Rant #2,800: Oh How Happy

Today, right after Christmas and right before New Year’s Day, we have reached another milestone at the Ranting and Raving Blog.
 
Happy post number 2,800!
 
On Monday, May 4, 2009, I finally decided to do something about the “itch” I was having to write something more than what I was being paid to do at my workplace.
 
Yes, social media probably spurred it on, because reading what was being posted on Facebook, I decided that I wanted to take my own opinions with me, but at another level, and so the original Ranting and Raving Blog was created.
 
Several years later, the blog was hacked, and I had to create a new replacement, which I did, and that is why this second Ranting and Raving Blog came about.
 
I have written on so many different subjects here, everything from politics to the coronavirus, and certainly much lighter subjects, like my record collection, and it has all been fun to do.
 
I know that this blog doesn’t draw thousands of readers each weekday, and you know what? I like it like that.
 
With fewer readers, the blog has become more personal, more “me talking to you” rather than “me talking to a group,” and that is the way I like it.
 
The blog draws readers right to this site, but since I put it up on Facebook, I know that dozens of people are reading what I have to say each and every weekday, so I don’t really need thousands of people coming here; what I have is enough for me.
 
So without further ado, here are the very first posts that I made on this blog.
 
Sure, the blog now totals even more than 2,800 separate posts, but this is the round number of entries that there have been during the past 12-plus years, so we will leave it at that.
 
Here is the first post on the Ranting and Raving Blog from May 4, 2009:
 
Welcome to the Ranting and Raving Blog
“I have created this blog because I need an outlet to vent my frustrations with everything in this crazy world we live in.
 
Please feel free to reply to my vents and add your observations, even if they run counter to mine.”
 
And here is official post number one on the blog:
 
Rant #1: Today’s Music

I was born in 1957, right in the middle of the first era of rock and roll. We are talking about Elvis, Little Richard, Jerry Lee, Chuck Berry, and all the rest.
 
Fast forward. I just turned 52. My wife and I are raising a son in the current era of rock and roll (if that is what you want to call it). This era's musical heroes: 50 Cent, T.I., Coldplay, Pink ...
 
Get the picture? I cannot stomach today's music, if that is what you want to call it. There are no melodies, nothing to sing along to, and well, to me, the music is crap (get it c-rap=crap).
 
Yes, I guess I am an old fuddy duddy, but how can you compare the trash around today with what we heard when we were kids?
 
My son listens to all different types of music, but like most kids today, he leans toward what is currently popular, meaning rap and what I like to call yelling and screaming music. These "artists" complain about everything under the sun, but do they really know what suffering is?
 
Yes, I know there were probably similar complaints when Elvis became popular, and when the Beatles came on the scene. Certainly, our parents turned their noses at the Rolling Stones and any music with drug references.
 
But c'mon--you could chide those artists' appearance, but could you really argue that their music was unlistenable?
 
I know what my son is listening to, but it is very hard to police. He is 13, and this is what kids are listening to. I can't really argue with him, because he also listens to the aforementioned Beatles, and a lot of 1960s and 1970s artists.
 
And, by the way, while I am ranting, wasn't it more fun--and more artistic--to sing about the "act" rather than say it right out loud, and do it so vulgarly?
 
Everyone knows what the songs are about, and have been about for generations. But to come out and say it--well, that is just not very artistic, is it?
 
I blame both the artists and record companies for allowing this trash to rear its ugly head, but we as a society have to take the blame too, because we allow this garbage into our homes.
 
Believe me, I am not for standing over artists, telling them what to say, and threatening lawsuits and other actions. It is just that the artists of other generations, with less artistic freedom, got their point across in a much more elevated fashion.
 
Is there any music out there today, being created by younger artists, that is listenable?
 
(By the way, I don't want to make this another music blog, this is just a subject that I would like to address here--other subjects will follow, I promise!)”
 
So there you have it.
 
What does the future hold for the blog?
 
I don’t know, but since 2022 is its “bar mitzvah” year, I am sure whatever happens, it will continue to be an interesting journey, and I hope you continue to go with me as the Ranting and Raving Blog gets closer to that anniversary date and goes full speed ahead to Rant numbers 2,900 and 3,000.
 
Thanks for taking that journey with me!