So, Bad Dog returns to the air waves Friday, 3 December for a couple of weeks. He'll be going back to the hospital for a final round of a lighter chemo and then by the first of the year, if not sooner, he'll be back full time with us.
Now, here is the interesting part. It seems that he cannot be around anybody due to his weakened immune system. So, to avoid any potential risk of contamination and catching something like the cold or worse, he is at home. And he wants to come back to work. Thanks to the miracle of modern radio technology, we are going to make this happen.
Bad Dog will have, at his home, a remote rig. It's one of the pieces of equipment we use when we are broadcasting from a bar or car lot or wherever. This will be good as there are a lot of folks who want to have him back on the air as soon as possible and this certainly fills the bill. But, this is going to be kind of a strange experience for us as there is going to be a change as to how we actually do the show.
Normally, we have the ability to use non-verbal communication to sort out our timing or to locate a recorded bit to back up what we are doing. Not now at least. We'll more than likely be stepping on each other and it will sound a bit awkward at first, but there will be a strange transformation that will take place as we go through this. We'll be able to read each others mind more so than normal. And just when we get that little talent down, he'll be off again for a bit.
Nevertheless, this should make for some interesting radio over the next few days. It will different, it will certainly be fun and it will be good to have him back on the air again.
Stay Tuned...
03 December 2009
12 November 2009
He's Human... Again
I just got off the phone with Bad Dog who wanted to touch base with the outside world. Since he's in a strange world of isolation and is starting to feel more normal, he wanted to check in to make sure everyone else is doing alright.
He took the time to describe to me the weirdness that goes with undergoing such a violent chemical assault on the disease that is leukemia. The cocktail of drugs administered to him in double doses can sure take a toll on one's body and mind. It is commonly called "Red Devil" and it will kick your ass and make even the strongest beg for mercy. It kicked Bad Dog down too. Right now, he is without an immune system and is obviously and understandably quite a bit weak. However, the team of medical professionals have been hovering around him to make sure this chemo they have been pumping into him is not having too many adverse reactions.
There is a kidney doctor, a cardiologist, a pulmonary doctor, a blood doctor, an endocrinologist, an oncologist and more watching very closely his slow re-building of his immune system.
I asked him what he meant by "feeling human again" and he told me that the general feeling of hell has passed and that for the first time in weeks he's starting to have some normal functioning of everything else. In other words, specifically his words, he's not hurting.
This morning, on the air, he related to how the chemo therapy has affected the way foods taste. He related the experience of having a bit of breakfast yesterday consisting of toast, scrambled eggs and a bit of bacon tasting like paper mache. He decided that butter was not necessary since there was a simple fear that it would taste of wallpaper paste. The bottom line is he is eating.
His spirits remain high and despite the planned and executed crushing blow to his system to get this disease, he is feeling just a bit stronger everyday. These are all real good signs.
When I asked him about blood counts, he said there is nothing to count and in fact, at that moment we were talking, they were giving him some fresh blood. So, all in all, he's feeling... well, human again. Which is the ultimate goal. Judging from the way he was talking a bit ago, I would actually call it Superhuman.
Herculean fortitude aside, I think we can all expect things to go as the professionals have planned out. A couple of weeks of isolated recovery, another round of chemo (this one being significantly lighter than the first), a bit of recovery and then it's out of the hospital. That is not so much optimism speaking as it is the plain facts as they are... so far.
In the meantime, continue to say your prayers and think positive thoughts that this too, like all other things, shall pass.
Stay Tuned...
He took the time to describe to me the weirdness that goes with undergoing such a violent chemical assault on the disease that is leukemia. The cocktail of drugs administered to him in double doses can sure take a toll on one's body and mind. It is commonly called "Red Devil" and it will kick your ass and make even the strongest beg for mercy. It kicked Bad Dog down too. Right now, he is without an immune system and is obviously and understandably quite a bit weak. However, the team of medical professionals have been hovering around him to make sure this chemo they have been pumping into him is not having too many adverse reactions.
There is a kidney doctor, a cardiologist, a pulmonary doctor, a blood doctor, an endocrinologist, an oncologist and more watching very closely his slow re-building of his immune system.
I asked him what he meant by "feeling human again" and he told me that the general feeling of hell has passed and that for the first time in weeks he's starting to have some normal functioning of everything else. In other words, specifically his words, he's not hurting.
This morning, on the air, he related to how the chemo therapy has affected the way foods taste. He related the experience of having a bit of breakfast yesterday consisting of toast, scrambled eggs and a bit of bacon tasting like paper mache. He decided that butter was not necessary since there was a simple fear that it would taste of wallpaper paste. The bottom line is he is eating.
His spirits remain high and despite the planned and executed crushing blow to his system to get this disease, he is feeling just a bit stronger everyday. These are all real good signs.
When I asked him about blood counts, he said there is nothing to count and in fact, at that moment we were talking, they were giving him some fresh blood. So, all in all, he's feeling... well, human again. Which is the ultimate goal. Judging from the way he was talking a bit ago, I would actually call it Superhuman.
