Rant #3,897: Bits and Pieces

Yes, you have read right.

We are doing another "Bits and Pieces" after not doing one for many weeks, we have two in a row.

These stories I am going to get into today definitely do not merit a Rant-long entry, so why not do another "Bits and Pieces?"

Here we go--

Singer/Songwriter Neil Sedaka Passes Away: He was one of the giants of the early 1960s Brill Building era, where mainly Jewish, New York-based songwriters wrote so much of what we heard on our AM radios ...

But Sedaka was a bit different, because not only did he write many hit songs--with long-time buddy Howard Greenfield--but he didn't take his time getting out and performing much of what he orchestrated, unlike others like Carole King and Neil Diamond, who were hesitant about doing so.

Sedaka was something of a piano prodigy as a kid in Brooklyn, and he was even accepted to Julliard on a music scholarship.

But he found his place in the burgeoning urban pop/rock scene, helping to form the earliest version of The Tokens before going out on his own.

"Calendar Girl," "Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen," and "Oh! Carol"--about a girl he pined for, yes, Carole King--all were big hits, and he wrote and collaborated with many other stars over the years, everyone from The Monkees to Elton John.

(I always liked "Next Door To An Angel," so I posted its picture sleeve above.)

He re-emerged during the 1970s with "Love Will Keep Us Together" by The Captain and Tennille, where the refrain of the song was "Sedaka's back," and he was, with numerous hits of his own in the 1970s, such as "Bad Blood."

And yes, he is another one of these personalities who really should be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but will likely never get in due to politics and the cancel culture of the era in which he excelled.

Also, as I wrote in a brief bit this past weekend, I believe--but never could flat out say was true--that I knew some members of his family who lived in Rochdale Village in Queens, New York, when I did, during the mid-1960s through the early 1970s.

I believe Sedaka's elderly parents lived below my family in the sprawling development; we lived on the first floor, and his parents lived right below us on the ground floor in Rochdale's Building 9, Section C.

I also believe--but again, could never fully substantiate--that Sedaka had other relatives who lived in Rochdale, one of whom I was fairly friendly with.

But whatever the six degrees of separation was--real or at least never fully substantiated--Sedaka will certainly be missed.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Nominees Backlash: I am going to tell you a story, and I still find it very hard to believe that I was embroiled in this utter nonsense.

As I mentioned briefly in my previous "Bits and Pieces," I posted in a few sites on Facebook that I found the most recent list of nominees in the Hall of Fame to be the worst list I had ever seen, and I didn't feel that any of these performers--while successful in their own right--deserved to be inducted into this Hall, and I still feel that way.

As I said, I put this opinion up on a few sites, and some people agreed with me, others didn't, and that was that ...

Except on one person's post in particular, a post from someone who I generally respect highly.

I put that opinion up on this person's original post, where he lauded the choices, and one person took it upon themselves to call me every name in the book, referring to my race and religion in the process--as if this had anything to do with anything--and really going off the deep end on this.

I answered back--I mean, you cannot post such trash and not expect a reaction from me--and the original writer of the post took great offense at what I said--

But took absolutely no offense to what the other person posted about my race and religion.

I attempted to explain that my opinion was that NO ONE on the list deserved entrance into the Hall--whether they were white or black, whether they were lily-white Billy Idol or mixed race Mariah Carey or black Luther Vandross--and I was lambasted for my reply.

It shouldn't matter, but the original poster is black, the one who took offense at my post and made it a racial/religious thing is black, and yes, I am white and Jewish, so I guess I was a target.

Couple that with my earlier reaction to the death of Rev. Jesse Jackson--an avowed anti-Semite--and I was told that I got what I deserved, and that I should just take it--

Because the original poster is black and the one who lambasted me was black, so this was, essentially a "black" post.

The offending party, while calling me every name in the book, also went after the original poster, asking him why he puts up with myself and someone else--both of us are white and Jewish--in our various posts we have made.

The original poster pretty much told me that I would have to take it for my opinions, because he is black, just about all of his respondents are black, and that is the way it is.

Funny, if someone, on my "white and Jewish" posts called a black respondent on any of my Facebook posts the horrid names I was called on this "black" site, I would probably get rid of that person just about immediately.

But because I am white and Jewish, I just have to take it on this particular post?

I chatted on Facebook with the original poster. He is a nice guy, but he backed the vulgar respondent for the reasons I said earlier.

We buried the hatchet, but I am still off his friends list for at least a bit.

This is social media, where one post can make people absolutely crazy.

And I don't really buy into this nonsense that Jews "just have to take it," have to grin and bear all the anti-Semitic, anti-Jewish and anti-Israel rhetoric on social media.

No, we don't.

To paraphrase a famous saying, social media seems to be more powerful than the sword in this deranged world we live in.

Health Update: Yes, after all of this, you would think that my health would be absolutely on the fritz, but I feel pretty good, to be honest with you.

Some of my physical processes have actually come back after months of absence--stopping medication with a doctor's approval can work wonders--but I still have some things to contend with.

The first is today, where I have to go to the retinologist to see where I stand with my partly detached retina.

If it continues to show improvement, I might be able to last another month without having a procedure done.

If the doctor determines that I need the procedure done right away, then I will have to go through this, and the aftermath, where I am going to have to lay low for a while.

Hopefully, the former situation will prevail once again, and I can go a bit longer as the retina fixes itself.

But if not, I am going to have to have this done--

And that could impact my work, and my time here at the Blog.

So this might be it for this week here at the Blog, or you might see me again on Tuesday and for the immediate future.

So if that is it for this week, I will speak to you again, hopefully, next week.

Say a prayer for me, because I feel that I am going to need it.