Oho . . .

Dear __________,

Writing to acquaint you with OHO and our music in hopes of securing future performance dates at _______________**.

OHO began as Baltimore's answer to Pink Floyd, an American underground icon, a band that came out of nowhere playing music the chroniclers swore was years ahead of its time. OHO sneaks around the musical conventions that have mummified so many others, unleashing sliders where you'd expect curve balls, fast balls where you'd expect change-ups. Part of it is their sense of humor, part of it their unerring humanity. A curious anomaly, the band was totally out of synch with current musical trends when they formed in late 73, a five-piece multi-instrumental, avant garde, acid-progressive band from Baltimore with a do-it-yourself lifestyle and album/label/outlook who were either seven years too late or seventeen years too early.

After almost forty years of evolution from precocious prog-rock darlings to pre-punk garage rebels, to folk-jazz free fliers to power-trio original and sophisticated-covers band, OHO (now consisting of founders Jay Graboski and David Reeve, reunited with thirty-year musical collaborator [1970s Ful Treatment] Ray Jozwiak and occasional, special, when-available, musical guests) now belts out a bevy of thought-provoking original material blended with classics and the cream of current, intelligent rock and roll, spiced with musical influences from everywhere-including the kitchen sink- for your dancing, dining and drinking pleasure.  A physical and aural delight.

We hope to experience the pleasure of performing for your fine clientele at ____________** in the near future.  Looking forward to hearing from you.  A CD of the current incarnation of OHO is enclosed and and free download card (to experience the rich history of OHO) for your review and musical pleasure.

Very truly yours.
(** = YOUR venue)

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Creation. . .

. . . is a wonderful thing

Through the wonder of digital editing and production, the intro and verse chord structure from a pop tune that Oho covers became the creation that I have posted here.

Reminds me a bit of Santana.



Little Eye
by John P. Graboski, David Reeve & Raymond M. Jozwiak
Performed by Oho:  Jay Graboski, David Reeve and
Ray Jozwiak (from a May 2013 rehearsal recording)





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Comedy. . .

. . . and piano too. . .

(from wikipedia.com)

". . . (Paul) Reiser played piano for the recording of the show's theme song. For his work in Mad About You, Reiser received nominations for an Emmy, a Golden Globe, an American Comedy Award, and a Screen Actors Guild award. In the successful show's final 1999 season, he and Hunt were paid US$1 million ($1.4 million today) per episode. In 2001, Reiser took on a dramatic role as a man desperate to find his birth mother after learning he has a serious illness in the British television movie My Beautiful Son.

Reiser has also written three books: Couplehood, about the ups and downs of being in a committed relationship; Babyhood, about his experiences as a first-time father; and Familyhood, a collection of humorous essays. Couplehood was unique in the fact it started on page 145. Reiser explained this as his way of giving the reader a false sense of accomplishment. Both books appeared on The New York Times bestseller list. In May 1996, Reiser appeared on Late Show with David Letterman in the middle of writing his second book. Since he didn't have a title yet (it would later be called Babyhood), he showed a prop book with the same cover as his first book Couplehood. The title was simply called Book, a name Whoopi Goldberg used for her 1997 publication. Familyhood was released in May 2011.

In 2002, Reiser made a guest appearance as himself on Larry David's critically acclaimed HBO sitcom, Curb Your Enthusiasm.

In 2007's Atlanta, Reiser co-stars in a television comedy film centering around a man and a woman who meet at a funeral and can't seem to stay away from each other.

In 2010, Reiser joined the singer Julia Fordham, in an unusual collaboration. They created a 10-song CD album titled, “Unusual Suspects.”, including the new song, “UnSung Heroes,” which is dedicated to the US soldiers in Afghanistan. The two embarked on an acoustic tour after its release.

Reiser wrote and starred in the semi-autobiographical comedy series The Paul Reiser Show, which aired on NBC as a midseason replacement during the 2010–11 television season. "This is nice", quipped Reiser on the Stephanie Miller radio program, "because you get to sit around and root for other shows to fail." However, due to very little lead time and promotion by NBC prior to its debut (in addition to poor scheduling), the low-rating program was cancelled on April 22, 2011, after airing only two episodes. . . "

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Got to have. . .

. . . certain things. . . 

. . . in life

Like the Hokey Pokey. 

Why the Hokey Pokey?

. . . . because. . . 

That's what it's all about!

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Fagin? . . .

. . . no. . .

Fagen, as in Donald. . .


Fagen met Becker at a college coffee house at Bard College in 1967. Responding to an ad in The Village Voice in the summer of 1970, Fagen and Becker met guitarist Denny Dias and started a musical partnership that formed the basis of what would eventually become Steely Dan. However, the original group's line-up would only be assembled in full around December 1971 in Los Angeles, California, to where Becker and Fagen had relocated, initially to work as staff song writers for ABC/Dunhill. Fagen and Becker formed the core of the band and co-wrote all the group's music; on tour and record, Becker played bass (and later lead guitar) and Fagen played keyboards, as well as performing almost all of the lead vocals on their recordings.

After releasing their third LP in 1974, the other members gradually left (or were fired from) the band, which gradually evolved into a studio project headed by Becker and Fagen. They scored their biggest success in 1977 with the platinum-selling album Aja.

