Franklin had a big secret. It was the kind of secret that he had to keep to himself. It's not that he wanted to tell anyone the secret. It was just that his secret preoccupied him much of the time. He didn't think that anyone did or would ever detect that he was preoccupied . . . he didn't think. In fact though, he was. Most of the time as a matter of fact. Would telling his secret to someone else be of any help to him? Would it relieve him of being preoccupied with it or would it make no difference at all? That was a question that Franklin could not readily answer. He would like to have thought it might do some good. Might lessen his load. His burden, if you will. But even of this he was not absolutely certain. It was not a certainty either, whether he really wanted to tell anyone his secret at all.
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' of original, instrumental piano music, can be downloaded digitally at:
(or you can copy-and-paste this URL directly to
your browser: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/rayjozwiak4)
For anyone not from the Baltimore metropolitan area, we here at home have a distinctive dialect of the Mother tongue, ranging from the mild to the severely unintelligible, called Balmerese. . . (and we frequently refer to each other as Hon and we always vacation in Ocean City). . .
Just as an illustration . . .
(from http://www.baltimorehon.com/)
A
Aig...the kind with a yoke
Amalance...You know, the vehicle that takes you to the hospital
Ann Runnel...Glen Burnie's county
Anyfink..As in anything goes
Arn... What you do on an arnin board
Arnjuice...from the sunshine tree
Arsh...People from Arlin
Aspern..."Take 2 and call me in the morning"
Authoritis...arthritis
Awl...goes into the crankcase
Ax...as in Ax me no questions, I'll tell ya no lies
B
Baffroom...see "rostrum"
Balamer...our home town
Barrie...as in I need to barrie some money off you
Bawler...what the plumber calls your furnace
Beeno...A famous railroad
Beero...bedroom dresser (with jroors fulla cloze wif jewry and nick nacks on top)
Bethlum...A steel mill
Bidness: as in nunyer bidness
Birfday...blow out the candles on this day
Blare...City in Harford County
Bleef...What you believe in
Blow...opposite of "above"
Brefist: Champions eat it...meal you eat (or drink) before lunch
. . . Anyway . . . OHO was in Ocean City recently, dig . . .
Slough of Despond
Live
at Johnny's, Ocean City, MD-August 2014 [field recording
by OHO - Jay Graboski, David Reeve and Ray Jozwiak]
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) OHO is Jay Graboski, David Reeve and Ray Jozwiak.
My latest solo release, '2014' of original, instrumental piano music, can be downloaded digitally at:
(or you can copy-and-paste this URL directly to
your browser: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/rayjozwiak4)
. . . and understandably so. I was the son of the offspring of Polish immigrants who came to Baltimore in the early 20th century to escape deplorable economic conditions and an unstable political climate. There are no cotton fields in Baltimore. (Trust me.) But the song, I Never Picked Cotton, written by Bobby George and Charles Williams is the inspiration for this musing.
(from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Never_Picked_Cotton) ". . .The plot of "I Never Picked Cotton" is told in first-person, mostly in flashback from the perspective of a native of a poor sharecropping family in Oklahoma.
In the first verse, the song's protagonist — the youngest son of a coal miner who died working in the mines — bitterly recalls his family's past and upbringing. He recalls (as a young boy, too young to work on a cotton plantation) how his mother, brother, and sister all picked cotton to support the family, while his dad died in the coal mine. Seeing that this is not the type of life he wants to live, the boy resolves that when he is old enough to do so, he will leave the farm and his family.
One night, the protagonist makes good on his vow, stealing $10 and a pickup truck, and leaving the plantation, never to return. He then turns to a lifestyle of partying, "and I took it all with a gun". His criminal lifestyle ultimately leads to a fight with a local redneck on a Saturday night in Memphis, Tennessee; the redneck insults the protagonist's origins and is killed in return.
The protagonist, fingered as the killer, is found guilty of murder and sentenced to death by hanging. Just hours before he is sentenced to die, he reflects on his life and notes that "there ain't a hell of a lot, that I can look back on with pride" – except that he made good on his vow to "never pick cotton" like his family did. . ."
My earliest recollection of hearing this tune, which I then thought was one of the 'toughest' and now think one of the most clever and well-constructed country songs I've ever heard was from somewhere around 1970 or 71. My parents undertook, on a regular (with occasional exceptions) an outing to our local 'Topps' retail outlet, to shop for . . . I'm not exactly sure WHAT. I thoroughly enjoyed accompanying them to visit the record (vinyl LP) department, but in my later childhood years not so much. On one particular Friday evening, after partaking of our regularly scheduled Catholic, Friday, fried fish dinners, I respectfully declined from participating in that evening's shopping event and instead offered to stay behind and wash the dinner dishes. When choosing to spend my Friday evening in such a manner, which I did numerous times, I would tune into WBMD-AM, our local country music station, on an old RCA combination phonograph/AM-FM radio in the dining room, turn it to a sufficient volume level to be able to hear it in the kitchen next door while washing dishes, and proceed with my post-dinner activity. Silly, trite, trivial - maybe. But it's ALL MINE!
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) OHO is Jay Graboski, David Reeve and Ray Jozwiak.
