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Peter Gabriel — 462, 461

ALBUMS: Peter Gabriel (1977); Peter Gabriel (1980).

MVC Rating:  1st self-titled: 4.5/$$$

2nd self-titled: 4.0/$$$

Hope everybody has had enough time with ‘The Gaugin Years’ The History of Music and Dance in Tahiti.  (Scroll down if you haven’t). That was the start of my G-music section and up now is Peter Gabriel, a political, intelligent, supporter of world music. We’ll see more of him in this blog soon as his longtime band, Genesis, comes up on my alphabetical course.

I have the first and third Gabriel albums. Oddly, he didn’t name his first four albums. They are called Peter Gabriel. To ID them people add a descriptor like ‘melt’ for the third  one because it has a face appearing to melt on the cover.

I fell out of Gabriel’s thing about when “Shock the Monkey’ and then ‘Sledgehammer’  — MTV’s all time favorite video – propelled Gabriel from cult status to star. One thing I didn’t like, and others feel free to chime in, is that he seemed to employ an echo effect on his voice, especially in the “So’ era. Am I correctly hearing that? It is almost as if he didn’t have confidence in his natural sound. But the songwriting on Solsbury Hill,  about a spiritual experience the Gabriel had, is about as good as it gets.

Climbing up on Solsbury Hill
I could see the city light
Wind was blowing, time stood still
Eagle flew out of the night
He was something to observe
Came in close, I heard a voice
Standing, stretching every nerve
Had to listen, had no choice
I did not believe the information
Just had to trust imagination
My heart going boom, boom, boom
“Son”, he said, “grab your things, I’ve come to take you home”

Biko’ on the second album is also a favorite of mine. It’s a powerful song with African rhythms lamenting the death at the hands of police of Steve Biko, an anti-apartheid protester.

September ’77
Port Elizabeth weather fine
It was business as usual
In police room 619
Oh Biko, Biko, because Biko
Oh Biko, Biko, because Biko
Yihla Moja, Yihla Moja
The man is dead
The man is dead

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MVC now has 238 posts: Here are the favorites and least favorites

Some of My Vinyl Countdown’s top posts.
As of today, here are songs taken from the most-clicked on and the ones that received the most reaction, some judgement calls here by me.

So we’ll have Top 12 music reviews from my 678 records.  This is followed by the Top-12 blog essays.

And we’ll also throw in the bottom 5 in both categories.

(Click on the names to go to the full blog post).
Top 12 Album reviews

Dave Davies  Kink’s guitarist solo albums are surprise here at No. 1

Dolly Parton Country music legend, and that’s without hyperbole.

The Allman Brothers Band  No surprise that this iconic Southern band is high on the list.

The Alarm  The Welsh rockers with their big hair and their big anthemic songs are apparently well loved.

Dickey Betts  Allman’s great guitarist.

King Sunny Ade He was making world music before it was cool.

Aerosmith Steven Tyler seems like he’s on TV all the time. But that was decades after this hard rocking album, arguably one of their best.

Bo Diddley  Underappreciated in his time, his record stands – on records.

Joe Cocker This man felt the music. It was like he plugged himself  in.

Joan Baez  Distinctive strong voice that was one of many voices of the 1960s and civil rights protests.

T Bone Burnett Major producer for others. Lesser known for his own excellent discography.

Big Audio Dynamite BAD, Clash remainders forge new sound and funny crazy video.

When Particles Collide      A husband-wife  rock duo from Maine. (with some local connections).
Top 12 Blog Essays
Gordon Hayward, broken bones and Lewy body dementia

Life lessons of adaptation from a serious injury.
I Have to Laugh (To Keep from Crying)

Title says it all.

Holy Zeus, God and Lightning 

Strange coincidences crop up in my life.

Is there time?

The billion dollar question.

Rules of ‘street’ ball

Tips from 35 years of playing pick-up basketball.

