pianogonzology

Saturday, August 15, 2015

Bobble . . .

-head history . . .

(from http://www.bobbleheads.com/history-of-bobbleheads.html)
Bobblehead dolls ". . . are thought to date back at least 150 years. The earliest known reference to similar toys is from the 1842 short story The Overcoat by Nikolai Gogol, which described a character as having a neck which was "like the neck of plaster cats which wag their heads". . . Player-specific dolls for (professional baseball players) Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Roger Maris, and Roberto Clemente, were produced for the first time and sold during the 1960 World Series. Although the uniforms were different, each of them shared the same face. Unfortunately, because of their papier-mache construction, very few of these early bobble head dolls have survived without damage - usually chipping or cracking. In the 1970s, construction methods improved, and new bobbles were made of ceramic materials. They became popular for other sports, as well as for cartoon characters of the day. The bobblehead set for the Beatles became one of the most famous and rare of all time, and it is still a valuable collectible today. However, by the mid-1970s, bobbleheads had again fallen out of favor, and very few new bobbleheads were produced. It would take nearly two decades for them to return to prominence. . . After 2000, new variations of the dolls were also produced - including the mini-bobblehead, bobble computer sitters, bobblehead banks, and even bobblehead air fresheners. Customized bobbleheads also became possible and several companies began to offer this service. Many current bobblehead dolls closely resemble their real-life counterparts, including matching tattoos, hair styles, headbands, and even scars. . ."

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

Friday, August 14, 2015

In a Cavern . . .

(from http://sportsandentertainmentnashville.com/underground-roots-bringing-nashvilles-musical-roots-above-and-below-ground/)
" . . . Todd Mayo . . . created . . . (an) . . . innovative live-performance program Bluegrass Underground. About to begin its third season on PBS, the diverse, acoustic-music-based show has been running in radio form on WSM-AM since August of 2008, only a few months after Mayo first saw the “Volcano Room” during a tour of McMinnville’s Cumberland Caverns. Marveling at the naturally formed area 333 feet below ground, Mayo recognized its potential as a unique concert venue. . . “The cave was just waiting for me,” says Mayo. “The bathrooms were there, the [electrical] power was in there, the concessions [areas] were there.” Best of all, it was also equipped with stunning natural acoustics, with none of the erratic echo one might expect. The space’s unique features made it a fairly easy sell—first to WSM, then to top-shelf performers, and now to the American public. Season two of Bluegrass Underground has already reached 80 percent or more of PBS stations nationwide. “Our real hope was that the show, you know, literally shined a light in the darkness on quality music,” quips Mayo. . . "

Thursday, August 13, 2015

Mortality . . .

Watching movies about old people gets one to thinking . . .

(from http://flavorwire.com/324742/20-famous-writers-on-death-and-mortality)
“Death is certain, replacing both the siren-song of Paradise and the dread of Hell. Life on this earth, with all its mystery and beauty and pain, is then to be lived far more intensely: we stumble and get up, we are sad, confident, insecure, feel loneliness and joy and love. There is nothing more; but I want nothing more.” – Christopher Hitchens, The Portable Atheist

“People living deeply have no fear of death.” – Anaïs Nin, The Diary Of Anaïs Nin, Volume Two

“Life was not a valuable gift, but death was. Life was a fever-dream made up of joys embittered by sorrows, pleasure poisoned by pain; a dream that was a nightmare-confusion of spasmodic and fleeting delights, ecstasies, exultations, happinesses, interspersed with long-drawn miseries, griefs, perils, horrors, disappointments, defeats, humiliations, and despairs — the heaviest curse devisable by divine ingenuity; but death was sweet, death was gentle, death was kind; death healed the bruised spirit and the broken heart, and gave them rest and forgetfulness; death was man’s best friend; when man could endure life no longer, death came and set him free.” – Mark Twain, Letters from the Earth

“I can remember how when I was young I believed death to be a phenomenon of the body; now I know it to be merely a function of the mind — and that of the minds who suffer the bereavement. The nihilists say it is the end; the fundamentalists, the beginning; when in reality it is no more than a single tenant or family moving out of a tenement or a town.” – William Faulkner, As I Lay Dying

“Death is no more than passing from one room into another. But there’s a difference for me, you know. Because in that other room I shall be able to see.” – Helen Keller

Wednesday, August 12, 2015

At The Risk . . .

. . . of being trite . . .

Sometimes those things we take for granted must be mentioned and therefore their benefits extolled, no matter how hackneyed the words may sound. The one that crossed my mind recently, though in all honesty it crosses my mind frequently, was friendship.

I recently saw an amusing flick entitled 'Last Vegas', starring four, mature, male cinema icons, focus of which was friendship. Ageing was also an important element of the plot, but friendship (in my view) was the primary topic.

