Pop goes the culture. . .

Have you read about Rebecca Black's FRIDAY video or seen Katy Perry's LAST FRIDAY NIGHT or do you dig Justin Bieber? If there were no www, I would probably know nothing of any of it. But, alas there is; ergo, I do.

I normally enjoy weightier matters, but I must say, at my age, it's good fun to watch the turmoil that develops over superficial, pop-centric 'events' such as the FRIDAY video thing. I barely have an opinion, excepting that none of it surprises me.

Oh yes, then there's the question of how much talent Rebecca Black actually possesses, as deduced by the 'expert' television, soft-news personalities. Again - YAWN!!!

You want to see TALENT???. . . .



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You Go Bernie. . .

BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT NEWS ALERT

The following is a June 15th news release from the office of Senator Bernie Sanders:

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today introduced legislation to make federal commodity regulators halt excessive oil speculation that has driven up gasoline prices.

A provision in last year's Wall Street reform law required federal regulators to clamp down on speculators, but the Commodity Futures Trading Commission has refused to do so. Partly as a result of the failure to enforce the law, the national average price for a gallon of gasoline today is $3.69 a gallon, although supplies are greater and demand lower than two years ago when prices averaged about $2.44 a gallon.

"We have a responsibility to do everything we can to lower gas prices so that they reflect the fundamentals of supply and demand and bring needed relief to the American people," Sanders said.

When speculators push up oil prices "guess who suffers, it's the rest of us," said Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), an original cosponsor of the bill who joined Sanders at a Capitol press conference. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), another cosponsor, called gas prices "absolutely crushing" for American families and the economy. Other cosponsors include Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Al Franken (D-Minn.), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.)."
-------------------------------------------
We must be relentless in our pursuit of the FACTS before jumping to unfounded conclusions (or rushing to subscribe to a convenient political position)! I've been reading about this situation for a LONG time time and I'm THRILLED that a legislator is doing something about it!





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Silver Tongued Devils. . .

In the first New Hampshire debate among 2012 presidential hopefuls, Factcheck.com found a number of incorrect, misleading or shaky factual claims:

**Pawlenty was wrong when he boasted that he was "one of the few governors" to respond to a Bush request to send guardsmen to the southern border. In fact, all 50 states participated in that border operation

**Romney claimed that "we didn't raise taxes in Massachusetts" to pay for his health care law. In fact, his successor imposed a $1-a-pack tax increase on cigarettes to pay for the new law.

**Santorum claimed a Medicare advisory board created by the new federal health care law will result in a rationing of care for seniors. The law specifically says the board “shall not include any recommendation to ration health care.”

**Santorum was wrong when he said the Obama administration is "against any kind of exploration offshore or in Alaska." The administration has approved 296 new permits for new offshore oil wells since taking office, and it is considering granting the first permits in Alaska since 2004.

**Bachmann claimed the Congressional Budget Office "has said that Obamacare will kill 800,000 jobs." That's a distortion. CBO said some Americans would work less or leave their jobs if they can get health insurance outside the workplace.

**Pawlenty said that "[if] Brazil can have 5 percent growth, then the United States of America can have 5 percent growth," showing his economic plan is not unreasonable. But the fact is, World Bank figures show Brazil has failed to achieve 5 percent growth for 23 of the past 30 years.

**Gingrich again tried to rewrite history by claiming that his words "right-wing social engineering" were "totally taken out of context." In fact, he called Paul Ryan's plan "too big a jump" and "radical" change as well.



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Jay P. ah said, Jay P. . .

This is from October of last year, written by my friend and compadre of many years, Jay Graboski, but it's cool (from http://www.ohomusic.com). . .

"Jay performs with Mystic I at the Center for Spiritual Living service in Timonium, MD. Gonzo pianist, Ray Jozwiak, has joined our musical team committed to providing spiritually uplifting music for these services on a monthly basis as well as offering to perform at a variety of related events and venues. Ray, Jay, the late Greg Marsh (sax) & David (alternating musical chairs with the late OHO drummer, Jeffrey Graboski) performed together in Ful Treatment, a “wedding band” playing mostly covers at weddings—including my own on 09.10.77, American Legion halls, bull roasts, private parties and a number of taverns and local bars from 1977-1979 when Ray left (not only the band, but music altogether for about 20 years) to marry spouse Pam and begin a family (3 boys).

