Tom Petty, Another Victim of the Opioid Crisis.
Was just forwarded this via NPR (apologies, I'm loathe to support those Neoliberal hucksters pretending to be journalists).
The death of rocker Tom Petty in October 2017 came as a result of an accidental drug overdose with a toxic mix of drugs taken for several ailments, including a fractured hip.
The results of an autopsy were released Friday by Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner Jonathan Lucas.
Petty died at 66 of "multisystem organ failure due to resuscitated cardiopulmonary arrest due to mixed drug toxicity," according to a brief statement.
The drugs listed included "fentanyl, oxycodone, temazepam, alprazolam, citalopram, acetylfentanyl, and despropionyl fentanyl."
Fetanyl is often mentioned in the public discussion of the opioid crisis and so too in the Petty family's statement:
"As a family we recognize this report may spark a further discussion on the opioid crisis and we feel that it is a healthy and necessary discussion and we hope in some way this report can save lives. Many people who overdose begin with a legitimate injury or simply do not understand the potency and deadly nature of these medications."
This news was bittersweet. In some ways I was relieved it wasn't a heart attack. But grieved that again yet another star was so dependent on prescription drugs that a concoction of them was powerful enough to overwhelm then shut down his organs.
Seems to me it's high time that we have a national (even international) discussion about the opioid crisis, especially specifically with regard to the accomplices who have brought it on and continue to hold us hostage, Big Pharma. And by extension in a larger sense, one about the extremely destructive and racist War on Drugs, which Nixon advisor John Erlichmann admitted on his deathbed was a kill-two-birds-with-one-stone ploy to crush both the Black Power movement and hippie anti-war movement. Then there's Gary Webb's very courageous par excellance reporting on the collusion between the CIA and Nicaraguan drug trafficking lords to bring cocaine into the States and use the proceeds to prop up a fascist American puppet government, evidence of yet another shady operation in the bogus "war" on drugs. While most C99ers may know this stuff, the vast majority of the country still dreams in stars and stripes. They're slow and loathe to believe that their government could conduct such covert operations and allow toxic chemicals to be openly pushed onto the market. After all that's not what the Greatest Country In The World™, land of liberty, freedom and the hallowed American Dream™ would do to its people, right?
What we see is white collar Big Pharma and insurance co. CEO's, shareholders and executives (and their sales reps who ubiquitously occupy doctor's offices across America, jockeying to position their latest highly addictive, minimally-tested "products") getting filthy rich and adding new keys to their keychains for 2nd homes and cars, greased by bloody hands to open the keyholes.
Meanwhile hundreds of thousands of black and brown men languish in jails. Churned up in a degrading, dystopian, medieval system of punitive Puritanism, the majority of whom are in on the most minor, flimsiest or completely fabricated drug offenses, having been preyed upon by a corrupt and racist Broken Windows policing. This has laid the basis for the pernicious "School to Prison Pipeline" that Michelle Alexander details in her seminal "The New Jim Crow" book.
I've been having recurring dreams with not only Petty in them, but Chris Cornell and David Bowie too (who had no fatal bout with opiods). Cornell, however, also died with a concoction of prescription drugs in him. Each of the three were completely different artists in the rock idiom. Each had rare, impressive abilities.
So with this essay I also hoped to celebrate the lives of these three alchemists. For me it's personal. These three super-gifted/imaginative songwriters and musicians have been lodged in my pantheon of all-time favorites for years. It was hard to hear each time another one of them passed away, like a chunk being taken out of you. I dream most of Petty for some reason. Probably because there's something I find still so magical and transformative about a concise 3-4 minute R&R pop song. The craftsmanship to create a great hook, melody, arrangement, is an art that Petty mastered.
Petty truly embodies the spirit of Americana. And if that sort of heartland genre includes other rockers such as Springsteen, Bob Segar and John Mellencamp whom all belong to the same era, I believe Petty stands above them all - by a country mile. His sweet, lazy drawl spread out over songs like a warm summer grassland upon which to lay your bare back, and had impeccably cool meter, emotional depth and an uncanny penchant for melody. Everybody probably has at least a handful of favorite Petty songs. But the album tracks were just as good. I don't think he's ever made a bad record. Would love to know what some of yours are.
Here's the opening track,"American Dream Plan B," from his last album "Hypnotic Eye":
"Full Grown Boy" from the same:
I was impressed that the only song he played live on his last tour from his last album was the Bo Diddley rave up "Forgotten Man," with onscreen images of the dispossessed and protest signs with anti-banking sentiments:
Bowie was such an artigiano that it's awe-striking to even approach his entire, diverse and amazing oeuvre. He was not only comfortable but excessively amazing in so many different genres (and a calling card of his was that when he played live he would frequently stylistically change versions of his own songs to fit where he was at that time). Always exploring, pushing barriers and interacting with artists across the board. There is so much to cover in his incredibly diverse, ever-expanding career that it would be unfair to his legacy to try to cram it in here. But I would just say that that succession of albums, from 1971's Hunky Dory through 1976's Station To Station, are a stunning string of masterpieces. About his political views, found this an interesting piece in libcom.org "Bowie’s Bow: 6 Ways David Bowie Is Connected to the Spanish Civil War."
Cornell and his band Soundgarden are probably more of my generation and may not be as well known here (given that C99 skews a bit older). Their first few records were mid-late 80's and generally seen as one of the progenitors of the last great musical scenes (imo) of this country, the Seattle grunge scene. Along with the more famous Nirvana (and to a lesser extent Pearl Jam) they really helped squash the cheesy hair metal scene of the 80's, with a hyrbid combination of punk rock and goth with heavy metal, many times payed in odd time. He was the reluctant Rock God, chiseled head to toe in the Adonis/Dionysian mold but in black cut off shorts with duct tape and Doc Martens. Chris Cornell's first solo album "Euphoria Morning" in 1999 showed what he hinted at on the Singles soundtrack and the dark heavy psychadelic stuff he was doing with SG before they split in the late 90's (only to reform a decade later): a mature songwriter with a knack for dark, beautiful tunes. At the time of his too early death at 53 he was taking an anti-depression drug that, get this, had a side effect that "may cause suicidal thoughts." Can you get more of a fucking Orwellian world, than the one we're living now in a myriad of ways?
Soundgarden's biggest hit was Black Hole Sun. But for those unfamiliar with what they were/he was about I offer these:
from 1989's Louder Than Love, "Hands All Over":
"Seasons" from the Singles soundtrack:
"Rusty Cage," the tour de force that opens the 1991 masterpiece album "Badmotorfinger" and put them on the map.
