I chose the title of this blog to go with a Beatles song from 1969. The title made sense in October of 2009 because fighting cancer might be a drawn out challenge. I take inspiration where I can, and hope to motivate with my musings about music, my status and anything else related to life. Anyone can post comments; no sign in or account is needed, just click on the comments section towards the bottom of the post and write me a note. A splendid time is guaranteed for all. Live Happy- Greg
"Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect." Mark Twain
This past post Christmas weekend we made it to Cannon Beach Oregon where my family put us up in a nice Hotel (Ocean Lodge.) The weather was cold but clear, and we were treated to a nice low tide to be able to get up close and personal with Haystack Rock. The best surprise was the More Cowbell T-shirts, my very own cowbell, and matching watch caps for all. Mary and Alice did the thinking, if we had a karaoke machine I would've done the singing. Here's to the real Blue Oyster Cult and a live version of Don't Fear the Reaper:
I hope Christmas was peaceful and reflective for everyone. I was finally able to get my blood levels up to mostly normal and spent some quality time in Cannon Beach with my extended family. We had a great time, including More Cowbell T Shirts and personalized watch caps for all. Mary from Nebraska and Alice from Utah accomplished a surprise unveiling the shirts and caps. We had Washington, Oregon, Utah and Nebraska represented at the Ocean Lodge. I will post some pics when I get them... I go in to the Doctors today to find out if I start chemo this week for session #5. Off to work early for now, I have a lot of catching up to do for another short week. "Ticket To Ride" was one of many hits released in early 1965 from the Help album. John wrote most of it and used to comment it was the first heavy metal song due to it's heavy bass line. Paul played the lead guitar part...Here's an rare live "Ticket to Ride" version:
Merry Christmas! My family hopes your Christmas is peaceful and quiet. I am feeling much better and taking a break from blood tests for a day. After tomorrow's test I know I will be better and able to do some visiting on the Oregon Coast. This version of the standard Silent Night is done by Sixpence None the Richer, a Christian/soft rock duo (you may have heard Kiss Me or There She Goes.) I am a big fan of singer Leigh Nash's vocals.
It is Christmas Eve, and therefore my best wishes go out to everyone for a stress free peaceful day. "Yes it is" was a b side of the Ticket to Ride single from 1965, it was included on an American album Beatles VI and later best of albums. I am also hoping that today is the day I get a good blood test. I have been struggling with inordinately low white, red, and platelets numbers for about a week now. I ended up spending all day in the hospital this past Tuesday for transfusions of blood and platelets. Now I am trying to get better to be able to visit family at the Oregon Coast this weekend. Today's test will be the deciding one...MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Anytime any of us feels we have it tough and things aren't going as we'd like, we know deep down inside that there are others less fortunate than us. Please take a look at Tony Melendez. He is a Nicaraguan born without arms who started to play guitar at age 16, eventually playing for Pope John Paul, and many other dignitaries. He of course is known in the inspirational community as a very important figure who has won awards and continues to tour and minister to many. He has a lot of videos on youtube and other sites, his Let It Be version might be short, but it's quite good. Cathy, thanks for sharing his talent with me. Living Happy, it's almost Christmas!
*Please check out the changed comments section, I made a change allowing anonymous posting of comments, you just have to use a pull down "anonymous profile" if you don't have a computer profile.
Happy and healthy good morning to everyone! These pictures come from an event where Rain, a Beatles tribute band re-created the Beatles arriving in America event from 1964. This also coincided with the Seattle Museum of Flight receiving the mothballed Concorde (2004.) Note the likenesses... There are hundreds if not more Beatles tribute bands out there, new groups spring up all the time. On a side note, if you ever get a chance to see Rain live, I highly recommend the show. "Good Morning, Good Morning" was a rocker from the 1967 Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Album, a John composition with all sorts of animal sounds and as John said, "gobbledygook" running through it. I received word from Fred Hutch and my insurers that I am good to go for local treatment and will be covered, a national search will begin Monday. Not having to leave the state will be very nice, although part of me was looking forward to going to warmer climes. It takes a few months to complete a national bone marrow search through the registry, I'm staying positive and praying for the best. Thanks for the support and inspiration (and stories of snow, deer, mountain lions, and other not-so-Enumclaw experiences that I love reading about in the comments section!) Happy Christmas week- off to work I go.
Happy Friday, it's almost Christmas week. I hope everyone is ready for a new year and better times. I am still waiting on final decisions from the insurance co. and doctors, but am feeling pretty good. I just completed loading some Beatles songs on the itunes and almost forgot about this 1968 George Harrison gem in the rough. The group actually recorded part of The Inner Light in India during one of their Indian journeys. It was the "B" side to the Lady Madonna single from 1968 and the first time a George song had been put on a single. If you've seen the Concert for George (held just after his death in 2001) you might have seen Jeff Lynne of ELO complete a haunting performance of The Inner Light. Other than that, the song was included in the obscure Beatles Rarities, and later on the Past Master Volume 2 album. Here are some of the simple lyrics: "With out going out of my door I can know all things of earth, with out looking out of my window I can know things of heaven." What's it mean to you? (George got it from a Sanskrit translation of the Tao Te Ching.)
