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I’ll make this gripe short

I was reading this nice article online called 10 things your doctor won”t tell you about Parkinson’s disease.

The article opens:

Every year in the United States, about 60,000 people learn they have Parkinson’s disease, according to the American Parkinson Disease Association. The degenerative disorder strikes the central nervous system, impairing movement and balance, among other issues.

If you or a loved one has been recently diagnosed, these 10 things that patients who’ve been living with Parkinson’s for several years wish they’d known at diagnosis — which their doctors didn’t tell them — may make managing the disease easier.h

I found nothing wrong with the advice given. It was what advice they didn’t give.

What about Lewy?

Lewy body dementia, practically a kissing cousin of Parkinson’s. It seems ironic on a post about what doctors aren’t saying that they don’t say what is unsaid about Lewy body dementia. Wheww. That’s a tough sentence to unpack but I’m ranting on a blog so it’s OK.

But seriously, if Lewy body dementia is just the expanded version of Parkinson’s why do we leave it out o f a discussion on Parkinson’s, just like it gets left out of a lot of things.

OK, I’m done. For now.

Here’s an article I wrote earlier about Dementia Research Silos

Still upcoming this week

Dunk/Health update– today or Wednesday

Did he sell his soul to the devil?- Countdown continues with RJ –Thursday

-My Vinyl Countdown column — Saturday morning

The Afterlife — Sunday tentative

Is there such a thing as random? — Some random day next week

PS. Happy Birthday Captain Beefheart January 15, 1941 – December 17, 2010 –(12/17 is my daughter Hannah’s birthday)

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Joe Jackson — 404

ALBUM: Night and Day (1982)

MVC Rating: 3.5/$

Joe Jackson’s Night and Day

I’m pretty sure I bought this new as freshman in college at UGA. Maybe after all the Rolling Stones, Who and Allman Brothers blasting from my Reed Hall dorm room, I was trying for something a little more sophisticated. Joe Jackson was Elvis Costello with a piano.

Whereas Costello’s voice was tinged with irony and anger, Jackson’s voice had an undercurrent of irony and condescension. A little Steely Dan in there.

He had some hits, notably ‘Is She Really Going Out With Him’ (not on this album) and ‘Stepping Out’ and ‘Breaking Us in Two (both on this record). The album is jazzy. ‘Stepping Out’ is the sound of tinkling champagne toasts in Manhattan, which come with promise, but disappear after midnight.

“We are young but getting old before our time, we’ll leave the TV and radio behind,’ Jackson sings.

Nominated for a Grammy, this record’s another bargain in the used market. I saw it for $3 the other day.

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Garland Jeffreys — 406

Garland Jeffreys

Albums; One-Eyed Jack (1978)

MVC Rating: 3.5/$$

I heard the song ’96 Tears’ for the first time as it was sung by Garland Jeffreys. It got my attention. I later I found out it was a cover by Jeffreys of the 1960’s song by ? and Mysterians (That’s Question Mark and the Mysterians.) Great song. By both.

But firmly planted in my head — that’s how it works — I had Jeffreys’ name, and when I saw a record of his in the cutout bin, I jumped.

Another good inexpensive purchase. Jeffreys, who used to hang out with Lou Reed, is more mainstream than Reed. He comfortably shifts from soul, pop and reggae. He addresses issues like race as in the title song: “Here comes the One-Eyed Jack, sometimes white and sometimes black.”

An homage to his hero Jackie Robinson. Good record that has big production but didn’t do so well. Maybe there is a bit of a strain to be commercial here that backfired. I see Phoebe Snow, of the multi-octave voice, and my man David Lasley, among the back-up vocalists. Dr. John is on keys.

Look for it in record stores, it’s a good, overlooked record.

Newer music from Jeffreys in the form of a 2011 album called the ‘King of In-Between’ was given an ‘A’ by critic Robert Christgau, who does not grade on a curve.

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One wonders about these one-hit wonders — 10 best from My Vinyl Countdown

This is an opinion column by Mike Oliver who writes about  his diagnosis of Lewy body dementia and other issues at AL.com and  on his blog myvinylcountdown.com

Isn’t that it? We like to read and listen to one-hit wonders because it makes us wonder. We wonder, well, what happened to him or her or them?

