pianogonzology

Friday, January 23, 2015

Royal . . .

(from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdullah_of_Saudi_Arabia)
". . . On 16 February 2003, Parade magazine's David Wallechinsky rated King Fahd and Crown Prince Abdullah as the second worst dictators in the world. Most of this criticism stems from the fact that most of Saudi citizens live under a strict Wahhabist interpretation of Sharia law, which mandates the amputation of hands as a punishment for theft and floggings for crimes like drunkenness. Execution by public beheading is common for murder, rape, drug trafficking and witchcraft, and Abdullah's policies towards the rights of women have also been criticized. In a slight rebuff to accusations of human rights violations, Saudi inmates of Najran Province sent the King well-wishes from jail and wished him a speedy recovery.

King Abdullah has also been criticized for his policies on religious freedom and the Saudi government allegedly has arrested Shiite pilgrims on the Hajj. On 24 January 2007, Human Rights Watch sent an open letter to King Abdullah asking him to cease religious persecution of the Ahmadi faith in Saudi Arabia. Two letters were sent in November 2006 and February 2007 asking him to remove the travel ban on critics of the Saudi government. Human Rights Watch has not yet indicated whether they have received any response to these letters.

On 30 October 2007, during a state visit to the United Kingdom, King Abdullah was accused by protesters of being a "murderer" and a "torturer". Concerns were raised in the UK about the treatment of women and homosexuals by the Saudi kingdom and over alleged bribes involving arms deals between Saudi Arabia and the UK. . ."

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

Thursday, January 22, 2015

The Rules . . .

. . . for 'Rejection Therapy', a game (and therapeutic exercise) devised by Jason Comely to overcome his fear of rejection . . .

(from http://rejectiontherapy.com/rules/)
YOU MUST BE REJECTED BY ANOTHER PERSON AT LEAST ONCE, EVERY SINGLE DAY.

Please notice the wording of the rule. It doesn’t say you must attempt or try to be rejected. The rule is you MUST be rejected by another human being. In this game, rejection is success.

No other outcome will meet the requirement of Rejection Therapy.

To put yourself in a situation where rejection is likely, but to your surprise your request is granted, is not a successful outcome. Why? Because you weren’t rejected. You didn’t ask for enough.

There are a few stipulations as to what counts as a rejection, but the above rule is all you need to benefit from Rejection Therapy.

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Spiritual Director . . .

. . . guru, creative leader, idea man and driving force of OHO . . .

. . . will appear . . .

Thursday, January 22, 2015
Jay Graboski (of OHO) with Special Guest Johnny Hofman @ Johnny's Pizza & Pub
5601 Coastal Highway, Ocean City, MD 21842 (United States) - Map
(410) 524-7499 Set: 5:30 PM
All Ages

Golden . . .

. . . badly needed . . .

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Roosevelt)
When (Theodore) Roosevelt read [my(Jacob Riis, the muckraking Evening Sun newspaper journalist)] book (How the Other Half Lives), he came... No one ever helped as he did. For two years we were brothers in (New York City's crime-ridden) Mulberry Street. When he left I had seen its golden age... There is very little ease where Theodore Roosevelt leads, as we all of us found out. The lawbreaker found it out who predicted scornfully that he would "knuckle down to politics the way they all did," and lived to respect him, though he swore at him, as the one of them all who was stronger than pull... that was what made the age golden, that for the first time a moral purpose came into the street. In the light of it everything was transformed.

Monday, January 19, 2015

OHO - Calendar. . .

Saturday, February 7, 2015
Comedy Night at Belisimo's @ Belisimo's 2900 Baltimore Boulevard, Finksburg, MD 21048 (United States) - Map 410-245-0507	Set: 7:30 PM All Ages	Tickets: Call 410-245-0507

Friday, February 20, 2015
OHO at Johnny's Pizza & Pub @ Johnny's Pizza & Pub 5601 Coastal Highway, Ocean City, MD 21842 (United States) - Map (410) 524-7499	Set: 8:00 PM All Ages

Saturday, March 21, 2015
OHO at Johnny's Pizza & Pub @ Johnny's Pizza & Pub 5601 Coastal Highway, Ocean City, MD 21842 (United States) - Map (410) 524-7499	Set: 9:00 PM All Ages

Sunday, March 29, 2015
Bull & Oyster Roast to Benefit Ashton Dean @ UAW Local 239 Hall 1010 S. Oldham Street, Baltimore, MD 21224 (United States) - Map	Set: 1:00 PM All Ages	Tickets: $40

Friday, June 12, 2015
Wine Down Fridays at Elk Run @ Elk Run Vineyards 15113 Liberty Rd., Mount Airy, MD (United States) - Map 8004142513	Set: 6:00 PM All Ages

Sunday, January 18, 2015

Tact . . .

Definitions
1. Tact Sensitive mental touch; peculiar skill or faculty; nice perception or discernment; ready power of appreciating and doing what is required by circumstances."He had formed plans not inferior in grandeur and boldness to those of Richelieu, and had carried them into effect with a tact and wariness worthy of Mazarin.""A tact which surpassed the tact of her sex as much as the tact of her sex surpassed the tact of ours."
2. Tact The sense of touch; feeling."Did you suppose that I could not make myself sensible to tact as well as sight?""Now, sight is a very refined tact ."
3. Tact <takt> adroitness in managing the feelings of persons dealt with: nice perception in seeing and doing exactly what is best in the circumstances

Saturday, January 17, 2015

Any Respectable Roman . . .

(From Treatise On The Gods by H.L. Mencken)
". . . The Romans were not shocked to encounter gods who were thus more than half men, for they had plenty of their own, as well as hundreds of other kinds. At Rome, the cross-roads of the world, all the gods of East and West were mingled. There were so many of them that no one believed in them any more, not even the priests. Some had come from Greece or Asia; others were no more than men raised to divinity by a decree of the Senate. When an emperor died, his body was burned on a great pyre, and an eagle was released, to carry his soul to the sky; thereafter he was a god. Some of the later emperors were deified while they still lived, like Alexander of Macedon, the pharaohs of Egypt, and the mikados of Japan. The truth is that any respectable Roman, by the simple act of dying, might become a god; all that he needed was children to worship his manes. Thus the Roman pantheon swarmed like the German Valhalla, and was rocked by the same tumults and scandals. In it were traces of every variety of religion ever practiced by man, from the bald animism of savages to the most highly sophisticated of the cults of Asia Minor. The primitive Earth Mother, or Terra Mater, under the name of Ceres (= the Greek Demeter), and the sun-god and rain-god, joined in Jupiter, survived side by side with local vine-gods who had been emperors only a few years before, and roaring drunk in the streets of Rome. . ."

Paleolithic Goddess Figurine
(by OHO, Jay Graboski, David Reeve & Ray Jozwiak and recording Technicians extraordinaire Bill Pratt and David Reeve)