Free Republic

Welcome to Your Weekend the sentiments of my week expressed in the music set that reflects my opening up the boxes of my past to sort things out and throw away some things and keep others. The cards and letters from people in my past like the guy that lived in an "Animal House" fraternity setting and ended up joining the Salvation Army. The man who was the Best Man at my wedding who told me the truth about myself just years after I got married and was working in the mainstream media serving as the officer of the church...

Jim Steinman, the songwriter and producer best known for his grandiose ballads sung by Meat Loaf, Bonnie Tyler, Celine Dion and Air Supply, has died at age 73. The Connecticut state medical examiner confirmed Steinman's death to Variety, though a cause was not immediately announced. Steinman was born Nov. 1, 1947, in New York City, but he found his calling while studying at Amherst College in Massachusetts. There, he became involved in musical theater, writing music and lyrics for his 1969 production The Dream Engine, which led to work with Joseph Papp, founder of the New York Shakespeare Festival. His...