I am fortunate enough to have some friends whom I consider the very best. I do not boast an inordinately large number, but I'll match quality against quantity any day. They range from recently found to almost forty years. In fact, some of those older relationships had a lull between their inception and the present, but that many even account for the strength and richness they possess at the present time.

Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Heard Somebody . . .

. . . say, "Play Third-Hand Intelligence". . .

Heard somebody say
They overheard you
Just the other day
A simple word
About the way we get along
If only I were sure
Of the semantics
Having doubts 'cause I'm
One hopeless romantic
Could it be
You're slipping away from me
What will I do
If what I'm thinking is true
And you want to be
Really free of me
I won't last very long
Very far from your heart

And this third-hand intelligence
Might be the way that it starts.

Heard somebody say
They thought they saw you
Walking in their way
You were not alone
They said he didn't look like
Thinking to myself
Must be mistaken
Try not to believe
but still badly shaken
Why would you
Deceive me in things you do
So many years
Sharing our laughter and tears
Lasted very long
Maybe I was wrong
Not to ask you
Why you feel
We've drifted apart

And this third-hand intelligence
Might be the way that it starts

Are my sources reliable
Wait and see
Wait and see
Is my psyche too pliable
It could be
It could be

If somebody said
The sky was falling
Would you believe it's true
And change your direction
From spinning round
When it hits the ground
That's just not true
Any believers are few
When you've seen it all
It could never fall
Any more than
I think you could
Tear us apart

And this third-hand intelligence
Might be the way that it starts

Third-Hand Intelligence
OHO rehearsal recording, August 2015

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, August 10, 2015

Just Tryin' . . .

. . . to be honest . . .

Mother always told us it's not nice to hate
She'd been practicing that golden rule for years
If we'd only treat each other how we want to be ourselves
God will love us
God will love us

When I first met you I was quite impressed
So much more than pretty face among the crowd
And it didn't happen overnight but the curtain slowly fell
And the colors of your rainbow were revealed

You are the tribis hippocriticus
You are the tribis hippocriticus
You are the tribis hippocriticus
We don't like you
Just trying to be honest

From your position of authority
You looked down and not across our great divide
With a smile upon your face and hands placed firm on the controls
You're so artistic
You're so artistic

Expertise portrayed for all appearances
Pure professional facade to face the crowd
But just beneath that thick veneer reside reality
The truth is evident and there for

You are the tribis hippocriticus
You are the tribis hippocriticus
You are the tribis hippocriticus
We don't like you
Just trying to be honest

'Cause that's the way we all should be
We're not islands
We're not stones
And just what will it take
To make you see this truth

Let me make it crystal clear how strongly that I feel
'Bout the way you take advantage for yourself
If you took the power devoted to your cold conniving ways
And you turned it
And you turned it totally around
Direct it to another place
Try to do what you have done unto yourself
Just a little understanding there are others here with you
This revolving's not designed for only you

Tribis Hippocriticus
from Just More Music by Ray Jozwiak ©2014 Raymond M. Jozwiak

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

Sunday, August 9, 2015

Unfortunately . . .

The media . . .

. . . is (still) the message . . .

(from http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2014/01/30/hillary-clinton-is-the-biggest-frontrunner-for-the-democratic-presidential-nomination-ever-yes-ever/)
". . . Hillary Rodham Clinton's 61-point edge over Joe Biden in new Washington Post-ABC News polling makes her the single biggest frontrunner for a Democratic presidential nomination . . . "

(http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/poll-hillary-clinton-early-2016-frontrunner-barely-n269601)
". . . half of American voters - 50 percent - saying they could see themselves supporting her if she runs for the White House in 2016, while 48 percent oppose her. . . "

(from http://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/politicsnow/la-pn-hillary-clinton-2016-analysis-20150410-story.html)
". . . Clinton will enter the 2016 Democratic presidential race — finally, officially — as the most commanding front-runner in generations.

(http://observer.com/2015/06/berniemania-why-socialist-bernie-sanders-is-the-sensation-of-the-presidential-race/)
YET, . . . IN SPITE OF THE FACTS:
". . . Yet Mr. (Bernie) Sanders, with his slight stoop and cloud of white hair flaring off his ruddy scalp, sometimes suffers on the stump. Later that day in a rec hall across the border in Keene, N.H., packed with about 700 people, some wearing homemade T-shirts Magic Markered with “Bernie 2016,” he lamented the plight of a young teacher he had just met. “Obviously in our society we desperately need teachers,” Mr. Sanders said to his audience. “And her crime for wanting to get a master’s degree was that she is now $200,000 in debt and paying interest rates between 6 and 9 percent. … All of this stuff is crazy stuff.” If the country does not reform its environmental policies, he said a grim fate awaits: “more drought, more famine, more rising sea levels, more floods, more ocean acidification, more extreme weather disturbances, more disease and more human suffering.” . . . "