"Jesus Christ Pose" from the same:
Then the Lennon-influenced phase, with "Down On The Upside":
Another side of him reveals why he was considered by many to be the greatest rock singer of his generation.
"Ave Maria"
With his daughter singing Bob Marley's "Redemption Song"
In the immediate pall of their deaths, I haven't been able to watch many of the onslaught of videos that invariably spring up for the occasion. I'm not one for the gratuitous binge-watching anyway, but particularly of a just-deceased hero's work. Would much rather simply commune with the music and talk to friends to share memories about the artist and our interactions with the music.
With the sadness of reflecting on this revelation about Petty's death I'm also left wondering how much of the drug crisis is due to life in America, in an increasingly alienating capitalist society that commodifies almost all of our interactions, that praises profit over people?
Author Johann Hari spoke with Naomi Klein about his book that puts forth that drug addiction has more to do with a deficiency in human contact and the endorphins that come with community, acknowledgement and interaction with friends and loved ones, than it does addictive qualities of the drugs themselves. In other words, people are in pain who take drugs and capitalism quite literally kills people by creating a lonely environment (see the interview about an experiment called "Rat Park," in which, when given the choice between more cocaine and a place to play with their friends, they choose their friends).
If in fact it’s not the chemicals, if in fact it’s isolation and pain that cause the addiction, then it suddenly throws into sharp contrast the idea that we need to impose more isolation and pain on addicts in order to make them stop, which is what we currently do....
We’ve created a society where significant numbers of our fellow citizens cannot bear to be present in their lives without being drugged, right? We’ve created a hyperconsumerist, hyperindividualist, isolated world that is, for a lot of people, much more like that first cage than it is like the bonded, connected cages that we need. The opposite of addiction is not sobriety. The opposite of addiction is connection. And our whole society, the engine of our society, is geared towards making us connect with things. If you are not a good consumer capitalist citizen, if you’re spending your time bonding with the people around you and not buying stuff—in fact, we are trained from a very young age to focus our hopes and our dreams and our ambitions on things we can buy and consume. And drug addiction is really a subset of that.
Portugal has put forward a very successful decriminalized drug policy that has dramatically reduced addiction, medical care, homelessness and fatalities of drug users.
Punishing drug users is not the answer. Neither is writing prescriptions for a fusillade of drugs, pushed by these corporate drug cartels (residing in your local, green-lined corporate park. Now, that's a protest I'd like to see). Huxley, Owsley and Leary all spoke of the enlightenment of LSD and power of self-realization through hallucinatory drugs. George Carlin talked about the pivotal role smoking pot played in opening his perceptions, that led to a career change he was already contemplating. He also said it was "self-limiting," admitting that while a catalyst it was ultimately an impediment. Drugs are not inherently bad. Mind-altering substances have always been found in every culture from the beginning of time. Moderation.
One of the many peculiarities of this country perhaps the one I dislike the most is how in so many ways into adulthood we're treated like children. It's a schizophrenic American culture that likes to present itself like a pious puritanical, the public and private face that $hills explained to her Wall St donors. No public drinking, not until 21 and "illicit" drugs are decried as evil. But just turn on a football game or go to a movie and watch the titilation come fast and furious, with ads for new drugs, the multi-million $ beer campaigns, shoot-em-up law enforcement pr flicks and more ads encouraging the purchase of the glut of cheap disposable consumer goods made by slave labor in SE Asia so we furiously fill up our garages and attics in an attempt at a vacant happiness to offset the numbing from working dead-end jobs. But if you want insurance-company sponsored, Big Pharma pumped-out addictive prescriptions you're in the right place for a bonanza. Again, greedy white collar corporate drug cartels live a life of luxury with no accountability, despite the mounting evidence of coverup and insufficient testing. Black and brown recreational drug users spend years in prison.
Tom Petty was a driven man at the time of his death, in excruciating pain determined to have gotten through a rigorous (no matter how rich you are) 53 date tour celebrating the 40 year release of his first album. I keep thinking of how many songs he had left to write.
A good part of his fan base is experiencing an epidemic of people dying in the suburbs and small town America from prescription drugs hawked by Big Pharma. For more than a decade now the Economic Terrorism of Wall St has had its boot on the neck of the middle and working class (which is one and the same now). With no relief in sight people have seen their and their friends' losing jobs, overworked and underpaid, pensions gambled away and lost, fretting about a future. People need a release and the displacement and alienation of capitalism ain't cutting it. Music has always been a salve in this regard. But at some point even music can't do it alone.
We have to come clean with a better approach to drug addiction, while seriously reeling in the Big Pharma cartel and examining our national conscience about the kind of society were going to be in terms of honestly facing the role drugs can and do play.
If you made it this far, thanks for reading. As usual these days I'll only be around in spurts here and there.
Comments
What an amazing homage to Tom Petty.
Thank you for orchestrating your deeply experienced knowledge of the artist with the plea, as reflected by the wishes of his family, to enlarge the discussion of Big Pharma and drug addiction. Your ardent contribution is a thing of beauty. I will link this piece to someone I know who will greatly appreciate it.
Now I am going to sample the music you've included so that I can get to know Tom Petty better.
Cheers Mark!
Thanks for the kind words, janis.
It's a weird thing, about the taking of drugs, abusing them, living in this bizarre Big Pharma age in which everyone seems to be on a myriad of prescription drugs. But at the same time we culturally try to retain this pure self-image that illicit drug-taking is bad, while we've gone over the top with the ubiquity of every person's dresser bureau being covered in those little light orange plastic bottles filled with pills.
There's a lot of moving parts here. The decriminalization of drugs, the racist war on drugs and the attendant school to prison pipeline, the huge financial windfall for pharma co's of overpriced prescription drugs, the draconian punitive measures in dealing with the addicted, the lack of adequate mental illness help or even proper acknowledgment of how pervasive it is, the alienation of capitalism being the principle cause of so much of this, a dysfunctional law enforcement, corrections and justice system that only inflame a bad situation.
Tom Petty was clearly in a lot of physical anguish, basically touring with a broken hip. I suppose it was either mask and deaden the pain, or not tour on your 40th anniversary. Lots riding on his ability to demonstrate he could physically do it. If there's one thing that comes across in the Warren Zanes book it's his self-determination and focus. He probably depended on it more and more, until of course he needed more and more to just feel ok. The combination of drugs always scares me most. Have these things truly been given the testing they deserve by researchers? Or does that stuff get buried in the Wild West lust for large scale profits? We know the answer.
