I feel better than James Brown

This picture was taken on my first gig back this Saturday, actually a house warming party for Bayou Boy Boss, Ron Bombardier. 6 days after my surgery and you can see the health coming back. Ah, the miracle of modern medicine. Again and again I see the value of allopathy, particularly in acute or dire problems. Quick intervention saved my heart from any damage from being deprived of blood. It took less then 5 minutes for the paramedics to arrive after Ryan made the call, and maybe 10 to get me to Sutter Faith Auburn ER. The docs and staff there and at Mercy were nothing but great! I will never forget you.

Went and saw my PCP yesterday. He said 2 things that really stuck with me: 1. "The game has changed" 2. "With lifestyle change there is no reason you can't live to a ripe old age"

He said that this might be a blessing in disguise, I could have gone on a long time without an "event" and the blockages could have gotten way worse before they reared their ugly heads. It was small enough that with quick intervention there was no damage but it was big enough to get my attention.

Already TJ and I have taken steps to improve what was a pretty poor diet. We have become label readers. We are determined to turn this into a positive thing.

What is amazing is how quickly I felt better. Almost immediately I could feel the difference. Looking back I can see that this had been in the works for a long time. Past few months I just felt OLD. I wondered why I really didn't want to do anything but sit on the couch and watch cop shows(between Law and Order, CSI, NCIS, Bones, Cold Case Files, Criminal Minds etc. you can pretty much fight crime around the clock). Was my well managed depression coming back? Did I have lung problems? Was I old or just lazy? I had been to the doc with breathing problems 3 times but he couldn't find anything. Heart disease is often silent, we only find it too late.

What I have learned from all this is: listen to your body and be proactive with your doctors. And taking care is more than just a saying.

In closing let me say this: Have Mercy(pun intended) and It's a brand new day, let the man come in and do the popcorn!!!

Heart Trouble

It was Friday afternoon, the day before my birthday. I was just finishing up 2 days of recording for the upcoming Stardust Cowboys' CD "That's How the Cowboys Swung the West". Flying Whale Studio is up in the hills past Colfax on the site of an old gold mine, very cool place and Bruce the engineer/owner does great work.

As I pulled out of the driveway, my left arm started cramping soon followed by my right and then a shooting ache across my chest. I kept driving, thinking maybe it was the stress of recording, too much coffee or what???? After a few minutes of it I pulled off the highway and Ryan, the drummer pulled in behind. I walked around for a few minutes and the pain seemed to subside. "Well I guess I am OK" Back on the road, within 5 minutes the pain is back twice as bad. At that point I was pulling onto the freeway, but I was getting concerned. I spotted the Weimar Park and Ride and pulled off and Ryan was right behind me. "Maybe you better make that call"(911)

After a dropped call or 2 Ryan had the paramedics on their way. They took this VERY seriously. Strapped to the gurney, with oxygen in my nose, they gave me a spray of nitroglycerin and soon I was feeling ok. They took me to Sutter Faith in Auburn. At this point I felt pretty good.(See the first picture). After an EKG, blood tests and an ultrasound the doc came in and told us (TJ came up) that everything looked ok, but SOMETHING had happened. He said I could go home but this really needed to be looked into, he would let me go if I promised to go see my doc as son as possible, but he really thought I should stay and have a stress test.

Now me, I wanted to go, we had plans to go celebrate my birthday in SF, like we usually do. He said OK but didn't look to happy. When he left to start the discharge process, TJ convinced me to stay so I was admitted. TJ told me she had bought tickets to see the Giants for my birthday. Damn!!!

So the next day I spent at Sutter they did a bunch of tests, including a chemical stress test, where they scanned my resting heart then shot me IV with a drug that made my heart race like exercise(way easier than the gym) and scanned again. I still mostly felt good, had one reoccurence of the symptoms. Tests were clean. I was still hoping to make it home for at least a bit of my birthday.

But the cardiologist Dr Birdie, wasn't satisfied. I was told that one in 12 people like me have a false negative on the heart tests and my story was so classic heart attack stuff he wanted me to go to Mercy in Sac and have a heart cath.

