As we bid FAREWELL to 2024, one cannot help but reflect upon this tremendously transformative year as it comes to a close! www.ribbqnews.com went from a concept and mere speculation to a full-blown BBQ ENTITY! From contemplations, ruminations, and observations to fully developed articles, Coverage and Photography of BBQ Contests and Competitions, BBQ Chef Interviews, BBQ Safaris, and the sharing of BBQ Recipes, Tid-Bits, and Trivia, RIBBQNEWS has developed a Readership, nay a KINSHIP, amongst and within the BBQ Community. It has been an enormously, vastly, and immeasurable LABOR OF LOVE, and, I, for one, consider myself evermore Blessed to be part of such an incredibly supportive community! The NEBS Community, The KCBS Community, “The Road to The Jack Community,” and BBQ Enthusiasts both near and far have been WARMLY WELCOMING to BBQ novices such as myself. I am BEYOND appreciative for ALL of the information, the advice, the critiques, and the prodigious camaraderie that the BBQ Community has provided.
You may join the Northeast Barbeque Society and view their 2025 Event Calendar here:
https://nebs.org
You may learn all about The Kansas City Barbeque Society here:
https://www.kcbs.us
You, too, may become “A FRIEND OF JACK!” here:
www.jackdaniels.com
“Auld Lang Syne,” is a Scottish song in origin. In the English-speaking world, the song is traditionally sung to “bid farewell to the old year at the stroke of midnight.” Written by Robert Burns in 1788, the text is a Scots-Language poem based on an even older folksong! In 1799, “Auld Lang Syne” was set to a traditional pentatonic tune, which has since become the standard. The Pentatonic scales were developed independently by many ancient civilizations. The Universality of this musical scale is so well known that examples of it can be found from all corners of the earth- from Scotland to China, from Africa to The Americas, and from East Indian cultures to Australia and Finland, it is a “true musico-linguistic universal.” This song begins by posing the rhetorical question, “Is it right that old times be forgotten?” The quantitative answer is generally interpreted as “a call to remember long-standing friendships.” One cannot help but compare the attitude and the verisimilitude to The Community of BBQ-Brethren—one of bona fide inclusion, authenticity to oneself, purity of one’s BBQ recipes and trustworthiness in one’s traditions, and The BBQ-ers representationalism of TRUE KINDNESS. The altruism, the benevolence, and the forbearance of the BBQ Community to “GIVE UNTO OTHERS,” with an abundance of GRACE, HUMILITY, and HOSPITALITY is like that of no other.
As “Auld Lang Syne” concludes, “And there’s a hand my trusty friend! And give me a hand O’ thine! And we’ll take a right good-will-draught, for Auld Lang Syne.” In Edinburg’s Hogmanay, Scotland, it is common practice that everyone join hands with the person next to them as the stroke of midnight approaches. In this manner, a great circle is formed, beneath the impending explosion of fireworks celebrating the RINGING IN OF THE NEW YEAR! Everyone crosses their arms across their chest, so that the right hand reaches out to the neighbor on the left and vice-versa. When the tune ends, everyone rushes to the middle of the circle while still holding hands. Neighbor beside neighbor, shoulder to shoulder, with hands still joined, dancing and WELCOMING a New Year.
2025. A New Year, full of PROMISE, ENDLESS POSSIBILITIES and brimming with unbridled enthusiasm to create thrilling memories with loved ones. A chance to be daring and try something different; sign up for your first BBQ Competition! Attempt a new BBQ Recipe! Buy a sought-after BBQ item that you have been coveting! Plan, Map-Out, and Take that BBQ Destination Road Trip! ENDEAVOR TO PARTICIPATE IN THAT BBQ MASTER CLASS taught by your “And there’s a hand my trusty friend!” Enter “The Backyard BBQ & Steak Cook-Off” on March 21-22, 2025 at American Royal Court, 1701 American Royal Court, Kansas City, MO 64102! Register to enter “The World Series of Barbeque Sauce Contest,” on April 10th, 2025 bbq@americanroyal.com or “The BBQ Rub Contest,” on April 13th, 2025!
Allow the following New Year’s quotes to imbue your heart to overflowing as 2025 dawns upon us:
-“And now we welcome the new year. Full of things that have never been.”
Rainer Maria Rilke
-“Approach the New Year with resolve to find the opportunities hidden in each new day.”
Michael Josephson
-“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.”
Albert Einstein
And, once more echoing the sentiments of “Auld Land Syne,” evoking feelings of nostalgia, especially memories of great times spent with family and friends, around The BBQ Pit, The BBQ Fire, The BBQ Roast, The BBQ Smoker, The BBQ Picnic Table, The BBQ Late Night-Before Competitions, The WEE HOURS of the Morning BBQ Contest Preparations, and referring to a shared PAST that underpins our current relationships of our families and communities;
-“Any new beginning is forged from the shards of the past, not from the abandonment of the past.”
Craig D. Lounsbrough
And in the immortal words of C.S. Lewis, writer, scholar, theologian, and author:
“YOU ARE NEVER TOO OLD TO SET ANOTHER GOAL OR TO DREAM A NEW DREAM.”
www.bbqnews.com was built, assembled, constructed and augmented from such an aspiration; with FAITH, HOPE, HARD WORK, DETERMINATION, OPTIMISM “AND GIVE ME A HAND O’ THINE!”
HAPPIEST NEW YEAR WISHES TO OUR BBQ COMMUNITY, OUR “TRUSTY FRIENDS!”
