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So, about this plan to review my vinyl records before I die

Don’t worry, I’m still going to finish. I just believe I need to step it up.

My Vinyl Countdown, or myvinylcountdown.com, is still rolling, but needs some maintenance as I’ve piled on about 500 posts in less than three years.

Read About Me for a detailed explanation but in general, I’m counting down the 678 vinyl records I have collected over the years. Of my 500-plus posts, a little more than 400 are record reviews. I have about 230 of those reviews to go which will be another 18 months at the pace I’m going now. So, I need to accelerate.

Obviously this is not all about music; I’ve written quite a few post, essays, even poetry about the disease, some are here. Check the ‘categories ‘ and ‘archives’ buttons for more.

An associated fund-raising group called MikeMadness has staged a basketball tournament for three straight years resulting in about $40,000 combined toward awareness and research. Our fourth annual even was scheduled for July 25, 2020. We are watching the issues surrounding the coronavirus closely to see if and how we may have to make new arrangements. Stay tuned in to this blog, or AL.com, or MikeMadness.

My impetus to accelerate is not that I’ll be dying any minute from this incurable degenerative brain disease. But I will be dying any year. I’d like to accomplish this task with some cushion, big cushion.

In the mad swirl of advocating for Lewy body dementia, I’ve met Suzanne WIlliams Wright, Robin WIliams’ widow, And I was interviewed for podcast by Kerri Kasem the daughter of Casey Kasem, who also like WIlliams died of Lewy body dementia.

Alphabetically I just finished the ‘P’s’ and into the ‘Q’s’ with Queen. I’ve bought and received a good deal of albums during this time, but I’ve also sold about 40 or 50. One of my tune-ups is to correct my countdown numbers which appear in bold on the title headline of each bog post. Those countdown numbers are supposed to tell you and me where I am with these. I have found that in several places I’ve skipped adding the number. For example, I have on Van Morrison listed only one album when in reality I have about five. The error came in listing only one album for the countdown. So this is exciting in that it might move me up (down?) in the countdown. In other words, I’m farther along than I thought.

If I was really ambitious and forward thinking and savvy I would have all of these in a spreadsheet and keep track by updating every time I gain one or lose one.

Now readers, friends and family have worried that the end of the countdown somehow means the end of me. Not what I’m planning. I started this to raise money for Lewy body dementia research and awareness. When I get to 678 I am anticipating I’ll have overage which could be dealt with by simply adding an addendum to this blog, which has also been a regular feature at AL.com.

I’ll leave you now with reviews from the blog archives:

JANIS JOPLIN

Album: Greatest Hits (1973); Pearl (1969)

MVC Rating: Greatist: 4.0/$$$; Pearl 4.5/$$$$

NOTE: I added Pearl rather recently, not being able to resist its thrift store price and good conditionl. Half the tracks overlap with Greatest Hits. Pearl is a great classic album. I’m pretty sure I have pretty much all the Joplin I need as I also have a CD with something like 20 song.

—

Talk about pain — as we have been with the country songs of George Jones and Tammy Wynette — Janis Joplin was one hurting puppy.

Her voice was like no other when that inner turmoil came out.

That’s why the video in my last post of Janis and Tom Jones is something of a revelation. Tom Jones (coming to Birmingham soon) is a made for-Vegas, pop singer with a ladies’ following, some nifty dance moves copped from Elvis, and a strong strong voice in his own right. On this duet, Tom and Janis seem to be having much fun as they see who can out belt each other while shimmying around the dance floor to a small but raucous crowd of musicians and dancers.

CLICK ON TITLE FOR FULL REVIEW

ROY CLARK

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.

AL GREEN

]ALBUMS:  Greatest Hits (Reissue: 1982 of 1975 release); Truth In Time (1978); Soul Survivor (1987)

MVC Rating: Greatest 5/$$$$; Truth 4.0/$$$; Soul Survivor/$$$

One of my favorite  artists  — all time.

I have three albums that capture the essence and soul of a man with essence and soul. He was the best at covering other’s work and elevating. But he wrote his own as well.

