Monday, June 9, 2008

CANTOR BOB

HI BLOGWORLD - I am starting a Blog! I am the Cantor @ Temple Emanuel in Kingston, New York. Chair of the Ulster County Religious Council (an interfaith group). Singer, Songwriter, pianist, accordionist, autoharpist, and 12-string guitarist.

This blog will eventually hold my 3 CDs

1) Singing Prayers for a Shabbat Eve,
2) They Ain't Writin' Them Like They Used To,
3) Faithsongs, and if I can get permission
4) New World Singers (of which I was a member) recorded back in 1962 with Bob Dylan's notes on the back;
5) The first recording of Blowin' In The Wind - New World Singers on the "Best of Broadside",
6) my own singing of "No More Auction Block" on "The Long Walk To Freedom Reunion Concert in 1997 CD, and whatever else I can scrounge up from the dim distant past.
7) As well as new musical settings of prayers I have written for both Jews and Christians, 8) my Kingston Public Access TV Show "Godyssey" which ran for about four years about 5 years ago,
9) my memoirs from the Civil Rights movement of the 60s, to a New York State Prison in the 90's to my present life as a Cantor and singer of good old timey songs form the 1910s-1940s,
10) my current work on the Board of Save Them Now - a re-entry program for parolees, on the Board of Ulster Prevention Project for at-risk youth, on the Board of Family of Woodstock helping the homeless and the under-served.

And Finally: 11) linking you to articles about faith issues in this country and books about early Christianity and Ancient Judaism - of which I am (not an expert) an afficianado!

Hopefully this will all finally be gathered here and added to as the days, weeks, months, and years go by. You will also be able to purchase my CD as well as listen to excerpts. This is being explored and developed by a new dear friend, Bill Ayton - an artist as well as wonderful papa of wonderful kids, and husband of a lovely lady, Diana Ayton-Shenker.

So please be patient with me - as I told Bill, I am somewhere between an Idiot & a Dummy when it comes to cyberspace (v. fiberspace) - I guess you might call me a Didiotummy, if you wish. I cannot quit my day and night gigs (God is Good) to do this but will focus on getting it all together for your blogging pleasure.

Shalom, Cantor Bob - always glad to hear your ideas, questions, suggestions, & (dare I say it!) criticisms!

2 comments:

g-mo said...

Bob:
This is your forte.
You were born to blog. This represents a perfect fit - between this medium and your insightful, valuable and prolific contributions to your ever-expanding readership.
I pray God's blessings upon you and your new cyber-community.
Blog on!
g-mo

Grandma Gina said...

Dear Bob,
This should be great! You have a great deal of knowlege to share.
Everyone is going to enjoy this.
I look forward to reading it.
Love,
Regina