Dear Mr. Jozwiak. . .

". . . The PROTECT IP Act (S. 968) would give the Department of Justice (DoJ) authority to identify and take legal action against websites that market counterfeit or pirated goods.

Illegal downloading of movies, TV shows and music is a real problem that harms industries, kills jobs and hurts our economy.  We need strong copyright laws to protect the creative property of artists, and it is important that these laws be followed.  However, I share your concerns about this bill.  We need to make sure that the solution isn't worse than the problem.  Any efforts to strengthen the protection of copyrighted materials must be well planned, avoid unintended consequences, and must not stifle free speech or innovation Legislation as wide-ranging as this needs a more open and thorough review from all sides of the debate.  I am pleased that Senator Leahy — the author of the bill — has said he is open to changes to address this and other issues.  The current language in the bill needs to be improved before I could consider supporting its final passage. . . "
Senator Barbara Mikulski


Dear Mr. Jozwiak,
 ". . .SOPA is a hard hitting attempt to address the legitimate problem of illegal downloads of copyrighted work like movies, television shows and music.  I believe that artists and the companies that create content should be able to protect their information.  However, this legislation forces Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to be the policing authorities on the beat to find, hunt, and shut down illegal pirate websites or the service provider is held liable for the copyright infringement. ISPs will have to maintain a list of banned websites.  While SOPA would act as a filter for offending websites, as soon as these websites are shut down, similar copies are set up very quickly. ISPs and the Department of Justice will spend their time going after pirate websites that can be renamed and changed in an instant.  I do not believe this is the most efficient way to solve the problem of piracy.

As ranking member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, I work closely on various cyber security issues.  Both the Sandia National Laboratory and the Department of Homeland Security took the position that SOPA will hurt U.S. efforts to keep our networks secure and safe from serious cyber attacks. As it stands now, SOPA is a one sided firewall that would hinder our ability to go after the real offenders and threats to our networks, while simultaneously limiting innovation and free speech. I hope that all stake holders can sit down and develop a compromise solution that avoids these problems. . . "
C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger
Member of Congress


(from IndieMusic News)

". . . Lamar Smith, the chief sponsor of SOPA, said on Friday that he is pulling the bill “until there is wider agreement on a solution.”
“I have heard from the critics and I take seriously their concerns regarding proposed legislation to address the problem of online piracy,” Smith (R-Texas) said. “It is clear that we need to revisit the approach on how best to address the problem of foreign thieves that steal and sell American inventions and products.”

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Oh ye. . .

. . . of little faith. . .

(from huffingtonpost.com, by Bernard-Henri Levy)
". . . Could we be living in an era of such madness, one that has lost its compass and its points of reference to such an extent that this affair of one of the three major rating agencies' withdrawal of America's and then France's triple "A" has taken on such importance?

Let's go over the facts.

Here is a firm, Standard and Poor's, which fulfills its company's mission, earns its shares on the market, augments and consolidates its profits, and benefits its shareholders by offering -- as it is entitled to -- a specific product called a rating.

Here is a firm that -- and it remains within its rights, but this should at least raise some suspicions -- has never stopped making mistakes, failing to foresee any of the crises that have led the world to the edge of the abyss, from Enron to the subprimes, from Lehman Brothers' bankruptcy to that of the Greek debt.

And here is a firm, still Standard and Poor's, whose criteria of appreciation are marked by subjectivity, as is the case for every human endeavor, one whose methodologies are not only vague, but opaque and, from the little we know of them, stamped with the seal of a singular amateurism. For, if we believe what we read in Le Monde (15-16 January), this withdrawal of France's triple-A rating was the work of a German analyst who, seconded by a Slovene assistant, spent "a few months" gathering "public data", blending them with the results of "some interviews" with "ministers, members of the opposition, and bankers", and then, finally, being "bombarded with questions" during a "visioconference" by a group of "five to fifteen people", none of whom were particularly familiar with the dossier.

Yet, when the verdict falls, when, ending the mounting suspense cleverly orchestrated by its communications service, the agency renders its decree, when it publicly announces the result of the little reflection concocted by these two analysts, goaded on (once again, Le Monde's investigation) by the five to fifteen other individuals who are "more or less experts", it's a thunderbolt, a tsunami of comments and contrition, a national and global earthquake. It's as though Jupiter had roared, as though God had spoken, it's as if truth itself had just fallen from the sky -- and the few voices that attempt to qualify things with, "Yes, it's an interesting point of view, but it's only one point of view and perhaps we would do well to compare these uncertain conclusions with others" are promptly swept away by the tidal wave. . . "

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Dangerous. . .

. . . write, call, shout NOW!!!

SOPA and PIPA put the burden on website owners to police user-contributed material and call for the unnecessary blocking of entire sites. Small sites won't have sufficient resources to defend themselves. Big media companies may seek to cut off funding sources for their foreign competitors, even if copyright isn't being infringed. Foreign sites will be blacklisted, which means they won't show up in major search engines. SOPA and PIPA build a framework for future restrictions and suppression.

In a world in which politicians regulate the Internet based on the influence of big money, Wikipedia — and sites like it — cannot survive.