I could go on and on about his tunes, style and steady consistency at a high level as a songwriter. But briefly I'd say Damn The Torpedoes is my favorite record (was the blockbuster that broke him wide). Probably because I was in the throes of teenage love/lust and it was the magical soundtrack for that, so I'm partial and we all tend to be subjective to nostalgia. Having said that if Here Comes My Girl isn't the fucking coolest, most unique vocal delivery of all-time/dramatic balance between the sultry and sweet, I don't know what is. But listen to the whole record; it's a classic. Lately I've been very enamored with The Last DJ, a fierce indictment of record company and entertainment industry greed and a paean to the pure days of playing music because one must do so.
"If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:
THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC"
- Kurt Vonnegut
tour on the 40th anniversary?
My call: don't tour. Recover fully and only tour when you're back 100%.
As a long-term Grateful Dead head, I can tell you that there's not one amongst our kind who wouldn't have traded either a hiatus or even a permanent end to the Dead's tours in exchange for a still-living Jerry Garcia. I feel much the same about Tom Petty. Better leave the man at home than lose him outright!
But, of course, there are those in positions of influence who think otherwise. Jerry, in particular, was concerned about the jobs which depended on his continuing to tour; and I would not be suprised to find that Tom Petty had similar concerns too.
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
Very good question, Mark
Have these things truly been given the testing they deserve by researchers? Or does that stuff get buried in the Wild West lust for large scale profits? We know the answer.
We do know the answer. The FDA has long been captured by the drug industry and too many drugs get okayed before the testing has been completed. This is why you see so many 'bad drug' lawsuits. Thousands of people die from bad drugs every year.
He had 3 disorders that were contraindications for the medications that he was on.
Do not take Restoril if you have any of these problems:
-asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), or other breathing disorder;
-a history of depression or suicidal thoughts or behavior;
-if you use a narcotic (opioid) medication.
He might have had more than one doctor who prescribed his medications, but they should have known what other meds he had been prescribed.
We do know that marijuana helps a lot of people who are in chronic pain, but until it's taken off the class 1 schedule, it's not going to be an option for many people. Take it and run the risk of getting caught and never finding a clinic that will take you. Or stay on opioids. The drug companies will fight against its legalization because of their profits. Capitalism strikes again and people are dying because of it.
“When out of fear you twist the lesser evil into the lie that it is something good, you eventually rob people of the capacity to distinguish between good and evil.”
~ Hannah Arendt
The opiod crisis
I have a distant relative via marriage who had a decades long drinking problem. His family convinced him to finally quit a couple of years ago, which he did successfully. However, he was also dealing with severe depression which he had used alcohol as a way of suppressing it. So to deal with the depression, he began seeing a psychiatrist who prescribed Xanax. Now he is hopelessly addicted to Xanax. He was hospitalized once in which they tried to wean him off this horrible drug, but were unsuccessful in doing so because the symptoms of withdrawal were life threatening.
I freaking blame the pharmaceutical industry and the medical profession that prescribes these horrible drugs. Meanwhile my distant relative and his family are living in a pharmaceutical hell.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
Wish I could give you more than one clap.
You left out the biggest cause. The drug war.
I have helped many drop their narcotic pharmaceutical regime with the use of a schedule 1 drug.
It won't be long before the drug companies start making dangerous derivatives of marijuana.
That will show us hippies.
Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.
Very disconcerting the degree to which drugs are dispensed
to anybody. I'm not saying some people don't legitimately need them. But there has to be better testing. And the medical profession should be moving in the direction more toward physical therapy and homeopathy whenever possible - at least start from a place where that option is taken more seriously. Everyone wants a quick fix for everything.
So many tragic stories like yours. Sorry to hear of that, gg. Truth is the drug companies are roving gang destroying our communities, much like the MSM would say about black inner city drug dealers. Big Pharma has legions of lobbyists. The convicted felon on trumped up charges who turns to drug dealing to make a living where there are no prospects has less than no political power. He's a target.
Because everything in our lives in this capitalistic system is monetized, the rush to get newer, stronger, better drugs out onto the market (with a heavy blitzkreig marketing plan) means we're not looking at the problem of many people who are on various drugs are put in serious danger because there's so little research and information about how the chemical compounds interact with one another.
Did you see the Frontline special about it?
"Chasing Heroin"
How Bad Is The Opioid Crisis?
"If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:
THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC"
- Kurt Vonnegut
Hey there, MfrQ!! Hope your life slows down to
where you might be able to do an O/T again. I notice that you have another new member of the family. Congratulations and hope Mom and baby are fine.
"fentanyl, acetylfentanyl, and despropionyl fentanyl."
---------------------------------------------------
Where are people scaring up crap like fentanyl? Isn't that part of a whole family of dope you only heard of if you were doing major surgery? If you're going to get into shite like that, go get some pure unadulterated opium as in the natural drug from the poppy. If you want to od, go for the gold!! Ye gawds!! Of your 3 music men, I'm not familiar with Soundgarden. Plan on checking them out. Definitely familiar with Nirvana, Garbage, The Breeders, Sneakerpimps, Smashing Pumpkins, etc. Rec'd!!
Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.
He was on prescription fentanyl
He was on the fentanyl patch which is worn up to 3 days and then it's changed for a new one. The drug is released slowly through the skin and is structured so that there is a constant consistent amount of medication during the time period.
source
"Despite this painful injury, he insisted on keeping his commitment to his fans and he toured for 53 dates with a fractured hip and, as he did, it worsened to a more serious injury," Petty's wife Dana and daughter Adria wrote in the statement. "On the day he died, he was informed his hip had graduated to a full-on break and it is our feeling that the pain was simply unbearable and was the cause for his overuse of medication."
I have been taking a form of fentanyl for over 15 years and I refuse to take any of the other drugs he was on because of the side effects from them. Besides I think that the combination of them are just too damn risky. Fentanyl is up to 100 times more powerful than morphine. There are times that my pain is intractable and I want to take more than I'm prescribed, but I know that I could die if I do. Pain or death? Hmm... Opioids cause respiratory depression and he also was being treated for emphysema which was probably exacerbated the opioids. After his hip fractured, I can understand why he took more than he was prescribed. People will do anything to make their pain stop.
Mark, thank you for such a wonderful tribute to Petty. It's obvious that his music was instrumental to your life.
ETA- It's unclear why he would have been prescribed the other types of fentanyl or if the autopsy report detected a breakdown of the patch. Or if they are the type that's being sold on the streets. This is confusing. You are right that fentanyl is used for anesthesia during surgery and for other procedures.
“When out of fear you twist the lesser evil into the lie that it is something good, you eventually rob people of the capacity to distinguish between good and evil.”