Herculean fortitude aside, I think we can all expect things to go as the professionals have planned out. A couple of weeks of isolated recovery, another round of chemo (this one being significantly lighter than the first), a bit of recovery and then it's out of the hospital. That is not so much optimism speaking as it is the plain facts as they are... so far.
In the meantime, continue to say your prayers and think positive thoughts that this too, like all other things, shall pass.
Stay Tuned...
01 November 2009
Bad Dog
So the days of what we used to call "slow news days" are behind for the moment as are the days of setting this blog in a comfortable archive mode. Between Twitter and here, I'll do my best to keep you all abreast of Bad Dog's current situation as time allows. Your patience is greatly appreciated.
Patience being the key as all of a sudden your life goes from "just another day" to "Oh my God, now what?" If you are just tuning in, here's the deal. Bad Dog has been diagnosed with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia. Or AML as it is known in these circles.
Like you, I freaked out on the news of this. Then I settled down and began to absorb all that I could about the condition and the specific situation we are looking at.
The nuts and bolts of this disease are quite simply stated as "cancer". Scary, ain't it? At first it certainly seems that way, but in reality, the scary part is getting passed the the third word of the disease, leukemia.
In the past 20 years or so, there have been astounding advances in treating and beating this thing. So that is on our side. So is the simple fact that it has been determined Bad Dog has not had this for very long. A few weeks, to be as precise as possible. So that is on our side too. Add to that his amazingly upbeat state of mind and continued sense of humor and it looks now that we have a very positive situation on our hands.
Just today, the doctors put him into isolation. This is simply a way of preventing the outside world with all of it's illnesses from catching him with his immune system down. This is good, this means that so far, the chemo protocol he is on is working in the right direction. This coming Friday should be the last of the initial chemo and the hardest part of fighting this thing will be behind him. A few weeks of recovery and the next thing you know, he's back on the air with yours truly.
No doubt there will be some minor changes to this routine as we go along and understandably these changes are expected. Everyone being different in the eyes of a cancer patient.
Long story short, Bad Dog is expected to be back in true form, on the air and ready to come back full time around the 2nd week of December. What a great holiday gift that will be for all of us. In the meantime, it will be business as usual (as best as I can pull it off) around the radio station, on and off the air and I will give short bursts of updates as they come in from my Twitter. The link is on the right of your screen. When I can elaborate, I will do it here and on the air.
Rock 103 (link also on the right) has a place to post good will messages and the likes to him since he has access to a laptop and he can read your messages. Otherwise, should anyone have any questions you can contact me directly through this blog or my email through the station.
He's counting on your support and he knows you all are there and I for one, am most confident that he will be back sooner than you know and in full form ready to get back into the game.
Thanks for all your continued support, your thoughts and prayers and we'll be around. Until then...
Stay Tuned....
Patience being the key as all of a sudden your life goes from "just another day" to "Oh my God, now what?" If you are just tuning in, here's the deal. Bad Dog has been diagnosed with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia. Or AML as it is known in these circles.
Like you, I freaked out on the news of this. Then I settled down and began to absorb all that I could about the condition and the specific situation we are looking at.
The nuts and bolts of this disease are quite simply stated as "cancer". Scary, ain't it? At first it certainly seems that way, but in reality, the scary part is getting passed the the third word of the disease, leukemia.
In the past 20 years or so, there have been astounding advances in treating and beating this thing. So that is on our side. So is the simple fact that it has been determined Bad Dog has not had this for very long. A few weeks, to be as precise as possible. So that is on our side too. Add to that his amazingly upbeat state of mind and continued sense of humor and it looks now that we have a very positive situation on our hands.
Just today, the doctors put him into isolation. This is simply a way of preventing the outside world with all of it's illnesses from catching him with his immune system down. This is good, this means that so far, the chemo protocol he is on is working in the right direction. This coming Friday should be the last of the initial chemo and the hardest part of fighting this thing will be behind him. A few weeks of recovery and the next thing you know, he's back on the air with yours truly.
No doubt there will be some minor changes to this routine as we go along and understandably these changes are expected. Everyone being different in the eyes of a cancer patient.
Long story short, Bad Dog is expected to be back in true form, on the air and ready to come back full time around the 2nd week of December. What a great holiday gift that will be for all of us. In the meantime, it will be business as usual (as best as I can pull it off) around the radio station, on and off the air and I will give short bursts of updates as they come in from my Twitter. The link is on the right of your screen. When I can elaborate, I will do it here and on the air.
Rock 103 (link also on the right) has a place to post good will messages and the likes to him since he has access to a laptop and he can read your messages. Otherwise, should anyone have any questions you can contact me directly through this blog or my email through the station.
He's counting on your support and he knows you all are there and I for one, am most confident that he will be back sooner than you know and in full form ready to get back into the game.
Thanks for all your continued support, your thoughts and prayers and we'll be around. Until then...
