pianogonzology

Thursday, May 7, 2015

Spanish . . .

(from Don Juan by George Gordon Lord Byron)

. . . "My boy!" said he, "amidst this motley crew
Of Georgians, Russians, Nubians, and what not,
All ragamuffins differing but in hue,
With whom it is our luck to cast our lot,
The only gentlemen seem I and you;
So let us be acquainted, as we ought:
If I could yield you any consolation,
'T would give me pleasure. — Pray, what is your nation?"

When Juan answer'd — "Spanish!" he replied,
"I thought, in fact, you could not be a Greek;
Those servile dogs are not so proudly eyed:
Fortune has play'd you here a pretty freak,
But that's her way with all men, till they're tried;
But never mind, — she'll turn, perhaps, next week;
She has served me also much the same as you,
Except that I have found it nothing new."

"Pray, sir," said Juan, "if I may presume,
What brought you here?" — "Oh! nothing very rare —
Six Tartars and a drag-chain." — "To this doom
But what conducted, if the question's fair,
Is that which I would learn." — "I served for some
Months with the Russian army here and there,
And taking lately, by Suwarrow's bidding,
A town, was ta'en myself instead of Widdin.". . .

"Have you no friends?" — "I had — but, by God's blessing,
Have not been troubled with them lately. Now
I have answer'd all your questions without pressing,
And you an equal courtesy should show.'
"Alas!" said Juan, "'t were a tale distressing,
And long besides." — "Oh! if 't is really so,
You're right on both accounts to hold your tongue;
A sad tale saddens doubly, when't is long.

"But droop not: Fortune at your time of life,
Although a female moderately fickle,
Will hardly leave you (as she's not your wife)
For any length of days in such a pickle.
To strive, too, with our fate were such a strife
As if the corn-sheaf should oppose the sickle:
Men are the sport of circumstances, when
The circumstances seem the sport of men.". . .

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 is now available at - 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

Wednesday, May 6, 2015

Live . . .

. . . Limousine

She comes out of the night she wrote every book you've read
Fingering her pearl(s) every bead a lover dead
She wears that feathered hat ends up burning on the bed
Her freedom ring's not cheap the beast the till both must be fed

We twins sit on this leather seat this woman this man
One lives the level of her heart the other's gland's in hand
She serves that wicked brew opens minds opens eyes
Holds up the looking glass cracks to cut the shame that binds

What is is what is not is too
This emptiness inside includes
The mystery awaiting moving you
To be released and not removed

And she runs me down in my limousine
And she picks me up in my limousine
And we drive it home give our breath away
Though I'm left alone no way am I the same

The hand extends the fingers eyed they fondle urging every word
You only have what you give up fluxing in the flow
Holding on to what you want will only keep it out of reach
And lock you up inside yourself and block epiphany

Read the beat the rhythm takes and gives
The bodies dance in primal play
Forever steps alive into today
Here each word points but does not say

And she runs me down in my limousine
And she picks me up in my limousine
And we drive it home give our breath away
Though I'm left alone no way am I the same

Limousine
OHO Live at Belisimo's, Finksburg (MD) May 2015

What do you think?

Tuesday, May 5, 2015

A Caring . . .

. . . executive . . . a rarity?

(from http://www.npr.org/2015/04/30/403257223/health-insurer-aetna-raises-wages-for-lowest-paid-workers-to-16-an-hour)
". . . Aetna. . . raised the pay of its low-wage workers to $16 an hour this month. Aetna's CEO Mark Bertolini says he believes the raise could largely pay for itself by making workers more productive.
The pay raise will affect 5,700 of Aetna's lowest-paid workers, including those like Kally Dunn at its call center in Fresno, Calif. The veteran employee teaches newcomers how to handle calls, sometimes from irate customers who can't make sense of what's covered and what's not. . . "Finance can be one of the main stresses in people's lives," he (an Aetna employee) says. "And when you can pull some relief away from that stress, I definitely think it makes for — you know, a happy employee is a productive employee." Bertolini in convinced that's true. . . As Bertolini and his executive team worked to understand what challenges their low-wage workers face, they discovered that to make ends meet many were on public assistance, such as food stamps, or Medicaid for their children. Bertolini says he was taken aback shocked "that we as a thriving organization, as a successful company, a Fortune 100 company, should have people that were living like that among the ranks of our employees." . . .