My latest solo release, '2014' of original, instrumental piano music, can be downloaded digitally at:
(or you can copy-and-paste this URL directly to
your browser: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/rayjozwiak4)
. . .and a piano player? A pizza can feed a family of four. (drum accent & kick) But a pizza cannot guarantee to use 'more notes per minute' than many other pianists in the area, and a pizza cannot 'consistently create aural pictures intelligently, pleasantly, and whimsically, and that's just within one song'
The Brewer's Alley Songwriters' Showcase Monday
August 18th opens with Ray Jozwiak - Gonzo Piano @ 7:15PM
Brewer's Alley Restaurant & Brewery
124 North Market Street Frederick, MD 21701 Telephone: 301-631-0089 Fax: 301-631-1874
http://www.brewers-alley.com/
(and YES, pizza IS on the Brewer's Alley menu)
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) OHO is Jay Graboski, David Reeve and Ray Jozwiak.
My latest solo release, '2014' of original, instrumental piano music, can be downloaded digitally at:
(or you can copy-and-paste this URL directly to
your browser: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/rayjozwiak4)
1. Major newspapers are enjoying the business of publishing non-sense in the name of sparking sales
2. Justin Moyer is not a musician (not a 'true' musician by my estimation)
If you read Justin Moyer's August 8(http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/opinions/wp/2014/08/08/all-that-jazz-isnt-all-that-great/) piece you will understand. I will briefly touch upon some of his statements below.
"Jazz is boring." - baseless conjecture
"Jazz is overrated." - baseless conjecture
"Jazz is washed up." - baseless conjecture
"Unlike a poorly received New Yorker piece purportedly written by jazz great Sonny Rollins, this is not satire." - could've fooled me.
"Jazz has run out of ideas, and yet it’s still getting applause." - baseless conjecture
"Like cirrus clouds or cotton candy, I found jazz generically pleasing, but insubstantial and hard to grasp. " - no shit Sherlock!
"Some of my problems:" - you said it man. You got problems!
"1. Jazz takes great songs — and abandons the lyrics that help make them great" - sweeping generalization
"2. Improvisation isn’t all it’s cracked up to be." - baseless, sweeping, generalization, conjecture
"3. Jazz stopped evolving." - false
"4. Jazz is mushy." - ?????
"5. Jazz let itself be co-opted." - huh??
Fortunately, Justin admits he doesn't get it. Unfortunately, someone thought what he had to say was worth publishing in a major newspaper for others to read.
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' of original, instrumental piano music, can be downloaded digitally at:
(or you can copy-and-paste this URL directly to
your browser: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/rayjozwiak4)
. . . as we know, beginning shortly after 9:30 or maybe 10:00 PM, OHO performs Friday August 15th at Johnny's Pizza & pub, 5601 Coastal Hwy, Ocean City, MD 21842 (410.723.5600). Decent selection of brews, excellent pizza and the ONLY establishment in town displaying a Connellized (i.e., painted by artist Connell P. Byrne) electric guitar, centrally located behind the main bar. If you happen to be in OC this Friday, please join the band & our friends for an evening of fun, friends & food as we stuff some musical muscle down your piping.
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' of original, instrumental piano music, can be downloaded digitally at:
(or you can copy-and-paste this URL directly to
your browser: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/rayjozwiak4)
20 Top Ten singles, 12 Top Ten albums (five of which were #1), and sales of more than 120 million records . . . stylistic changes, I must admire the work ethic and perseverance of these musicians, the early work of which had [and still has] a tremendous influence on my music. . .
(from http://www.classicbands.com/chicago.html)
". . . "Baby, What A Big Surprise" sailed into the Top 5, and Chicago XI was certified platinum the month after its release. But only a few months later, the band would be devastated by a terrible loss. On January 23, l978, Chicago guitarist and singer Terry Kath died from an accidental gunshot wound. "Terry Kath was a great talent" says Jim Guercio, who worked with him on a solo album that was never completed. "Hendrix idolized him. He was just totally committed to this band, and he could have been a monster (as a solo artist)." Kath's death devastated Chicago, and the band considered breaking up. A short time after Terry's death, "Take Me Back To Chicago," was released as a single.
If the band was going to continue, it would need a new guitarist, and auditions began in earnest in the spring of 1978. "We felt that we were being left behind by the new music," says Cetera, "and we thought we needed a young guitar player with long hair. We sat through I don't know how many guitar players, but I'm sure it was 30, 40, or 50 guitar players. Toward the end, Donnie Dacus showed up. He played a couple of songs right and with fire, and that's how he was in the group."
Fast forward to 2014 - their new album . . .
(from http://chicagotheband.us/profiles/blogs/james-pankow-interview-chicago-trombonist-and-horn-arranger-leads)
" . . . includes 11 brand new songs, recorded on the road.
"We have some very exploratory stuff and music that is traditionally Chicago," Pankow said. "We have the signature horns and the identity that the music has always had, but we also have the fun of taking it places that was not possible before. The music is very daring in some ways. It is where we are now."
For this record, Chicago built a new "recording rig" that travels with the band.
"This new technology has allowed us to be extremely mobile," Pankow said. "The music is reported by us as we travel, as we get inspired. We can record in hotel rooms, on the bus, in the venue. We don't have to, like the old days, assemble in a traditional recording studio and track new songs and go through the protocol. We are now free to do whatever we want. We can push the limits."
They have even created an online collaboration portal that allows even more performances to be worked on around the clock from remote locations.
"For the first time since the beginning of the band, we are looking at not only a new way of making records, but a new way of manifesting those records," Pankow said. "We do business now essentially direct to fans through the Internet."
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' of original, instrumental piano music, can be downloaded digitally at:
(or you can copy-and-paste this URL directly to
your browser: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/rayjozwiak4)