Peter Himmelman’s ‘Song for Catherine’

A wonderful tribute to my wife Catherine
 Some People are Mean

Yes, there are mean people and I describe one.
Porter and Me

Writing about the death of a child from  over the course of years prepared me to face my own prognosis.
Lewy Lewy. Come on, call it by its name!

It’s mysterious, baffling and wrong but for some reason Lewy body dementia has become the disease no one will name.
How the heck am I doing?

The word FINE may not mean what you think it means.
Today is Silent Saturday 

It’s a tradition I  did not know about.

Another hugging, this has got to stop

Beloved pastor retiresl.
Bottom 5 Album reviews
The Drifters
Kurtis Blow
Fleshtones
Focus

The Flying Lizards   

Bottom 5 Blog essay/posts

D-Party

History of Journalism Part 2: from ‘socialist rag’ to ‘tool of the man’ (blog version)

Seeking Miss Mamie, or Mike, Catherine and Mary’s fantastic road trip

Jerry Sloan, legendary NBA coach, still battling dementia (blog version)

Sugar Sugar’: Archies vs. Josie and the Pussycats’ Riverdale version

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They don’t seem to forget Alzheimer’s; Why don’ they remember Lewy body dementia?

This is one of an occasional series of opinion columns on Lewy body disease, other dementias, and end of life issues written by a writer who happens to have the brain degenerative disease. A previous version of this appeared on AL.com.

As I’ve pointed out before, we live in a world where Lewy body disease is virtually unknown. That’s not good for the more than a million folks that have the second leading cause of dementia after Alzheimer’s.

That’s not good for the uncounted others who have it but don’t know they have it, either because the doctor didn’t make the diagnosis, missed the diagnosis, or the individual is passing off early stages of the disease as something else.

“It is shocking how few doctors, even neurologists, recognize this condition,” said Dr. Samantha Holden, assistant professor of Neurology at the University of  Colorado School of Medicine. “Alzheimer’s gets most of the attention, even in the research community, and DLB is relegated to the category of “Related Dementias”, which is unacceptable.”

Holden is also the co-principal investigator in the Lewy Body Dementia & Neurology Center of Excellence at the university.

Like me, Holden has been scratching her head over LBD’s anonymity. Part of it, we both agree is the complicated nature of the disease itself and its wide ranging symptoms, which leads to an alphabet soup of disorder names.

Holden says this chart is a great way to start understanding.

As you can see by the chart the broad category is Lewy body disease. That’s describing a brain disorder that creates the proteins believed to be the culprit of damage through brain cell loss. That includes Parkinson’s and Lewy body dementia. (Guess which one people have actually heard of.)

Both Parkinson’s and Lewy body, as you  can see, are sisters under Lewy body disease.

Alzheimer’s is not on this particular chart because it is not a Lewy body brain malfunction. With Lewy body disease, the proliferation of a protein, which when clumped together are called Lewy bodies. They are named after their founder, Dr. Friederich Lewy, a German neurologist.

And please understand I am not an expert in the science by any means.

What’s in a Name

So to recap and offer questions I have for further exploring.

Lewy Body Dementia (LBD) is an umbrella term taking in both Parkinson’s Disease with Dementia (PDD) and Dementia with Lewy Body (LDB). Are the proteins the killer here or are  they just what have been left at the crime scene and another unperceived entity is the triggerman?

Alzeimer’s does not fall under that LBD spectrum because it is a different type of malfunction in the brain. However, sometimes people get both — (Really? As if we don’t have enough to worry about.) What is the relationship between Alzheimer’s and Lewy body? If any?

I know this is confusing. But in many cases whether you have LBD or whether it’s PDD, eventually you will see the same (bad symptoms),  physical impairment and cognitive impairment. Although some diagnosed Parkinson’s may never get dementia, correct?

That’s because every Lewy is his own person and afflicts different folks in different ways. Which leaves wide paths for optimism that the symptoms may be slow and mild. That’s the hope for those with the disease but, of course, those hopes can also be dashed.