I just wanted to get out some some news about my Aetna/Fred Hutch struggles. There might be a fix in the works as of a phone call yesterday. They tell they they are working on a solution that would allow me to pursue a bone marrow transplant in Seattle since I began my pursuit prior to the contractual problem. Happy Thursday- Phil, the title is for you. Greg
I said earlier that I would try to include other music besides The Beatles that made impact on our culture and the times. Well, in 1962 The Rolling Stones began to do just that. The five lads from England started releasing singles and albums just after or about the same time as The Beatles, but in many ways were polar opposites. Instead of Pop Rock and Roll, the "Stones" were Blues, Rock and Soul. The Stones toured the US in 1964 in part to visit Chess Studios in Chicago where many Blues greats had recorded. The Stones first single was a cover of Chuck Berry's "Come On" which didn't do too well. *Their second single was penned by none other than Lennon and McCartney; "I Wanna Be Your Man." Man went to #12 in the U.K., and led to other hits like Buddy Holly's "Not Fade Away." There will be more Stones history in future posts, but I can't avoid calling out the impact that they had on early rock music and culture. Stick around, we might learn something new... I am out of the hospital and officially done with half of my 8 session chemo protocol. So far so tasteless! (You lose your ability to taste while on chemo quite a lot.) I am looking forward to getting over the hump and on my way to remission. Thank you so much for all of the comments and inspiration family and friends! Live Happy- Greg
At about the same time as the release of "No Reply" Petula Clark recorded and released "Downtown" (October 1964.) It went to number 1 in the U.S. in early 1965 at about the same time as Beatlemania was cresting. Today I look out onto a medium size downtown Tacoma though this fourth session of chemo, I watched the snowflakes fluttering with little to no potential of causing me damage yesterday. Today, I see the drifting odor of Tacoma move across the sky towards the north as the city wakes. Tonight should be my last night in Tacoma this session as the city lights will help me drift off to sleep. "Downtown" brings back memories of my Mother singing in the house as a youngster and the upbeat lights of the city thing remains as a positive memory even if I turned out to be a bit of a country boy. I am just starting my second of four Ara-C chemo 2-3 hour infusions and dealing with the nausea that comes with it. So far, so good. Give Petula a listen for that good old nostalgia feeling.
For you fans of earlier rock and roll, there was a song called "Silhouettes" by the Rays recorded in 1957. According to many Beatles critics, John Lennon tried to write a song similar to Silhouettes and came up with "No Reply" as the first track on the follow up to A Hard Day's Night album recorded in the fall of 1964. The album was packaged differently in the U.S. and origianlly came over to us as Beatles '65. No Reply tells the story of a guy seeing his girl with someone else. The Beatles were under pressure to release an album before Christmas and abandoned their all original format to make the cut. Beatles For Sale had eight originals and six covers. The originals also went into darker territory telling stories about realistic situations as opposed to the happy go lucky love stories of earlier songs. Heck, they aren't even smiling on the original album cover...Listen to John, he changes his voice a bit and sounds more cutting edge than earlier John vocals.
I made it through my 25 hour methotrexate chemo infusion just fine, am starting to get metal mouth taste but other than that feel fine. I start a series of chemo infusions ending with ara-c hopefully by Tuesday. Happy Football Sunday!
In mid 1964 the Beatles moved from albums comprised of originals and covers, to an album where all of the songs were originals. A Hard Day's Night was the third complete studio album by the Beatles, it also happened to support a new Beatles movie. In the early years John Lennon was definitly writing the majority of songs and usually singing those songs. A Hard Day's Night was no different. The first song on the first side of the album, and also the first single released, A Hard Day's Night is a standard rock and roll romp. When the group decided to write a soundtrack for a Beatles movie, John reportedly hurried to write the title track and did so in one day. The group recorded the song in less than a day, which is pretty quick as well. My connection to the song is multi-faceted. As I sit here in St. Joseph's Hospital knowing that I have methotrexate flowing into me from 2:00PM today until 2:00 PM (or later) tomorrow tells me that it will be one of those hard day's nights. Additionally, I love the opening chords of the song. It sends chills up my spine kind of like this morning when the doctor wasn't too careful with his big needle sticking into my spine. He hit the spinal cord at the wrong angle which was an eye opener. They were checking my spinal fluid and injecting my spine with some chemo. So far so good though with session 4, hopefully when I am half way done soon it will be downhill to the finish. Have a great weekend and thanks for the words of wisdom and support!
