So, what have you been listening to lately?

[Dave W]

I'm tested regularly. EKG, cardiac MRI. Beyond that, I'm not comfortable discussing here.

[Pilgrim]

I was prime draft age, but in 1966 was hit from behind while turning left on a motorcycle and almost lost my left leg below the knee.  I ended up with a 6-inch steel plate in my shin.  Actually, early wounds in the war may have contributed to the expertise of the Vietnamese doctor who put my leg back together.  Why a very nice Vietnamese gent (Dr. Wie L. Bong) settled in the eastern Washington college town of Pullman I don't know, but he was one helluva fine surgeon.  Not many could have saved that leg.

Recovery was lengthy, the leg took a long time to achieve decent strength, and I walked with a noticeable limp for a couple of years. (Probably longer than that, but who cares now?)  I'm quite confident that if I had been called by the draft, the physical would have failed me in moments.  I entered college in 1968 and when the lottery was instituted, I ended up with a high enough draft number that I wasn't very likely to have been called in any case. 

At least two of my high school graduating class (176 people) died in Vietnam.  A number of my friends in college served and came back, fortunately without major physical injury.

The leg actually healed well, although it's still sensitive to certain kinds of stress.  However, I can downhill ski using a protective plate I made which protects the scar where the ski boot contacts it.  In fact, I went skiing with my youngest daughter at Loveland ski area in early March.  I was planning to ski in the last couple of weeks, but I fell on some ice and cracked a couple of ribs, and I decided I should probably not tempt fate until they heal...which will put me past the end of ski season this year.

Incidentally, I still have an occasional urge to ride a motorcycle, but I've never been able to convince myself that I'm not much better off to be in a car while driving.  I'm also a rather nervous bicycle rider and much prefer bike paths to streets shared with cars.

[uwe]

My knee replacement in 2018 had only one thing to regret: I should have done it years earlier! It feels better and better over the years - it's only when I walk down steep stairs (going up isn't an issue) that I notice that a replacement knee joint doesn't offer the same kind of lateral movement as an organic one, mother nature in all her uncanny brilliance and wisdom!

[Pilgrim]

I am fortunate that so far the joints are all working well... (Groucho: How long you been hanging out in those joints?)

The older you get, the more "use it or lose it" applies.

[Dave W]

[Dave W]

A little fun.

[OldManC]

I was way to young to be drafted, but old enough to know many who were and be worried that they could bring it back.

When the first Iraq war hit I remember sitting in my car and feeling grateful that I would be 26 soon, so even if they did restart the draft I would be aged out by the time they got to me. I had to explain all that to my recently turned 18 year old this year when I told him he'd need to send in his selective service card soon (which was untrue, he got a letter shortly thereafter letting him know they'd taken care of it and to update them if his contact info ever changes). No semblance of privacy from the "government" anymore, but I think I calmed his nerves a bit.

[Basvarken]

My old friend Rob Lamothe has made an album with a new band/project Cross Country Driver.
It is released on Frontier records.  Now that record company has a disputable reputation for releasing very generic albums of washed out rockers that record an album with anonymous Italian studio musicians.

But the Cross Country Driver album is a brilliant exception. Lamothe's songwriting is still excellent and he avoids worn out clichées. Guitarist James Harper adds funky fresh guitar parts and Rob's son Zander is a great drummer with a good swing and groove. Lamothe invited some friends to contribute, such as Badlands bassist Greg Chaisson (Lamothe sang on his solo-album It's About Time). Kings X' Dug Pinnick guests on vocals and bass on a few songs. Rhonda Smith (Jeff Beck, Prince) plays bass, drummer Mike Mangini (Dream Theater). And his former Riverdogs companion Vivian Campbell guests on guitar and vocal.

[westen44]

Here is one of my favorite songs by Lacuna Coil from their 2019 Black Anima album. 

[westen44]

My old friend Rob Lamothe has made an album with a new band/project Cross Country Driver.
It is released on Frontier records.  Now that record company has a disputable reputation for releasing very generic albums of washed out rockers that record an album with anonymous Italian studio musicians.

But the Cross Country Driver album is a brilliant exception. Lamothe's songwriting is still excellent and he avoids worn out clichées. Guitarist James Harper adds funky fresh guitar parts and Rob's son Zander is a great drummer with a good swing and groove. Lamothe invited some friends to contribute, such as Badlands bassist Greg Chaisson (Lamothe sang on his solo-album It's About Time). Kings X' Dug Pinnick guests on vocals and bass on a few songs. Rhonda Smith (Jeff Beck, Prince) plays bass, drummer Mike Mangini (Dream Theater). And his former Riverdogs companion Vivian Campbell guests on guitar and vocal.

I think Frontier has some good artists, including that one. 

[Dave W]

Now where have I heard this before?

[uwe]

Given your biblical age, Dave, probably here? Ironically, I stumbled across this only two days ago.



For some reason I never thought this was a Canned Heat original (I have no idea how they credited it at the time) though I did assume that the flute intro was of their own making. I always saw them as committed Bluesology librarians with huge old Blues shellac record collections to draw material from long before anyone else did. Wasn't that even part of their image? That they were Blues aficionados who had picked up instruments on a quest to educate white kids on one of the great chapters of US cultural heritage?

Canned Heat didn't have much of a glamorous image for a German teenager to latch onto (they weren't exactly Alice Cooper), but I always dug them. And that the Woodstock movie was introduced by this song IIRC, has immortalized it and made it iconic. Plus it's a great little tune. And Alan "Blind Owl" Wilson tender and folksy falsetto delivery was idiosyncratic.

[Dave W]

Given my biblical age, it's been so long that I don't remember, if I ever even knew.

[uwe]

It's like I always say, you've forgotten more things than we'll all ever learn. 

[westen44]

This reminds me of the title for the sci-fi movie "We've Forgotten More Than We Ever Knew."