My Blog

Heart Disease, Stroke and Research Let’s talk numbers. These stats were compiled by the American Heart Association and CDC - Center for Disease Control. They’re from the association’s 2017 Heart and Stroke Statistics Update. Ready? Here we go… On Heart Disease .. Heart Disease is the No.1 cause of death in the world and the leading cause of death in the United States. Heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women, taking more lives than all forms of cancer combined. But… Over the last ten years for which statistics are available, the death rate from heart disease has fallen about 39 percent. That’s good news. That means we are getting the word out, people are exercising more, eating healthier. That means we are fighting back. Hard. But there are still miles to go. On to Stroke ... Stroke is the number 5 cause of death in this country, killing more than 129,000 people a year. Stroke is a leading cause of disability BUT it’s also the leading preventable cause of disabili...

T he New Year Remember when Prince sang, "We're gonna party like it's 1999?" Man, that seemed so far off. Now it's so far behind us. At the end of a year EVERYONE lists resolutions but these are a bit different. These are just ramblings, just thoughts of mine that I pass on to you. With that in mind, here we go... I hope 2018 brings you joy, good cheer and lots of gains so the bad times from stroke can recede further in your rear view mirror. When you're new at this you can't fathom that Life will get better as time goes on. I'm further down the road and I'm here to tell you it does get better. Just hang on. Here's to the caregivers of the world. Without them by our side life would be...you fill in the blank. They deserve all the love and respect we can muster. They need to be told often how important they are. 'Cause they are. They're the ones who help us (how's that Army commercial go?) be all that we can be. They're al...

2018 As I pulled up to the Y near my hotel, I noticed the parking lot was full. When I came in I said to the guy at the desk, "The lot is full of New Year's resolutions." He laughed. It's true. When you're younger it's all, "I'm gonna give up smoking. I'm going to exercise more. I'm gonna lose 30 pounds." And on and on. When you're older you realize that lasts, oh, maybe a couple of weeks and then you're back on the couch, smoking, eating bon bons, gaining weight and not exercising, at all. Don't get me wrong there are people who lose a hundred pounds, exercise, become vegan, and change their whole lives. And you see them everywhere. For most of the rest of us? It's part of that but mainly it's back to the couch. When I was about twenty I noticed something. I was a bank teller out in Los Angeles with a bunch of grumpy, I'm not talking to you, customers. But lo and behold, the holiday season was upon us an...

Well here it is. December. The end of the year, and I'll get to that, but also the month that gives us Santa, Rudolph, and presents. It's so weird to all of a sudden hear Christmas music. I was in a store and the music playing was all 'I saw Mommy kissing Santa Claus' and I said something to the clerk. She said they'd been playing stuff like that for a while. If you're young, it's no big deal, but if you're of a certain age you remember when you got through Thanksgiving before you heard that. Now? You're lucky if you get past Halloween before the Christmas decorations go up and holiday music starts a 'playing. And I sound like a cranky old man. But this is the month of many holidays-Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, the Feast of the Three Kings, New Year's Eve and of course, Christmas. My two twins are now 15, so Santa and the reindeer are different now. I remember the days of naughty and nice, and it seemed like every December they turned into good lit...

It's Gonna Be New Year's Eve The coming New Year makes me think of days gone past. When I was young we played games that still hold a special place in my heart. First off a little something called Duck Duck Goose. Here's how it worked. Kids sat in a circle and one of the children went along the outside of that circle patting kids on their heads. While he did this he would say, "Duck," every time he would touch one until he said, "GOOSE!" and took off running around the circle. The person who he'd touched stood up and took off running after him and if that person beat him back to their original spot-nothing changed. But if he didn't he would be the person saying, "Duck Duck Goose." Man, I loved that game and was determined to never be the Duck Duck Goose caller. I wonder if kids today even know Duck Duck Goose. Got another one for ya. Remember Red Light Green Light? 1-2-3? You'd line up about ten feet from the main pers...

Is This the Worst Hurricane Season Ever? Here’s How it Compares 2017 Atlantic storm season churns up record devastation This year’s U.S. Atlantic hurricane season is officially the most expensive ever, racking up $202.6 billion in damages since the formal start on June 1. The costs tallied by disaster modelers Chuck Watson and Mark Johnson surpass anything they’ve seen in previous years. That shouldn’t come as a complete surprise: In late August, Hurricane Harvey slammed into the Gulf Coast, wreaking havoc upon the heart of America’s energy sector. Then Irma struck Florida, devastating the Caribbean islands on the way. Hurricane Maria followed shortly after, wiping out power to all of Puerto Rico. And the season’s not over yet: It officially ends Thursday. “Given our infrastructure today, the question is: Was 2017 unusual? I think we answered that pretty well,” said Watson, a modeler at Enki Research. “2017 wins no matter what you do.” As this devastating season draws to ...

Radio, TV & DJ Journeys I made some mistakes as a DJ and on TV. While on the air and on the dance floor. Here are a few of them... When I first came to New York it was to be a disc jockey on WBLS. It was a big station at the time and I was part of a team in the morning, the other half being E.J. Crummey. So we're on the air one day, about to play Street Fighting Man by the Rolling Stones, and I say, "You know, there isn't an electric guitar in this song. It's all acoustic guitar." Why I said that I don't know and E.J. was incredulous. That's not true was followed by yes it is and then we played the song. For a while I was right and then... Here it came, an electric guitar along with the mud on my face. Go listen and see. You'll hear I was wrong. It's one thing to be wrong in front of one person, it's another being wrong in front of thousands of them. You want more? I'd just gotten to Detroit and was jazzed to be in a market th...