What It Is…
The general, approved advice for building a website is to focus on just one thing: for example, your business OR your recipes OR your politics OR your toothbrush, etc, and to build separate sites/blogs for different subjects that interest you, so as not to confuse people about the ONE TRUE PURPOSE of the site they are spending their precious 20 seconds on. (I say “20 seconds” because that is supposedly how long most people spend on a site..who does these studies anyway?..oops, time’s up.)
But I don’t operate like that in real life, so why start here? There are three subjects (and a few sub-subjects as well) on this site: Music Art and Politics. Here’s how these subjects are organized at www.johnpazdan.com.
All About…the MUSIC part
My vocation (I used to use the term “profession”..but it is not my profession, as I am about as far from being a “professional” as one can get and still exist..)) is the conception, composition, arrangement, performance, production, recording, mixing, mastering and delivery (live and through physical medium(s), (like cd’s), as well as digital files disseminated through the Internet) of original, soulful, juice-filled music. This site gives you my background and experience in those fields. It also gives you some of my music to download and hopefully enjoy….for free. Most of that music is licensed under Creative Commons, more on what that is a little later. I sometimes collaborate with artists, both locally, and around the world through organizations like ccMixter.org.; there are downloads and links for that work too.
Also under the “Music” subject there are connections to people I think you will enjoy listening to…. and some reviews/criticisms/rants/kudos/promotions etc on subjects pertaining to music; these are usually in the general blog section.
on to…the ART part
The Art section of this site promotes Art and the Artists who make it happen. I have found a lot of inspiration for my music through art forms outside of music..painting, drawing, photography, dance, sculpture, etc. I make an effort to get to know Artists who practice in these fields, as the cross discipline exchange of ideas energizes my work. And as working in The Arts is often a solitary pursuit, and in this mean-spirited, anti-intellectual culture, a hard road to travel as well, lending my support to my fellow artists is important to me. So under this subject heading are links to Artists whose work I admire, both locally and around the world. The blog has reviews/shout outs/criticisms/etc about Art in general as well.
and then there’s that …POLITICS… thing
Until a few years ago, I had been existing in the corporate media sponsored political disinformation morass most Americans find themselves in these dark days. As a kid and young adult, I was politically energized to try to change things, both locally and in the world. But though I never voted for the morons, village idiots and fascists who came to power in The United States of Amnesia (that’s Gore Vidal’s term, not mine, though I use it a lot), I had become, quite frankly, apolitical. I have had a big awakening… much to the dismay of a lot of people who were comfortable with the apolit John Pazdan. The Political part of this site provides links to organizations I am involved with, as well as trackbacks and blogs about the current political climate. It does the same for various environmental groups’ blogs/sites I support. And it links to, quotes and reviews various secular humanist and atheist blogs I read. (… being a godless Socialist, New Deal Progressive Populist, Gay and Lesbian Rights supporting, Feminist supporting, Human and Animal Rights supporting, Pro Choice, European-American who believes in and tries to work for Peace and Justice in the World. You may now surf to somewhere else, it’s alright, I understand). It’s all “politics” to me, and that’s what makes up the third part of this site.
Some other things you should know about this site:
What did he say?
UPDATED 3/3/08: YEA! A new translator! Including…Dutch! So now, Marco Raaphorst, the fahnkiest man in Den Hague, can actually read what I write..O Brave New World.. Since it uses the Google translator, I can never be sure of what my writing translates to in your language, but my intention is to simply let the non-English speaking world in. If you use it because English is not your first language (and there are those who would point out that MY English appears not to be MY first language, see below), and you get things that are obviously translated wrong, do me a favor..TELL ME , ok?
Updated 4/14/08..well..the Google translator sort of umm..BLOWS..but at least it is making for some pretty funny translations..and I don’t have to bother certain people to please translate everything for the one amerikanski who reads their blog.
While on the subject of language…I communicate with a lot of people who have pointed out (always tactfully of course 
) that they sometimes (OFTEN! ed.) misunderstand what I am saying because of my use of slang, euphemisms, regional American dialects, and plain old made up words. To which I usually reply “tough luck, bub”..no I don’t do that..but I do like to use the English language (American version) in a way that injects some humor and life. I have been thinking of what to do about this, as a website should ..uhh, emm, like uhhh duude, clearly communicate. So for the time being, I am pulling back a bit..i.e. censoring my own bad self (that is a reference to and by James Brown, The Godfather of Soul). I am looking into a WordPress plugin that serves as a sort of glossary. Translating my own english into English, as it were..so to speak..therefore and to with. Update 4/14/08. I am starting my own “speak like a Chicagoan” audio dictionary. Soon, all my hoodlum friends will be artfully espousing on how to “git daddy his Kents off the couch by the fraant room”..etc..who knows..could be super big!
Big Picture/Little Picture
We currently live on the western edge of the huge city-state called Chicago, in the town of Aurora. (Update 4/15/08: since the Great Reconstruction of this blog..Rena and I have been spending our weekends in a fabulous place on Lake Michigan in downtown Chicago. We are starting to feel human again…) Some of the things on this site are about that (actually not so) Little Picture: local politics, local artists, the Chicago music scene, etc. Some of the site covers the Big Picture, by which I mean the nation and the world. I will tag and reference and separate as much as I can. Personally, I always find it interesting to read a blog or look at a site that takes in both; I enjoy reading about a bar in Den Hague NL, then getting some theory on music promotion two entries down…on the same site.
Who is this “we” anyway?
I sometimes say “we” when I am speaking in the first person. This is not some sort of semantic canard (huh? ed.), rather I am referring to me and my wife Rena. She is a beautiful soulful woman, a brilliant artist, and the hardest working Public Art Director in the Western World. We (now you know) are building a site for her art, and it will be up soon and linked to from here. It also refers sometimes to my wonderful daughter Rachael and me. Rachael is a college student who is politically aware as well as truly talented in several Arts (and not) fields. And despite a few minor setbacks, is going forward with her plans to inject large parts of the Old and New Worlds with Peace and Justice.
I am NOT a “sports fan”, why does he keep saying that?
I was born and grew up on the West Side of Chicago. An expression used in my neighborhood in the 1950’s and 60’s was “sports fans”. This term was reserved for people you were friendly and comfortable with, as in “Hey sports fans, how ya doin’?” I think the expression came from a Chicago sports team radio announcer, but I really don’t know for sure, it’s simply something from my past that I like to use once and a while. So if you see it here, please don’t be alarmed, as I don’t mean to infer that you like and/or watch professional sports. See what I mean about needing a glossary?