After a lengthy period of inactivity as a band which began in the early 1980s, the duo of Becker and Fagen revived Steely Dan in the mid-1990s, and have since produced two more Steely Dan studio albums: 2000s Two Against Nature which won several Grammys, Everything Must Go (2003), as well as the live CD Alive in America (1995) and a live concert DVD entitled Two Against Nature, which included material spanning much of the band's history.

Fagen frequently uses aliases. He wrote the liner notes to Can't Buy a Thrill under the name Tristan Fabriani, which he would use on stage when he played keyboards for Jay and the Americans, (Becker would use Gus Mahler). On his solo albums, when he plays or programs a synthesizer part to replicate a real instrument (bass, vibraphone, horns, etc.) he will credit one of his aliases - Illinois Elohainu, Phonus Quaver, or Harlan Post.

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Entertaining. . .

No one could make discussion of religion as entertaining as Christopher Hitchens. . .


(from JON WIENER, TRUTHDIG, CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS at http://old.richarddawkins.net/articles/1249)
". . . Wiener: Let's talk about the U.S. Polls show that 94 per cent of Americans believe in God, and 89 per cent believe in heaven; of those, three-fourths think they will go to heaven, but only 2 per cent think they will go to hell. This seems laughable, but what's the harm in people believing they will go to heaven after they die—and see their mothers there?

Hitchens: All you have to do is promise them 72 virgins, and they'll kill to get there. That's what's wrong with it, along with the fact that it's a solipsistic delusion. And the spreading of delusion in the end isn't a good thing, because credulous and deluded people are easy to exploit. People arise who are aware of that fact.

If belief in heaven was private, like the tooth fairy, I'd say fine. But tooth fairy supporters don't come around to your house and try to convert you. They don't try to teach your children stultifying pseudo-science in school. They don't try to prevent access to contraception. The religious won't leave us alone. These are not just private delusions, they're ones they want to inflict on other people.

If religion were true, there would be no need for politics; you'd only need to have faith.

Wiener: The final killer argument of your critics is that Hitler and Stalin were not religious. The worst crimes of the 20th century did not have a religious basis. They came from political ideology.

Hitchens: That's easy. Hitler never abandoned Christianity and recommends Catholicism quite highly in "Mein Kampf." Fascism, as distinct from National Socialism, was in effect a Catholic movement.

Wiener: What about Stalin? He wasn't religious.

Hitchens: Stalin—easier still. For hundreds of years, millions of Russians had been told the head of state should be a man close to God, the czar, who was head of the Russian Orthodox Church as well as absolute despot. If you're Stalin, you shouldn't be in the dictatorship business if you can't exploit the pool of servility and docility that's ready-made for you. The task of atheists is to raise people above that level of servility and credulity. No society has gone the way of gulags or concentration camps by following the path of Spinoza and Einstein and Jefferson and Thomas Paine. . . "

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Walter . . .

. . . Becker. . .


(from wikipedia.com)
". . . Following Steely Dan's breakup, Becker moved to the Hawaiian island of Maui and ceased using narcotics. Shortly thereafter, he began a career as a record producer, overseeing records by Rickie Lee Jones, Michael Franks, and Fra Lippo Lippi, including the latter's 1987 Norwegian single, "Angel".

Some of Becker's most involved activity from this period came with the group China Crisis. He is credited as one of five official members of the band on the sleeve of their 1985 album Flaunt the Imperfection, which he produced. He also produced tracks on their 1989 album Diary of a Hollow Horse, although he is not credited as a band member on that release.

Becker reunited with Fagen briefly to collaborate on the debut album of singer Rosie Vela, 1986's Zazu. This led to several low-key and non-professional collaborations, including several aborted songwriting sessions and Becker's stint in 1991 with Fagen's New York Rock and Soul Revue, that would ultimately lead to their proper reunion two years later.

Their partnership properly resumed in 1993 when they undertook a new tour as Steely Dan, their first in 19 years. Becker also produced Fagen's album Kamakiriad in 1993. In turn, Fagen co-produced Becker's belated solo debut album 11 Tracks of Whack in 1994.

Steely Dan continued touring, and their work on new material resulted in their first studio album in two decades, Two Against Nature, released in 2000. The album won four Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year. In 2001 the duo was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and also received Honorary Doctor of Music degrees from Berklee College of Music, which they accepted in person. The next Steely Dan record, Everything Must Go followed in 2003, featuring Becker's bass and electric guitar work, as well as the first studio Steely Dan track with a lead vocal by Becker, "Slang of Ages". The band spent the following years touring behind their back catalog.

In 2005, Becker co-produced and played bass on the Krishna Das album All One, and played solo guitar on the title track of Rebecca Pidgeon's album Tough on Crime from this same year. Madeleine Peyroux's 2006 album Half the Perfect World featured the single "I'm All Right", co-written by Becker, Peyroux and producer Larry Klein. Peyroux's 2009 album Bare Bones also contains two songs co-written by Becker, "You Can't do Me" and the title-track "Bare Bones". Becker was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame in 2008.

His second solo album, Circus Money, was released on June 10, 2008, fourteen years after its predecessor. The album prominently featured Becker's bass playing, performances by much of the Steely Dan backing band, and work by producer Larry Klein, who received co-composition credits on all but one song. The songs were heavily inspired by reggae and other Jamaican music. . . "

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My latest release, Black & White Then Back,
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