Hole in the Sky

“Missing (You)”, ©Jeff Glovsky

because it must.

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Blah Blah (Versions)

About Jeff Glovsky
on ...

LinkedIn (DE)

Dividing his time between München and New York City, Jeff Glovsky is a dedicated business owner / entrepreneur with an ear for writing and an eye for photography; and a multimedia / presentation support specialist with a background in live music and years of hands-on experience in touring, club, festival, hotel, university and Tier 1 financial settings.

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XING

Jeff Glovsky offers corporate event services, AV / production support and renewable (solar) energy consultation to an established private client database. He is a photographer / "raw" image content provider and a published writer of exaggerated non-fiction ("faction") short stories and prose poetry.

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Viadeo

Jeff Glovsky is a corporate event services and executive travel consultant, as well as a boating enthusiast and yacht and private jet charter partner. He has been a jazz and world music booking agent, and currently works with the non-profit Global Music Project® as a regional events director.

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Music2Deal

As a live 'Tonmensch' (sound engineer), Jeff Glovsky has mixed sound at the Blue Note, Jazz Standard and Birdland jazz clubs in New York City, and for Sue Mingus and the Mingus Big Band / Mingus Orchestra.

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AVglov (Jeff Glovsky)

[ ... is an Audio-Visual technician / operator with a corporate event services skill set and background in live music and sound mixing.  He is a regional events director with Global Music Project®, and a freelance photographer and raw image / content provider.  His portfolio of idiosyncratic Photo(s) by Jglo can be seen on Behance, and across the ongoing "Lo-Fi Project" on Tumblr and WordPress. ]

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LinkedIn (U.S.)

Dividing his time between New York City and Munich, Germany, J(eff) Glovsky is a corporate event services and executive travel consultant, as well as a boating enthusiast and yacht and private jet charter partner.

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... Its Ugly Head

This unhappy fella

began whistling this

when he found himself riding the bus

with ... "THESE PEOPLE".

Racism

... comes in many colors.

It isn't always black and white.

To be honest, I question whether some of this, as reported, actually happened ("No Diet Coke for you"? Really?? Someone said that?  Was Pepsi okay? :).

Things are often embellished, blown out of proportion, (conveniently) misremembered or misheard ... and "The Internet", where the Tahera Ahmad / United Airlines discrimination story is the virus du jour, is simply not the barometer of truth that ... well, "The Internet" ... tries WAY.TOO.HARD to make us believe.

But the sad, New York asshole, above and below, whistling "America" from West Side Story as a Mexican (not Puerto Rican, mind you) family sat down on the bus beside him, IS truth.  You do exist, dude ... Saw and heard you behave that way!

You should be ashamed of yourself.

Sensitive Content(s)

READ

Slice / Life (annoyances, episodes)

There'll be a quiz ...

Disturbance

The 25th

by Jeff Glovsky
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Going Down

It could've been me again ... sort of.

On September 11, 2001, I happened not to be working audio-visual with the Windows on the World team at 1 World Trade Center ... in the North Tower, up on the 106th floor there, where I'd arrive for freelance gigs fairly regularly, and in fact, just completed one two days prior.

Now yesterday, as I'm holed up in a Starbucks, waiting for an afternoon appointment to show, the ground shakes ... a terrible BOOM rents the (terrible) day ... and the entire store pours onto the New York sidewalk, cell phones raised, Instagram at the ready ...

I'm literally the only one left inside.  Not deigning to join all the show business kids falling over themselves not to feel, but to transmit, a unique experience -- letting it wash over and past them, instead of sinking in and through -- I help myself to a blueberry muffin, snap a few photos of billowing smoke and walk north, uptown, to get away from it all.

Then Germanwings ... German things, in general (prosaically speaking) do not tend to fail.  There is pride in the ranks of the Mittelstandes ... the industrial middle class ... engine and backbone of Europe's standout economy.

Pride.  Perfection.  Precision ... macht frei.  All the trains are on time, I can ride with my phone ... I never once worry about scalding myself, under an electronic showerhead, with temperature exactitudes to a quarter-degree Celsius (!), whenever I'm scrubbing myself in München.

I've never once boarded a plane in Germany -- or more precisely, a German airline -- and needed to worry about being delayed, bumped, cancelled (Hundewetter notwithstanding) or otherwise inconvenienced ... or frankly, pissed off by the attitudes of lazy, bored, undertrained, overwhelmed workers.  There are no such, pathetically flailing in Germany.  Instead, for the most part -- though, in all honesty, with increasing exception -- there is PRIDE still:  in work performed well; services capably rendered.

Some of this dichotomy, I imagine, is generational - There tends to be an older, more loyal, established and responsible workforce in Germany, so things run efficiently:  with experience, common sense and allowances for dignity ... as compared to the soullessly fearful, pig-headed and/or nonsensical service sectors of other places, the U.S. in particular.

