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Steve Goodman– 447

ALBUM: The Essential Steve Goodman (1976)

MVC Rating: 4.5 $$$$

The best way to introduce Goodman is through the songs he wrote. Songs that were often made famous by other people.

  • City of New Orleans — Arlo Guthrie’s version made this a standard, covered by Johnny Cash, Judy Collins, Chet Atkins, and Willie Nelson.
  • Somebody Else’s Problems
  • You Never Even Call Me By My Name   — This send-up of country music lyrics got an uncredited writing assist from John Prine. David Alan Coe made it a country hit.
  • Donald and Lydia
  • Jazzman
  • Don’t do me Any Favors Anymore
  • The Cubs Anthem — Go Cubs Go — His most sung song.

Goodman died of Leukemia in 1984 at age 36.

Fun fact: He was a high school classmate of Hillary Clinton in Chicago..

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Dunk or die trying: a 58-year-old man with a potentially fatal disease will dunk y’all (blog version)

It occurred to me the other day that I’ve always wanted to dunk a basketball.

So I’ve decided that by mid-July, about the time of our next Mike Madness basketball tournament to raise money for Lewy body disease awareness, I will dunk.

Bucket list item.

That’s right, I will throw it down on a 10-foot goal. This 58-year-old white man with a brain disease who has never dunked in his life, will SLAM.

Hah!

Colleague John Archibald heard me thinking out loud about this scheme and said, No, you can’t dunk. He laughed. Then he put his money where his mouth is: He said he will donate $1,000 toward  Lewy body research and awareness.

$1,000. Wow.

This man who plays basketball with me –and has half of my 4-inch vertical leap– must have some inside information. Oh yeah, he’s seen me play. My philosophy as I’ve aged is playing basketball without jumping because too much can go wrong when you’re in the air. But this won’t  be in a game.

There’ll be no big players ready to swat it away. I just rise up and BAM. I can visualize it. I can do it if I try hard and believe in myself. You can tell I just saw the Mr. Rogers bio-pic. Can you see Fred Rogers on the court? Soft blue sweater. He might be good. Never judge a book by the cover he used to say.

Despite Mr. Rogers’ well-intentioned philosophy, I have doubts bigger than Shaquille O’Neal,

This is where I need help.

I have several questions:

Does anybody know of anyone over 55 years old who can dunk?

Does anybody know of anyone who trained to dunk, especially later in life and accomplished it?

Does anyone know of someone with Parkinson’s or Lewy body dementia who can dunk. The muscles in my arms are getting weaker from the disease, I can tell. My outside shot has diminished some. But I still have bad days and good days. My legs, I don’t think have been affected strength-wise.

I hear there are machines today that target specific muscles that can help. I don’t want to buy a super expensive machine though especially if it has dubious outcomes. I always have the Y.

I want to dunk. I want to rise u p 8 inches above the rim palming the ball and slam it through.

Dear readers please respond but remember it’s not official yet, until I do a little more research.

Archibald Googled ‘who is the oldest dunker?’ The first answer was 63-year-old Julius Dr. J Erviing can still dunk.

Not sure that gives me much comfort. The best dunker in NBA history can still dunk.

Here’s how I break it down:

Against me: Disease and age.

Favorable to me: I used to be able to grab the rim (about 30 years ago). I am 6 feet and one-half inch tall.

I weigh about 185, having gained about 20 pounds over the course of a year.

I think I need to drop about 15 pounds or more to get to my old playing weight.

I know the odds are long, but if nothing else I’ll get in shape and it will give me another deadline – like counting down my 678 vinyl records at MyVinylCountdown.com .

Speaking of records, it should be a record of some type if I do indeed dunk.

Onward to research. (Typing, typing Into Google.):  ‘Was Mr. Rogers ever able to dunk.’

Slightly different AL.com version here.

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Dexter Gordon — 449

ALBUM: One Flight Up (Reissue 1985)

MVC Rating: 5/$$$$$

Great jazz combo here from 1964. Led by Dexter Gordon, this is a jazz classic. I got as a cut-out reissue from 1985. If I see a cut-out or discounted record with Blue Note on, it I’ll buy, no questions.

The band, which includes Donald Byrd, Art Taylor, Kenny Drew and Niels-Henning Orsted, is tight.

Byrd almost steals the show with his tasteful rapid fire trumpet runs, like automatic fire — pup, pup,pup – landing like marshmallows, soft and sweet. Particularly on his song, ‘Tanya’ which covers all of side 1.

Gordon was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in the jazz movie ‘Round Midnight.’

