In the 15 years I’ve been doing this blog, I’ve never repeated an “end of the year musical close out” – until this year. In past years, I’ve welcomed in the new year with Teena Marie, Fleetwood Mac, Gerry Rafferty, k.d. Lang, Billy Joel, Roberta Flack and others. Last year, I featured Pentatonix and frankly, 2020 was a disaster. Now whether or not 2020 was bad because I used Pentatonix is not up for discussion. Honestly, as good a group as Pentatonix is, it will be a while (a long while) before they show up on the pages of this blog again. Nothing against the group, but there’s no point in tempting fate (again).
As 2020 comes to a close, I decided that my last post of the year would be a grounding one – for me. It’s not a secret that I am a huge fan of the singing group – The Temptations. Their greatest hits were the soundtrack of my life and this post represents an opportunity to share the music of my youth with you again. This year, as I did in December 2013, I’m offering the Temptations performing in 1983 at Harrah’s in Atlantic City as the new year’s musical welcome. This version of the group consisting of Otis Williams, Melvin Franklin, Dennis Edwards, Richard Street and Ron Tyson put on an energetic hour-long show.
2020 was, in short, a disaster. There is no sugar coating that. I lost friends and relatives to COVID-19. My faith in our Government was sorely tested as its failure to lead and act quickly exacerbated the pandemic problem for millions of Americans. 2020 was a year where poor leadership made wearing a mask to prevent transmission of the virus a political statement as opposed to a health one.
On December 7, 1941, we lost 2403 Americans in a Japanese surprise attack on the Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii launching us into World War II. In December 2020, we lost more people due to the virus in a single day, every day, than we lost at Pearl Harbor. Every day – more Americans died from COVID-19 than died at Pearl Harbor. Let those numbers sink in for a moment. Two Americans die every minute 24 hours a day from the virus. Hopefully, the change of leadership in January will have a different result next December.
As for me, I’m still standing (cue Elton John). I’ve been medically challenged, but I’m still here and that’s all that matters at the moment. I survived 2020 and hope to survive 2021. The music of the Temptations has sustained me and that along with a belief in a greater power than myself that has kept me moving forward. And I remain convinced that we must always look forward regardless of how dark things may seem because tomorrow will always be better than today. You can’t appreciate the light until you’ve lived in the dark.
My goal in 2021 will be to pay more attention to the music of my life and less attention to the noise of the world. (And I suspect 2021 will be less noisy).
Happy New Year! I’ll be back to a regular posting schedule starting January 26, 2021!
