Thursday, March 7, 2013

Good. . .

. . . news (for a change). . .
(By Yvonne Wenger, The Baltimore Sun)
". . . As a Friday deadline approaches, advocates are working to find housing for the homeless men and women living at a Baltimore encampment set to be cleared.

Christina Flowers, president of Belvedere Homes, stopped by the site between Interstate 83 and the Fallsway on Wednesday with a promise to find housing for those who want it. She said her organization secured a three-bedroom house in the Harwood neighborhood to accommodate six of the roughly 18 men and women at the encampment.

"At this point, it's just about being able to move forward," said Flowers, whose organization on North Charles Street provides housing for those who are homeless, suffer from disabilities or have a mental illness. "We've got the building; now we need the sheets and dishes."

  Flowers worked with other community advocates to identify open rooms for the camp residents, most of whom refused to go to a city emergency shelters for various reasons, including safety concerns.

The housing will be available permanently for those who want it, but they'll have to contribute money each month if they have income, such as disability benefits, Flowers said. . ."





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Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Currently. . .

. . . that is about 6:15AM EST, on Wednesday. . .

The National Weather Service website said, "The storm system impacting the Midwest will shift into the northeast U.S. on Wednesday, bringing a plethora of weather hazards. Heavy snow, especially in the central Appalachians and northern Mid-Atlantic, strong winds, coastal flooding and rough seas are a few of the weather hazards which may lead to dangerous travel conditions, localized power outages and property damage."

Funny how one's perception of WEATHER (among many other things) changes with age:

At 6 years of age -  the more severe the forecast, the better.  Bring it on.  No school. YEAH!!

At 16 years of age - severe forecast, could get a day off,  will miss band practice,  have to make up missed schoolwork. 

At 26 years of age - driving to work is going to be a bear.  

At 36 years of age - schools are closed.  Who's going watch the kids.

At 46 years of age - driving to work is going to be a bear.  Hope the kids drive safely.

At 56 years of age - snow, wind, floods, power outages and property damage - let's move SOUTH.

BTW, at 10:49PM EST, all we got was rain.  Haha.  Oh well.





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Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Fishbone. . .

(from wikipedia.com)
Fishbone is a U.S. alternative rock band formed in 1979 in Los Angeles, California, which plays a fusion of ska, punk rock, funk, hard rock and soul. Critics have noted of the band: "Fishbone was one of the most distinctive and eclectic alternative rock bands of the late '80s. With their hyperactive, self-conscious diversity, goofy sense of humor, and sharp social commentary, the group gained a sizable cult following during the late '80s, yet they were never able to earn a mainstream audience."

Fishbone first assembled in 1979 with John Norwood Fisher (bass); his brother Phillip "Fish" Fisher (drums); Angelo Moore, who sometimes uses the stage name "Dr. Madd Vibe" (vocals, saxophones ranging from sopranino to bass, theremin); Kendall Jones (guitar); "Dirty" Walter A. Kibby II (vocals, trumpet); and Christopher Dowd, who sometimes uses the pseudonym "Charlie Down" (keyboards, trombone, vocals). Founding members John Norwood Fisher, Angelo Moore, and Walter Kibby remain with the band as of 2013.

Fishbone got started in 1979 as a "disparate, all-black oddball crew" when the members were in junior high school. The Fisher brothers, Jones, Dowd, and Kibby were all from South Central Los Angeles. and were included in a school busing program that sent them daily to the San Fernando Valley, where they met Moore, who was native to the area. After first using the name Megatron with Titus Norris on vocals, the sextet adopted the name Fishbone and formed a unique stew of different styles that became popular in the Los Angeles club scene and was a great influence on several subsequent alternative bands.[citation needed] They were close friends with Los Angeles bands like the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Thelonious Monster. Fishbone were signed to Columbia Records in 1983 after being spotted at a club gig by producer David Kahne. Their first release was the 1985 single "Party at Ground Zero", followed by a self-titled EP, Fishbone. In 1987, in support of their first full-length album, In Your Face, the band performed "Jamaica Ska" in the Annette Funicello/Frankie Avalon reunion movie Back to the Beach. Fishbone's first major international tour was as the opening act for the Beastie Boys.

Fishbone was mostly considered to be a ska and funk band in their early years, but later became more guitar-driven with a focus on rock and soul music. The 1988 album Truth and Soul brought Fishbone wide critical acclaim. With this album, the band also added left-leaning social commentary to their lyrics, covering important topics such as the breakup of families, early 1990s racism, fascism, nuclear war, and oppression in lower income housing projects. The album was highlighted by a hard rock-inspired version of Curtis Mayfield's classic "Freddie's Dead" from the film Super Fly. The music video, directed by Douglas Gayeton, became the band's first hit on MTV. That same year, the group toured with the Red Hot Chili Peppers and became nationally known in the burgeoning alternative music scene. Also that year, Fishbone and Little Richard recorded the Lead Belly song "Rock Island Line" for the tribute album Folkways: A Vision Shared.