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Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five — 450

Vinyl 12-inch single  (1983): NewYork New York

MVC Rating: 5.0/$$$

I was an early listener to rap/hip hop but by the time it exploded I had pretty  much lost track. Here’s the legendary progenitors (so to speak) of rap music as we know it. Sounds funny and outdated now though still catchy  to a degree.

GM Flash put it on the map with ‘The Message.’ I got their second ‘big’ single ‘New York New York.’ It was like in my preceding review of Eddy Grant where I got the album released after his big hit ‘Electric Avenue.’

But I bought this one in Birmingham new after hearing ‘The Message’ a bunch of times. Kind of shows you how I think. I wanted the newer disc because I thought it would be even better than big hit. I thought it was better or at least similar, but sales did not reflect that.

New York New York big city of dreams, but everything in New York ain’t always what it seems

I also bought Kurtis Blow on vinyl about this time, called ‘Party Time,’ again not his biggest record. (That would be ‘The Breaks).’

On vinyl that’s about it for my hip hop collection. Though I have  on my iPod a number of rap artists, courtesy in many cases of my three daughters. Let’s see (rolling through my trusty 120 GB classic iPod)  I have some Lil’ Wayne, Beastie Boys, Rhymefest, Kanye West, Eminem, 50 cent,  and Nas. Most are songs singles not full albums though. But I’ve lost track of  the scene for the most part (since my daughters moved out).

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Eddy Grant — 451

ALBUM: Going for Broke

MVC Rating: 4.0/$$$$

I thought I had the album with his big hit: ‘Electric Avenue.’

But I don’t.

My album ‘Going For Broke’ is the album AFTER his big one. My album is pretty good, rock inflected reggae, which means it has rock guitar in it.  It’s not what I’d call real roots reggae, more of a fusion pop reggae.

On this album, he has a song “Romancing the Stone’ which was commissioned for the hit movie starring Kathleen Turner, however it was not used in the movie (except for a short guitar solo).  The song, a so-so piece of reggae pop, never succeeded at the level of ‘Electric Avenue.’

In Barbados, Grant operated a popular recording studio for years. He also wrote ‘Police on my Back’ recorded by the Clash, one of the better tracks on the Clash’s Sandinista album.

I have to say  after a few listens, this album is nice. Good playing, happy reggae beat. I’ll play it again and keep my eye open in record stores for ‘Electric Avenue.’

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David Gilmour — 452

ALBUMS: David Gilmour (1978)

MVC Rating: 4.5/$$$$$

Man, this music sounds like it came out of the same sessions as ‘Wish You Were Here.’ It was around that time period that the Pink Floyd guitarist put out this restrained but so so nice recording.

With it’s slow building solos and fluid note extensions, it sounds like it would fit right in on ”Wish You were Here’ next to ‘Shine on You Crazy Diamond.’And ‘Wish’ is my favorite Pink Floyd record, so I love this, almost like a sequel.

Don’t think this record sold all that well despite its quality and Floyd’s soaring popularity at the time. It’s Gilmour without Floyd  himself putting out some very pretty but powerful guitar meditations without the Big Theme histrionics of Floyd.

As one of the commenters on a YouTube video of this album said this shows how big a role Gilmour played in the sound the Pink Floyd. This is fantastic album for Floyd fans and even not-so-much fans.

I got this for $3 at my excellent downtown books/records/cultural curios store: Reed Books.

Near mint condition. Nice!

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Lowell George — 453

ALBUM:  Thanks I’ll Eat it Here

MVC Rating: 4.5/$$$$

Here’s another bargain bin find. One takeaway I am having doing this blog and going one-by-one through my 678  albums is that I was not a bad ‘picker’ of records. I could find some good ones for a couple of bucks.

Lowell George, the lead singer of Little Feat, put this one out in 1979 just before he died of a drug overdose in a Virginia hotel room while on tour for this record.

I agree with AllMusic.com that at first this record seems slight, and it didn’t follow in the jazz-fusion direction that Little Feat was heading (part of the reason he did the solo thing.) But back to being ‘slight’ or not so slight. Some really good renditions  of songs here. “What Do You Want that Girl to Do,’ an Allen Toussaint – penned song, is excellent.   The Ann Peebles song ‘I Can’t Stand the Rain,’ though oft-covered, is done well by George.

“20 Million Things,’ a George original, is  gorgeous and should be a classic. George was a multi-instrumentalist prodigy from childhood. Born in Hollywood, Calif., he was a binge eater, binge alcohol consumer and then, of course the drugs. He weighed more than 300 pounds when he died. Sad we only have this one solo album from him. But there’s a lot of good Little Feat music, which I’ll review when I get to the ‘L’s.”