~ Hannah Arendt
The drug family Fentanyl belongs in
used to be found only in major surgery operating rooms. What's Big PHarmA trying to do? Make this stuff so popular that people are ODing on it? The strongest painkiller IMHO is pure opium. It's addictive and lethal, too. Petty was one super smart, talented FL cracker. However, his common sense evaded him here. You don't tour if you are suffering from a major bone fracture. All he had to do was put the word out, and his fans would wait. Similar thing happened to Prince, another major talent who died before his time.
I suffer from old lady sciatica. No way do I go near opi(um)/ates. If this sounds like preaching, it isn't. Painkillers have got to be the largest group of medications in the bio-chemical universe. People sure die from them in droves. (shaking head.) 
Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.
Thanks orlbucfan.
Things are good here.
Had a baby girl in Sept. She's lovely, and the Boy is smitten with her. Says her name all day, when he wakes/before he sleeps. However I still get those moments where it all seems so surreal to me. Made it a good long while without having kids. But it's a joy. All I have to do is be away for part of the day and feel an excited anticipation of seeing them again.
Soundgarden and the Seattle scene were the perfect antidote for the heavy metal dominant scene of the mid 80's that had begun to seriously wear thin on me. Between the alternative stuff coming out of LA like Jane's Addiction, Fishbone and the Red Hot Chili Peppers and the bonafide bluesy hard rock, which had always been my favorite style, of Guns N Roses, this group of bands sank the cheese train of Bon Jovi, Warrant, Slaughter (and whatever other totally horrible, forgettable bands were big then).
They had a Zeppelin/Sabbath heavy riff/groove thing happening, a world class screamer, excellent musicians and imagination galore to turn heaviness into something different and fresh.
Nirvana and Smashing Pumpkins I'd put in the same category (and along with Soungarden, all recorded something for the legendary Sub Pop label in Seattle, though the Pumpkins were from Chicago and Cobain & Co. were from Aberdeen, WA). Got loads of recollections hearing and seeing all these bands live for the first time in small clubs when that whole thing was a nascent little movement getting only loads of British press at first, while I was sitting wide-eyed at my cubicle at Billboard magazine excitedly watching it all unfold. Fun times...
The Breeders single "Cannonball" is that kind of quirky perfectly 90's song for that era. Loved Kim Deal from back in the Pixies, another band that just took off from the underground (and whose dynamic approach of the soft verse/loud chorus Kurt Cobain says he was influenced by). Sneaker Pimps, now there's one you don't hear anymore! I like that record too.
"If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:
THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC"
- Kurt Vonnegut
Last year I read a thoroughly entertaining and interesting book
about micro-dosing LSD, by author Ayelet Waldman. She is mother of four and partner of author Michael Chabon. The title is, A Really Good Day: How Microdosing Made a Mega Difference in My Mood, My Marriage, and My Life. It is a fascinating historical look at LSD (now 60 years on from the first US military experiments), and record of the potential benefits of micro-dosing.
From James Fadiman ...
[video:https://youtu.be/A34x6W-3lJI]
Micro-dosing.
Although it doesn't always involve Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), micro-dosing has been in medicinal use since the Egyptians and likely our first ancestors. I firmly believe in it.
A little bit of anything usually won't kill you unlike fentanyl and many of our current pharmaceuticals.
Wee Timmy Leary
soars through the sky
Upwards and upwards till he's oh so high
Since this is a poem for children
how do we explain
that wee Timmy Leary isn't in a plane
Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.
I agree with "a little bit of anything usually won't kill you"
Unfortunately we've forgotten how to understand what our bodies are telling us.
Loved the Wee Timothy Leary ditty.
Liked that poem, pricknick.
micro-dosing...hmmm...
Interesting.
Makes sense. Though again, like with the opioid crisis, it's all about the dosages.
"If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:
THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC"
- Kurt Vonnegut
That sounds interesting.
Thanks janis.
Watched a doc on Huxley. When he realized he was going to die, out in his ranch in the SW desert, he executed his plan for it, which was to take a dose when he was nearing the end.
"If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:
THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC"
- Kurt Vonnegut
Soundgarden Marble Machine
A member of Soundgarden? (I believe) does the following in his free time! A must see!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvUU8joBb1Q
That was fantastic!
Thanks. My mind is blown. Trying to imagine coming up with the concept, constructing that and then hoping it works...
Lots of crazy engineering science in there.
"If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:
THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC"
- Kurt Vonnegut
His death was incidental to opoids IMO
He was on meds for pretty much all of the major degenerative diseases we face today, including clogged arteries, poor bones, heart disease, depression, etc. That is what he died of. His body was not functioning for long term. Contrary to conventional wisdom all of these can be avoided (and reversed!) with proper nutrition and nutritional supplementation. In other words, self discipline paired with good information. Our medical system is not structured to help us with this task. I'm 58 yo and have faced all these diseases and continue to. With the help of some MDs, et.al., who work outside the conventional and share their knowledge online I am beating all this stuff. It's not rocket science and indeed it should be what we teach our youth today, starting in junior high school (be your own doctor).
My recommendation, Joseph Mercola and Marc Sircus. Check them out for physical health and health budgeting empowerment!
Markfromqueens I am a fan of your writing. Thank You!
I lean toward your philosophy, p cook,
and lament how little modern society, but especially the medical community, is so disconnected from nature, nutrition and the interconnection of body and mind wellness. Not much of the original Hippocratic Oath to be found anywhere anymore when going for a doctor's visit.
Currently have a couple of minor things to deal with, and although I'm on two prescriptions at the moment to treat something I let go for a while, most of what I'm doing has to do with eating well/not overeating, exercise/yoga, drinking lots of water.
Would be interested to hear more about your routine/philosophy.
Think OPOL wrote something about the doctor you mentioned and spoke of a similar philosophy. Was inspired by his endorsement too.
"If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:
THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC"
- Kurt Vonnegut
I've done a little work for a naturopath
And one of the things he said really struck me: "Conventional medicine is so resistant to naturopathic approaches that their motto ought to be, 'First, do no good.'"
Excellent essay, MfQ. I was lucky to win tickets to see Petty live when I was in college; Lenny Kravitz (of all people!) opened for him and we sat in the 4th row. I'll always remember that.
I'm not familiar with his 40-year compendium, but here's one of my favorites among the songs I do know:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5BJXwNeKsQ
One of my favorites from Cornell (cliche, but I just love the combination of his and Vedder's voices):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8e1ChWnhMf4
(Plus, OMFG: HAWT).
As for Bowie and Prince (it was fentanyl for him, too, wasn't it?) -- I don't even know where I'd start for favorites.
