. . . in a million years
Could I have imagined
If it were possible at all
To live a million years
That folks would be so careless
In the choices that they make
Due to simple unawareness;
Lack of facts; one large mistake
I understand frustrations
And the powerless one feels
I appreciate the waiting
For some benefits to appear
But it may be mere misjudgement
That combined with pure disgust
Which led so many people
To choose what they thought they must
The recent funeral services (and accompanying media coverage) for U.S. Senator John McCain, were respectful, appreciative and seemingly non-partisan. 'Seemingly' is the operative word here. Many sources are available that question McCain's actual patriotism, bravery and present contradictions in the details of his life(the devastating fire and explosions that killed 134 sailors on the aircraft carrier USS Forrestal during the Vietnam War). I have always felt that death brings out the most generous forgiveness in we humans; take for example the demise of both Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan.
We can only imagine the 'heartfelt' tributes that will accompany the passing of Henry Kissinger. This can be interpreted as either good or bad. We are each, individually entitled to select those that we admire and choose to remember in longingly reverent fashion. I do however wish that the media would cover the past lives of public figures as actual news stories (i.e., presentations of factual information about accomplishments as well as failures) and not as fawning tributes to the deceased which disregard the latters' humanity, both good and bad.
Working at the thing you love
Brings peace and satisfaction
That is difficult to describe
To those who have never experienced it
Working at a thing that provides
Economic security (or pays the bills)
But is not an activity about which
You feel no passion or little affinity
Is another thing altogether
Yet familiar to many to experience it everyday
(from The First Tycoon; The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt by T.J. Stiles)
“. . . a superior who lacks real ability -or character-draws only scorn. In a quasi-military (or, more properly, quasi-naval) culture such as that of the merchant marine, a commander need not be sweet-tempered to be admired; rather he had to be skilled, knowledgeable, fair, and preferably tough. . . "
(from http://www.expose.org/index.php/articles/display/oho-gazebo-3.html)
Oho — Gazebo
(Ohomusic OM067, 2018, CD)
by Peter Thelen, Published 2018-08-06
Oho has been making great music since the early 70s, seemingly swerving and dodging any typical styles and genres as they avoided the classification game, instead going for whatever direction their muse took them at any point in time. The three founding members O’Connor, Heck, and O’Sullivan (Hence their name OHO) have long left the band (although Mark O’Connor is a guest one one track here), multi-instrumentalist and singer Jay Graboski who had joined by the time of the band’s first album Okinawa in 1974 is still among the members, all through the years guiding the band through their continuous evolution. And still, on their latest album Gazebo, the band still eschews any kind of classification, other than in a very general sense. In addition to Graboski, the current members include Ray Jozwiak (vocals, keyboards, and accordion) and David Reeve (drums, vocals, keyboards and more), the latter having been with the band since the beginning of the 1990s. In addition, no less than twenty guests have contributed to this track or that adding everything from trombone, french horn, saxes, bass, 12 string, pedal steel, percussion, additional vocals and more. The eighteen cuts herein are all listed as group compositions (with the exception of a couple interpretations) but one can sense that the diversity of what’s on offer here shows that ideas are are hatched and developed by individual band members and from that point developed as a group, having a lot of fun along the way. Thus, the tunes represent more of what the members’ interests are instead of trying to shoehorn their sound into any genre. One can find a little bit of everything herein, though everything on offer is played and sung impeccably by a group of experienced musicians who probably don’t care if you like it or not, it’s what they do, and being independent of any record labels, it’s all at their prerogative and pleasure.
“How Is Where We Go” is a great tune, and a catchy one as well, and pretty much exemplifies Oho’s creation process: write and arrange a great tune with thoughtful lyrics, bring it to life with whatever is needed to perfect it (some pedal steel went a long way in this case, plus additional lead guitar, percussion and vocals), and you end up with a tune that meets a number of criteria of excellence and doesn’t really sound like anything you’ve heard before. The opener “Ring in the Brightness” is a tune that is just as vital, a funky and powerful rocker with a horn section featured. The band does a tasteful cover of Randy Newman’s “Baltimore,” perhaps with a bit more of a rock punch than the original, with some great sax soloing from guest Gene Meros, following that up with “Blood Brother,” a good-timey piano tune that sounds like something from another era, with a horn section featured, and different singers taking their tunes as the song proceeds. “Denial” is another great tune with powerful arrangements and great lyrics and harmonies, built on an acousic guitar roadbed with accordion and other arrangements supporting judiciously.
