Broken. . .

(from http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/Shutdown_Blues?src=soc_fcbks[By Charles P. Pierce])
". . . This is what they came to Washington to do -- to break the government of the United States. It doesn't matter any more whether they're doing it out of pure crackpot ideology, or at the behest of the various sugar daddies that back their campaigns, or at the instigation of their party's mouthbreathing base. It may be any one of those reasons. It may be all of them. The government of the United States, in the first three words of its founding charter, belongs to all of us, and these people have broken it deliberately. The true hell of it, though, is that you could see this coming down through the years, all the way from Ronald Reagan's First Inaugural Address in which government "was" the problem, through Bill Clinton's ameliorative nonsense about the era of big government being "over," through the attempts to make a charlatan like Newt Gingrich into a scholar and an ambitious hack like Paul Ryan into a budget genius, and through all the endless attempts to find "common ground" and a "Third Way." . . ."

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

Dear Dave. . .

Writing to (once again) query about a booking on Late Night with David Letterman.

My two current musical endeavors (of which either can be booked but hopefully both [[on different shows, of course]]) are my solo, acoustic piano performances of "Gonzo Piano" and my ensemble performances of original music by rock group OHO (consisting of Jay Graboski, David Reeve and Ray Jozwiak).  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 female-lead-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, drinking (and listening) pleasure. 

To hear a track by OHO, simply click on this hyperlink (or copy-and-paste it to your internet browser)  http://soundcloud.com/rayjozwiak/shouts-in-the-street-oho.


Creative Musician Ray Jozwiak's new, digital-download only, solo, instrumental piano music release  BLACK & WHITE then BACK transports you to aural locales inhabited by emotions, sentiments, memories, hopes, joys and challenges we've all encountered. You may even hear a snippet of a song you remember from childhood, have flashes of your first date, recall aromas from the kitchen when you visited your grandmother, remember your favorite summer vacation or when you fell in love. BLACK & WHITE then BACK is available through digital distribution only at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/rayjozwiak3.

To hear a track by Ray Jozwiak-Gonzo Piano, simply click on this hyperlink (or copy-and-paste it to your internet browser)  http://soundcloud.com/rayjozwiak/01-cheer.


Hoping to have the opportunity to perform for your fine audience on Late Night with David Letterman in the near future.  Looking forward to hearing from you.  A CD of the current incarnation of OHO and free a download card (to experience the rich history of OHO) and a CD (burned copy of digital release and or a free download card of Ray Jozwiak-Gonzo Piano's latest release Black & White Then Back) can be sent by mail at your request. 

Very truly yours,
Ray Jozwiak


P.S. I hope the fact that I have never been married to John Lennon will not adversely affect your decision.

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

Detectives . . .

. . . Quotes from The Thin Man (movies). . .



(from http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/1336952-the-thin-man)

“The problem with putting two and two together is that sometimes you get four, and sometimes you get twenty-two.”

“Nora: "How do you feel?"
Nick: "Terrible. I must've gone to bed sober.”

“The people who lie the most are nearly always the clumsiest at it, and they're easier to fool with lies than most people, too. You'd think they'd be on the look-out for lies, but they seem to be the very ones that will believe almost anything at all.”

“Nick: "Don't you think maybe a drink would help you to sleep?"
Nora: "No, thanks."
Nick: "Maybe it would if I took one.”

“Nora said: "She's pretty."
"If you like them like that."
She grinned at me. "You got types?"
"Only you, darling - lanky brunettes with wicked jaws."

“Men came in and dragged us apart. It took us five minutes to bring Nora to. She sat up holding her cheek and looked around the room until she saw Morelli, nippers on one wrist, standing between two detectives. Morelli's face was a mess: the coppers had worked him over a little just for the fun of it. Nora glared at me. "You damned fool," she said, "you didn't have to knock me cold. I knew you'd take him, but I wanted to see it."
One of the coppers laughed. "Jesus," he said admiringly, "there's a woman with hair on her chest.”

"Whatever you're giving me," she said, "I hope I don't like it."
"You'll have to keep them anyway, because the man at the Aquarium said he positively wouldn't take them back. He said they'd already bitten the tails off the...”