We ask: “They were so good. Why didn’t they have another hit?”

“Did something tragic happen?

Oooh and it makes you wonder. Am I a one-hit wonder — in my life?”

How must the one-hit wonders feel? Working for years without another hit. Having to play that one hit as the last song at every concert gig It’s like George Reeves who played Superman in the TV show not being able toget another good job because he had been typecast.

One wonders and worries, perhaps, but they are fascinating. I’m not going to go into any deep analysis here about the psychology or analyze why some hit big only once.

But I’m going to list the top 10 one-hit wonders from My Vinyl Countdown blog. This comes from a list of my 678 albums, of which about 225 are on this blog

I’ve vowed to finish them all before I die.

I’m pulling my list from the 225 or so that I have already reviewed. We’ll  do another list down the road. Remember, this is my collection, mainly bought in the 1970s and 1980s.

It’s worth pointing out that some very fine artists never make it the Billboard 100.  This is not meant to be a complete list, it’s a list of songs that I  like and that make me wonder why the artist never broke through again. I have a low bar, these aren’t No. 1 Billboard  songs. Could be any on the top 100.

  1. Song: Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me.)  Artist:. Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel. This charted (barely) at 96 in the U.S. in 1976 but was No. 1 in England. I had this on a live album called ‘Face to Face’ but never paid much attention — it was the last song on a 2-disc live album I  picked up in Athens, Ga., I then found out the song was on one of my compilations records as well, but I’ve only recently come to appreciate its cool-ness  and catchiness.
  2. Song: Sweet Mary. Artist: Wadsworth Mansion. This catchy tune sounds like it came out of the Beach Boy’s treasure chest or Jan and Deans garage.  The song went to No. 7 on the Billboard 100. Despite releasing other songs, the band never had another track crack the 100. And you wonder how a band  with a name like that could go wrong. (I love the speeded up outro: Chickie-chickie-chick is your heart a-break. Chickie-chickie-chick is your heart a-break
  3. Song: A Good Heart. Artist:  Feargal Sharkey. This song was also catchy as heck and went No. 1 in the UK charts but only saw No. 76 in the U.S in 1985. Despite some great songs, nothing else went Top 100 US for him. Before his solo career, Sharkey was known for fronting the Irish band ‘The Undertones,’ a significant contributor to the power-pop New Wave movement. Its hard to listen to this song and not sing-surf along to Sharkey’s powerful voice on the chorus. My personal favorite, from the same album, is a song called ‘You Little Thief’ which did well overseas but didn’t chart in the U.S.
  4. Song: Money Changes Everything. Artist: The Brains. This song, one of the all time great rock songs, was covered by Cindi Lauper and  became a worldwide hit charting at No. 27  on the U.S. Billboard 100 in 1985. It was an underground hit for The Atlanta, Ga.-based Brains, were fronted by Tom Gray who wrote and recorded the song. Athough the bands work was crtically acclaimed, they never matched the Money success. They have several albums which I review here.
  5. Song: Resurrection Shuffle. Artist: Ashton Gardner & Dyke. This song is one  of two songs I know of that have your backbone slipping in the lyrics. The other is Land of a 1,000 Dances, which is as danceable as this one, which is pretty high praise because they are high on the danceability scale. The group had several albums and released several singles but nothing that made the charts. Resurrection Shuffle however hit No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the States in 1971. Tom Jones and Clarence Clemons are among those who  have covered this song.
  6. Song: A Million Miles Away. Artist: The Plimsouls. I’m stretching my own rules here by picking something off of an album I haven’t reviewed yet. I am in the ‘H’s’ as I count these down. However, I have a good explanation. The band has Peter Case in it, whom I have already reviewed.   This is a great song, and I’m sure they would have had more had they stayed together. One might remember this song (and the Plimsouls playing it), from the 80’s movie ‘Valley Girl.’
  7. Song: Slow Dancing. Artist: The Funky Kings. Most have never heard of the Funky Kings. I reviewed them recently on this  blog here. They were a pleasant laid back southern California band that left little lasting impression. Slow Dancing however became a hit on the Easy Listening charts and a Johnny Rivers cover did even better. It’s nice.  It’s a high school slow dance song. It’s the kind of song that becomes a memory touchstone if you happened to be exposed to it at the right age.
  8. Song: Sunshine. Artist: Jonathan Edwards. When you hear this song it sounds like you’ve heard it all your life, even if it’s the first time. That’s the sign of a timeless song and this is a good one. The question is (and I wonder) what happened to Edwards. He did other records,  two other songs nearly cracked the top 100. He did some acting. But he never came close to matching the power and popularity of ‘Sunshine.’
  9. Song: Telstar. Artist: The Tornadoes. This instrumental sounds like a classic, like you heard it somewhere before. The band was comprised of successful backing  musicians and had numerous hits in the UK. Telstar, however, was their only US  hit as far as I  can tell. But it did well: No. 1. Not bad for a  pop song with no words.
  10. Song: Driver’s Seat. Artist: Sniff ‘n’ the Tears. Okay I’m cheating. I haven’t reviewed this one yet but I wanted to close strong. This is just a great piece of driving, rocking pop fluff. A little bit like ‘Radar Love’ in that it is a  good driving song. But this band was truly a one-hit wonder. One and done.
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John Hurley — 412