(Apologies; I still haven't figured out the instructions for embedding videos).
Biology: the forgotten medical science of Big Pharma
The medical community is typically informed by a pharmaceutical industry which does not appear to believe in biology. This considerably limits their usefulness in such cases.
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
I'm still not over Cornell's death.
Soundgarden and Audioslave are some of my favorite modern bands. I am not familiar with any of the ones you posted and I'm on a terribly slow connection but I had to listen to Ave Maria. I love his voice but I think the orchestral part of it makes it sound almost like circus music. "Like a Stone" is one of my favorites; the lyrics and guitar are just great. It was such a shock to hear of his passing.
(Side note: Avenged Sevenfold has a new cover of Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here", we heard it the other day. It is worth a listen.)
This shit is bananas.
me neither
There are very few in the realm of rock singing who could match Chris Cornell's incredible voice. All of these deaths hit me hard, but Cornell's is the one that has lingered the longest in my psyche.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
Cornell's was like a bludgeon to the chest
Just finished playing a show, ended with Zep's "In My Time of Dying," band in stealth form, goes back to his hotel room and...is dead on the floor. Then the whole business with the strap, just seemed...all so wrong.
How much of an Orwellian dystopia are we living in, that the drug prescribed for his depression caused "suicidal thoughts"? Can't get over that twisted logic.
For me personally I felt a kinship with him, and to a larger extent the whole grunge scene. These were mostly kids my age who grew up in the suburbs in the 1970's like I did, weened on the heavy rock of Zeppelin, Sabbath, Aerosmith as well as the Beatles, Who, Stones, but also the punk rock of the late 70's while knowing all of our AM radio hits from being in the car with our parents too.
Met him and the band a few times briefly. Very striking-looking, quiet, reserved guy, almost seemed aloof, which is the total opposite of his stage presence. He wasn't aloof. Those guys were not only cerebral but skeptical of the whole "industry" of music.
Still remember when they announced they were breaking up in 1997, arguably at their height. Kim Thayil, the guitarist, lamented that they just were tired of having to rev up this whole big machinery every time they would release an album, of doing publicity, getting out on another rigorous tour, shooting more videos, the whole dog and pony thing. I kind of respected their decision.
There was a darkness in that scene, as bright as it was, that was a thread that can't be ignored. Cornell's roomate Andrew Wood of Mother Love Bone (whose debut album was one of my fave records of that era) overdosed on heroin at 24. Cobain put a gun to his head at 27. He was at the height of his popularity, his music was considered the face of grunge, swirling in a hurricane of international publicity. Seems may of those guys were unprepared for or uncomfortable with the trapping of being so ruthlessly commodified. Layne Staley of Alice In Chains literally shriveled away in the darkness of heroin addiction a few years after SG broke up.
For me Audioslave seemed like a match made in heaven, but it never tickled me that way SG did. Part of that is my purism for the originals. My gripe was that it sounded just too literal: like Chris Cornell fronting RATM, but w/out that revolutionary vinegar. I was hoping those titanic talents would instead forge some new ground. Which is what he did on his amazing first solo album, Euphoria Morning.
Yeah, still hurts. Still have old friends from those early SG days I need to connect with in order to properly commiserate.
"If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:
THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC"
- Kurt Vonnegut
and shannon hoon
The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.
Rock 'n rollers never die.
Thanks for the great and heartfelt essay reaching the core of a major issue creating much human misery, of which addiction is one manifestation. And the Soundgarden.
*hugs*
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
Fitting piece
Thank you, Mark.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
We'll just have to agree to disagree about Petty v Springsteen
Other than that, I do think it's important to recognize that in Petty's case, he was taking those drugs because he was in tremendous chronic physical pain. That's very different from becoming dependent while taking the drugs to alleviate an acute bout of pain.
I agree that Bowie's Hunky Dory is remarkable -- it's on the list I give young folk when I'm ranting about how they think us old timers are boring idiots blah-blahing about how great music used to be. If all I knew of Bowie was Modern Love, Changes, and Space Oddity (hell, throw in Young Americans and Rebel Rebel); if all I knew of the Beatles was Hey Jude, Let it Be, Here Comes the Sun and Revolution; if all I knew of Springsteen was Born to Run plus assorted blockbuster-yet-marginal songs from Born in the USA; if I'd heard Sweet Home Alabama literally a thousand times, but wouldn't recognize either Southern Man or Alabama, the Neil Young songs to which SHA is a tongue-in-cheek response; if I'd heard Bohemian Rhapsody a thousand times, but wouldn't recognize its album-mates The Prophet's Song and Death on Two Legs; if I'd heard Band on the Run a gazillion times, but had never heard Venus and Mars/Rock Show; if I'd heard While You See a Chance in heavy rotation on Classic Rock, but had never heard Arc of a Diver, the title cut; if I could sing every frickin' word from Sultans of Swing, but didn't know a single one of the other 8 marvelous tunes from that first Dire Straits album; if I thought Maggie Mae and Da Ya Think I'm Sexy ran the gamut on Rod Stewart; etc etc etc;
... well, I guess then I'd wonder what the fuck all the fuss was supposed to be about, as far as that old timey music.
Here's my opinion on rock opinions:
Anyone who has never heard :
The Core from Slowhand doesn't get to have a low opinion of Eric Clapton.
New York City Serenade from The Wild, the Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle yadda yadda Bruce Springsteen.
Like a Hurricane and The Campaigner yadda yadda Neil Young.
The whole effin Past, Present and Future album yadda yadda Al Stewart.
Whatever Gets You Through the Night yadda yadda John Lennon.
Let me Roll It yadda yadda Paul McCartney solo. (actually, anyyone should be required to listen to the full Wings Over America live triple album before offering an opinion about Paul McCartney's solo work.)
Mandolin Wind and I'm Losin' You yadda yadda Rod Stewart.
At least 30 songs across several albums yadda yadda The Beatles
About a dozen covers of Dylan tunes, plus his own versions of Tambourine Man and a half dozen others, yadda yadda Dylan.
And so fuckin' on, through thousands of songs from hundreds of albums. Don't like the Clash? Wait, you've never heard the London Calling album start to finish? Oh. Okay, then STFU. Billy Joel sucks? You've never listened to the entire The Stranger album? STFU. You hate fucking Supertramp and that stupid fucking Logical Song, but you've never listened to the Crime of the Century and Even in the Quietest Moments albums? STFU. Never heard the whole Moondance album? Then don't talk about Van Morrison. Never heard Songs in the Key of Life? Then your opinion of Stevie Wonder is meaningless.
