a human being in the year 2011. NOTHING IS CERTAIN. No Bible, no Quran, no Pentateuch, no Vedas, no Raelian rantings, no Golden plates - NO ANYTHING that is truly infallible nor factual. It's just we human beings in our frail, human, mortal, self-awareness. The more of us that realize that soon - THE BETTER.

BTW, someone put up a pet care website which was pretty smart. They charge a fee to take care of the pets of we sinners when we're gone and they're probably making a killing. That's the Amer-i-can way!!!
PET CARE FOR SINNERS




Ray Jozwiak - Gonzo Piano opens the May 23rd Monday Night Songwriters Showcase at Brewer's Alley Restaurant & Brewery with 30 minutes of solo, Gonzo, Fractured Jazz and Improvisational Terror Tactics at the Piano. (take the elevator on the right to the 2nd floor) 124 North Market Street, Frederick, MD 21701, tel: 301-631-0089, Fax: 301-631-1874
www.brewers-alley.com
Frederick Acoustic Music Enterprise (F.A.M.E.)


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Our Integrity

Fifteen minutes of glory, maybe less. What I wouldn't give for the chance to confess all my intimate secrets; all my hopes and my desires. I don't care just how valid you think that they are, they've been mine for a long, long while and I'm not ashamed of them. Shut up Joe. How do you really know what's going down? How can you tell if there's a problem somewhere to be found? We all need to gather round to help everybody else to see that running your mouth aloud makes it that much more difficult for you and me and OUR INTEGRITY.

Went to work at the factory at fourteen. Thought I'd finish my schooling sometime in between drunken weekends and futile street fights and the visits to my best girl. But the time slipped away. I've got bills here to pay. I've got small ones depending on me. My vision is limited. Shut up Joe. How do you really know what's going down? How can you tell if there's a problem somewhere to be found? We all need to gather round to help everybody else to see that running your mouth aloud makes it that much more difficult for you and me and OUR INTEGRITY.

All my life I've known I'd want to say something to my fellow man today. Couldn't let the facts get in the way.

We weren't that well acquainted, never were. An occasional run-in we preferred. There's one thing that we both believe in; heard it over and over again. It was something about all the fondness we felt; how the heart can't miss what's not around if the mind doesn't value it. Shut up Joe. How do you really know what's going down? How can you tell if there's a problem somewhere to be found? We all need to gather round to help everybody else to see that running your mouth aloud makes it that much more difficult for you and me and OUR INTEGRITY.

©2008 Raymond M. Jozwiak


Ray Jozwiak - Gonzo Piano opens the May 23rd Monday Night Songwriters Showcase at Brewer's Alley Restaurant & Brewery with 30 minutes of solo, Gonzo, Fractured Jazz and Improvisational Terror Tactics at the Piano. (take the elevator on the right to the 2nd floor) 124 North Market Street, Frederick, MD 21701, tel: 301-631-0089, Fax: 301-631-1874
www.brewers-alley.com
Frederick Acoustic Music Enterprise (F.A.M.E.)


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The blessing and the curse. . .

. . . of aging is perspective. Although I choose to concentrate upon the blessing (and I use the term in purely secular fashion) aspect to be sure. That aspect was vividly, yet unexpectedly brought once again to my attention when pondering the talents and the moving music produced by Eric Dolphy.

In case you're not familiar with Eric Dolphy, he was a (chronologically) post-bop, jazz reed virtuoso, equally skilled and emotionally proficient on flute, alto saxophone and bass clarinet (which has, since my acquaintance with his music, become one of my favorite reed instruments). Born in 1928 in Los Angeles, he died in Berlin in June of 1964 of complications of a diabetic coma and sheer neglect. It seems the hospital staff, after Eric collapsed on stage, succumbing to the stereotypical view that all (or most) jazz musicians were drug addicts, left Eric in bed, unattended, to allow the alleged drugs to run their course. A brilliant, but tragically short, life.

My first exposure to Eric Dolphy is to the credit of my old school chum Bob Z., who had sometime around 1973 purchased an Eric Dolphy LP, which I cannot readily now identify due to record companies' haphazard practice of issuing unrelated and insufficiently documented recordings as an 'album', which contained mostly live material and a seminal performance of the old standard LAURA. The recording, now available as one of three "Live in Europe" CDs, still gives me goosebumps when I hear it.

The 'blessing' and the 'aging' to which I previously alluded come into play as follows. The pieces to which I was listening were recorded around 1960. I was hearing them in the early seventies. That means that music was made about thirteen years prior to my discovering it. In my innocent youthfulness, I perceived that mere 13 years as "A LONG TIME" ago. And the 36 years of age Eric had attained was really very young by most objective standards, but old to one of fifteen years.

Now, at fifty-three, listening to this glorious music and looking at photos of Eric Dolphy online, the apparent truth of the matter is that, when Eric passed away, he was only a kid. But what a BRILLIANT kid!


-----------------------
Ray Jozwiak - Gonzo Piano opens the May 23rd Monday Night Songwriters Showcase at Brewer's Alley Restaurant & Brewery with 30 minutes of solo, Gonzo, Fractured Jazz and Improvisational Terror Tactics at the Piano. (take the elevator on the right to the 2nd floor) 124 North Market Street, Frederick, MD 21701, tel: 301-631-0089, Fax: 301-631-1874
www.brewers-alley.com
Frederick Acoustic Music Enterprise (F.A.M.E.)



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