It's magic. . .

. . . when the music takes you directly, authentically and effortlessly AWAY.

A haunting, angelic voice capable of moving you to tears with a whisper before whisking you away to a smokey bar amid screams and shouts. And a band that fills in every gap with breathtaking color and nutritionally and emotionally satisfying musical sustenance while providing freight-train unstoppable rhythm and heavenly ambience.

I actually witnessed this in action last night. Music is, without a doubt, MAGIC. These magicians demonstrated their expertise and then some. . .



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Gumbo, of sorts. . .

Anyone who was into popular music in the 1970s is aware of the groups, bands and artists who were affected by country and/or southern influences: the Eagles; Poco; Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (Merrill, Lynch, Pierce, Sacco and Vanzetti-as the Wonderful WINO DJ played by George Carlin would say), the Band; the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band; the Amazing Rhythm Aces; the Charlie Daniels Band; Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show and many others. Funny, I can now appreciate much of the music by all these bands, but like the early jazz critics who said that what Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie were playing was NOISE, I was a country purist. I loved my Merle Haggard, Buck Owens, Roy Clark, George Jones, Tammy Wynette and Johnny Cash unadulterated. I didn't want any 'rock' mixed in with my pure, precious country music. Of course, country influenced rock, Cajun funk and swamp was into country, rock was into New Orleans. . . well you get the picture. And although maybe I just wasn't sophisticated enough to 'get it' at the time, I sure do get it now. And I love it.




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The roar of the crowd. . .

My friend Joe, he of the red American flyer 26-inch bicycle (it was more an extension of his being than a mere bicycle) and I played electric guitar and accordion arrangements of songs by Peter, Paul and Mary, Buck Owens, Buddy Holly (yes, Buddy Holly's music was in there too), and a number of other 'fake book' songs. Our repertoire included Pack Up Your Sorrows, The King of Names, On a Desert Island, I'm In Love With A Big Blue Frog, Sam's Place, Buckaroo, Tall Dark Stranger, Love's Gonna Live Here, My Heart Skips a Beat, I've Got A Tiger By The Tail, Black Texas Dirt, Baby Elephant Walk, Tijuana Taxi, Spanish Flea, Third Man Theme, Zorba The Greek, Solitary Man and Love Is Strange.

We even entered a 'talent show', which I don't recall was actually a competition or simply a variety show, organized by our local Catholic church, to which we both belonged by benefit of our families. And since I don't remember that, I certainly don't remember whether or not we won anything. But it didn't matter. We got to play the music we loved in front of an appreciative crowd. It doesn't get any better than that.


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Don't take your guns. . .

. . . to space

You were always a crack-shot. You were always the ace. Someone called you a crackpot. Said it right to your face. It was not the effrontery that made you react; the assault or the violation of rights. In this wonderful country, you and I live today. And we value the freedom that allows us to say, though the founders had principles (this can't be denied), nothing's frozen in time but history. Who can really sing 'bout what the future brings? Take the next shuttle, go off to your condo on Mars. Don't take your guns to space. They've done sufficient damage to this place. Don't take your guns to space.

It's a volatile topic I'm addressing today. But I fear to ignore it leaves for us hell to pay. All the hunters and gatherers kick up such a stink. Where this path's gonna lead they dare not think. We continue to venture into places unknown. All this knowledge and progress takes us so far from home. Many say that you must accept the good with the bad. Seems to me that experience would show some things from the past just don't deserve to last. Take that next step and leave all useless baggage behind. Don't take your guns to space. They've done sufficient damage to this place. Don't take your guns to space.

Our sophistication in the arts and sciences can't be denied. Still we choose our tribal ways when there's fear and uncertainty and we can't hide. It's true and tried.

But you still fail to grasp it, like some new cosmic star. Using force laced with habit, you're resisting so hard. You say you got the word from some king high on his throne. But mysteriously each word he speaks in that kingly tone, mighty but all alone, uncannily somehow sounds just like all of your own. Don't take your guns to space. They've done sufficient damage to this place. Don't take your guns to space.