An interesting yet not-so-flattering story about the Ful Treatment band takes us back to circa 1978 when we were hired by the owner of The Rocket Lounge (on Harford Rd. in Baltimore city) for the purpose of driving the younger patrons OUT of the bar. I can only surmise that these folks irritated the tavern regulars (I pray it wasn’t a commentary on our “sound” as it seems absurd to me that there existed an establishment that actually sought out “lousy” entertainment). But the lounge owner was willing to give each Ful Treatment member a 33 1/3% raise to effectuate this unusually bizarre request (from $30 to $40 per man, per evening) over what we were being paid at that time for playing Fridays and Saturday evenings at Ernel’s in Curtis Bay (the only place in my 60 year lifetime, BTW, where I ever witnessed a wooden bar chair being smashed into bits over the head of another human being by an irate and obviously intoxicated patron). (Ernel’s was a “port” bar that lured sailors and merchant seamen on shore leave to a somewhat seedy world that promised relief from long periods of confinement to vessels at sea . We immediately lay down and went into our hypnotic and patriotically soothing version of “God Bless America”).

Ray’s addition to Mystic I opens up a lot of space for fills, soloing and generally has urged me to shift my accent from acoustic rhythmic strumming to a sparser more electronic, garnishing approach. I’m stumbling happily through this initiatory stage where, among my many faux pas there glisten moments of fortunately arrived at notes, ringing in pleasing tones.

Ray has a released a number of CD’s featuring his “Gonzo” styled, original piano music, much that has garnered the praise of music critics. Do yourself a favor and check him out at www.rayjozwiak.com. Here you may find out about Ray, view his performance calendar and find links to acquiring his recordings."

And do YOURSELF A FAVOR and check out http://www.ohomusic.com.



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Google me this. . .

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It's MIND GOOGLING! ! (I mean BOGGLING)



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Simplicity

There is definitely beauty in simplicity. I had earlier found such beauty in country music. My earliest memory of thoroughly enjoying country music is kind of an odd story. My parents, for some unknown reason (and I don't accurately remember precisely WHAT they would purchase) went 'shopping' at a local discount store called TOPPS. They did this EVERY FRIDAY evening.
When I was younger, I would go, of course. In my later trips to Topps, I would spend the period in the record section of the store browsing through all the vinyl beauties that were available at the time, popular items of which retailed for $3.47. (I'm not sure why I remember that number. It may simply be due to the fact the I had little money and kept close tabs on how much I would need to purchase things that I found desireable. By the way, Luskins (another retailer of the time) sold record albums for $2.99 so needless to say, I visited Luskins whenever I could.) I found myself drifting toward country music record albums. It's now unclear what, specifically influenced this branch in my musical development, (I do remember my cousin owned the 45 of Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash, which MAY be the original spark to the country music fire that consumed me at the time.) but I do remember (and don't laugh PLEASE) that the television program "HeeHaw" came about before, during or shortly after this time, which undoubtedly provided another opportunity for exposure to country artists of the day.

So I spent my Topps evening looking at Buck Owens, Charley Pride, Porter Wagoner, Merle Haggard, Tom T. Hall and others popular country artists at the time. Later, when my parents embarked upon the weekly jaunt to Topps, I stayed behind to happily wash the dinner dishes. Why happily? Because in the other room, the 'ancient' (even back then) radio we inherited from an aunt was playing WBMD AM loudly enough for me to hear in the kitchen. The 'genre' of the playlist on WBMD at the time - Country Music.





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Way. . .

. . . Way before I discovered the joys of jazz/rock fusion, my musical tastes took a turn that was probably pretty natural considering that the accordion pretty much started it all. My friend Joe - he of the red American Flyer and the hill at the elementary school in my neighborhood where we would sit (yes, on our bicycles) and discuss everything from soup to nuts and solve the problems of the world. . . well, at least our little world - had pretty eclectic tastes and what just the kind of personality I needed to gravitate toward at that time in my life. One of those tastes that rubbed off onto me was for a folk trio who had already been making music successfully for a number of years and of whom I knew some (Puff the Magic Dragon was a childhood anthem), Peter, Paul and Mary. And as is the case with much music that I loved in my early days, I couldn't then explain to you what attracted me to it, although now you would be sorry if you asked me to explain, I was enthralled by the simplicity, the intertwining harmonies and the contrast of the three voices when Peter, Paul and Mary performed.




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