My only actual beef with Tom Petty's music is that I have to listen to about a dozen of his songs -- including some I don't like all that much -- again and again and again, while hours and hours and hours of brilliant music from the 60s and 70s (and even the 80s and 90s), including plenty that made the charts, goes unheard. Hell, the average person under 50 has probably heard Phil Collins's version of You Can't Hurry Love literally 100 to 1000 times more often than the original Supremes version. WTF? My big sister was 10 when Diana Ross left the Supremes, but we still listened to their Greatest Hits album (released in 1967) over and over during junior high.
I don't know WTF is up with the clowns who selected the 200 or so songs that are played over and over on "classic rock" and "adult rock" radio -- i've heard SHA 3 times in one day, on 3 different stations -- but it's sad and sick, and it's ripping all of us off, but especially the younger folks who simply have no idea what they haven't heard.
The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.
The Logical Song
When I was young, it seemed that life was so wonderful,
A miracle, oh it was beautiful, magical
And all the birds in the trees, well they'd be singing so happily,
Oh joyfully, playfully watching me
But then they send me away to teach me how to be sensible,
Logical, oh responsible, practical
And they showed me a world where I could be so dependable,
Oh clinical, oh intellectual, cynical
There are times when all the world's asleep,
The questions run too deep
For such a simple man
Won't you please, please tell me what we've learned
I know it sounds absurd
Please tell me who I am
I said, watch what you say or they'll be calling you a radical,
Liberal, oh fanatical, criminal
Won't you sign up your name, we'd like to feel you're Acceptable
Respectable, oh presentable, a vegetable!
Oh, take it take it yeah
But at night, when all the world's asleep,
The questions run so deep
For such a simple man
Won't you please tell me what we've learned
I know it sounds absurd
Please tell me who I am, who I am, who I am, who I am
'Cause I was feeling so logical
D-d-digital
One, two, three, five
Oh, oh, oh, oh
It's getting unbelievable
Boy this brings back memories of being a kid waiting to grow up and then wishing I was a kid again.
“When out of fear you twist the lesser evil into the lie that it is something good, you eventually rob people of the capacity to distinguish between good and evil.”
~ Hannah Arendt
Brilliant tune from a brilliant band!
I was lucky enuff to grow up during an actual Renaissance in popular music. The young people know it, too.
Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.
I've always considered it a remake/update, of
School -- which I actually prefer, but maybe that's only because I haven't heard School a billion times on the radio over the last 35 years. Or maybe it's because I had already listened to C of the C a few hundred times before Breakfast in America was even released.
The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.
"Campaigner"
is a remarkable song. It makes you feel for Nixon.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rv7XaLG6zC8]
he wrote it after seeing a shot of Nixon coming out
of the hospital, where Pat had been admitted for some bad thing. the photo humanized Nixon for Young, and with his song he passed that experience on to the rest of us.
The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.
Your whole comment is the basis for a great pub conversation,
and maybe we'll save it for then.
But I'll just say a few things. I'm pretty passionate about the whole Petty>Springsteen thing. Always felt while Bruce had Jon Landau basically as a sort of pied piper in the press falling all over him and having the rest follow suit, Petty got none of that. Just sold records, and had hit after hit, chock full of the kinds of hooks and melody Bruce, to me, could only strike it hot with every now and then. One of my tests for what makes a great tune (in terms of a hit) is to turn over an album and read the track titles. If you can't immediately sing the chorus from just looking at the title it's not a hit (of course there are exceptions). Petty was a master at that, consistently throughout his career.
I agree completely about the notions that classic rock radio burned out the great artists by only playing the same 5 to 7 songs over and over (I'd be sick of them too) when those albums sold in the many millions. The classic rock station in NYC, run by the same stodgy, fossilized dudes who ran the rick station on LI where I grew up, are still playing the same old lame, burnt out setlist from 35-40 years ago. It's been so bad, for so long, that it's turned me off almost completely to classic rock radio. Pretty much never listen in the car, opt instead for anything Left of the Dial. WKCR here is really great, amazing jazz, bluegrass, old country, etc. That's where I go when I want to listen to music, or WFUV. Has to be non-commercial.
Logical Song was watershed moment for me. Still remember clearly how that effected me from the day I first heard it on the cusp of adolescence. That song seared deep into me. The sweet wistfulness, playfulness and the longing feeling, matched brilliantly to those lyrics. Even started to write an essay based on it, being one of my all-time favorite songs and one that deeply effected me. Is even more resonant today, the lyrics are so resonant about being a socialist in this ugly political climate. Yes, Supertramp are a big band for me. Crime of the Century is a masterpiece, even more than the better-known Breakfast In America, which was one of the blockbuster albums of the late 70's.
I'd be up for picking this up again some time in the future. Maybe you can turn me more on to Springsteen. But as much as I admire him, and really wanted to love his OWS album "Wrecking Ball," I've found the tunes on it (as is the case for me with most of his stuff) just don't have the staying power melodically or open a new space in my head to be lodged.
"If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:
THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC"
- Kurt Vonnegut
The dimwittery that is radio programming baffles me.
One of those Petty lines that encapsulates 10,000 words' worth of explication is, 'Their A&R man said "I don't hear a single."' The shallowness and lack of imagination of these folks is nauseating. Remember -- Maggie May was a B-side! At least the record company mooks recognized Go Your Own Way for the hit that it was, the first time they heard it.
Lately I've been compiling a list of hits that are not (IMHO, of course) the best songs on their albums. It's not a small list -- I touched on it in my original comment. Here are some.
Rosalita is a great rocker, but it pales compared to New York City Serenade (and BTW, there is not a single song on The Wild, The Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle that I would ever want to skip through). Incidentally, most of my favorite Springsteen songs don't have formal choruses at all, which is problematic for your first-pass screen. Those that do are pretty catchy and memorable, I think: Rosalita, Prove it All Night, Badlands, The River, Because the Night, Hungry Heart ...
While You See A Chance is actually kinda boring, if you ask me. Arc of a Diver, Spanish Dancer, Night Train are all better.
Lay Down Sally is cute; Wonderful Tonight is a sweet (though ironic, as it turns out) wallowing in Clapton's finally-requited adoration of Patti Boyd; Cocaine (not originally released as a single) is a great concert jam; but The Core is far and away the standout song on that album. I've never heard of Clapton ever playing it again, anywhere, and I think I've heard it on the radio exactly once. Go figure.
Bohemian Rhapsody, yes it was absolutely groundbreaking, there's never been anything like it, before or since; but I still prefer The Prophet's Song, which ought to give anybody the freaking willies.
Sultans of Swing is epic, but I honestly prefer Wild West End.