So another night in the hospital. Easter Sunday morning I was put in another ambulance and taken to a great cardiac hospital, Mercy, in East Sacramento. Around 11 they prepped me for surgery. I called TJ, wanted her to be there when I went in but for once things moved FASTER than expected. They wheeled me down the hall to the heart cath room. My cardiologist was Dr. Singh, a fierce looking Sikh who wore his turban as he worked on me. Don't know what drugs they gave me, but the next thing knew I heard them talking about a stent. One of my heart arteries was pretty much totally blocked, the one that supplies the back side of the heart.

Once my head cleared(matter of minutes) I had this great feeling of well being. I guess this had been building up for some time. I'd been short of breath and sort of narcoleptic a lot for the past year or more, and I guess now we know why.

So they took me back to my room with strict bed rest instructions. After a while my nurse comes in with what looked like a tire jack. It was time to take the drainage tube out from my thigh where they threaded the cath into my femoral artery. Then the nurse leaned on me with all her wait holding the incision closed for a few minutes, then they moved me to the edge of the bed and jacked me too it with the tire jack. Lots of pressure. 20 minutes of that and they took the jack away but taped a sand bag to me to keep the pressure up. All told I was flat on my back for 7 hours.

I got really great care at Mercy, pretty much everyone was really nice, supportive, skilled. They made a difficult experience not really "pleasant" but tolerable. They really care.

The next morning I met with a teaching nurse. She explained what had happened, what they did and what I needed to do. Mercy has won many awards for their heart program, deservedly.

So now, life will be different. I never expected to be a heart patient. I need to change my diet exercise more, avoid stress. Got 9 pills to take everyday, all with long lists of side effects and interactions.

So this was nothing like a near death experience, it pulled me down into my body, not out of my body, but it was a brush with mortality none the less. The staff at Mercy was so upbeat it didn't really sink in until Monday when I finally got home.

Life is precious, every second of it and the most precious thing is the love and support i got from my family and the dozens of friends who expressed their support!!! I love you more than words can tell!!!

Finally I rocketed to the early 21st century

So this Christmas I was totally blown away when I was gifted with an ipod touch from my dear sweet TJ. I thought we had agreed to not spend on each other so much as the kids and other family as money was a bit tight this year. So imagine my surprise when what looked like maybe a deck of cards was a brand spanking new ipod!!!!!

So I have spent the last month dumping my music collection on my computer and then to the pod. Been digging deep into the huge stacks of CDs in pretty much every room of our house. I been finding things I haven't seen in years. Some of the best: John Scofield's Ray Charles Tribute, 100 Year Hall- Grateful Dead, lots of jazz, Sonny Boy, Little Walter, James Brown, Tower of Power and the list goes on.

It's just an 8 gig box, which means 6.5 usable. I got 800+ tunes on there still a couple gigs free.

What I don't understand is how I lived without one for a decade?!? It certainly enables my ongoing love affair with music of all types. I love having it when I work out at the Y, in the car, when I am teaching or practicing.

Being the technophobe that I am, I have barely used any of it's other features, except the camera, which actually works pretty good compared to my phone cam.

I am determined to get back into regular blogging, see you on the 'net.

Another one bites the dust

Goodbye 2010 and hello 2011!!!!!!

Damn this year went fast!!!! Remember in old movies how the passage of time is symbolized be the pages of a desk calendar blowing in the wind, faster and faster!! Isn't life like that????

How did I get so old!! Why are my friends showing grey and wrinkles??? What's going on here??

2010 was quite a ride, mostly good!!!!! Had some fat times and some lean times, but what else is new. In spite of the tough economy I am still eking out a living doing what I love with people I love. This summer I rehooked up with the Stardust Cowboys and fell in love with Western Swing. Between the Cowboys, the Bayou Boys, Wingnut Adams and Frankie Lee most of my summer was spent on the highway. It was like being on tour all summer except I got to come home more nights than not and sleep in my own bed. My HRR and my GPS were my most constant companions. Took a couple great vacations with TJ, one to SF and another to Seaside Oregon. Everyone was relatively healthy, solvent and happy. I am truly blessed with a great life.

Someone said (Freud?) that success in life is having love and satisfyingly work and I have them both in spades.

So all I can hope for is more of the same in 2011. To all my friends and family: Keep on keeping on, love life in spite of it's hardships, live long and prosper. I love you more than words can tell!!!!