His earlier stuff collected on the hits album is classic R&B, soul. Some of the best made.

The Al Green-penned ‘Let’s Stay Together,’ ‘Let’s Get Married,’ ‘Call Me,’ and ‘I’m Still in Love With You’ all smolder with  love and hotter love. Green’s falsetto is the best. That’s not up for debate with me. It is the best.
His song, “Tired of Being Alone” is a timeless classic.

But it’s his cover of the  Bee Gee’s ‘How Can You Mend a Broken Heart’ that takes the prize for top, not to be too hyperbolic, perhaps Top 3, covers of all time. That is an emotional workout listening to Green sing that.

The only song not on the Greatest Hits that should have been is ‘Take Me to the River,’ a Green song covered quite successfully later  by the Talking Heads.

Green in 1974,  after some traumatic  life events and hospitalizations,  became a pastor. He leads a big church in  Memphis near Elvis’ Graceland. Over the years he has wavered between recording pure gospel music and a hybrid of popular, with God infused throughout.

Some of his ’80s’ work is as  powerful as anything he’s ever done. I got religion about three times listening to Soul Survivor and his sung version of the 23rd Psalm with a full gospel choir. In my copy of ‘Soul Survivor’ I was happy to find a 5X7 photo and a bio sheet.

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Alabama man’s massive 78 RPM record collection: Is it valuable? (Blog version)

A version of this was published Monday night on AL.com.

A 20-something Alabama man may be sitting on a goldmine with thousands of 78 RPM records he inherited from his grandfather.

Or. he may not be.

Sitting on a goldmine, that is.

Now it’s time for the thrill of the search and research.

A 78 sold for $19,600 just last week. It was by pre-war blues singer Charley Patton, according to ValueYourMusic.com.

The young man who inherited the giant collection contacted me after reading a column I wrote recently on 78’s — those antiquated platters, 10 inches in diameter, made from shellac. The heavy but fragile discs give you one song at a time on the turntable, spinning at a blistering pace of 78 revolutions per minute.

Is there another Patton in these endless boxes? How about a Robert Johnson, another pioneering blues singer, whose music on 78s have sold for more than $10,000 at least three times.  Tommy Johnson, another now deceased bluesman, had one of his 78s sell for $37,000.

But the man with inherited records knows there may be money in those boxes but he isn’t holding his breath for something that is kind of like winning the lottery. The man who agreed to talk as long as we don’t name him for security and privacy reasons, may just have a big collection of fine music, whose value might make him wonder whether it’s worth the time and effort to store and catalog. Upon his invitation, I went to view the collection a few days ago and am still in awe of its scope and quality — most were in mint or near mint condition — that’s a big plus in the collectors world.

I warned him ahead of time I’m no expert. After looking at about 10 percent of his collection I found no Holy grails — Pattons or Johnsons. They may be in there — but it is kind of a needle in haystck search. I got the feeling there’s stuff in here that people have forgotten.

On a tight schedule, I took some pictures and poked around for two hours. He has some interesting stuff. Early Louis Armstrong, The Ink Spots, Rosetta Tharpe, King Oliver, Sy Oliver, Bud Powell, the Mad Caps, the Royal Mounties, some spoken word, and lots of promotional records (for the DJ’s).

He has more than a dozen 78s of a young Frank Sinatra. Early stuff. There was a whole box of only Gennett labels, a label started in a piano maker’s business in Indiana. Some of those Gennett’s dated back to the turn of the century.

I discovered Lincoln Chase — he’s the guy who wrote the novelty song ‘Jim Dandy’ made famous by Black Oak Arkansas.

You can see how I can go down a rabbit hole like this and never come back.

But back to the needle-and-haystack cliche’.

As the generation of people who actually bought and listened to 78 RPM records dwindle, the attics are being searched and basements explored, sending a lot of shellac to market.

The old blues music being the most sought after is a supply and demand issue. Blues at that time consisted of black musicians playing to black audiences, often in rural areas.