NOTE: This was updated July, 2020, to reflect that when I did the original post I did not know about his other two albums. I began to do a litte research on this native of Pittsburgh and session musician in Nashville, and some in Muscle Shoals as well. Since I wrote the original column, I launched an unsuccessful search for a friend or relative. He died too early in his 1950s  (It appears that he also had a Birmingham link in that he did some recording here as well.) I’ve not found family or friends but I quit pursuing because I felt like I would leave them alone and if they wanted to talk, they would contact me). Any way bottom line. I liked the other two albums better than One More Hallelujah. I have upgraded Hallelujah from 3.5 to 4.0; and the other two I’m grading to 4.5’s each. He was not only a great songwriter but also a great country-blues singer. I mean great.

ALBUM: John Hurley Delivers One More Hallelujah (1971)

MVC Rating: 3.5/$$

Not exactly a household name, John Hurley finishes up my “H’s” as I countdown my collection of 678 records.’

This gospel-soul singer is probably best known for co-writing the classic ‘Son of a Preacher Man’ with the famous line: ‘The only man who could ever reach me was the son of a preacher man.’

The song was originally written for Aretha Franklin but when there were some delays in getting the Aretha version done and published,  Wikipedia says the song was considered too gospel for the particular album Aretha was working on.

Dusty Springfield recorded it, and it became a massive hit.

Hurley was a fine singer as well as a songwriter but he only put out three albums. He died at 45 from liver failure and cerebral hemorrhage, according to his Wikipedia page.

He wrote songs with Ronnie Wilkins, for a while in Nashville. Some who have covered his songs include The Everly Brothers, Waylon Jennings and Wayne Newton.

The much-covered “Song of the Common People” was written by the two (see video below, a poignant tribute put together by his family).

The title song on the album  I have is a full-throated gospel number that almost crosses over the gospel- secular divide with its chorus-backed soul belting of Hurley.

If you like soul or gospel, this is a  strong consistent album, top to bottom by an artist who deserves a little more recognition. As oneYouTuber put it: “Another buried treasure. What an amazing, unjustly forgotten career.”

Footnote: I picked this from a used record bin thinking I was buying something from Michael Hurley and  the Holy Modal  Rounders which I had read about and was looking for the name ‘Hurley’ and just snagged it without remembering that it was the wrong first name.  Glad I did snag it.

But still looking for that Michael Hurley record.

PPS: Larry Carlton plays guitar on this  Hurley record.

A tidbit came to me before I could close out: In the 90’s, the reggae-American group Cypress Hill, sampled “Son of a Preacher Man,’ put it in a song called “Hits from the Bong.”

That  added even more to a growing audience for that song, contributing royalties for the songwriters.

Click for story I did about Love of the Common People.