"Charles isn't a Greek name."
"It's Charalambides," I explained. "When the old man came over, the mugg that put him through Ellis Island said Charalambides was too long...too much trouble to write... and whittled it down to Charles. It was all right with the old man; they could have called him X so they let him in.”

"Waiter, will you serve the nuts. . . will you serve the guests the nuts"

"Someone here to see you dear."
"That's good.  I was afraid I would have to go to sleep."

"Nick.  Nicky. . . "
"Yes."
"You asleep."
"Yes."
"Good.  I want to talk to you."

"Nice food, isn't it?"
"Yes. It's the best dinner I've ever listened to."

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

Lakes. . .

(from wikipedia.com)
". . . Keuka Lake is an unusual member of the U.S. state of New York's Finger Lakes because it is Y-shaped, instead of long and narrow. Because of its shape, it was referred to in the past as Crooked Lake. Keuka means "canoe landing" in the Iroquois language and "lake with an elbow" in the Seneca language. Keuka Lake empties into another Finger Lake, Seneca Lake, from a stream, called Keuka Lake Outlet, at the lake's northeastern end in Penn Yan, New York. The stream empties into Seneca Lake at the village of Dresden. At one time the outlet was developed into a canal, the Crooked Lake Canal, connecting the lakes. This canal was later replaced by a railroad branch line which is now a hiking and cycling trail.

The lake is about 20 miles (32 km) long and varies in width from a half mile to two miles (1–3 km). The length of the shoreline is about 60 miles (96 km). It has a surface area of 11,730 acres (47 km²), and a maximum and mean depth of 186 feet (57 m) and 101 feet (31 m) respectively. This body of water possesses large and healthy populations of lake trout, brown trout, rainbow trout, landlocked salmon, smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, and yellow perch. The productive fishery is supported by huge numbers of baitfish, most notably alewives (sawbellies), and is a very popular lake with area fishermen. . ."


(from http://www.priweb.org/ed/finger_lakes/nystate_geo3.html)
". . . The Finger Lakes originated as a series of northward-flowing rivers that existed in what is now central New York State. Around two million years ago the first of numerous continental glaciers moved southward from the Hudson Bay area, initiating the Pleistocene glaciation, commonly known as the "Ice age."

The Athabasca Glacier in Alberta, Canada, is an example of a present-day glacier. The "Ice age" was really a series of many advances and retreats of glaciers. The Finger Lakes were probably carved by several of these episodes. Ice sheets more than two miles thick flowed southward, parallel but opposite to the flow of the rivers, gouging deep trenches into these river valleys. Traces of most of the earlier glacial events have vanished, but much evidence remains of the last one or two glaciers that covered New York. The latest glacial episode was most extensive around 21,000 years ago, when glaciers covered almost the entire state. Around 19,000 years ago, the climate warmed, and the glacier began to retreat, disappearing entirely from New York for the last time around 11,000 years ago.

The most obvious evidence left by the glaciers are the gravel deposits at the south ends of the Finger Lakes called moraines and streamlined elongated hills of glacial sediment called drumlins. Moraines are visible south of Ithaca at North Spencer, along Route 13 west of Newfield, and near Willseyville. Drumlins are visible northeast of Ithaca at the northern end of Cayuga and Seneca lakes in a broad band from Rochester to Syracuse. . ."


Keuka
©2013 Raymond M. Jozwiak




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

Scat . . .

(from Wikipedia.com)
". . .Even at a young age, Carter was able to bring a new vocal style to jazz. The breathiness of her voice was a characteristic seldom seen before her appearance on the music scene. She also was well known for her passion for scat singing and her strong belief that the throwaway attitude that most jazz musicians approached it with was inappropriate and wasteful due to its spontaneity and basic inventiveness, seldom seen elsewhere.In 1977, (BETTY)Carter reached a new high in fame for herself, being lauded by critics, media, and fans for her talent, and even teaching a master class with her past mentor, Dizzy Gillespie, at Harvard. In the last decade of her life, Carter began to receive even wider acclaim and recognition. In 1987 she signed with Verve Records, who reissued most of her Bet-Car albums on CD for the first time and made them available to wider audiences. In 1988 she won a Grammy for her album Look What I Got! and sang in a guest appearance on The Cosby Show (episode "How Do You Get to Carnegie Hall?"). In 1994 she performed at the White House and was a headliner at Verve's 50th anniversary celebration in Carnegie Hall. She was the subject of a 1994 short film by Dick Fontaine, Betty Carter: New All the Time. . .