That’s why there are so many 78 collections out there that are flush with Big Band and Easy Listening music — Tommy Dorsey, Guy Lombardo, Lawrence Welk and Fred Waring. That was what sold to mainstream white America. Of course, blues music came to be one of the cornerstones of rock and roll. And the Brits, for the most part, beat white Americans to the discovery of this timeless music made in America.

The records most people are familiar with are 12-inch vinyl records that spin at 33 1/3 RPM, and the 7-inch 45’s that spin at, well you know.

Spinning is what my head was doing when I saw the collection. There were boxes and boxes — I counted about 45 to 50 that I could see, boxes of 40 to 50 records each. There were rows high up I couldn’t count and, he said, there were more up in the attic. To add to it, he had LP’s (33 1/3) and 45’s — boxes of them. I Iooked through a box of 45’s and LP’s and saw a real hodgepodge of older and newer records from the likes of Pink Floyd, Roy Orbison, Beastie Boys, Michael Jackson, and Johnny Cash.

I’ll follow this search and bring results when he gets them. He says he wants to sell but like everyone with a large collection he is unsure whether to sell individually, in lots, or in bulk.

No matter what method, I think he’ll do well.

My own MyVInylCountdown collection started at 678 and has grown some. But as I age and battle this disease I, too, will downsize my records. While it is fun to nab a record that gets more valuable with time, the most important thing is the music.

As the Doobie Brothers sang, “Listen to the music.”

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The Mothers of Invention (compilation) — 317

ALBUM: The Mothers of Invention (1970)

MVC Countdown: 3.5/$$$$

Frank Zappa records tend to be worth a little more in the resale market. This is a greatest ‘hits’ album of early stuff before Zappa put his name out front of the band, which was made-up of former members of the 60’s rock/pop group the Turtles.

I will be writing more about Zappa when I get to the Z’s. He can be brilliant and disgusting, often at the same time.

Meanwile, enjoy (if you are able) songs such as Wowie Zowie and Who Needs the Peace Corps and Flower Punk. This album had a median price, used, of $12 on Discogs; it’s probably the least valuable of my Zappa stuff.

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Daily journal May 11, 2019

1:57 pm: Happy Birthday Catherine – Love of my life. Had a few other events here rolled up. Happy Mother’s Day mom. I made her breakfast (eggs an bacon). Then I went to play my weekly game of basketball. It was fun.

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Somebody needs to tell Ted Turner his brain disease is fatal (blog version)

This is an opinion column by Mike Oliver, who frequently writes about his own diagnosis of Lewy body dementia and other health, life and death issues.

So who told Ted Turner, CNN magnate, that his newly diagnosed Lewy body dementia is not fatal.

Is he just playing it down?

TedTurner.JPG

Because I’ve got news for him:  It is 100 percent fatal. You get it you die.

Like a  lot of diseases, right? No.

What Ted has, Lewy body dementia, shortens lifespans. Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, on average, do not. (Some say Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s shortens life 2 or fewer years.)

There is no cure for any of these degenerative brain diseases.

Turner, the billionaire TV cable mogul, said in an interview today on CBS This Morning that he has been diagnosed with Lewy body dementia.

“It’s a mild case of what people have as Alzheimer’s. It’s similar to that. But not nearly as bad. Alzheimer’s is fatal,” Turner told Koppel at his 113,000-acre ranch near Bozeman, Montana. “Thank goodness I don’t have that.”

I don’t think Ted fully knows what’s coming. Maybe he does. But it sounds like Turner — like the vast public and, most troubling, the medical community — doesn’t have a clue about what he has.

The fact is that Lewy body dementia is not a form of Alzheimer’s disease and, not that a debate over ‘severity’ of the diseases accomplishes much, Lewy’s damaging symptoms can be equal to or worse than AD, if that’s even possible. Both kill the brain eventually and every step of the way you lose a little more control.

Turner said something else that goes to the heart of my mission:

“But, I also have got, let’s – the one that’s – I can’t remember the name of it.” (Bold emphasis mine.)

