Tuesday, January 10, 2023

Care . . .

 

". . . All successful democracies rely on informal rules that, though not found in the constitution or any laws, are widely known and respected. In the case of American democracy, this has been vital. . . the unwritten rules of a half-court game of pickup basketball are familiar to anyone who has played it. . . Democracy, of course, is not street basketball. Democracies do have written rules (constitutions) and referees (the courts). But these work best, and survive longest, in countries where written constitutions are reinforced by their own unwritten rules of the game. These rules or norms serve as the soft guardrails of democracy, preventing day-to-day political competition from devolving into a no-holds-barred conflict. . . "


Take Good Care of My Baby
- Bobby Vee
 


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Monday, January 9, 2023

More . . .

 . . .  Star



Changing, modifying, tweaking. . .  the usual stuff. 

This version of the song is played on a physical, Kawai, baby grand piano, my favorite instrument, although editing is more complex, so it is limited here. I prefer the organic experience of the real instrument which provides the ability to be more expressive.

 
     

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Sunday, January 8, 2023

From Afar . . .

 

. . . you appear not too different from me.

But the scars
You've acquired 
Did not come free.
(Stars ©2020 Raymond M. Jozwiak)



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Saturday, January 7, 2023

Shining . . .

 

(from https://www.reddit.com/r/etymology/comments/28ofkq/when_did_the_word_star_begin_to_refer_to_a_famous/)
". . . In 1779 in England David Garrick was the first actor to be labeled a "star" by J. Warner, saying, "The little stars, who hid their diminished rays in his presence begin to abuse him. . . The term was in common use in the Music Hall Era. This is reflected in the slightly passe phrase "movie star" or "Hollywood star" to refer to the type of celebrity who is famous from cinema, not stage. . . The earliest uses all speak to brightness of the star. Thus "star" likely meant "stand-out performer." By the 1907 Music Hall War it was widely understood to mean "well-known performer.". . ."



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Friday, January 6, 2023

Celestial Bodies . . .


(from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star)
". . . A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma held together by its gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night, but their immense distances from Earth make them appear as fixed points of light. The most prominent stars have been categorised into constellations and asterisms, and many of the brightest stars have proper names. Astronomers have assembled star catalogues that identify the known stars and provide standardized stellar designations. The observable universe contains an estimated 1022 to 1024 stars. Only about 4,000 of these stars are visible to the naked eye, all within the Milky Way galaxy. . ."

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Thursday, January 5, 2023

Speaking of . . .

. . . human

Thinking about songs that I've loved and admired over the years, this one always comes to mind. The lyrics present a very human reflection on one aspect of life in a very innocent, but still unapologetic way. This combined with sophisticated, jazz-inflected chord changes and a sparse instrumentation always drive the point straight home for me. 


Whatshername

- Peter, Paul & Mary



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Wednesday, January 4, 2023

Human . . .

 

(from Doctor Faustus by Thomas Mann)
". . . Let us call them the sinister possibilities of human nature in general that here come to light.  German human beings, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of them it is, who have perpetrated what humanity shudders at; and all that is German now stands forth as an abomination and a warning . . . We are present at the last gasp of a blood state which, as Luther put it, "took on its shoulders" immeasurable crimes; which roared and bellowed to the ravished and reeling masses proclamations cancelling all human rights . . . "


More Human Than Human

- White Zombie



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