Friends, Readers,Steve Fans, Lend Me Your Ears!

 I came to my last blog to praise Temple Emanu-El, its cantors, their High Holy Days playlist on Spotify, and the late,great 95.5 PLJ, not to bury Christianity. I firmly believe in Freedom of Religion and I respect the right of our brothers and sisters to worship as they choose. (Or, as the Doobie Brothers put it, "Jesus Is Just Alright With Me.") I was just trying to put in a good word for the playlist, which is positive and encouraging in its own way, and vent my continued frustration over the end of a trailblazing station like 'PLJ. Like last time, I apologize if I have stepped on any toes. 

Sorry Steve

Open Letter To K-Love

 To The People Who Unceremoniously Eliminated The Best Songs On The Radio From 95.5 FM In NYC:

Although I'm aware our High Holy Days are about to begin and we're about to ask the Lord for forgiveness, I will neither forgive or forget your parent, the Educational Media Foundation's purchase of New York's legendary 95.5 PLJ and other great radio stations then owned by Cumulus Media, which required the total elimination of all secular pop music and a commitment to what you guys billed as Positive! Encouraging! Christian music (I DO love Amy Grant, Jump 5, and Michael W. Smith, but mostly when they sound more like real, honest-to-Billboard pop music.). If you guys want to get back the PLJ listeners you shooed away on May 31,2019 at 7:00 PM EST, you should take a cue, pun intended, from Temple Emanu-El  Associate Cantor Sara Anderson and Cantor Mo Glazman and their playlist, "We Return: Emanu-El Cantors' HHD 5783 Playlist"

While it DOES include music from contemporary Israeli performers and hymns such as "Aveinu Malkenu (Our Father, Our King)" and "Kol Nidrei", it also includes music that used to be part and parcel of the PLJ playlist (Florence and the Machine, Justins Timberlake and Bieber, One Republic), and even going back to 'PLJ's days as New York's Best Rock. (The Byrds, David Bowie during his Ziggy Stardust period, and my close,warm,personal friend, Judy Collins.) In short, pop music doesn't have to be all about Our Boy The Late Great J.C. Of Biblical Fame to be positive or encouraging, or even religious. (I refer to a lot of your current songs which tend to hit those of us who don't accept Hay Zeus as our Lord over the head with their message.) To hear what I mean, I strongly suggest you type "We Return" on the Spotify app (from Google Play, the Apple App Store, or the Microsoft Store, unless you believe such modern technology is against your religion) or visit http://www,emanuelnyc.org and get a link from their High Holy Days portal. Once you click on and listen (THREE HOURS OF COMMERCIAL-FREE MUSIC AND ZERO TALK! Kinda makes you nostalgic for those old 'PLJ days, doesn't it? Hint,hint!), you, and the geniuses at Cumulus, will find out the egregious mistake you made when you got rid of all that great, already positive and encouraging music, and don't we all need some positive encouragement at the start of a New Year?

L' Shanah Tovah!

Steve

P.S.: Also wishing you Peace Love and Joy! (See what I did?)

Oops!

I forgot to add the words "since Queen Victoria" when referring to Queen Elizabeth's reign as a widow. My bad!

The Queen Is Dead, Long LiveThe King

 Elizabeth Alexandra Mary,(21 April 1926-8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and 14 other Commonwealth realms from 6 Feburary 1952 for a total of 75 years and 214 days, the longest reign of any British monarch and the second longest of any monarch of a sovereign country.

Enigmatic to the end, we knew less about Queen Elizabeth II's beliefs and convictions than we did about those of  her son and heir, King Charles III, and her many children-in-law, especially the former Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.and Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, who was embroiled in the child molestation case against Trump supporter Jeffrey Epstein. 

The first British monarch ever to address a joint session of the United States Congress and the first monarch to reign as a widow or widower, Elizabeth II presided over a transitional era which saw Rhodesia declare its independence and change its name to Zimbabwe, Argentina try to reclaim the Falkland Islands (las islas Malvinas, as they were originally called), and Australia grow closer to the USA in political and economic terms (They dropped the pound in favor of the Australian dollar. and citizens have been entertaining the idea of an Australian Republic.)

In the 1960's she made headlines when she awarded the Beatles the MBE, the highest civilian honor in Britain, (Paul McCartney caused a bit of a stir when he sang,"Her Majesty is a pretty nice girl." in a throwaway ditty at the end of the ABBEY ROAD album, but it was nothing compared to his songwriting partner John Lennon's decision to return his MBE as a result of British involvement in Northern Ireland and Biafra and the punk legends the Sex Pistols  raining on the Queen's Silver Jubilee in 1977 with their own version of "God Save The Queen."

Unfortunately, her long and illustrious career was plagued by many illnesses, including COVID 19, which led to either attending state events virtually or skipping them altogether. On September 8,the world came to a halt when it was announced that the Queen's health was declining and the presence of her children at her bedside was required. A few days prior, she seemed her old robust self as she welcomed Britain's new Prime Minister, Liz Truss,but the reign of the monarch who brought the UK into modern times came to a tragic end,as, after 96 years of life, the Queen left historic Balmoral Castle and a grieving world, in a peaceful fashion. We wish King Charles III the best of luck as he steers Britain through its most challenging economic and political period in recent memory, as well as as his sons William and Harry and their wives Kate and Meghan as they train their progeny for whatever the future may bring.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to our British readers and to this author's many British friends.

The Queen is dead, but not the memories.

Long live, and God save, the King.

Steve