(MORE ABOUT THE UNDERDIAGNOSED DISEASE: LEWY LEWY, CALL IT BY ITS NAME)

Turner said, “Dementia. I can’t remember what my disease is.”

Too often patients don’t know what they got, some doctors know little about it.

I seek to raise awareness of this disease. I have — with generous help from the community — conducted two basketball tournament fund-raisers for Lewy body research at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. I have written quite a bit about it for my blog and AL.com. Go to my website and click on the Lewy Dementia button for some of my writing.

Come join me Mr. Turner.

Robin Williams had Lewy body dementia, and it was undiagnosed. He thought he was  going crazy. The suicide I believe could have been prevented. The knowledge itself would have helped reduce anxiety. And with treatment targeted to Lewy body, not Alzheimer’s, not Parkinson’s, he might have had some good time left.

In the interview aired today, Turner said something that puts a point on what has become a mission of mine: Raise awareness for Lewy body. I write this right now on my laptop slowly in the hunt-and-peck mode because my right hand can’t type. Lewy body can present with Parkinsonian symptoms on top of the cognition issues.

Lewy body disease (LBD) is a umbrella term which covers Lewy body dementia, which I have. It’s been two years since I was diagnosed. I guess you would say I am in early stages and still highly functional.

But Lewy isn’t going anywhere.

Lewy body dementia will kill you on average 5 to 8 years after diagnosis. There are several sources for this including Mayo Clinic (other sources say  4 to 7 years or 5 to 7 years.)

Lewy body disease presents symptoms that include impaired cognition, and the kind of  tremors associated with Parkinson’s.

Lewy body dementia has changed my world.

MikeMadness T-shirts.jpgTrisha Powell Crain

You have a choice to get interested in what may kill you prematurely and do what I’m doing: Spreading the word. I’m a columnist for an AL.com and write about Lewy body dementia frequently here and on my music blog:  www.myvinylcountdown.com

I have never heard anyone describe Lewy body as being milder than Alzheimer’s. They are two different things and affect everybody differently. But Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s patients have less of a reduction in lifespan than Lewy body dementia patients.

Mayo Clinic says this:” Lewy body dementia, also known as dementia with Lewy bodies, is the second most common type of progressive dementia after Alzheimer’s disease dementia. Protein deposits, called Lewy bodies, develop in nerve cells in the brain regions involved in thinking, memory and movement (motor control).”

Let’s find a cure.

Reach me at moliver@al.com and see my blog at www.myvinylcountdown.com

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MVC by the numbers: How far to go? I’ll be finished in 30 months

With the Flash and the Pan post this morning, I am at number 485.

That’s how far I have to go (484 more actually.)

That’s the number of posts I have left to fulfill the vow of reviewing or writing about the 678 vinyl records I  collected, mostly in my teens or 20s (1970s, 1980’s). Although I do have some newer vinyl, which sounds very good I must say. And I have a little bit from the ’50s and ’60s.

I’m doing it with diminishing brain function. I  have Lewy body dementia and am trying to raise awareness to this misunderstood and little known disease which affects more than a million people. Please read up on this by going back through my blog, and reading about my thoughts and experience. Also go to the Lewy Body Dementia Association website at LBDA.org

So let’s do the math on My Vinyl Countdown. From 678. Counting backwards I am on 485. (This is the number that appears at the top of each blog spot next to the artists’ name I am reviewing.)

So 678-485 = 193.  I have reviewed and written about 193 albums right now.

That is 193/11 (months) = 17.5. That’s how many I have been doing per month.

So 485/17.5 = 28. That’s how many more months I have if I keep at this pace. Two years and four months.

I have vowed to live long enough to do this, but I am compelled to chug through this to complete the task. I was diagnosed two years ago. On the high end, survival after diagnosis averages 7 years. I’ve done 2 so that gives me 5 years left of life.

PREDICTION:

I’ll complete this in 30 months, with 30 months to spare on my life span.