Some seemingly glaring differences in attitude, though, I acknowledge, just might be imagined.  For example, I speak almost kein Deutsch ... I can't really know for certain who's slacking, who's beefing, who's grousing about work or their shitty day ... and I can't respond anyway, if I do get pissed off.  In Germany, I'm forced more to swallow nonsense, perhaps ...

But generally (prosaically) speaking, German things don't tend to fall from the sky.  When I heard the news yesterday that Germanwings co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz, intentionally flew Flight 9525 into a mountain, it first came as a relief to me:  It wasn't terrorism.  This one was not a small battle in World War III ... At least that.

It didn't come as a surprise, though.  In the scope of things, given Germany's overall track record for efficiency and manufacturing efficacy, something was wrong (German things don't just fall out of the sky) ... The crash of Germanwings Flt. 9525 could only have been intentional, I thought.

Lo and behold ...

“Wings & Prayers”, ©Jeff Glovsky

Obnoxious

For most of my adult life, since first being subjected to, quite literally, 'music free commercial marathons' on New York City radio in the late 1980s, I've opted out as a radio listener.

To me, there is nothing -- no thing -- more grating, like nails on a chalkboard or through the skull, than a shouting, hyped-up radio ad.  Annoyingly crass, too often unfunny, always talking too fast and demanding I hear ... There has been, and remains, no single thing that will make me move quicker to turn off or unplug an inaminate object, than an obnoxious and overlong music- and energy-sucking commercial on non-public radio.

Inasmuch, society's "hits" have never meant anything to me.  I couldn't say thirty years ago what you, as a kid, were 'dancing' to; I certainly can't tell you now.

Wait, that's untrue.  In fact, I'm "hipper" today ... better informed musically, from a societal (or "Top 40") perspective, than I was in that era when U2, Whitney Houston, Roxette and Lisa Lisa -- and Crazy Eddie -- all shared the airwaves and vied for attention.

This, of course, has as much to do with social media, as it does the little "rugrat" vying for my attention (guilelessly bopping now to One Republic :) ... not only the Internet, but the prevalence of Things.  Music -- news, weather, awareness in general -- seep in today, more than they ever were able to.

Today then, is a forced content (non-"on demand"), overly ad-serving platform like radio even necessary?

Along these lines ... Should anybody really be surprised about Beck winning Grammys in 2015?  Be asking, even jokily -- like Kanye stalking forth to claim "his" prize (for Beyonce!) -- "Who the fuck is Beck?"?

You know who Beck is!  Even you, little "Rugrat" ... Inconceivable back when Beck was 'losing', you're old enough now for 'lost' worlds to seep in ... You should add a Republic!  A Direction or two!  Become multi- ... Span generations.  Expand.

And above all, learn ...

to respect artistry.

It's Only Winter

"The furious hoarfrost bearing down upon us knows neither mercy nor reason ... Clutch your babes close to your breast and take small comfort in knowing that they will howl for but a few hours before death becalms them forever." -

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio

I want cabin fever.

I actually want to be "non-essential" ... so that when I'm forced to stay home from work, losing money and faced with an actual blizzard (of backlog, coming back into it), I don't stress;

I want to believe the "weather team", from whatever "information" source being forced down my throat, throbbing, stuffing my ears full of dire "news" about the fact that it's winter, and sometimes it snows!

... I want to believe them when they tell me, all day, excitedly, babbling repeatedly, warnings about the "historic" storm ... The inexplicably NAMED winter snowfall.  "Why is the snow called 'Juno', Daddy?

"Is snow going to hurt us?"

... The five year old's questions more calm, more rational, more simply reasoned, than anyone breathlessly standing outside in this winter season's first "event", holding a microphone while loudly declaiming and pointing at things:  "Now we're starting to see sanitation workers move into place!" as a garbage truck passes in front of a camera ... "You don't want to be outside in this MONSTER!"

NEWSFLASH:  It's winter.  It's one of four seasons.  Sometimes it snows, hard.

It's NOT "Snowmageddon".

It's ONLY WINTER.  Sometimes, okay, there is even a blizzard (and sometimes, in SUMMER, there's thunder and lightning!).  It's not invitation to fill me with dread ... try and addle me mentally, put me to bed!!!

The "Extreme Threat Alert Message" received on New York City smart phones Monday -- "All non-emergency vehicles must be off all roads in NYC by 11PM until further notice." -- was, to me, as unnecessary as it was vague, discomfiting and deeply unwelcome.  Heavy-handed and Martial Law-like, as "violators" were reminded on local newscasts of summonses, and possibly even arrest.

This is why Americans kill each other.  Everyone's harangued so relentlessly, so kept on the precipice of fear and panic ... bombarded with overwrought, negative messages ... that we're all batshit crazy.

Not in a good way.
Only the five year-olds stand a chance ... if they can be left alone to enjoy winter.

Conversations

"Conversant"

"Conversant 2"

"Conversant 3"

"Talkin' 'Bout a Bike"

"Word"(s) By ...

“Word”, ©Jeff Glovsky

“No More Words”, ©Jeff Glovsky