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Watch: Birmingham singer covers ‘next big song’ about Alabama

Janet Chitty plays The Bigger Moon in Alabama

This is an opinion column.,  

Bruce Rutherford, an Alabama lover who lives in Texas,  last week or so, sent me a YouTube video of himself performing a song he wrote about Alabama.  I dismissed the song called The Bigger Moon of Alabama, at first, but then the little tune kind of stuck in my head. My motto is you have to pay attention to ear worms.

What if a great singer and full band did this song. Well, haven’t heard from Jason Isbell or Wet Willie.

I wrote about it.

But Rutherford tipped me off that his Birmingham friend and colleague in the singer-songwriter world on YouTube, has already done a cover like in the last  48 hours  (video below).

The singer’s name is Janet Chitty and I think her version demonstrates what I’m talking about. And that is, this can be sung many ways. Her version is slowed down. Rutherford’s is faster. But at least one commenter said it should be faster than Rutherford’s version (a speed metal version?) Nevertheless, the song is versatile, catchy and as I said yesterday rhymes Montgomery with succumbing —  how can you not appreciate that?

So now we know at least two versions exist. Listen to them and see what you think. Newer  version first of The Bigger Moon in Alabama.

 

 

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New song about Alabama may be the next big song, or …

For my Sesame Street demographic:, sing now:

One of these things is not like the others. One of these things just doesn’t belong.

Or does it?

Take a look at the list of songs about Alabama and determine which doesn’t belong:

“Sweet Home Alabama”
“Stars Fell on Alabama”
“My Home’s in Alabama”
“Shout Bamalama”
“The Bigger Moon in Alabama””

You are correct if you picked “The Bigger Moon in Alabama.” The others on the list are all iconic songs about the state of Alabama.

“The Bigger Moon in Alabama””is a brand new song by a Texan who posted on YouTube.   I’ve listened to it about a dozen times now..  And  before I tell you what I think,  meet the author and watch the video . Bruce Rutherford calls himself an amateur songwriter and former book reviewer for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

To say the least Rutherford is low key on this demo.

But ladies and gentlemen I  believe you are watching the birth of a great song.  This song grows on you. In the right hands (voice) a great song, dare I say an Iconic song.

Close your eyes to Rutherford’s magical spark and imagine the great band  Alabama on stage singing; or Lynyrd Skynyrd; or Jason Isbell ; or Alabama Shakes.

.Or, Janet Chitty, who goes by OneWomanAndSomeSongs. on YouTube.

Chitty of Birmingham, is already preparing to cover the song by next week, Rutherford said.

“She’s a great singer,” he said.

“I’m just an amateur folk singer/songwriter doing my thing on YouTube,’ Rutherford said. in an email. ” I was a book reviewer for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in the 80s & 90s and enjoy writing. I’ve got 30 or so original songs up on my channel.  Otherwise I enjoy covering the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.”

If this leads to the next big thing for Alabama I want you to remember who discovered and tipped you all off. If it doesn’t go anywhere, well, dang, my home is still in Alabama.

And if nothing else, it commands some attention for being the only song, probably, to rhyme ‘succumbing’ with ‘Montgomery.’  I like that.

“The Bigger Moon in Alabama

I don’t know
why I can’t resist
Another taste
of your goodnight kiss
Or why it is
I’m mesmerized
when the moonlight
hits your eyes
I just swoon
I’m in a jam ah
It’s a bigger moon
in Alabama
My old friends
They can’t believe
I’m staying here
I’ll never leave
They just see
I am succumbing
to your charms
in old Montgomery
In Tuscaloosa
and Birmingham ah
It’s a bigger moon
in Alabama
On a starry night
it glows like coals
above the lake
at Muscle Shoals
I’m just glad
I can’t escape
from this moonlight
that captivates
We sing our tune
into a camera
‘Neath the bigger moon
in Alabama
It’s as though
I’m in a trance
when I hold you
when we dance
It’s just something
that I feel
like Carnival
down in Mobile
And coming soon
a wedding band ah
From the bigger moon

in Alabama

Updated to reflect correct name of song. Also published on AL.com.

