THURSDAY---another Edition of NOBODY ASKED ME BUT.....

The usual tip of the fedora to Jimmy Cannon----

NOBODY ASKED ME BUT.......

1)    How many times do you get to see a terrific concert at no cost?   Forget the $100 plus tickets at the arenas.  Come over to the Orangeburg Library (call for reservation—845 359-2244---FREE) on Sunday 12/2 at 2 PM.  Do get there at 1 PM to view this multifaceted artist’s art work.  I speak of CHRISTOPHER BROWN---Not Chris Brown----Rock’s problem.

2)   Facebook might turn out to be the psychotherapy out there and it is free (except for the annoying ads).   Some people truly get their professional information out there---and then there are the folks who post everything from their shopping list to their bowel movements.   They are truly being helped by this medium since a “shrink” would charge an exorbitant amount to have them vent and accomplish “zilch”.  It may well be that Facebook will be the downfall of the pontificating and pointless purveyors “pap” at exorbitant rates.   Shakespeare said it best (as always) about these purveyors of panacea ----“...signifying nothing..”   OK, it is the last line of a longer speech talking of something else yet does apply here---just forget the “ sound and fury part” which was not mentioned here.

3)    An amazing array of wonderful new material always arrives at this time of year for air on both Sunday Simcha and Traditions.    Let me just give you a few items that might work for gift giving time---

For SUNDAY SIMCHA Fans---

a)            The Idelsohn Society---anything at all with special attention to  Twas The Night Before Hannukah (2 CD set)—also their Black Sabbath recording of African American Artists doing Jewish Music

b)            Susan Colin and Joy Katzen Guthrie and any of their recordings.  Two cantorial charmers of wonderful vocal delivery

    For TRADITIONS Fans---

a)            Kim & Reggie Harris ---Resurrection Day

b)            Anne Hills---The Things I Notice Now (Tribute to  Tom Paxton)

c)            Suzie Brown—Heartstrings (for the Prine cover song there)

d)            Iris Dement---Sings the Delta---because she is Iris Dement

e)            Tune in and find even more items of note.

4)                December 16 will be my last show for this year.  Ron Olesko will be doing the others for Christmas and New Years and I return on January 5 with my special guest.  Mara Levine.   She will be debuting her new album and we shall have an interesting conversation about her and her new CD.  I will, on the last show of the year for me, try to select some of the most meaningful music I have played this year---it could be new, it could be classic, and mainly it will be meaningful to me and, I hope, to you as well.

5)                It is amazing how nothing dies on the internet.   I just rcvd. a request for a copy of an interview I did with THEODORE back in 1998 or so and it was mentioned in the, now defunct, THE ALMOST DAILY ROOSTER  in 2008. The answer was “..not available..”  This brings up the question---do you ever die on the internet even if you have left this world in the true sense?

6)                I wonder how the younger generation(s) can envision life without all the instant communication of today’s world.  Probably as I cannot envision the days prior to automobiles and telephones (I am not that old).  Still, think of a few things.  Does this immediacy of communication really make things better?   Was not, say diplomacy amongst nations, better when there was more time for thought?  Were kids not better off making up their own games and fun?  Did it not make it more worthwhile to do research instead of a quick one liner from a search engine (truth in commentary---that is still magic to me and amazing)?    Well,  now the next line---“...get the hell off my lawn...”

7)                As we get to the end of the year I do want to thank all the listeners for their interest and support of SUNDAY SIMCHA & TRADITIONS.  I also want to thank so many of you who have made SUNDAY SIMCHA such a part of your Sunday routine.  And, I do not serve bagels and/or coffee. 

8)                I am not a diplomat but I do have to wonder about the semantics of the U N resolution granting non-member status to Palestine.  Perhaps the person who stated that words are powerful things has it right then.   A State in words only.   Then again, let us recall the British and the Balfour Declaration which talked of Palestine as a Jewish state (Home—to be exact).   Hmmmm!!!!!