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Gang,

Happy 2021, everyone! It’s getting a bit brighter every day — have you noticed? But … I’ve waited until after the holidays to report this, as it’s somewhat distressing, even for me, and I’m hard-to-distress: _Rudolph is a fraud_.

On the one hand, Burl Ives’ song is brilliant in that it poses a problem (based on social angst) in the first verse, and then solves it in the second. Done! Very economical.

BUT … if you think about it, having a bright red light on your nose is not going to help you see through the fog any more than your high-beams would. To the contrary, it would totally blind you, causing you and the sleigh behind you to fly into a power line, and there goes Christmas!

My other problem, leaving aside the physics behind flying reindeer (where does the jet propulsion jet come from? I don’t want to know, but I really wouldn’t want to be sitting in that sleigh!), is that the reindeer who shunned and reviled “poor Rudolph” now love him to bits simply because he was useful. Not because he was smart, or good-hearted, or funny, or hot. No, they would have loved a _GPS_ even more.

But let’s turn to the positive. This is the time of year when I thank all the folks who’ve been helping me do what I do (and will hopefully continue to do so for years to come):

Andrea Sabata, my booking agent at Skyline; who has been doing the emotionally exhausting (and unpaid) task of moving show after show down the calendar — and then moving them again. And again. (Someday this will end, Andrea!);

Ben Rush, my eldest son, who has faithfully designed and run TomRush.com and all its various permutations for the past decade or so;

Katelyn Larson, who has been guiding me through the Social Media side of things, keeping me on track;

Mark Steele, who has taken on the job of videotaping my Rockport Sundays subscription series at my kitchen table (or my living room when Matt Nakoa stops by to play along);

Matt Nakoa, whose accompaniment on keyboards and vocal harmonies never fails to make songs sound better than I ever thought they could;

Rob Stegman who runs the fulfillments side of the TomRush.com store. (We don’t have our own fleet of delivery trucks yet, but look out!!);

My friends and family who have supported me over some patches of rough road, and … far from least, all of you who have been my companions through one musical adventure after another over the years.

Speaking of which, for those of you who have not yet subscribed to the Rockport Sundays series, here’s a taste of what you’re missing — free for nothing!! (I’m clearly hoping to tempt you on board — c’mon, you’ll love it!!)

My friends, here’s to a safe, sound and vastly-improved New Year!

All the best,

Quote of the month:
“The main reason Santa is so jolly is because he knows where all the bad girls live!”
–– George Carlin