 

 

 

 

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Still catching up with vinyl record countdown before I die (blog version)

UPDATE 6:22 p.m. 4/21:  Back from record stores. Long walk. I got two records one at each shop at 5 points.  Roy Clark’s ‘ Spectacular Guitar.’ He’s one of the best guitarists  and perhaps underrated by rock fans. Grass Roots, some personal reasons I picked ‘Golden Grass’ which I will  talk about at a later date. Fine day to shop, came in under $15 for two I wanted. Don’t tell Catherine. I’m still trying to find the right time to tell her about my growing stack of albums.

I did confess to getting Neutral Milk Hotel’s Aeroplane  record on newly minted vinyl during a recent road trip to see family.  It’s an album  I had on CD, but I love it and couldn’t resist a purchase at WUXTRY in Athens, Ga., where the band lived and, I believe recorded the album.

Hey all,

I published another Countdown update on AL.com. Click here.

I am going right now to 5 pts. South to Record Store Day at the two stores there, Charlemagne and Renassance.  And Seasick little later.

I’m still taking this week all in as my colleague and friend John Archibald won a Pulitzer Prize for commentary.

I’m off …….Oh wait a minute!

Coincidence or not department. The Difford and  Tilbrook vinyl record I have as my latest review has a song I singled out “Picking up the Pieces.”

My five snippits I introduce to AL.com readers today contains the Average White Band’s famous hit ‘Pick up the Pieces’ a totally different song from different eras and genre………wow.

OK maybe not so  Wow but it is kind of strange…OK maybe not strange at all (I’m going now).

Listen to the AWB video piece of my post and watch the (totally white) crowd try to dance … funny (OK I’m going now.)

 

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Leonard Cohen — 574

AL

ALBUM: I’m Your Man (1988)

MVC Rating: 4.5/$$$$

Canadian, poet, novelist, singer, songwriter and musician. Which of these things does not go with Leonard Cohen.

Some would say singer. And yet, that, and songwriter are probably what he’s known most for. His song ‘Hallelujah’ has many great covers (Jeff Buckley,  Willie Nelson, k.d. lang, Justin Timberlake, just to name a few.) But some still enjoy Cohen’s own version best. I prefer Buckley’s but I do prefer Cohen’s version of Suzanne more than the interpretations by other singers.

Cohen whisper-talks in deep basstones. He doesn’t really sing. But it can be very effective as on his 1988 album, “I’m Your  Man.” On this album that I have on vinyl, Cohen uses more instrumentation than usual  to back  his whispery poetry. It’s right catchy. Highlights include the title song,  ‘First We Take Manhattan’ and probably the album’s best song, ‘Tower of Song.’  It’s kind of  like old white man rap.

With Cohen, it’s all about the words. He’s basically a poet, who learned to turn his provocative verse into song.  He was apparently in his 30s before he even used  music as vehicle for expression. He was a novelist and poet with several published works.

Cohen’s lyrics are always enigmatic, earthy and sophisticated at the same time.  Here’s some passages from ‘Tower of Song:’

 Well my friends are gone and  my hair is grey

I ache in the places where I used to play

And I’m crazy for love but I’m not coming on
I’m just paying my rent every day
Oh in the tower of song

Cohen died at 82 in 2016.
Rolling  Stone wrote:  Cohen was the dark eminence among a small pantheon of extremely influential singer-songwriters to emerge in the Sixties and early Seventies. Only Bob Dylan exerted a more profound influence upon his generation, and perhaps only Paul Simon and fellow Canadian Joni Mitchell equaled him as a song poet.
I would argue with Rolling Stone over that last statement. Lennon-McCartney,  Van Morrison and even Bruce Springsteen should be in that conversation.  (Springsteen would be more in the late 1970s.
My favorite Cohen lyric is from the song Anthem. Think about this one:
 
The birds they sang
At the break of day
Start again
I heard them say
Don’t dwell on what
Has passed away
Or what is yet to be
Yeah the wars they will
Be fought again
The holy dove
She will be caught again
Bought and sold
And bought again
The dove is never free
Ring the bells (ring the bells) that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything (there is a crack in everything)
That’s how the light gets in

 Counting down my 678  vinyl records  before I die of  brain disease.