Hello Blog, how you been?

It’s nice to see you again. You look good. Really, you do. I’m not just saying that.

I’m writing you from Tucson, Arizona, where we are celebrating the Bar Mitzvah of my friend Shmulik Laytin. And even though it’s raining outside, as long as it’s not raining inside, we will not let our spirits be dampened. This is all besides the fact that the entertainment for tomorrow night is Isaac Bitton, so that’s gonna be crazy! IY”H I’ll have pictures and maybe even some video of that, if I can figure out how to figure that out.

In other news, this past week was a crazy one, what with Moshe Laufer coming to the States. We tried. Oh how we tried to get together with him, to talk about songs and music, but alas, it was not meant to be for this week. Our schedules just wouldn’t coincide, other than that one night when it was frightfully dangerous to leave the house.

But we will figure all that out in due time, Bez”H.

Sunday night we celebrated the wedding of my dear cousin Benny Marcus to his wife Rashi. It was quite a night. Avraham Fried, Yossi Piamenta and Peter Himmleman entertained, with Chaky on the dance floor. Oh, did I forget to mention the studmuffin of a Chosson? It was a joyous celebration B”H. I’ll have to look around to see if I can find some pictures of that event to share with you, my dearest Blog.

Upward and onward. This Monday, IY”H, I have a lesson with Maestro Seth Riggs. And if you don’t know who that is, Blog, let me tell you. Seth Riggs is my voice teacher. My voice coach. My vocal mentor. He is one of the, if not the, greatest voice caoch alive, in my opinion. (He is certainly one of the most expensive, which is why I see him only on special occasions.) If you want more information about him, or his company, which has voice teachers all over the world teaching his time tested method, check out SethRiggs.com or speechlevelsinging.com for details. Hopefully I’ll have some footage of that, too, just in case you’re interested in seeing that. I don’t know why you would be, but just in case.

OK.

In closing, let me just say this to you:

I hope you have a very nice Shabbos.

Hello there web journal. Sorry about abandoning you for so long. You would think that with technology what it is today I wouldn’t have to wait to get back home to update, huh. But you know how it is. Even with my fancy iphone I just can’t get around to doing it.

So yes, I just got back from a weekend in Northern California, where I spent a wonderful Shabbat with my brother and his family in S. Cruz. Then it was off to S. Mateo for a dinner celebrating the growth of Chabad of the Northern Peninsula. It was something to behold. It was held in the home of Mr. Lent, a very nice, very helpful philanthropist living in Shmateo. It was very nice, to put it ever so mildly. And with Sha-rone Kushnir on the piano, what else do you really need? Really. Awesome.

But now I’m back at my computer in Bubby’s house, listening to demo songs late into the night. Not a bad gig at all, I might add.

I gotta tell you, Journal, there are some seriously talented people out there! Why can’t I find even one??

I’m kidding, of course.

(Yes, this photo is by Menachem Krinsky and Mendy Pellin. I sat in front of a green screen with a guitar, but I bet you never would have guessed.)

Getting back to the matter at hand, we are starting a pretty nice sized collection of songs. I really think that it’s going to come down to which songs will have to be left out, instead of which songs will go on. We have some good stuff. Of course, this is only my opinion, and we will have to wait and see what the people who actually go out and buy the album say, because that’s really what music is. I mean, correct me if I’m wrong, but I think music is a few things. Music is a composer, a singer, and a listener, and I think that without the imagination of the listener, the music is just nothing. Sure it’s nice to sing to yourself, but without the interpretation of the listener, that’s all you really are doing. Singing to yourself.

And who wants to sing to themselves?

Hey folks, how are you? My name is Benny Friedman.I’m going to take the plunge that everybody takes and so few survive. I’m going to attempt to write an online Journal. A web log, if you will. Some people might call it a blog, and that’s fine by me. Many have started such logs, only to find that, hey, this is really hard to maintain. It’s really a challenge to come back on a more or less consistent basis and update a web log. But, though I can’t promise that I will be the most consistent web logger in the world, I will try to be as good about it as possible.

Ok, here goes. First of all, I really want to thank Mr. life-of-rubin for giving me such great coverage, along with this great idea. Chaim, this one’s for you.

Well, let me start off by explaining a little bit about of history.

A very little bit.

About a year ago Izzy Taubenfeld of Sameach Music offered to produce my first album (thank you Avremi G for bringing me to Izzy’s attention). We got to work putting together a team of who would make it happen. Once we got that down Izzy gave the go ahead.

It’s pedal to the metal now!

Now let me explain that picture on the banner. Yes, my thumb is on my chin, and the reason for that is to know exactly how far away the mic is from my face. There probably are easier, classier ways but I just figured, “Hey, who’s gonna notice, who’s gonna care?” I had no idea there were cameras there.

Also, contrary to what you might be hearing, that Elokai Neshomo is not a single off of an upcoming album. That is a clip which was recorded @ Chony Milecki Studios for absolutely no good reason. That’s an old Dudu Fisher song, and it is my single most favorite song of all time. That’s all that is. On the album, which was reported about a few weeks ago, will be, with G-d’s help, only original songs.

Well, I think that just about sums it up for now. I do believe it’s supper time. Do you call it supper or dinner? Either way, enjoy it, and we’ll see you next post.

Benny