 

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Peter Himmelman’s ‘Song for Catherine’

Song for Catherine aka Catherine Burns Willis Oliver.

Written  and recorded in 2004 by the great Peter Himmelman…I don’t know how or if this will work but surfing the web I have discovered to my surprise a link to a song by Himmelman about my wife, Catherine.

I helped arrange this with Himmelman years ago as a gift to Catherine upon her graduation at San Francisco Theological Seminary with a Master’s of Divinity degree. She’s a great pastor, my best friend and the words to this song still are true.

The song turned out beyond my wildest imagination, and has been a touchstone of peace for us. Thanks Peter.

I hate to make you work to hear this but I if you want to listen to the song, you need to copy and paste the link below this photo into your browser. Hope it works.

http://www.peterhimmelman.com/audio/catherineoliver.html

The reverends Cat Goodrich and Catherine Oliver on Palm Sunday at First Presbyterian Birmingham.

P.S.  Although it would be a slight detour from the stated mission of this blog,  I  would like to write up Himmelman for a post one day and probably will even though I don’t have any vinyl from him. Just about four or five CD’s — all excellent..

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The Flying Lizards — 473

ALBUMS: The Flying Lizards (1979)

Oh Yoko.

There’s some funny bang-up experimental work going on here .

The bangs are  like a hammer hitting a table. And they usually come in triplets throughout the song “Money.”I

The air traveling reptiles deliver an awesome, deconstructive,  take on Barrett Strong’s original, a song covered by many,  including the Beatles.

“Money that’s what I want,” the robotic voiced female lead  sings. The robotic voice’s accent by Deborah Evans-Stickland  is decidedly English.

Then it’s bang, bang, bang. In the video it’s gunshots but it sounds more like hammer-on-table to me.

But lest one thinks this and their cover of ‘Summertime Blues’ are just simple novelty tunes, the deeper cuts suggest something, well, deeper..

I can’t  say this electronically chic groove is accessible. But it’s ambitious.

It’s got a little Yoko in it. Yoko with  sense of humor.

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Fleshtones — 476

ALBUM:  Fleshtones (‘Live in Paris 85’)

Should be the Kingsmen ‘Live in Paris 64’

They seem like a lot of fun live, the Fleshtones that is. I like the honking bad sax.

Al little B-52s, a little Ramones.  Slight Cramps.

Hey they are the Fleshtones. I also have a CD of them playing rocking hard Christmas music.

Certainly this ragged Louie-Louie-propelled music isn’t for everybody and even those that like it, like this 58-year-old man, can only take about 17 minutes of it. But that’s 17 minutes of pleasure.

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Rub your dog behind his ears while you still can (blog version)

This appeared originally on AL.com and much on  Facebook, But  I’m posting here for those who missed. Coming soon: a How-Am- I column and Top 10 (20?) of my blog post AND more music. Gotta keep  the countdown going.

My dog is getting old.

You know what I am going to say next, right?

I’m getting old too.

And you know what I don’t want to say, don’t you?

That I’m sad he is going to die.

Gus the psychodoodle. Photo by Rachel Vissers.

My worried thought came after my wife Catherine said it sounded like our  dog’s’ breathing was becoming more labored. And he wasn’t running the stairs with the same wild abandon.

Gus is his name.  He’s a small, rust-colored, curly mop of a dog, a poodle mix of unknown origin. I call him a psychodoodle. He’s about 12 or 13 agewise best we can guess. We rescued him from a shelter in California. He loves to be rubbed behind the ears.

I love him.

I know most pet owners can relate to that. Still sounds silly that a grown man can care for and love a dog that has complicated life with added expense for vet bills, food, poodle haircuts and just plain worry.

At great physiological expense to us, Gus likes to play a game we call  ‘shootig the gap, or doorway.’

Any space he sees at the front door when it is opened he tries to sprint through. If he makes it before a foot holds him back, he is off to a wild, run-through-the-neighborhood spree, oblivious to the speeding two-ton cars.