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 is now available at - Just More Music by Ray Jozwiak

Monday, May 4, 2015

Battles . . .

. . . of the bands

(from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Bands)
". . . Third World Games have produced a Battle of the Bands card game, which takes a tongue-in-cheek look at the music business. The object is to recruit members into your band, equip them with instruments, win "gigs" and "hit singles" and earn enough "Superstar Points" to win. The game is also available for play on GameTable Online. There is also a Battle of the Bands video game and TV movie. In the music video game Guitar Hero World Tour and all games that followed, a "battle of the bands" mode is featured as an online gameplay mode. The "battle of the bands" concept has had a heavy influence on reality television. Shows such as the Idol series and The X Factor borrow the basic concept of a "battle of the bands" except with individual singers instead of whole bands, combining the concept with a serial elimination format. There was a brief American series in the vein, The Next Great American Band, that did use whole bands. In the 2011 Australian film Swerve, a battle of the marching bands serves as background to most of the scenes set in the small country town. In the 2014 animated film My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Rainbow Rocks, the film's storyline centered around a high school Battle of the Bands competition. . ."

What do you think?

Sunday, May 3, 2015

Brewing . . .

. . . some good songs. . . Monday Night

Adjunct Fermentable material used as a substitute for traditional grains, to make beer lighter-bodied or cheaper.

Aerobic An organism, such as top fermenting ale yeast, that needs oxygen to metabolize.

All-malt A relatively new term in America. "All malt" refers to a beer made exclusively with barley malt and without adjuncts.

Anaerobic An organism, such as a bottom-fermenting lager yeast, that is able to metabolize without oxygen present.

Astringent A drying, puckering taste; tannic; can be derived from boiling the grains, long mashes, over sparging or sparging with hard water.

Attenuation Extent to which yeast consumes fermentable sugars (converting them into alcohol and carbon dioxide).

Featured performer, award-winning songwriter, LYNN HOLLYFIED, on the first Monday in May! (May 4; that's tomorrow!) Piano and Melodica prelude will be brought to us by the always surprising JIMBOW, whose sparkling improvisations often surprise even him! Three-song cameos this week are from another award-winning songwriter, Philadelphia-based AVI WISNIA www.aviwisnia.com on his spring tour, plus our favorite classical composer, ROCKIN' RAY JOZWIAK, giving us a rare three-song set in prime time! Poetry will be from JOHN HOLLY, and Rod Deacey throw in a couple of songs and a poem and TOMY WRIGHT will be with us this week singing late in the evening.

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

What do you think?

Saturday, May 2, 2015

The Right . . .

. . . thing to do

(from http://money.cnn.com/2015/04/30/news/companies/cvs-baltimore-riots-jobs/index.html)
". . . Forty-five Baltimore CVS workers who saw their stores burned down in the riots earlier this week are still getting paid. Two CVS locations sustained such heavy damage that they remain closed Thursday. But "given the extraordinary circumstances," CVS is paying those workers for their regularly scheduled hours while they try to transfer them to nearby stores, spokeswoman Carolyn Castel said. In fact, "most" have already been working at other locations, she said. There are 20 other CVS stores in the city. Castel declined to say how long they would keep paying the displaced workers, but added she is "confident" that the company could place all those who want to work at another location. . ."

Friday, May 1, 2015

A Little . . .

. . . Smugly delivered, yet amusing . . .

(from http://townhall.com/columnists/derekhunter/2015/04/16/hillary-is-right-the-deck-is-stacked-n1985712/page/2)
". . . her bio reads like a love letter to a mirror, omitting facts, glossing over reality and claiming credit for everything short of the sunrise. That’s the Z of campaign she’s going to run, and that’s the kind of garbage the media will shovel out of their newscasts and onto their pages. . .“Americans have fought their way back from tough economic times, but the deck is still stacked in favor of those at the top,” she said. And she’s right. At least partially. “The deck is stacked against you” is an awful message that tells people not to bother trying because no matter how hard they work, they’ll never get ahead. . . it’s futile for anyone to expect a fair shake from the media for someone whose main accomplishment in life is having married Bill Clinton (then spent the next 40 years looking the other way) . . . a life-long enabler of a sexual predator who traded whatever integrity she had for power and money. She’s a bored has-been with a sense of entitlement unrivaled in American public life who can’t bring herself to leave the national stage. . . "