SPACE
©2007 Raymond M. Jozwiak
SHORT SPACE
©2011 Raymond M. Jozwiak



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Baby. . .

. . . CD Baby.com, that is.

For anyone who wants to accomplish anything in the music business, the name 'CD Baby' is one you show get to know, if you don't already. CDBaby.com is the easy, simple, thorough, professional, inexpensive way to market your recordings. You pay one, reasonable, upfront fee, send your music, provide all the album/artist details and they do the rest.

This is NOT a commercial. I do NOT work for CD Baby. I receive no compensation, discount or promotion for saying any of these things. This IS my blog though. And my intent is to discuss music and many of the other things that I perceive as related to music. So I am just stating what I have found to be, through my experience, FACTS.

From Wikipedia, "CD Baby began with its founder, Derek Sivers in Woodstock, New York.[when?] Sivers was a musician and scion of a wealthy real estate family, who created the website to sell his own music. As a hobby, he also began to sell the CDs of local bands and friends. He chose to make CD Baby a "utopian" online store for independent musicians. To do this, Sivers followed four main principles based on his personal preferences:
**The musician will be paid every week
**The musician will get the full name and address of everyone who purchases their music (unless they opt out)
**The musician will never be removed from the system for not selling enough
**The site will never accept advertising or paid-placement
In addition, Sivers made sure to listen to every CD he sold (currently several people are employed to do this). The operation was run mainly in Sivers' bedroom.

Sivers, eventually hired John Steup as his vice president and first employee. In an interview, Sivers recalls saying to Steup: "This thing might get huge one day. I mean, we might have 100 artists here." Steadily, CD Baby grew as more artists wanted to sell their music through the website. Sivers and his employees always dealt with the artists directly.

In August 2008 it was announced that Disc Makers, a CD and DVD manufacturer, bought CD Baby (and Host Baby) for 22 million dollars following a 7-year partnership between the two companies, according to Sivers."

This is the guy who started it. I'd like to be just like him when I grow up. (He's actually quite a bit younger than me.)

I miss the mob from Derek Sivers on Vimeo.

Cheers to you, Derek.



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Ma!!! They're using my song. . .

. . . Tom Petty asked a Republican candidate recently to NOT use his song, "American Girl". Petty also asked another not to use his song "I Won't Back Down" in 2000. The band Heart asked that their hit "Barracuda" not be used for politicizing while John Mellencamp did the same with "Our Country". Likewise "Independence Day" from Martina McBride, "Running on Empty" by Jackson Brown, Foo Fighters' "My Hero", Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA" and "More Than A Feeling" by Boston.

What is this penchant for stealing intellectual property on the part of our politicians? Are these the kind of folks that we want to run our country?



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From the ridiculous. . .

. . . to the sublime.

John Coltrane, who passed away 44 years ago this month, was a bebop trailerblazer, hard-bop co-founder, pioneer in the use of modes in jazz, revolutionary in the free jazz movement and ALSO a cannonized saint in the African Orthodox Church.

My initial exposure to Coltrane, not counting dialing the FM radio past a station playing 'A Lover Supreme' on one of the early anniversaries of his death, was a combination of the influence of my good friend Bob and my exposure to the music we call, for lack of a better word, jazz while working at my college radio station over 35 years ago. I always liked Coltrane's sound. I must confess though, I didn't always understand it.

And like other, truly creative, brilliant, musical pioneers (read: their music was always changing), John Coltrane's music was very different depending upon which stage of his career (and development) you consider. True, his tone was clearly and consistently distinctive and his 'sheets of sound' approach is evident in many of these stages, but nevertheless, his development is evident.

Over these years I have begun to understand more of his phases of musical exploration and as a result, appreciate and enjoy John Coltrane's music more with each year that I continue to listen.

I encourage you to do the same. (Don't let the shot of Eric Dolphy throw you. Dolphy's presence here is a nice bonus.)




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