Fred has no way of knowing it yet, but we will make a deadly backup band: bass, drums and rhythm. To do so, we had to avoid any input from guitar players. I am often the first person many guitarists meet who tells them their taste in music is unsuitable, and it does not matter how long they’ve thought otherwise. For example, Eddie never did learn even one tune from my song list, whereas I learned ten of his.Eddie refuses to play with Jim again, though I’ve asked him to wait and see. Eddie already forgot the intros we practiced last year. Like many guitarists, he leaves out the measures where there were no vocals. You can’t do that in a real band. He also informs me that “You Can Leave Your Hat On” is not a Joe Cocker original. According to Eddie, it is an old 1940’s blues tune. Either way, you must hear the customized bass line I’ve got for that. Hint: listen to the horn section and note what is played “in the cracks”.
[Author's note 2015-04-27: in the final analysis, Eddie was the same as most guitar players--unable to play or learn anything new and stuck in his own era. He eventually moved to Kentucky or something. We had the standard agreement to learn ten items from the other guy's song list. Eddie failed to learn even one of mine. I had little idea how massive this problem would be with guitarists in this part of the world.]
Today was taken up by some extensive medical tests, of which there will be more next week. Understandably, the topic was the defibrillator slash pacemaker. I’ve left it to the results of the tests to make the decision for me. I have the personal assurance of my doctor they will never allow me to go untreated, regardless of whether I can pay. That’s nice to know. Remember, running out of money is a probability for all baby boomers—particularly those who’ve lived a life on credit. I’m merely setting things in place before I arrive there the hard way.
Which led to a lively conversation between my doctor and I about the condition of the country. We are much on the same wavelength there. It is all too rare in Florida to have intellectual discussions and educationally I tend to have more in common with other graduates. Medically, it turns out I was very wise to defer the pacemaker operation until I got back to my own doctor. Make that extremely wise.
One piece of good news is that my heart is now beating regularly, but not quite in unison. The description was to imagine repeatedly compressing a pillow between your hands. Unless you move both hands together, some of the motion gets wasted. This motion is the target of the defibrillator. It is a passive device, only cutting in if needed. It also sets off an alarm saying get over to the hospital. I am slowly getting comfortable with the idea.
ADDENDUM
[Author’s note: Sony once charged me $44 for a missing user’s manual. When I got home, more than half the pages were in French.]
Sony is also spending a fortune to develop this robot. The idea is to make it a household servant, or at least one that is more economical than getting married. This robot walks like it has a permanent case of constipation.
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