pianogonzology

Monday, January 12, 2015

Blue . . .

. . . Ball Road Studio . . . yes, it's real. . .

(from Jay's post on OHO's Facebook page, Sunday, January 11, 2015)
Today Ray & I meet David at his Blue Ball Road Studio to sort through a number of saxophone tracks recorded some time ago at Bill Pratt's Bratt Studio in Woodlawn by Gene Meros. The aim is to comb through them, locate the best phrases and link them with integrity. The process is the elimination of those phrases that definitely will not be used, then by a further elimination, then by an even further elimination; then by placing this phrase in front of THAT one; and that one behind THIS one: viola! Another "hit."

And we did indeed spend a joyous three hours on that cool and beautiful sunny Sunday to accomplish what you can hear below. One or two more tweaks back at Bratt Studios and we put this baby to bed.

Slough of Despond
(by OHO, Jay Graboski, David Reeve & Ray Jozwiak and recording Technicians extraordinaire Bill Pratt and David Reeve)

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

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 & Ray Jozwiak. Please Visit http://www.ohomusic.com

My latest solo offering, Just More Music by Ray Jozwiak, featuring original, instrumental piano music will be released April 7, 2014 Just More Music by Ray Jozwiak

(To Access all Ray Jozwiak - Gonzo Piano music you can copy-and-paste this URL directly to
your browser: http://http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/RayJozwiak)

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

Sunday, January 11, 2015

But Boss . . .

(from http://www.nbcnews.com/business/careers/man-fired-after-skipping-work-24-years-n282931)
A.K. Verma, an executive engineer at the Central Public Works Department in India, was fired after last appearing for work in December 1990. "He went on seeking extension of leave, which was not sanctioned, and defied directions to report to work," the government said in a statement Thursday. Even after an inquiry found him guilty of "willful absence from duty" in 1992, it took another 22 years and the intervention of a cabinet minister to remove him, the government said. India's labor laws, which the World Bank says are the most restrictive anywhere, make it hard to sack staff for any reason other than criminal misconduct.

(To Access all Ray Jozwiak - Gonzo Piano music you can copy-and-paste this URL directly to
your browser: http://http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/RayJozwiak)

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

Friday, January 9, 2015

Freedom and the Press . . .

(from http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/paris-magazine-attack/charlie-hebdo-shooting-12-killed-muhammad-cartoons-magazine-paris-n281266)
". . . Twelve people were killed Wednesday when masked gunmen armed with AK-47s attacked the offices of a French satirical news magazine which has published cartoons of the Muslim Prophet Muhammad. . . One of the magazine's editors, Gerard Biard, told France Inter radio: "I don't understand how people can attack a newspaper with heavy weapons. A newspaper is not a weapon of war." Hollande added that several other attacks had been thwarted in France "in recent weeks." "No barbaric act will ever extinguish the freedom of the press," Hollande said in a tweet. "We are a united country." . . ."

"We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion . . .
-John Adams

Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add 'within the limits of the law' because law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual. . . The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only object of good government.
-Thomas Jefferson

Freedom of speech is a principal pillar of a free government; when this support is taken away, the constitution of a free society is dissolved, and tyranny is erected on its ruins. Republics and limited monarchies derive their strength and vigor from a popular examination into the action of the magistrates.
-Benjamin Franklin

Thursday, January 8, 2015

Consummate . . .

. . . politician . . .

Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell, and Senate majority leader ACTUALLY said:
“After so many years of sluggish growth, we’re finally starting to see some economic data that can provide a glimmer of hope; the uptick appears to coincide with the biggest political change of the Obama Administration’s long tenure in Washington: the expectation of a new Republican Congress. So this is precisely the right time to advance a positive, pro-growth agenda.”

During the election cycle, McConnell constantly accused the President of destroying the economy. As McConnell whined, economic conditions just kept getting better and U.S. job growth reached a 15-year high last year.

Never mind all those bothersome facts, now McConnell wants credit for the recovery’s unexpected strength. McConnell took his time to come up with this rhetorical trick. Two days before Christmas, when Americans learned that GDP growth in the third quarter of 2014 reached an 11-year high, McConnell said . . . nothing.
(thanks to http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/mcconnell-wants-credit-economic-turnaround)

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Some Things. . .

. . . don't change . . .

An excellent politician and good president, in all his humanity, captured the spirit of much that is true even today . . .

(from http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lyndon_B._Johnson)
"I'll tell you what's at the bottom of it. If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you."

Said in 1960 in response to racist signs held by Johnson's motorcade in Tennessee. Recounted by Bill Moyers, then a member of Johnson's staff, in Bill Moyers: "What a Real President Was Like; To Lyndon Johnson, the Great Society Meant Hope and Dignity," The Washington Post, Nov. 13, 1988.

Tuesday, January 6, 2015

More House . . .

. . . party restoration . . . (with added gonzo piano and synth) . . .

". . . Somewhat dated but full of JOY, it's interesting that it sounds nothing like Aubrey Circle (more like Aubrey Circle meets Archie Bell & The Drells). So "following the trail of crumbs" (trusting in the process) brought this project to its partial fruition from that band's nugget of inspiration, implanted 30+ years ago. Special thanks to Vince Tuminello who guests on tambourine and especially to Bill Pratt who made manifest all the ideas we had for the tune and SOOOOOO much more. Tangentially related to this is having recently viewed a DVD about Joe Meek ("Telstar"); current musical endeavors (that stretch the imagination to match the long reach of time) are apparently being aerated in the effluvium of his influence. . . "

". . . impregnating the muse so she lights up like a small sun in the solar system of our souls. . ."

(from Jay Graboski, OHO)

House Party At Aubrey Circle
(remix, work-in-progress by OHO)

(To Access all Ray Jozwiak - Gonzo Piano music you can copy-and-paste this URL directly to
your browser: http://http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/RayJozwiak)

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

Just More . . .

. . . sound waves . . .

(from http://www.explainthatstuff.com/sound.html)
". . . Sound is the energy things produce when they vibrate (move back and forth quickly). If you bang a drum, you make the tight skin vibrate at very high speed (it's so fast that you can't usually see it), forcing the air all around it to vibrate as well. As the air moves, it carries energy out from the drum in all directions. Eventually, even the air inside your ears starts vibrating—and that's when you begin to perceive the vibrating drum as a sound. In short, there are two different aspects to sound: there's a physical process that produces sound energy to start with and sends it shooting through the air, and there's a separate psychological process that happens inside our ears and brains, which convert the incoming sound energy into sensations we interpret as noises, speech, and music. . .

Sound is like light in some ways: it travels out from a definite source (such as an instrument or a noisy machine), just as light travels out from the Sun or a light bulb. But there are some very important differences between light and sound as well. We know light can travel through a vacuum because sunlight has to race through the vacuum of space to reach us on Earth. Sound, however, cannot travel through a vacuum: it always has to have something to travel through (known as a medium), such as air, water, glass, or metal. . ."

Space
(from Just More Music by Ray Jozwiak, ©2014 Raymond M. Jozwiak, coming in April 2015)