Congress says it's trying to protect the rights of copyright owners, but the "cure" that SOPA and PIPA represent is worse than the disease. SOPA and PIPA are not the answer: they will fatally damage the free and open Internet.

The entertainment industry understandably feels threatened, and well they should.  But instead of forcing potential consumers to pay for the crap they come up with why don't they explore improving the quality, the delivery and the price of their PRODUCT!!!!

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Growth, maturity, evolution. . .

(From "Reflections on the Art of Living", A Joseph Campbell Companion, Selected and Edited by Diane K. Osbon, © 1991 The Joseph Campbell Foundation)

". . . When I was about sixteen years old, in prep school, and knew I was losing my childhood faith, I resolved that I would not quite the Catholic Church until I knew why I was quitting, that is to say, until I had dissolved the symbols and knew what they referred to and meant.  The whole thing wasn't over until I was twenty-five years old and in Germany.  I spent nine years working everything out, and then it just dropped off like a worn-out shirt.  That's the knowing thing.  If you don't know what the hell that symbol is saying to you, then it's just there as a command, and there is going to be more and more of this hanging on.  If you can't use your mind in this rather complex field, I don't know how you are going to work it out.

You become mature
when you become the authority for your own life.

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Pppppplease!. . .

RAY JOZWIAK Provides the Piano Prelude playing a preposterously paced program precluding the ponderous and pedestrian postmortems practiced proactively by poseurs

at The Brewer’s Alley Songwriters Showcase on Monday, January 23, 2012 @ 7:30PM

Brewer's Alley Restaurant & Brewery (Songwriters Showcase-Upstairs)
124 North Market Street
Frederick, MD 21701

Telephone: 301-631-0089 Fax: 301-631-1874
http://www.brewers-alley.com/

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Miles and Miles of quotes. . .

(Quotes from Miles Davis. . . )
"I've changed music four or five times. What have you done of any importance other than be white?"
Davis attended a reception in honor of Ray Charles at Ronald Reagan's White House in 1987. This was his reply to a Washington society lady seated next to him who had asked him what he had done to be invited.

"If somebody told me I only had an hour to live, I'd spend it choking a white man. I'd do it nice and slow."  During an interview, after growing aggravated about questions on the subject of race.

"A legend is an old man with a cane known for what he used to do. I'm still doing it."  On being called a legend.

"Jazz is like blues with a shot of heroin"

"Who's that motherfucker? He can't play shit!"
on Cecil Taylor

"You a motherfucker."  a compliment to Chick Corea, who thought he was about to be fired.

"He plays like somebody is standing on his foot."  on Eric Dolphy

"He could very well be the Duke Ellington of Rock 'n' Roll."  on Prince

"Why'd you put that white bitch on there?"
To George Avakian after seeing the cover chosen by Columbia for Miles Ahead.

"You can't play anything on a horn that Louis hasn't played." and "I love Pops" (Louis' nickname)
on Louis Armstrong in a Playboy magazine interview.

"I’ll play it and tell you what it is later."   During a recording session for Prestige, on the album "Relaxin' with the Miles Davis Quintet" (1956).

"Listen baby, when I say later, I mean it! Later!"  After being approached by a relentless interviewer.

"There are no wrong notes."  My ego only needs a good rhythm section.

On being asked what he looked for in musicians.  "When you are creating your own shit, man, even the sky ain't the limit."

"Try taking the fucking horn out of your mouth."  Davis was questioning the increasing length of John Coltrane solos, and Trane answered "I don't know how to stop."

"Don't play what's there, play what's not there.

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Bowled over . . .

. . . Dude

". . . I didn't evaluate music or entertainment for its sophistication, its level of technique or virtuosity or any of that stuff;  and still don't, for the most part.  My preferred entertainments are ones that quite simply MOVE me.  I can't always explain why, nor should I have to, but if I am moved in some small form or fashion, I deem it desirable.  And it doesn't have to move me the first time I hear it like 'love at first sight';  only in this case, at first 'listen'. In fact, some of the most rewarding (or MOVING) music that I now appreciate most did not bowl me over the first time I heard it. . . "

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Sounds funny. . .

 . . . but it's true.  It's a party with live, original music.

It's almost here. 

Who? OHO (Jay, Dave, Ray with guest vocalists Lisa Griffee and Kelly G), Easy Cowboy (w/Matt Rose), Jason & The Butchers and El Sledge (+)

What? Shlongtasm 2012; each band will perform a 25-30 minute set

Where? Joe Squared Pizza (133 W. North Ave. at the corner of North Ave. and Howard Street, Balto., MD 21201; phone: 410.545.0444)

When? 9:00 PM till closing, Friday January 20, 2012

Why? To celebrate El Sledge (+) manager, Dan Long, to rage against the dying of the light (“It’s a cold stare at humankind masquerading as happy beer-hall music—Lift your flagon to this, you f*&k.’”-Stan Ridgway), ingest some delicious pie, & to quaff steins brimmed with delicious, foaming hops-infused beverage. 

Limousine (by OHO)

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