Refining . . .

is a process . . .


Having agonized over producing a worthy piano track for Mr. Graboski's 'Slough of Despond' I actually had an acceptable alternate version included in the mix below for you to hear.  My having to choose between the two reminded me the Hebrew bible story in 1 Kings 3:16-28. Two young women who lived in the same house and who both had an infant son came to Solomon for a judgment. One of the women claimed that the other, after accidentally smothering her own son while sleeping, had exchanged the two children to make it appear that the living child was hers. The other woman denied this and so both women claimed to be the mother of the living son and said that the dead boy belonged to the other. After some deliberation, King Solomon called for a sword to be brought before him. He declared that there was only one fair solution: the live son must be split in two, each woman receiving half of the child. Upon hearing this terrible verdict, the boy's true mother cried out, "Oh Lord, give the baby to her, just don't kill him!" The liar, in her bitter jealousy, exclaimed, "It shall be neither mine nor yours—divide it!" The king declared the first mother as the true mother and gave her the baby. King Solomon's judgment became known throughout all of Israel and was considered an example of profound wisdom.

I'm not quite sure how this wisdom can be applied to the piano track.  My dilemma is more akin to one mother having to choose one of her two twins over the other to be award a great prize or accolade.  Based solely upon the twins as individual human beings, a mother would simply be unable to made such a choice.

Nor can I.  (What a mother!)


Slough of Despond
(with alternate piano track)
by OHO [Jay Graboski, David Reeve & Ray Jozwiak]
(original tracks recorded at Blueball Studio, Stewartstown, PA)




What do you think?
Tell me at
http://www.rayjozwiak.com/guestbook.html 

OHO's "Ocean City Ditty," the CD single is now available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/oho4
(and, if you're in town, at Trax On Wax on Frederick Rd. in Catonsville, MD)

My latest solo release, '2014', can be downloaded digitally at:

(or you can copy-and-paste this URL directly to
your browser:  http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/rayjozwiak4)

Also, be sure to visit:
http://www.rayjozwiak.com

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Conspiracy?. . .

(from http://www.911truth.org/)
The 9/11 events and the anomalies in the official story raised Unanswered Questions about:

   * the unprecedented failure of the US air defense system on the morning of the attacks;
   * the AWOL military chain of command during the actual attacks, including the inexplicable behavior of the presidential entourage;
   * the seeming impossibility of official claims with regard to Flight 77;
   * the evidence that Flight 93 was shot down;
   * contradictions and dubious evidence in the official claims about the alleged hijackers and masterminds, and doubts about their real identities;
   * signs that the alleged hijackers enjoyed high-level protection against discovery by honest investigators;
   * evidence that the alleged hijackers were financed by states allied with US intelligence;
   * suspicious and massive international financial trades suggesting foreknowledge of the attacks;
   * widespread signs of official foreknowledge and, in fact, advance preparation for the 9/11 attack scenario;
   * the long-running links between Islamist fundamentalist terror cells and US covert operations, dating back to CIA support for the anti-Soviet mujahedeen and Osama Bin Ladin himself;
   * the demolition-like collapse of the Twin Towers and of a third skyscraper, WTC 7;
   * and questions concerning who could have logically expected to derive benefit in the aftermath of a massive attack on the United States.

What do you think?
Tell me at
http://www.rayjozwiak.com/guestbook.html 

OHO's "Ocean City Ditty," the CD single is now available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/oho4
(and, if you're in town, at Trax On Wax on Frederick Rd. in Catonsville, MD)

My latest solo release, '2014', can be digitally downloaded at:

(or you can copy-and-paste this URL directly to
your browser:  http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/rayjozwiak4)

Also, be sure to visit:
http://www.rayjozwiak.com

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Close . . .

. . . but no cigar. . . 

We complain the floor's uneven

When we simply don't know how to dance

In a sentimental treason

Each word is charged as every glance



My foes approach and I start singing

How do I defend against my friends?

The treasure buried where I fumbled

The ball into the tiger's den



Maddened fingers spar

With the laughing strings

I was very close but no cigar



We were on the corner with our cup

The lad with light feet made the girl light up

Putting the pep back into the step

Where you would leap is now where I have leapt



I'm an easy victim of nostalgia

I was making friends among the blind

The filament was bright at high noon

Radiating from the signs



Maddened fingers spar

With the laughing strings

It was very close but no cigar



Find the low denominator

With a hundred pairs of eyes

Leaning on an arm that failed us

Against the grain it's common life



I was choking on imagination

Still I know I get the gist

Sifting through a tired memory

In Paris turning with the twist


Close But No Cigar
By OHO [Jay Graboski, David Reeve & Ray Jozwiak]
(rehearsal recording)





What do you think?
Tell me at
http://www.rayjozwiak.com/guestbook.html 

OHO's "Ocean City Ditty," the CD single is now available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/oho4
(and, if you're in town, at Trax On Wax on Frederick Rd. in Catonsville, MD)

My latest solo release, '2014', can be downloaded digitally at:

(or you can copy-and-paste this URL directly to
your browser:  http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/rayjozwiak4)

Also, be sure to visit:
http://www.rayjozwiak.com

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Frustrating. . .