Money for Nothing is witty, but ultimately a bit stupid (I think), Walk of Life is infectious and very listenable, but neither belong on the same album as the gut-wrenching title track, Brothers in Arms.
Neither Dreamer (UK hit) nor Bloody Well Right (US hit) is as good as Rudy, or School, or Hide in Your Shell.
Only Love Can Break Your Heart is a decent enough song, but it's not as good, lyrically or musically, as Tell Me Why, Don't Let it Bring You Down, or ye gods, Southern Man, one of the greatest rockers ever written/recorded, a scorching, hair-raising crie de coeur that takes "pop" music out into an entirely different realm of cultural significance.
BTW, if you want to see a snotty, over-egoed critic who really doesn't like Eric Clapton write some BS the better of which he ought to know, check out Robert Christgau assortment of Clapton reviews, which includes this:
I don't know whether he's right about the juiciest solos going to George Terry, since I haven't seen anything that identifies 'oo killed 'oo on that album, but here's an excerpt from Rolling Stone:
The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.
Like you, I tired of the
same o lame o local stations. While traveling down the Calif. coast I stumbled across KOZT, The Coast. What a find. They play a lot of "B" sides and cuts from live albums not heard in decades. Beatles sat. morning and Blues nights. Great station, you'll never get bored. Comes out of Mendocino county, where old rock an rollers retire. Good smoke, great music.
Online. Git it.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
Sounds good, earthling.
Recently bought one of those portable Bose speakers, so in addition to having the option of nice stereo quality outdoors or anywhere you want, it also transforms internet listening entirely.
Which was a big deal for me. As amazing as it was when we all got internet access by the turn of the century, I was always miffed when people would say at their computers, "have you heard this?" or "listen to this." And it would be coming out of this tiny speaker on their computer. For a while it seemed people just accepted that this was the way it was going to be. It was worse than when we had AM transistor radios, I thought.
The only caveat for me is - does that station list the playlist on its website? That would make it more enticing for me. Remember that feeling of hearing something amazing on the radio, and waiting patiently through another song or a few - and the dj says nothing about it? No reason these days why stations can't print their playlists online.
Thanks for the tip.
"If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:
THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC"
- Kurt Vonnegut
I read a book on Petty.
It was published in 2006. An autobiography with a writer assist. The afterward mentioned his gig at the Super Bowl.
He played. And played. And practiced. And tweaked. And refined. Then played and practiced more. He worked and worked and thought, listened, then worked harder.
He popped those pills to do that tour because he didn't back down, and he stood his ground.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Which book was that, on the cusp?
The Zanes book I mentioned was from a couple of years ago.
"If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:
THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC"
- Kurt Vonnegut
I loaned it out
and never got it back. It was his biography/autobiography.
Sorry.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Hate that; you always want to share the books you most love
and almost never get them back, even after carefully explaining that you keep such books for life and do want to make sure it'll be returned. Yet some of us never learn, lol.
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
Could make a fun topic in and of itself: books and albums lent
out that we've never gotten back, and still miss and think about. Will have to look up that Petty book.
I'm sure folks could probably conjure up lamentations about beloved pieces they no longer have. Maybe not unlike talking about long-lost lovers and old friends with whom we've completely lost touch.
I'm still pissed about the majority of my vinyl collection I had since childhood vanishing from the basement of a rental/office house a friend had bought from my father. Have been replacing it slowly but surely.
But all of a sudden vinyl, which nobody seemed to want for a couple of decades, is now commanding ridiculous prices. It's funny though. Some staples that perhaps kids today know nothing of, for example off the top of my head I've seen a glut of Yes, Jethro Tull, Styx, Al Stewart, etc records. But try to find Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Beatles, Frank Zappa, Bowie, Neil Young - you're gonna pay for it.
There's some layers there for another interesting topic...
"If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:
THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC"
- Kurt Vonnegut
As a classically trained musician
I found his methodology very profound. He worked. Would write a snippet, sort of riff it, then spend days, weeks, months to finish it. He and his band constantly practiced. Constantly working on their riffs. Staying with the core. Who riffed, why, how when, if, making it sound spontaneous, but it was rehearsed.
And then, they spent months positioning each piece for the concert set. Slow song here, fast song there, eliminating songs, always presenting and tailoring every set the ever played to the intended audience.
I saw him in live concert twice, couldn't resist watching his Super Bowl halftime 12 minute set.
Tom Petty was incredibly talented, but his focus on how he presented his art is what I admired about him the most.
His short songs took hundreds of hours to cut to the chase, make the point.
Bob Dylan chose Petty to back him a 2 years tour for good reason.
Petty was prepared to present the art in it's best light.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
you can still find cheap old vinyl at St Vinnie's,
depending on where you live I presume.
The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.
Was it 25, 30 years ago i dragged my teenage son to a Tom Petty
Concert in LA? Hard to believe. Since my son knew me for a Judas Priest and a Lyle Lovett fan, he was suspicious to say the least, but came out of the concert a life long Petty fan. Music is such a huge part of our lives and memories, isn't it? My first reaction to the DNC debacle was to start singing "We won't back down" and Don Henley's "I will not go quietly.". Now I'm humming "There are lives in the balance". I'm constantly finding new artists across all genres whose writing or music or voices' amaze me. We are super lucky in this neck of the woods to have a radio station, WITH, with local shows that feature an eclectic and eccentric mix of music. Now Im dragging my much older son to a Jason Isbell ("country? ick!) concert. He's gonna love it.
How funny, a Judas Priest/Lyle Lovett fan...
But I can totally dig it and relate. I've downloaded most of my vast cd collection onto my 160gig Ipod and it's one of my most precious possessions now. Almost my entire couple of thousand cd collection onto something the size of my palm. Too wild.
Pushing the "Shuffle" button opens up wondrous possibilities, often times the juxtaposition of songs from as varied as the two you mention (which are in my collection) as well as result in hearing these anew. I love how the unexpectedness of hearing something like Priest into Lovett (both of whom are on my Ipod also), which would be considered by Very Serious rock dj's to be a "train wreck," a) almost always allows me for at least the first 5 to 10 seconds to hear them as if I were hearing them for the first time with new, attentive ears with my antennae picking up some slightly different creases in it, and b) the jarring difference between those two allows for a complete cleansing of the palette from which to within really dive into the next song's style.
Where is WITH?
