Tuesday, August 22, 2006

It's good to see you again Alice Cooper

It's always a good time for a concert (in my opinion) and so the wife and I headed out to the local summer festival grounds to catch some so-so bands and then a couple of my favorites, Blue Oyster Cult and Alice Cooper (I am probably showing my age here......)

BOC was an opener in this show, and they did a nice job, albeit a little short. It is always good to hear (Don't Fear) The Reaper live, although it would have been nice to hear Astronomy and Flaming Telepaths as well. They have an extensive back catalog, and I have heard them all play those in the past.

Alice must be 60 years old, but he came out and did an OUTSTANDING show. The guys in his band looked to be about 15 (I am exaggerating since the guitarists both wore wedding rings, so unless they are from Arkansas or Pennsylvania they have to be age of majority (or just wearing the rings for some odd fashion sense)) but they weren't out of place at all. VERY high energy, and although it seemed to me that Alice threw in more medley type stuff than usual (I know that he has about 1000 songs that people want to hear) he managed to hit everything I could think of as a "must hear". As a bonus, we even had blood spewed on us after poor Alice was guillotined and his severed head was paraded around the stage. It made for a nice weekend!

Monday, August 14, 2006

Goodbye

This morning when I came out into the living room to put on my shoes and socks, a familiar sensation greeted my ankles, my "old man" rubbed my ankles to tell me good morning. I have seen you getting weak and sick old man, and I think I knew that today would be our last together, but I didn't allow that to come to the front of my thoughts, since I would now know how to handle it. I have never dealt with grief particularly elegantly.

I went to work, and my wife took you to the vet, where I desperately hoped they could fix you. They couldn't. Next to the emergency hospital, where they said it would be thousands of dollars and no guarantee that you would make it. Because she had my two little boys with her, she couldn't stay with you while you were put down. I am so sorry. I should have been there for you. I was the one who picked you out of the pet store when the salesgirl asked "Would you like to see a kitty?" when all I was doing was wandering through a pet store, without any plan of getting a pet. You were there for me. College. "Bachelorhood." Marriage. Children. I wasn't there for you. I wasn't there for you. I'm so sorry. I pray that you are in a better place, free of pain. I could see that you were laboring to breathe, yet you never failed to greet me in the morning. Tomorrow morning that will all change. I won't get that familiar rub on the ankles anymore. I miss you old friend, and I hope that you understand why I wasn't there. I hope you will, and I hope you can forgive me, because I don't know if I can forgive myself. It was a terrific fourteen years. I was hoping for more. Rest well my friend, and if there is any justice, someday I will be able to explain myself in person.

Saturday, August 12, 2006

From this link: http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/londoncuts/articles/19903160

'iPods could make you hallucinate'

By Mark Prigg, Evening Standard
25 July 2005 Listening to an iPod could leave you with psychological problems, an expert warns.



He says exposure to music is causing more cases of musical hallucination, where a song "plays" constantly in the head.

"People find they can't sleep and can't think properly," said Dr Victor Aziz, a psychiatrist at Whitchurch hospital in Cardiff.

In May, a Bristol audiology expert warned that listening to music at high volume could cause tinnitus and inner ear damage. Dr Aziz said the condition he is warning about causes the brain to hear phantom music. This is different from the common occurrence of having a song "stuck" in your head because the sound is continuous and appears real.

Dr Aziz, whose research involving 30 sufferers is published this week in the International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, said: "Having a song in your head every now and then is quite normal but musical hallucinations can be quite distressing." He predicted the condition will become more common as people are inundated with music from their iPods, radios and TVs, plus music played in public places.

"People who are bombarded by music tend to hear music," said Dr Aziz. "I suspect the rates of hallucinations in orchestral players will be higher than normal. So, as we hear more music every day, cases will probably go up."

His research suggests sound hallucinations occur when people move from a stimulusrich environment to one with few auditory stimuli - for instance, from using an iPod on the Tube to entering a quiet office.

With no sound via the ears, the brain generates random impulses it interprets to be sound. It then matches these to memories of music and a song begins in the head. This may explain why Beethoven was able to compose after going deaf.

Officially, one in 10,000 people over 65 suffers but Dr Aziz believes younger people are also affected and the true number with the condition is higher due to poor diagnosis. Some sufferers find the condition a comfort. One 28-year-old said it was like a film soundtrack. Twenty patients reported hearing religious music, with six hearing the hymn Abide With Me.
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Oh those wacky Brits! I saw that someone commented about how nobody seemed to care back when people were using their cassette and cd walkmen to listen to their tunes......


Wednesday, August 02, 2006

The following is from the L.A. Times sports columnist T.J. Simers:

JAKE FIELD is 10, and lives in L.A. with his family, including his father, George, a supervisor for the Department of Homeland Security. Jake has been a big-time fan of the A's, and a catcher, just like Oakland's Jason Kendall.

In October, Jake began treatment for brain cancer. When he requested a Kendall jersey, Kendall showed up at the youngster's L.A. home with it.

"It was the first time Jake laughed and smiled since this whole episode began," George said. "Kendall sat with Jake for more than an hour talking baseball and asking for advice on how to throw out runners."

Things haven't gone well for Jake recently, the cancer spreading and eliminating surgical options. The family recently decided to dedicate themselves to Jake's quality of life, and cease further curative care.

When the A's were made aware of this, they immediately reacted and invited Jake to join them for Monday's game in Oakland.

The family arrived Sunday, and "Jason called Jake at the hotel and said we could use his suite for the game and Jake could eat whatever he wanted and not pay," George said. "Jake got real excited about that.

"Jason told him all the players would be waiting for him on the field, and then he told me to cancel our airplane reservations because he was chartering a private jet to take us home.

"It's overwhelming," George said. "You see how people step up to do the right thing, and even go the extra step and for someone they didn't even know. For Jake, it's just a dream come true."

*

T.J. Simers can be reached at

t.j.simers@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Simers, go to latimes.com/simers.


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It's nice to hear about ballplayers that AREN'T jerks, running around being crybabies and oafs. It also should again give us pause to remember the things in life that matter.