If you do find this record you get the bonus of having a very cool cover by Neon Park that apparently has several pop culture references including Bob Dylan in there.

I’m including a live video of George with Little Feat backed by Bonnie Raitt and Emmylou Harris to show you just how good that George and Little Feat were.

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Dizzy Gillespie — 454

ALBUMS: New Faces  

MVC Rating: 4.5/$$$$

Now I’m not huge into jazz but I have some good  jazz records.

I have this Dizzy; a Dexter Gordon Blue Note label album; a Harry James record; some Miles Davis; John Coltrane on CD);Teo Macero, another Blue Note special of Bud Powell, one of my favorite jazz pianists along with Errol Garner. I also have some rock/soul/jazz fusion, if that’s a thing, Steve Howe, Dixie Dregs, Sea Level, and Glenn Phillips.

And going A to Z, I also have some Chet Atkins and Frank Zappa that I would consider jazz or jazzy.

And I have Louis Armstrong, one of my favorite old schoolers,  mainly because my father was a big fan of Satchmo, and I heard it at an earl age around the house.

The cool thing about this album is it brings in some newcomers — at least they were new in the 1980s when this was made, including Branford Marsalis, who went on to be the bandleader for Jay Leno for a couple of years and is one of the top saxophonists in the world.

So this has old man Dizzy, he of the bent trumpet and swollen cheeks, has rounded up some youth to make a contemporary jazz record with some old stuff mixed in.

The sound jumps out of the speakers, I must say, which I like on all vinyl productions but especially jazz. I like the trumpet player right in the room with me. I know this seems like my ongoing advice, but this is a good pick in a used record store, high high quality jazz in the ‘bop’ style with an old cheek-ballooning patriarch overseeing some  top notch jazz youngsters.

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People with dementia, chronic diseases and their doctors benefit from ‘progress report’

 

 

 

 

 

 

As many know I have dementia with Lewy bodies, a brain disease that has symptoms similar to Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.

Another person with Lewy shared with me something I think that will be highly beneficial, not just for folks with Lewy but for those with other chronic diseases as well.

Let’s call it a “Report Card for your Doctor,’ or ‘Progress Report for Doctors and other caregivers.

{To see full report click here and scroll down}

 

This running document is something you update between doctor visits.

Thanks to a fellow ‘Lewy’ person and his wife, caregiver,  I am able to share an example of how this works right here.  It’s pretty self-explanatory. I have taken out the names  for privacy’s sake.

I think this could be a life prolonger or at least a life comfortor, especially  for those with memory issues as changes in symptoms are so important for the doctor to know about. Everyone in this situation has gone to those hard-to-get appointments with a neurologist only to remember that you forgot to say something about something. This puts it all in black and white and would serve as a patient-doctor conversation.

I think publishing this is helpful information on two levels: 1) For everyone with a chronic disease to  use to improve diagnosis and treatment, and 2) More specifically for those living with Dementia with Lewy bodies to see the chronicling of the disease in a real person.

To see the full report (if you missed the link above click here.

 

 

 

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Genesis — 457

ALBUM: And Then There were Three … (1978);  A Trick of the Tail (1976)

MVC Rating:  Three 3.5/$$$; Tail, 3.0/$$$

Genesis, I’m sorry, makes me want to exodus.

I’ve tried.  I have two of their later albums post-Peter Gabriel. So maybe I haven’t heard their good stuff.

The ‘Three’ album title plays off the fact that members were dropping from the band like water rats from a sinking barge. Ok, that’s a little harsh.

Yet that album produced probably their most accessible song “Follow Me, Follow You,” a Top-40 friendly song, but certainly no tour de force.  Maybe I  need more time with these to see what the fuss was about.

On Trick of the Tail I hear chunky synthesizer/keyboard chords aligned with semi-melodic verse and nothing that makes me say, ‘Wow, in the beginning there was this great band.’

I am not keen on most art-rock or so-called progressive bands. I like Yes better than this. I’ve learned through re-initiation during MyVinylCountdown of some interesting work by Emerson Lake and Palmer.  But Genesis just leaves me feeling  blase’ and that’s not what rock music is supposed to do.

The songs seem to meander down the river, which could be nice, except when the river raft stops, you are five miles from your car.

One of the best songs on ‘Tail’ is one about a mythological beast called a ‘Squonk.’ On ‘Three’ the hit is good, if not a little light.

So I give this 2 and one-half squonks.