Before I was diagnosed with Lewy body dementia at 56, our other dog died. Well, we, my wife, Catherine and I, had to take Molly in to be ‘put down.’ How else do you say it. Put to sleep?

Molly, a yellow Lab who was as kind as she was dumb, had a nice friendship with Gus. Gus would bark at and relentlessly attack, in a playful way, Molly. And Molly  would just let him.

We knew when Molly was dying. The breathing became labored, overtime, suggesting the onset of heart failure. She increasingly didn’t like stairs and quit sleeping in our upstairs bedroom.  Given the age and symptoms, I knew as the son of a veterinarian, she needed to be euthanized. But we  just couldn’t do it, we made up excuses. “She sounds better today, I think,” we’d tell each other.

Molly’s last night with us, I slept beside her on the floor.

By some amazing strength she stayed alive through the night. She looked in our eyes.

At the veterinary hospital we carried Molly, in a blanket because she could no longer walk.

With tears flowing freely we watch the doctor inject Molly.

I’ll never forget the sight of Molly’s eyes. One minute I was looking into her soul, and then the pupils became fixed. She wasn’t there.

Our children, now all grown, learned about death  through these experiences with their pets. And they learned about love.

Gus is lying on a rug right now in front of me.

I  bend down and rub behind his ears.

Maybe Gus, you have some good time left.

Maybe I do too.

Read more about Oliver and his push to raise awareness of Lewy body dementia at his blog, www.myvinylcountdown.com 

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Yay. $12,000 more for Lewy body dementia fight. Go MikeMadness

This posted earlier  today on AL.com.. 

Saturday was one of the most entertaining days of my life.

Why?

The charity 3-on-3 basketball tournament MikeMadness, after weeks of hype and hoopla, was played at UAB Recreation Center. It was by all accounts a rousing success.

We raised $12,000 with possibly more coming in, easily passing the $10,000 goal, just as we did last year in our inaugural tournament. In two years we have raised more than $25,000 forLewy body dementia awareness and research.

Lewy body dementia, is the second leading cause of dementia (after Alzheimer’s disease). The money is going to UAB and the Lewy Body Dementia Association. More on that in another column.

It’s not too late to donate by going here: www.mikemadness.org

So why was this one of the most entertaining days of my life?

Because I saw friends and family getting together, making new friends, playing competitive basketball and laughing. And besides a few bruises, jammed fingers and sore muscles, no one was hurt.

I got to play with my brother David, and two athletic nephews Joe Oliver, and Jake Vissers. We came in fourth of 14 teams. There were also three ‘elite’ teams that played their own mini-tournament.

Oh yes, and Buck Johnson, former University of Alabama and NBA star said he really liked my little left-handed runner in the lane. Oh shucks Buck.

Johnson was in attendance along with Trent Richardson, former running back in the NFL and at the University of Alabama. They delighted more than 100 fans and players throughout the gym by stopping to chat, pose for pictures and play a little round ball.

“I really appreciate what you all are doing,” said Johnson, who said he had a loved one with dementia.

Both played some, giving kids and grownups stories to tell their grandchildren (“I stole the ball from Buck Johnson,” I overheard one say.)

I want to thank so many people, those who donated money, time or just plain good words. There are too many to list but I want to single out several who put exceptional work into this: Ramsey Archibald; John and Alecia Archibald; Paul Blutter, Dan Carsen, Julie Vissers; Catherine, Lori and David Oliver; John and Joe Ellen Oliver; John Olsen; Jim Bakken; Kevin Storr (and UAB); AL.com and Michelle Holmes; and John Hammontree;  There are so, so many more.

I’m thinking ahead to next year

As I told folks on Saturday, spread the word about Lewy body dementia. It needs money for research but we need to get the word out. As one who has  been diagnosed with the disease, you can imagine I’d like a little more awareness coupled with urgency.

We need to name it: Lewy body dementia.

Mike Oliver is a columnist who writes about living with Lewy body dementia among many other topics. Reach him at moliver@AL.com . And follow his blog at www.myvinylcountdown.com .