I try so hard (at least by my standards) to watch the calendars of the few artists that I would like to see when they're in town and wouldnchaknowit when I fall down on the job one of my most favorite-est people sneaks up and comes to down TOMORROW night when I can't even MAKE it and just when I've reconciled myself to the fact that I will have to see some of these performers in venues where I will have to stand but I know I can do it to see a really good act because I have done it when I saw Fishbone (twice, actually) and would do it again to see Fishbone and of course would happily and most certainly stand through a show by Ani DiFranco anyday that is anyday that i CAN make it which is not tomorrow because i CAN'T! 

FRUSTRATING!

What do you think?
Tell me at
http://www.rayjozwiak.com/guestbook.html 

OHO's "Ocean City Ditty," the CD single is now available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/oho4
(and, if you're in town, at Trax On Wax on Frederick Rd. in Catonsville, MD)

My latest solo release, '2014', can be digitally downloaded at:

(or you can copy-and-paste this URL directly to
your browser:  http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/rayjozwiak4)

Also, be sure to visit:
http://www.rayjozwiak.com

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Balance . . .

It can be rejuvenating to be alone, free from responsibility and not particularly motivated towards anything constructive, particularly after a relatively hectic period. It's like. . . like being. . . seven years old again.  It does however, frequently become boring and/or evokes a certain guilt about not 'really' accomplishing anything.  And then, of course, you begin to miss the people that have gone elsewhere which rendered you alone in the first place.



Balance is best.

What do you think?
Tell me at
http://www.rayjozwiak.com/guestbook.html 

OHO's "Ocean City Ditty," the CD single is now available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/oho4
(and, if you're in town, at Trax On Wax on Frederick Rd. in Catonsville, MD)

My latest solo release, '2014', can be digitally downloaded at:

(or you can copy-and-paste this URL directly to
your browser:  http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/rayjozwiak4)

Also, be sure to visit:
http://www.rayjozwiak.com

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Symbiosis . . .

To many, a rock does not represent a thing of beauty;  at least not beauty as currently acceptably perceived in our (American) culture. But to the eye of the artist (and to the mind of the philosopher), a rock does indeed possess many qualities that can be termed 'beautiful'.  Glassy, course, fine-grained, hard, strong, solid, dense and majestic are a few characteristics that may be possessed by a rock. The Christian scriptures use the image effectively where it is stated, "And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."  A rock evokes strength, conviction and permanence; all qualities of great merit.

A sponge, conversely, is a multi cellular organism with a body full of pores and channels allowing water to circulate through them, consisting of jelly-like membranes sandwiched between two thin layers of cells. A sponge's most recognized and defining quality is its ability to absorb elements from the environment that surrounds it to the advantage of its very self. All known living sponges can remold their bodies, as most types of their cells can move within their bodies and a few can change from one type to another.

A sponge makes its home by attaching itself to a hard surface, such as a rock.  The product of a combination of one hard, impenetrable, immovable, mass surface and one soft, all-absorbent, impressionable and metamorphosing organism existing, thriving and creating as one, in harmony, is a loosely interpreted form of symbiosis. . . 

. . . not unlike what people can do, if they just allow. . .

What do you think?
Tell me at
http://www.rayjozwiak.com/guestbook.html 

OHO's "Ocean City Ditty," the CD single is now available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/oho4
(and, if you're in town, at Trax On Wax on Frederick Rd. in Catonsville, MD)

My latest solo release, '2014', can be downloaded digitally at:

(or you can copy-and-paste this URL directly to
your browser:  http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/rayjozwiak4)

Also, be sure to visit:
http://www.rayjozwiak.com

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Bits . . .

. . . of information . . .

(from wikipedia.com)
Even after getting the signal converted to bits, it is still difficult to record; the hardest part is finding a scheme that can record the bits fast enough to keep up with the signal. For example, to record two channels of audio at 44.1 kHz sample rate with a 16 bit word size, the recording software has to handle 1,411,200 bits per second.

For optical disc recording technologies such as CDs or DVDs, a laser is used to burn microscopic holes into the dye layer of the medium. A weaker laser is used to read these signals. This works because the metallic substrate of the disc is reflective, and the unburned dye prevents reflection while the holes in the dye permit it, allowing digital data to be represented.

The number of bits used to represent a single audio wave (the word size) directly affects the achievable noise level of a signal recorded with added dither, or the distortion of an undithered signal. The sample rate is even more important a consideration than the word size. If the sample rate is too low, the sampled signal cannot be reconstructed to the original sound signal.


Slough of Despond
By OHO [Jay Graboski, David Reeve & Ray Jozwiak]
(original tracks recorded at Blueball Studio, Stewartstown, PA)




What do you think?
Tell me at
http://www.rayjozwiak.com/guestbook.html 

OHO's "Ocean City Ditty," the CD single is now available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/oho4
(and, if you're in town, at Trax On Wax on Frederick Rd. in Catonsville, MD)

My latest solo release, '2014', can be digitally downloaded at:

(or you can copy-and-paste this URL directly to
your browser:  http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/rayjozwiak4)

Also, be sure to visit:
http://www.rayjozwiak.com

Tweet