The band added former Miles Davis sideman John Bigham on guitar and keyboards in 1989. The 1991 album The Reality of My Surroundings was a critical and commercial success, reaching #49 on the Billboard albums chart. One month before the album's release, the group played a memorable performance on Saturday Night Live of "Sunless Saturday," a song which later featured an MTV video directed by Spike Lee. The song "Everyday Sunshine" also became a modest hit on radio and MTV.

While the band retained their roots in funk and ska, the 1993 album Give a Monkey a Brain and He'll Swear He's the Center of the Universe included songs with hard rock, punk, and heavy metal elements. At the time of the album's release, the band began to tear apart internally. Just before Fishbone joined the 1993 Lollapalooza tour, guitarist Kendall Jones, reportedly suffering from mental instability, quit the band and joined a religious group. Bassist John Norwood Fisher tracked Jones down in the belief that he needed rescue from the religious group, only to be charged with attempted kidnapping; Fisher was acquitted at trial. A benefit concert to help with Fisher's legal expenses featured Porno for Pyros, Primus, Tool, and Alice in Chains. Keyboardist Christopher Dowd left Fishbone in 1994 and released an album titled Puzzle in 1997 under the name The Seedy Arkhestra, with various guests including Jeff Buckley and N'Dea Davenport. The album included an anti-Fishbone song called "Flog Your Dead Horse."






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Monday, March 4, 2013

Quote. . .

. . . from Bertrand Russell confronted me today. . .

“The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser men so full of doubts.”

. . . which really struck me.  In the past twenty-some years that I have been writing and attempting to market (in some form or fashion) original material, it occurred to me that this is exactly what stopped me from starting this process much, much earlier.  So after reading this Russell gem, I believe that it was actually not insecurity that prevented me from jumping head first into a musical pursuit, it was actually wisdom.

But to take this another step, I always felt that wisdom comes with age, simply because the longer one lives, the more experience he attains by virtue of mere longevity.  But if what Russell says is true, my late-found self-confident could be nothing more than foolishness.

. . . or could there be a happy middle-ground in there somewhere?


 

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Sunday, March 3, 2013

More. . .

. . . from the "Is This Really News???" department. . .


(from the Associated Press)
". . . Ex-NBA star Dennis Rodman hung out Thursday with North Korea's Kim Jong Un on the third day of his improbable journey with VICE to Pyongyang, watching the Harlem Globetrotters with the leader and later dining on sushi and drinking with him at his palace. "You have a friend for life," Rodman told Kim before a crowd of thousands at a gymnasium where they sat side by side, chatting as they watched players from North Korea and the U.S. play, Alex Detrick, a spokesman for the New York-based VICE media company, told The Associated Press. . . "




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Saturday, March 2, 2013

Highs. . .

. . . and Lows. . .
Just look at the morning paper
And tell me what you see
Is something very wrong
Or maybe my eyes deceive me
Somewhere in the local section
A buried paragraph
Someone who had the time to care
And the character to act

The higher the highs
The lower the lows
The older I get
That's the way that it goes
The more that I think that I want
The less that I need
Because I realize how precious
And how short
This time with you may be

When you're young and your biggest worry's
What game you want to play
Such innocence is just surpassed
By the naivete
Take good with the worst
And better
You know they're not the same
Youth somehow brings them all together
Different they are
But subtle the shades

The higher the highs
The lower the lows
The older I get
That's the way that it goes
The more that I think that I want
The less that I need
Because I realize how precious
And how short
This time with you may be

Youth really
Is only wasted
If never
You've tasted
All the bitter
As well as sweet

I hope you don't misunderstand me
Or what I want to say
It's nothing revolutionary
Ignorance won't make this go away
Nobody likes a busybody
Nobody knows it all
There's one thing I can tell you certain
Take none for granted 
Short or the tall

The higher the highs
The lower the lows
The older I get
That's the way that it goes
The more that I think that I want
The less that I need
Because I realize how precious
And how short
This time with you may be


Highs & Lows
©2000 Raymond M. Jozwiak




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Friday, March 1, 2013

Connection. . .

During our semi-regular and all-too-frequent dinner-time discussions regarding our government, political parties, facts and the lack thereof, the tendency of the general population to latch onto the emotional aspect of an issue and cling to it like a dog with a bone to the detriment of the general population resulting in polarization and inaction, we inexplicably found ourselves discussing Radiohead.  Logical, right?!  

These primarily political discussions generally result in Russell or myself getting particularly boisterous, always a result of passion since we are always both sitting firmly on the same side of the issue. 

But Radiohead!?  Really???  

Now talking about polarization, my perception is that one either loves or hates Radiohead, while Radiohead commands a large and fiercely loyal audience and for that I certainly give credit well deserved.  My issue with Radiohead is strictly subjective, as matters of taste most certainly are, in that I find my scant experience with Radiohead takes me back to the 80s, a musical period that I perceive to be chock-full of heavy reverbed, emotional English crooners belting dirge-like, string-heavy and unintelligible ballads which I find neither intellectually challenging nor emotionally satisfying.

I'm just saying. . .





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