I felt like talking about Harmony today, hence the Eagles classic "Seven Bridges Road." The photo was taken on the extreme northeast corner of Maui in 2007 of myself and another tourist communicating with the feral donkey's who reside in the countryside there. There might be more than seven bridges on that road... The attached video shows the Eagles circa 1977 (not 2005 like it says) when their five part harmonies were in fine form. At times it seems to me we could all use a bit of harmony to move us forward. It's too bad that people can't come together more often like this video shows is possible. On the cancer front, I am hoping to get a bed this morning to get this fourth chemo session goingand over with by Monday or Tuesday. Talk soon- Greg
Good morning, we set a new low temp record in Seattle last night, it's a toasty 15 here at our house. Paul McCartney wrote "Fool" in 1967 reportedly about his experience with the Maharishi in India. It was included on the Magical Mystery Tour EP. I use it today because I was a good example of being a fool on the hill Monday. I took Natalie and Sam up to the the mountains in search of Christmas trees with forest permits. We were the only people on the road, and as it turned out we did not have cell coverage or anything else really to help us survive getting stuck in snow and ditches four times. We all got to dig out using implements like tree branches, and the two saws I brought along for the ride. The event turned into a bonding experience, and when it started to get dark the bonding became a bit more like survival. I learned to carry chains even when I didn't think I'd need them, Natalie learned to leave her purse at home, and Sam learned I take too many chances. *My chemo session slated for today has been pushed back at least a day, hopefully I start tomorrow. Have a good hump-day!
The Beatles second album released in the U.K. was With The Beatles, and featured a mixture of standards and new originals from the boys. The album was recorded in September and released in November of 1963, just before the Beatlemania explosion to the U.S. Just after Beatlemania hit the U.S. English Entrepreneurs developed The Beatles, a new Saturday morning cartoon. It aired on ABC television from 1965 to 1969 (moved around a bit and there were many re-runs.) Each episode was based on a song or songs and featured the lads (voiced by other-than Beatles) as they moved through zany fun-filled experiences. The attached is one such episode. This cartoon series was the first Saturday morning cartoon to model after real people. It might be worth a laugh today... The song is an example of early an Beatles love-relationship song.
Tiger is not the only celebrity to have ever had issues surrounding fidelity. John wrote a song in 1965 that he described later as a ditty about an affair he had had, or it being about affairs in general. "Norwegian Wood" (This Bird Has Flown) broke a lot of new ground for the Beatles and music in general at the time. It transformed the Beatles from songs like "She Loves You" to a darker (and more realistic for them and celebrities) side. The song also was different in that George played a sitar for the first time on a Beatles record. The morals of the 1960's... a connection to today? I am doing well right now since I am post chemo almost two weeks. I do start my fourth chemo session next Wednesday. My lovely daughter Natalie and Son-in-law Sam arrive tonight from Hawaii, we are excited about the visit! We plan to cut some Christmas trees down this weekend and visit with my sister and her husband from Oregon as well. Have a great weekend, live happy.
For us late baby boomers Bruce Springsteen and his breakthrough 1975 album Born To Run had to have been listened to or remembered. The opening track was the power ballad "Thunder Road" - I just happened to start my workout up with this morning. Some lyrics resonated once again, let's just say I'm not the the only one who's had some trying times of late, and I took a lot of inspiration from the song, particularly the last lines of the song... "And in the lonely cool before dawn
You hear their engines roaring on
But when you get to the porch they're gone
On the wind, so Mary climb in
It's a town full of losers
And I'm pulling out of here to win."
First of all, I am thankful that the Seattle Police Officer who confronted wanted killer Maurice Clemmons this morning is OK. I hope the ending of Clemmons' life will help the Lakewood Officers families and loved ones to start healing.
In 1963 the Beatles produced their first album in the U.K., Please Please Me. In the early days the Beatles didn't write all of their songs and actually covered several songs on the album, including two performed by the Shirelles. "Boys" was one of the standards that they had been performing live before recording albums, and turned out to be the first Ringo song on any Beatles album. The Beatles version is a bit of a rocker as they tried to showcase Ringo's vocal talents. I found this live Spanish version of probably an old European T.V. show to share today.
News: I discovered last night that as I move forward with treatment, Fred Hutchison Cancer Center will not be an option for a bone marrow transplant (There is a contract dispute between U.W. and the insurance company.The "Hutch" would make me pay out of contract fees which would be tremendously expensive as they say Aetna doesn't pay enough to them...) My Brother Alan is not a suitable donor for me either. I am grateful for his willingness to get tested, it just wasn't a match. If I get to remission I will have to go out of state with a national registry donor for a bone marrow transplant if I want to go further than chemo. Keep rocking!