. . .In 1997 she was awarded a National Medal of Arts by President Bill Clinton. This award was one of thousands, but Carter considered this medal to be her most important that she received in her lifetime. . .

Carter continued to perform, tour, and record, as well as search for new talent until she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in the summer of 1998. Betty Carter died on September 26, 1998, at the age of 69, and was later cremated.
Legacy

Carter often recruited young accompanists for performances and recordings, insisting that she "learned a lot from these young players, because they're raw and they come up with things that I would never think about doing."

1993 was Carter's biggest year of innovation, creating a program called Jazz Ahead, which took 20 students who were given the opportunity to spend an entire week training and composing with Carter, a program that still exists to this day and is hosted in The Kennedy Center.

Betty Carter is considered responsible for discovering great jazz talent, her list including such names as John Hicks, Curtis Lundy, Mulgrew Miller, Cyrus Chestnut, Dave Holland, Stephen Scott, Kenny Washington, Benny Green and more. . .

    "One cannot embrace true vocal jazz without embracing Betty Carter. I think most singers develop along the lines of imitation, assimilation and hopefully innovation. Not many can boast having achieved the latter. None would argue that Betty did, and that she held the doors open for anyone who would enter."  -Vanessa Rubin

    "She was a great inspiration, and she always had her own individual approach to things. Betty wasn't interested in getting a hit record; she was more faithful to the tradition of the music for the sake of the best that you could possibly be. A lot of people would comment about how tough she was, but what I got out of that was her demand for excellence."   -John Hicks (played piano with Carter 1966–1968, 1974–1980)

    "She was like a big sister to me. I learned more about how to play the drums from Betty Carter than I have from some drummers! She was the epitome of a serious, strong jazz artist – strong woman. When you came off her bandstand, you'd be wringing your shirt out! You ain't gonna sit up there and look cute – she'd kick your ass more than a horn player. Betty was phenomenal!"    -Greg Bandy (drums: 1973; 1980-'82). . ."

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

Another Day. . .

The first installment of the fruit of the vine is safely housed at the foot of the staircase while the coffee perks just loudly enough to know that the power is on. There's no no haze skimming the surface of the lake this morning and it's just early enough that the sun is still below the eastern horizon.  Just as most mornings, a breeze is tickling the early autumn foliage enough to prompt a gentle dance, although this morning while the water surface is no mirror, yesterday's baby whitecaps are not evident today and a hawk is surveying the distant shore lazily yet purposefully.

Soon, after light morning nourishment, we will take to the road for a non-vineyard trip to the north where an unusual, yet growing organization was born.  While it is a fascinating cult, as are all other organized religions, that began in the early 19th century and (by their own account) numbers over 6 million members in the United States.

One unique element of the group is a special garment which takes the place of regular underwear. Members begin wearing it during their first visit to their temple, where they receive individual instruction on how the garment should be worn and cared for, and at which time, they undergo a special ceremony.

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

Your Own Viola . . .

Everybody's got one. . . 

(from Liberty by Garrison Keillor)
". . . And at the very next Committee meeting, Viola Tors lit into him and said, "Why did CNN not identify our town?  Nobody said 'Lake Wobegon.'  No name on the screen.  Who dropped the ball there?  And why did they not refer to Delivery Day?  And why was the four-minute silence completely overlooked?"

She looked straight at Clint as she said it.  He replied that he was not the TV director and that probably they didn't call it Delivery Day because It's take too long to explain about the bowling balls falling from the sky like artillery shells and in the end people wouldn't believe it anyway so what's the point?  She just harrumphed and said that he ought to listen to his own speech about taking care of details.  That was Viola. A killjoy.  She had a terrier who was just like her, a headache of a dog who liked to hector other dogs.  Every yard was Booji's territory and he bristled at the very existence of other dogs.  He was a barker from the word go.  Like him, Viola had discovered the usefulness of belligerence.  In this town, people tend to back down if you bristle at them.  They don't want to tussle.

She tapped a pencil on her big front teeth and shook her little curly head and rolled her blue eyes as if he were the dumbest boy in the third grade. . . "

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