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Dunking quest pushes the limits of 59-year-old’s body and soul (blog version)

When I was about 9 living in the Athens, Ga., I begged my mother to let me mow the lawn. Previous requests had been denied on account of “you’ll cut your leg off.”

That was the standard Mom line, kind of the go-to parallel of “You’ll put your eye out,” as immortalized in the boy’s pursuit of a BB-gun in the movie :A Christmas Story.”

Besides mowing, I also had been pushing for a BB gun.

I didn’t get one of those until about age 12. (A Daisy single pump).

But on the lawn mowing thing, she caved in earlier. Looking back, I’m sure Dad, who had some skin in the game, as the primary lawn mower helped come up with the idea to get the aptly named ‘push mower.’ That is a lawnmower with no gasoline, no engine and no motor-driven whirling blades to cut my leg off.

I didn’t know the nuances of lawnmowers; I was just happy to finally get to mow the lawn. So, I started one bright, hot and humid Saturday and golly it sure was hard to push. But I kept pushing, learning from some instruction to go up and down the lawn in rows leaving no grass in between. I hadn’t figured out the square spiral method of mowing yet where you made a big square of cut grass all around the edge of the lawn and descended with a spiral square until you had a satisfying tiny block of grass left.

No, on my first day, I realized this was no easy job. After about 20 or 30 minutes I had mowed two rows, came inside and declared I would finish later. Sunday came and I went at it, maybe knocking out three rows before quitting. I was hitting a rhythm. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, knocking off a couple or three rows each day in about 30 minutes of sweltering work. I remember skipping my mowing workout on Friday to play street ball with friends.

But on Saturday I finally finished. I had pushed that powerless grass cutter over every inch of the lawn in one week’s time.

Now for my big life lesson.

I invited my Mom out to see my handiwork. She said she was proud of me. And she said: “It’s time to start mowing again.”

“When?” I asked, fighting tears.

“Now,’ said Mom. “See how it has grown back on this side of the lawn?”

That is when I learned that life is dukkha __ one of the four Noble Truths in Buddhism is that much of life is suffering. My wife, Catherine, taught me the word decades later, learning it from her theological studies. But I learned the concept that hot day, leaning up against a silent, immobile push mower.

I’d like to say I kicked that mower and began stomping it to pieces. That’s what I was thinking anywa­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­y. But then I know if I did that my Mom would say something.

“Careful, you’ll cut your leg off.”

So, here I am 50 years later. I have a degenerative brain disease and I’ve made a vow to fulfill a bucket list item of dunking a basketball on a regulation 10-foot goal. I’ve never dunked in my life.

I started in October and I’ve promised updates on my quest to dunk by mid-July.

But like mowing the lawn with that push mower, training can be exhausting, hot, and discouraging when you see no end in sight. It can be body breaking and soul shaking.

As Little Feat sang: “It’s easy to slip.:

And I did.

But don’t bet against me just yet. After a multi-week layoff, I was back on the basketball court Wednesday night. The game was brutal on me. I won’t be dunking anytime soon.

In the meantime, on Nov. 9, I turned 59. Some days I feel every bit of my age and more.

Those who have been following my story know that I have Lewy body dementia, a form of dementia that is the second leading cause after Alzheimer’s.

To those following along – and bless you by the way – I have a blog where I am counting down my vinyl record collection numbering 678. It can be found at www.myvinylcountdown.com. I’m also an AL.com columnist and post a column using pieces of MVC (My Vinyl Countdown). My challenge, I see now, goes beyond exercising my body.

I’m operating under the notion that my life will be shortened. The average lifespan after diagnosis is 5-8 years or 4-7 years, depending on the source. I was diagnosed at age 56; I am now 59. But averages are averages and I hope to be a long living outlier – as long as my quality of life remains reasonably bearable.

I will tell you this: I feel way better than I feel two years ago. I attribute that to medications, early diagnosis, exercise, and music.

Stay with me, as Rod Stewart used to sing. Maybe just maybe you’ll see me defy not just gravity but health age and common sense.

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Robyn Hitchcock, The Hi-Lo’s — 416, 415,

ALBUMS: Suddenly it’s The Hi-Lo’s (1957, Reissue 1981); Robyn Hitchcock and the Egyptians, Globe of Frogs (1988).