Stay Tuned....
17 October 2009
Something Local
So, last Thursday, the 15th was our local election for mayor. There's no need to go into the nitty-gritty about they whys and hows and all of that. It was a million dollars spent on a special election and something is bothering me about this.
Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining because my candidate didn't win, I have met Mayor Wharton on numerous occasions and he has always been very nice to me and has never given me any reason to think otherwise about him. Quite frankly, he's a nice guy.
So, my question is this... just how did he win? Some polls suggested that Myron Lowrey had the best shot. He was after all, the interim mayor and had a running start at cleaning up the mess left behind by Herenton. And yes, he was doing a fine job with that. The Dalai Lama debacle aside, he would have been a shoo-in as the existing incumbant. But he couldn't get anywhere close in votes.
How about Jerry Lawler? Several polls had him as a legitimate candidate or a spoiler at the very least. Yet, he barely managed four thousand votes. This after all the poeple I have heard said they were going to vote for him. If they did in fact vote for Lawler, he may very well would have won the election.
And then there is Carol Chumney, lovely lady and smart to boot. She ran a rather quiet campaign and spent very little money in the race. Polls and surveys had her not doing so well, but she managed a sizable percentage of the voters. Where did she get those votes?
Obviously there is a problem with surveys and polls. Or is there a problem on a more sinister level?
The only numbers left are the vote tallies themselves. Here's what I deduced:
There are about 400,000 registered voters in the city.
100,000 people voted.
That means some 300,000 people didn't vote and that is truly sad.
A serious investigation by a third party could figure this out. Even if it was determined that everything was on the up and up. That would be acceptable. But, I'm telling you, and this is strictly MY opinion, something stinks.
Unless there is some monkey business going on at the election commission and that wouldn't surprise me in the least. Given this city's notorious history of dead people voting and the high likelyhood someone could tinker with the ballots, it wouldn't surprise me in the least to think that maybe... just maybe... this election could have been fixed in a broken sort of way.
Perhaps someone ought to look into this.
Maybe we should ask Herenton himself, he was seen at Houston's the night of the election having a nice dinner and then heading over to the Wharton party to celebrate. Maybe I'm wrong about this prediction but given the circumstances beware the following scenario:
Herenton loses the congressional election to Cohen and runs for Memphis mayor in two years and serves eight more as mayor. What do you think?
Then again, why bother? Nobody in this city seems to care.
Stay Tuned...
10 October 2009
That's Entertainment
It's amazing to me that over the years, we as a people have had some rather dramatic changes in what we found and find entertaining. For me, it's runs from the simple to the elaborate and sometimes the downright stupid. Hey, at least I am easy to entertain. As an entertainer, I have to be cautious of what is truly "entertaining".
Buddy Hackett once said that if a joke doesn't offend at least one person, then it's not a joke. How true. Since I tend to wallow in the offensive end of humor. Not by design, it just sort of happens that way. To me, there are some inherent humor to be found in the stupid. But humor is NOT the end of all entertainment. Take a look at previous decades and how we as people have "evolved". Our tastes certainly have changed over the years.
The 80's were full of bad fashion and worse music. (some exceptions apply) The 70's brought the amusement of a pet rock. The 60's... drugs were the amusing thing. At least, that is what I have been told... The 50's in all their puritanical ways gave us Wally and the Beaver.
And then there were the 40's. Witness below the Ross Sisters from 1944. The music was standard of the day, peppy and upbeat, fashion simple and fun. But the major difference for audiences of the day were seeing a singer or band and the usual song and dance routine versus the downright bizarre.
This clip culled from the internet displays a virtual circus act of the likes you don't see to this day. Imagine this on Dancing With the Stars ... you won't. Simply because the TV people these days don't find this sort of thing entertaining.
Here's a test... watch this. Then answer the following question...
Were you entertained?
Stay Tuned...
Buddy Hackett once said that if a joke doesn't offend at least one person, then it's not a joke. How true. Since I tend to wallow in the offensive end of humor. Not by design, it just sort of happens that way. To me, there are some inherent humor to be found in the stupid. But humor is NOT the end of all entertainment. Take a look at previous decades and how we as people have "evolved". Our tastes certainly have changed over the years.
The 80's were full of bad fashion and worse music. (some exceptions apply) The 70's brought the amusement of a pet rock. The 60's... drugs were the amusing thing. At least, that is what I have been told... The 50's in all their puritanical ways gave us Wally and the Beaver.
And then there were the 40's. Witness below the Ross Sisters from 1944. The music was standard of the day, peppy and upbeat, fashion simple and fun. But the major difference for audiences of the day were seeing a singer or band and the usual song and dance routine versus the downright bizarre.
This clip culled from the internet displays a virtual circus act of the likes you don't see to this day. Imagine this on Dancing With the Stars ... you won't. Simply because the TV people these days don't find this sort of thing entertaining.
Here's a test... watch this. Then answer the following question...
Were you entertained?
Stay Tuned...
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