Dark Star Orchestra at the Crest 10-11-28

Set One: Iko Iko ; Hell In A Bucket ; Loser ; Cassidy ; Dupree's Diamond Blues ; C C Rider ; Deal

Set Two: I Need A Miracle > Bertha ; Playing In The Band > China Doll > Jam > Drums > Space > Playing In The Band > Black Peter > Sugar Magnolia ; One More Saturday Night
Encore: Keep Your Day Job

Filler: Let Me Sing Your Blues Away Show from 86-6-9 Cal Expo TJ was pretty sure she was there.

We had a good time. Me, still kinda thinking it was the real band expected a long line of people waiting to get in, wanted to get there the moment the doors open. TJ being a cooler head(heads ARE cool, like our sticker, "if You're Not A Head You're Behind")
got us there about 45 minutes before the advertised time and we walked right up to will call and had our pick of seats, in the 5th row. Hall never got much more than half full.

Band hit the stage on Dead time, about 20 minutes late, immediately hit a strong groove with Aiko. First thing I noticed:Jeff Mattson is a bad ass, much stronger presence than Stu Allen.

Well I got to say, that the slight cheesiness of it all is forgotten when the band starts cooking. These guys have learned their lessons well, they breath together like the Dead, actually tighter musically and way better vocally. And the Dead have never had a keyboard player like Rob Barraco, and keys play a much bigger role. Rob is a great singer, did all of Brent's tenor parts strong and crisp. I think it's the quality of that gives it legitamcy.

The other thing is : IT WORKS!!!!! IN spite of a crowd that was a bit small to generate high energy, we did get it off the ground. I think with a couple hundred more than the 500 or so it would have been a better party, but it kept it comfortable for the old folks. And I think that is what the DSO is about. letting middle aged hippies be Dead Heads for a few days. I heard many people talking about the 2 nights before at the Regency in SF, (sample: "It sucks being 50, I am so sore from dancing)



But the main thing is, this is one hell of a band, really listen to each other and really hear, maybe like the Dead without hard drugs The schedule they keep(1876 shows in 12 years) is James Brown worthy, they got to be in great shape. They really look like they are having fun, and when the music turns weird they are right there ready for it. Rob Eaton the guy that does Weir, leads the band on stage just like Bobby did(people always say Gar was the leader, but from what i've seen it was Pig Pen in the old days, and Weir later, at least on stage).

They played a really long 2nd set, and I think they kinda lost the crowd with drums/space and the monster jam after it, before the playing in the band reprise. it started to feel like a yuppie Sunday night, quite a few bailed. The ones that did missed out on one real high pont, Rob Barraco doing Sing Your Blues Away. Not only is he a way better singer than Keith was, he is a way better singer than anyone ever in the Dead and offshoot, even better than Warren Haynes who is one singing white boy in my opinion. I think Rob, having been with Phil gives them a bit of street cred, at any rate he may be the most underrated musician around.

In closing let me say there is nothing like a DSO concert except a Dead show.

Come on honey let me sing em away!!

Feast or famine.....

is the story. After the maybe the best summer I've had in years and a great month of August, everything slammed to a halt last week. Down to 1 or 2 gigs a week and 13 students.

For a long time it seemed like that old saw about entertainment thriving in hard times was true, I have ridden out more than a couple downturns and it seems to start like that, people party to forget, but after a while people just flat out run out of money.

Why am I typing this? 2 reasons: 1. Joe needs work and students, just trying to put that out there everywhere I can. 2. We all need to support the arts and each other, support local small business, even it if it costs a little more, the big stores sell below cost to squash the competition.

If not us, who? If not now, when?

Summer times come and gone my oh my

And what a great summer it was!!! Played a bunch of great summer type gigs with The Jokers, Wingnut Adams, The Bayou Boys, The Stardust Cowboys, Frankie Lee and my band and more. Put thousands of mile on my car, saw some amazing sights, and even made a little money. I love my job!!

A few highlights: The Crawdad Festival in Red Bluff, The Cowboy Poetry Festival in Big Bear Lake, Redwood City Blues Festival, Goldhill Vineyard, Lake Alamanor Country Club, The Frankie Lee benefit, Cindy and Paul's wedding..............