MVC Rating: Hi-Lo’s 3.0/$$: Hitchcock 3.5/$$

Robin Hitchcok’s Globe of Frogs

OK I am doubling up as I am wont to do every now and then. I’m finishing up the H’s in the next few posts. Continuing on my way to review and reminisce about my 678-record collection. I’m doing this alphabetically (more o r less) and I still have more than 400 to go.

I chose to review these together mainly because they were the next two alphabetically speaking. But it’s an interesting contrasting combination.

This is a review of a 1950’s vocal jazz group and an alternative psychedelic folk rock artist . What can you say about Hitchcock, an artist who opens his liner notes with words like: “All of us exist in a swarming pulsating world, driven mostly by an unconscious that we ignore or misunderstand.”

The Hi-Lo’s meanwhile in this 1981 reissue of a 1957 album are all about fresh faced optimism, suits and un-ironic bow ties. The four men sing in harmonies and seem happy warbling away at songs like ‘Swing Low Sweet Chariot’ and ‘Stormy Weather. I listen to it when I want to go to something completely different in my collection. It’s surprisingly uplifting music.

Meanwhile Hitchcock sings songs entitled ‘Tropical Flesh Mandala’ and ‘Luminous Rose.’

If I were writing a traditional consumer guide I’d probably say ‘hey old folks check out the Hi-Lo’s they are like your old music. And say to the younger folks, dig the new Robyn HItchock album, it’s out of this world.

But I recommend the vice versa position. Kids meet the Hi-Los. Grown-ups see what psychedlic folk hipsterism is all about.  (It’s not too bad, I promise — except ‘Devil’s Mask‘  — live from Athens, Ga., — might blow some minds.)

So with both albums from divergent styles you can still say about both of them: And now for something completely different.

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Roy Clark RIP — 424

 

 

 

 

 

 

ALBUM: Guitar Spectacular! (1965)

MVC Rating: 4.0/$$

This one slipped between the cracks earlier, having now passed my “C” section. But upon hearing  of his death today it feels appropriate to put it up.

He was 85.

Love that album cover. The album itself shows off the nimbleness and pecision of Clark’s finger-picking. In this one, he seems to want to show that he can do a little of everything, Spanish, jazz, blues, classical. A little heavy on the Latin easy listening numbers, but they do take you to a patio in Mexico or Texas.

When he decides to go fast on his acoustic guitar,   he blazes like Alvin Lee on electric.

I remember Clark from his Hee Haw TV days,  the corniest show that I couldn’t quit watching. “ If it weren’t for bad luck I’d have no luck at all.’

RIP Roy.

 

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Ian Hunter — 426

ALBUM: “You’re Never Alone With a Schizophrenic” (1979)

MVC rating: 4.0

Hey, who am I to call out anyone for not being politically correct about a brain disorder.  But the album title did kind of make me wince. And wouldn’t it be ‘funnier’ if it was ‘You’re Never Alone When You Are a Schizophrenic.”

Ian Hunter, lead singer of the sturdy, straight-head Mott the Hoople, puts out his fourth solo record here (1979).

This is a good album, that I have neglected playing for years. Backed by members of the Bruce Springsteen’s E-Street Band, Hunter dishes some radio-friendly rock and roll.

Guitarist Mick Ronson is reasonably understated throughout most of the record. No major show-off solos in songs that had more of a Bowie/Jagger vibe. Ronson likely helped create that sound.

In “Just Another Night,” Hunter does an exaggerated, on-purpose, Mick Jagger vocal.  On ‘Wild East,’  Hunter enjoys hanging out in a  bad neighborhood.

And then there’s ‘Cleveland Rocks’ who many remember was a theme song for “The Drew Carey Show,’  — a rendition by The Presidents of the United States. It’s an anthemic rocker with some of those 80’s gratuitous synthesizer warbles and whoops.

‘Ships’ is the radio ballad, and it is syrup, topped off by a disturbingly bland cliche’. And so it didn’t surprise me that Barry Manilow covered this with some success. (The chorus cliche’? We’re just two ships that pass in the night.)

