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23 August Lose Weight, Live Forever...There was a story on CNN about a massive study which concluded that being only a little overweight can increase your chance of dying prematurely. It concludes that, in order to be fit, you have to have attained your perfect body weight. Let's see...perfect body weight...absolutely no exposure to second hand smoke...exercise a lot...no smoking of any kind...eat very little red meat...avoid stress. Wait a minute, avoid stress? With all these don'ts and the amount of stress that most people feel at work, what good is losing weight? These studies will drive us all crazy. One said that beer is good for you but, oh-oh, it has calories! Another says that, if we worry about dying, we will die sooner. Of course, if you worry that being overweight can make you die prematurely...well, you see where that leads. I turned 68 this year and I damn sure am not at my perfect body weight. In fact, I am over enough to be called obese. Now, there is a word that the medical community loves. Notice how it sounds like "beast." Just another way to control all our waking hours, making us exercise a lot, worry about what we are eating and, in general, feel bad about ourselves. The only study I really like is the one that says that laughing a lot can extend life. Hell, I can do that easily. I saw something in an email the other day that made me laugh. It said, "Eat right, exercise and die anyway." So I think I'll take my wife out for a good meal tonight and, when we come back put a comedy in the DVD player. Then I will light up a good cigar to enjoy with the movie. If, for some reason, I don't make it past tomorrow I will have had a very good night. Somehow, I think I might be around a little longer... ****************************** Speaking of good movies, the TNT channel just showed a very good one. The Ron Clark Story is about a teacher who refuses to believe that children from the inner city cannot be taught. The fact is, the man is still at it, planning a special academy in Atlanta. You can read about it at this link. Way to go, Mr. Clark. A real hero. 09 August The Return Of Suzi QAll my life I have probably listened to a lot more different types of music than the average person. I love it. I don't just listen to it for a pleasant background noise. I listen intently, picking apart each song to hear its individual components. I lean heavily toward Blues and Jazz, all types of those genres, and I literally grew up with Rock 'N' Roll.
Throughout the years I've seen music styles go in and out of fashion. Some performers have never had the recognition in the USA that they deserved. One such is the remarkable Suzi Quatro. The woman can belt out Rock songs as well as or better than any performer ever seen here yet she never really made it big in this country.
Suzi was born in Detroit but went to England to make her first album. After chart topping success in Europe the first album to be released here was simply titled Quatro. Several songs became hits but, even with a part on Happy Days as Leather Tuscadero, she never really made it big in the USA. She finally returned to the UK and she has lived there and in Germany ever since.
She has kept very busy doing all sorts of TV work and playing in a stage production of Annie Get Your Gun. She does a radio show for the BBC about rock history, interviewing a lot of the great performers of the past.
I have two of her LP's that I've digitally reprocessed to CD's on my computer. Every time I listen to them I am always impressed by her style, slamming out Rock songs and singing soulful ballads in that unique voice. A couple of days ago, I was curious about what might be on the internet regarding her and was surprised to see that she has her own website where I found that she recently cut a new album that was released this year. It is titled Back To The Drive and is available as an import on Amazon.com. Listening to a few samples, I can tell that, at 56, she is as good as ever and I can't wait to hear all of the songs.
But I will wait for a bit because the best news is that the album will be released here on August 29. Hopefully, she will do better in America now that we have satellite radio offering more opportunity for air play. She is getting ready for an Australian tour in 2007 where they really appreciate her. If we are lucky and the album does well in this country perhaps she might do a tour here. People who saw her live performances back in the day say that she blew the audiences away, stealing the show from bands that she opened for.
She saw Elvis Presley at the age of 7 and she actually wanted to be Elvis. It seems that she succeded, sort of, because many people feel that she is the reigning Queen of Rock 'N' Roll. She opened doors for many of the women who came after her. Joan Jett has always said that Suzi was her inspiration.
Why didn't she make it here? Someone recently said that the day the music died was when Disco was introduced. Or perhaps our country was not yet ready for a powerful female Rocker. Maybe now she will finally be appreciated in America for the great artist that she is.
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