Hello music lovers! We are living in the darkest days this country has ever seen, in my lifetime. The Music Soup has tried desperately not to be political but sometimes things as important as this will come up. Music has now intersected into politics in a very big way as the guy that sits in he White House has used music without artists' permission throughout his campaign and beyond and they have spoken out! Not only that but he is now adding his name to buildings and monuments that are completely inappropriate and would require congress to approve. But as we see he has no respect for law, or the Constitution. The band of clown like bootlickers are in charge now, they seem to be ok with anything and everything the orange moron says including changing the name of the Kennedy Center. The Kennedy Center was named after John F Kennedy after his assassination in 1963 as a memorial to the late president. Now the orange guy has inserted his name in front of Kennedy's and most of us are not in agreement, to put it mildly. Including many of the Kennedy family who are speaking out. And the performers who have been on that stage for many years are also publicly showing their disapproval. The musicians are refusing to play there now and even the annual Christmas Jazz concert was canceled after the 'woke' host pulled out in protest of the deranged POTUS. Drummer, Chuck Redd has been hosting the holiday Jazz jams at the Kennedy Center since 2006. After tRump added his name to the building and making himself chairman of the board Chuck Redd decided to cancel the annual Jazz Jams. Also ticket sales for the Kennedy Center has greatly diminished. It is temporary and as soon as the orange guy is gone, all of the signage he has been erecting all over DC and elsewhere will be gone.
Most of the musicians out there have already publicly announced where they stand politically and The Music Soup supports those who have. Recently, Nicki Minaj sided with the maga movement and in that moment she apparently lost 90 million fans. She said that tRump and Vance are "good role models for todays young men". Ug! Really!!! Wow...that's a mouthful of distasteful misogyny right there. This means maga has three musicians that'll play their events now, Ted Nugent, Kid Rock and now Nicki Minaj.
Free speech has always been important, and I don't believe it'll cease to be, even with this orange stain on our democracy trying to eliminate it. We can simply look at the Kimmel incident with tRump trying to have him fired. Within four days the Disney channel lost 4 billion dollars as we took a stand and quit our Disney channel! That is what RESISTANCE looks like! Now Jimmy Kimmel is back on the air and he just signed a contract for another year. The orange guy was not pleased that his plan didn't work, and Kimmel remains a very vocal part of the resistance.
Publicly artists have opposed the orange guy. They include some of the biggest names in the music industry and the number of celebs coming out against the guy in the White House are growing in numbers each day. Musicians such as Bruce Springsteen, Taylor Swift, Pearl Jam, Beyonce, Blondie, Green Day, Rolling Stones, Elton John, Jack White, Aerosmith, Lorde, George Harrison estate, Lionel Richie, Adele, ABBA, Dave Matthews, Celine Dion, Earth, Wind and Fire, Foo Fighters, Isaac Hayes estate, Neil Young, Prince estate, Queen, and the Tom Petty estate to name but a few - as the list is super long. Most of these have already sent 'him' a cease and desist' after he used their music without permission. Most have spoken out that they are not supporters of this guy.
Many of us see a 34x felon, con man, convicted rapist, convicted perjurer, convicted fraud, and leader of the 2020 insurrection and wonder how can this be happening. How can a person like this even be near the White House, let alone be the leader of this country and occupy it. But we are living in strange times my music loving friends. How are we to deal with this for the next three years? Some of us (including myself) are on a no news diet to keep the sanity and peace within. Meditation, love, service and kindness are ingredients to help keep the sanity so we can live our best life until he and his clowns leave office.
We have all seen images of Nazi Germany, and dictatorships all over the planet. The United States of America has never been in danger of Dictatorship but here we are, now in the scariest times we have ever faced.
Deepest apologies to all the women, our sisters, mothers, daughters, granddaughters, wives, girlfriends, LGBTQ+, black and brown skinned people, and anyone in this country that is not straight, christian, male and white, basically. I thought we had come farther than this in our history but apparently many millions of U.S citizens prefer to step back in time, taking the rights away from women, and any other groups except white Christian men. And for some reason the maga cult are okay with it (at least for the next three years). This president is a malignant tumour on America. I beleive that he did not win. I believe that Elon Musk 'fixed' the numbers. But that's just my opinion of course. I also look forward to the day that all these cover ups from the election day Nov 2024 to the Epstein files will all be exposed like what happened years later post Watergate. I just hope he will be in prison where he belongs, (in my opinion). But I won't hold my breath for that day. He told us he will be a dictator and people still voted for him. He told us that women's' rights will be removed, he told us that we will never have to vote again and some still voted red. It's the people that voted for him that really worries me. Those people will remain even after he and his family are no longer in the limelight. That's what frightens me.
We have power in numbers and we must continue to resist. Hold peace in your heart. Turn off the news, and put on your favorite music. Take a walk. Talk to friends. Eat well. Go to a venue to see music and let the sound in. This will end at some point....Let's all just hope for the best. And keep in mind that love does eventually conquer all.🤞 Hoping next year will improve and we can see a light of justice seep through the cracks. Wishing everyone a happy and healthy 2026.
As always, remember..."Life is short...break the rules, forgive quickly, kiss slowly, love truly, laugh uncontrollably, meditate often, be kind to each other, and never regret anything that made you smile". And of course...see live music!
With peace, love, art and music,
Cheryl ☮ ❤️🎵