Live song below where Queen’s Bryan May jumps in.

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How can I hang on to a memory?

This is an opinion column by Mike Oliver who writes about his diagnosis of Lewy body dementia and other health and life issues, here on AL.com and his blog.
This morning I had a memory from my childhood.
That, in and of itself, is not particularly newsworthy. But it did make me think how my brain is working.
I have a degenerative brain disease called Lewy body dementia, and I think my experiences can be useful to the medical community and the care-giving community – or anyone interested in what it feels like inside the head of a dementia patient.

Mike and Catherine Oliver help each other remember.

My memory this morning was this:
I was looking at some pants getting for work, realized the pants were — unlike most of my pants – too loose in the waist. The pants would be literally pants on the ground after about five or six steps.
This triggered a memory: it was a sunny day in Auburn, AL,. I was a 5 or 6-year-old kid going out to play on Rudd Avenue (which I don’t think exists anymore. The road’s there, but the name changed for some reason.)
In my memory I am running to get to the creek we used to play in and then we’d likely walk in the creek to Prather’s Lake.
As I run, I realize I‘m having to hold my pants up. With both hands.
I only had two things on like every Auburn boy on my street in the 1960s: Underwear and short pants. And my short pants kept sliding down. Not cool.
Luckily. I had belt loops on my shorts.
My memory only lasted a split second, but it was very visual. I remembered I found a piece of skinny rope. It was only about 5 or 6 inches long. Not enough to go all the way around my waist. So. I couldn’t use it like a regular belt because it was too short.
I guess the idea just spontaneously erupted in my 5 or 6-year-old brain. I tied two front belt loops together with that little rope. Tailor made! The britches held up nice and tight now.
I don’t remember anybody ever teaching me that trick or ‘hack’ as it would be called using current nomenclature. But, indeed, it was a real ‘necessity-is-the-mother-of-invention’ moment.
I think of this, not because there is anything unusual or profound about it.
But it made me stop and wonder why my brain chose to furnish me this quite vivid memory of a past event with no relevance to anything, other than it was triggered by me looking at some pants.
Is it my brain saying: ‘Hey, here’s some info you used before in a separate waist-fitting pants escapade. Here, see if this will help you,’ my brain seems to be saying. Pretty dang complicated for a brain awash in clumps of protein named after Dr.Lewy, who discovered them.
Or maybe it’s a symbolic lesson about how the answer, the cure, is right in front of you, like the piece of twine.
I’ve got my brain sitting here right now — and at all times — inside my head.
What if thinking alone can literally change the brain?
Wonder where that thought came from?
I’ll try it.
-=-=-=-=–=-=-=-=-=-=
Here are five essential facts about Lewy body dementia from the Lewy Body Dementia Association.
  • LBD is a relentlessly progressive disorder affecting thinking, movement, behavior and sleep. On average people with LBD live 5-7 years after diagnosis, though it can progress as quickly as 2 years or as slowly as 20 years.
  • Despite its low public awareness, LBD is not a rare disorder and affects an estimated 1.4 million Americans along with their families and caregivers.
  • People living with LBD and their family caregivers need a high level of support from family members and healthcare professionals from the early stage of the disorder, due to early and unpredictable frequent changes in thinking, attention and alertness, as well as psychiatric symptoms like hallucinations and delusions.
  • LBD is the most misdiagnosed form of dementia. Getting a diagnosis of LBD typically takes 3 or more doctors over 12 to 18 months. The LBDA Research Centers of Excellence network includes 25 preeminent academic centers with expertise in LBD diagnosis and management.
  • Early diagnosis of LBD is extremely important, due to severe sensitivities to certain medications sometimes used in disorders that mimic LBD, such as Alzheimer’s disease and other medical and psychiatric illnesses. An early diagnosis also empowers the person with LBD to review, pursue and fulfill their personal life priorities before the illness progresses too far, review their legal and financial plans, and discuss their care preferences with their physician and family.
  • Contact Mike Oliver at moliver@al.com Also follow his stories, including his quest to dunk at 58 years old on AL.com or myvinylcountdown.com