"If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:
THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC"
- Kurt Vonnegut
I did the same thing
The iPod was an incredible creation because we no longer had to carry a CD player and the tapes we listened to. It took a week or more to load them on my computer though because I have so many. Apple quit selling the classic iPod and now they have just the touch. For awhile they still sold the iPod shuffle for $49, but they stopped selling it too. I would love to have been able to buy them if they discounted them, but they're just gone. I found both types on eBay though and you can get one for a decent price if you are patient. I also use mine to listen to audio books.
“When out of fear you twist the lesser evil into the lie that it is something good, you eventually rob people of the capacity to distinguish between good and evil.”
~ Hannah Arendt
iPod Video 5.5 gen
At the risk of diluting supplies of my own favorite, I recommend finding a used iPod Video of the 5.5 generation. These will play music, videos, and audiobooks, while not being so locked-up internally that you can't maintain them on a UNIX-like machine such as BSD or Linux. You also can get the necessary materials to upgrade a 30GB model to an 80GB fairly easily, if you have the skillset to do the necessary surgery or have someone who does.
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
The reason why I like the original iPod
is because it's easier to use than the touch when I want to stop it or adjust the volume or fast forward the music or chapter in the book. With the touch it's not as easy for me. I have 4 of the touch models for video and apps. The shuffle is great for music and it's so small. I have two of those types of shuffles. I still don't agree with Apple to discontinue making them. Batteries are losing capacity in two of mine.
I would have no idea how to expand the capacity on my Mac mini. But I could always send them to you.
“When out of fear you twist the lesser evil into the lie that it is something good, you eventually rob people of the capacity to distinguish between good and evil.”
~ Hannah Arendt
WITH is in Ithaca
your iPod sounds like a treasure and should be listed in your will. My old ipod is long gone, as are the CD collections of favorites I burned over the years. Or maybe they're in one of those boxes out in the barn, still unpacked a decade after the move. On my to do list, but at the bottom. Frankly keep hoping the barn would just collapse on that stuff.
It's weird, when you think of it, we were smack in the middle
of an epoch in which we started out just collecting records, some 45's but mostly albums (for me anyway). But during our lifetime so many other formats have come and gone and reappeared. That's a lot of stuff.
I blame it on the shitty, worst decade in centuries :-0, the 80's. Which came along and ruined everything - in every direction. Conservatism reigned supreme, faux patriotism, backlash to hippies/drugs/music, the beginning of "globalism" and outsourcing jobs, not to mention the horrible popular fashion and music styles (this is a long essay in and of itself, so I'll just stop there).
All of a sudden there's VHS, Betamax, bulky video camera recorders. Then the greedy record industry gets us all to switch to the new fad of cd's (which seemed great at first), and also mini discs. Cassettes, 8-tracks and vinyl albums are pushed to the side. However, album art and arguably audio quality are diminished, though they're much more portable. But the quick scan ability changes the way we listen. As a result we're more impatient, disinclined to listen to an album the way it was intended to be - don't have to make an appointment to sit down with a piece of music and just listen.
So we're left with a huge dilemma (which your presumably creeky barn seems to be an answer for). Piles of cassette tapes, some 8-tracks and perhaps a bunch of cd's. Stacks of mostly useless, bulky VHS tapes (most things are available - for now - on YouTube), perhaps Betamax (I have these Sony 8mm videotapes for their late 80's/early 90's hand-sized Handycam, which I used to bootleg the shows of some of my favorite bands, which I've never sold a single one, but have traded with hardcore fans). Add to that all of the attendant memorabilia, such as posters, t-shirts, promotional items, magazines...and we're getting buried in ephemera and various music and video formats.
Occasionally I daydream about creating a living Rock Museum/Community Center kind of place, with all this stuff the catalyst.
Thanks for the info on the Ithaca station. I have a big affinity for Upstate. Went to school in Oneonta, and there met friends from all over, from Conesus to Rochester to Schenectady. Also would come up to visit a significant other's family in Elmira. As you know, the Finger Lakes are a natural gem, and the area is home to some great radical thinkers and communities during the 19th century.
"If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:
THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC"
- Kurt Vonnegut
Love music from the 60s, 70s and 80s.
Heck I can tell you where I was when I first heard many of the bands and singers from those years the first time.
I don't think doctors should get a pass here. Many of the music people who have died of overdoses/drug combos were under doctors' care. They should be tracking everything prescribed, sometimes with the help of pharmacies (which they don't seem to communicate with).
Many people seem to be weening off of opiods with Cannabis. The key is living somewhere it's legal. There is a migration to legal states for people with chronic pain or other persistent problems with CO (Cannabis Oil) ingestibles can help.
The last tour for Tom Petty must have been hell. And yes, he had more music to bring.
May he rest in peace.
You may choose to look the other way, but you can never say again you did not know. ~ William Wiberforce
If you can donate, please! POP Money is available for bank-to-bank transfers. Email JtC to make a monthly donation.
The "Brave New World"
of Aldous Huxley's 1932 novel had "Soma," a drug that brought unalloyed bliss as long as one kept taking it. The Brave New World of Huxley's imaginings was indeed a utopia, but Huxley being the sly fellow he was, "Brave New World" was a negative utopia, depicting a world in which people were happy but without living lives that were at all meaningful.
Huxley's own drug of choice? LSD, taken rarely, and specifically 100 micrograms as he died, on the day of the Kennedy assassination. Today we have opioids, addictive and yet so ineffective that Tom Petty died with six different ones in his bloodstream. There is no "Soma," and LSD is illegal, but all you need to get people to take some obscure nonsense based (originally) upon opium (one of the more unpleasant substances I've smoked) is a patent, FDA approval, and some sort of "effect" that will get people to consume it. We are too cheap today even for "Soma."
“One of the things I love about the American people is that we can hold many thoughts at once” - Kamala Harris
Good points about isolation and fear Mark
I feel it is a part of the divide and conquer strategy of the psy-ops, to make us feel isolated and alone. With the commercial solution of buying the same junk everyone else has to overcome it. Subliminal and evil. Separateness is an illusion propagated for nefarious control. I agree we must replace that divide with inclusion and connectedness. To focus on our commanalities may defeat the harshness of wedges driven between us as a community, working together to improve our world.
I've been putting off
a hip replacement for awhile now. My bro-in-law just had his second in 15 years, and another bro-in-law just had his first. After hearing about them all lamed up I can hardly wait.
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.
Tough position to be in
When to decide to take the chance that it will help or not. I went through this with spine surgery, but fortunately for me my doctor decided not to do it because he thought it would make me worse.. now that I'm more educated about it, I agree with him.
Good luck with yours.
“When out of fear you twist the lesser evil into the lie that it is something good, you eventually rob people of the capacity to distinguish between good and evil.”
~ Hannah Arendt
Thanks. :) n/t
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.