Rooster_Ties

PM sent on the four (4) Hendrix Dagger titles. Thx!

Just noticing that the listing on The Bastards site says that this new LP issue also has a bonus track: "Repetition (take 2)", by Neal Hefti. I though(?) there was a previous digital-only (mp3) release of this album that had some other alternate take of one of the tracks (I don't remember any bonus material being something other than an 'alternate' - but it's been eons since I've read about/considered that digital release, which I never bought). BTW, the back-sleeve liners on this new LP issue are by Michael Cuscuna, and you can zoom this image up and clearly read the whole text quite easily (at least I was able to). You might need to cut-n-paste this URL into a separate browser page to get it to appear big enough (and maybe zoom in more, on top of that). https://www.deejay.de/images/xl/4/9/349649b.jpg More info about the release here too: https://www.deejay.de/Charles_Tolliver_All_Stars_SES-19681_Vinyl__349649 And here the dusty prose about it... https://www.dustygroove.com/item/909779

Man, oh man, I do NOT think I can resist. "Seventh Avenue" and "Love Dance" are both big favorites. And I'm not sure, but is this the first ever live version of "Teotihuacan" that's been issued so far? Not a tune title that I remember seeing that much on any of the various live Woody CDs' I have (and I have practically all of them).

I mentioned the thread, and my wife promptly wondered if half of them were all from me.

Me too. Toughest one to track down (at the time about 15 years ago), was this 1977 album: Compassion (Strata-East) aka New Tolliver (Baystate). I have the 1991 German 'Bellaphon' CD issue as Compassion. But it came out in Japan again in 2009 (as New Tolliver). I've also had about 80% of all his sideman appearances on CD too at one time or another, but traded a handful of them off because of space issues with my collection. Easily on my top-10 list of my personal list of favorite trumpeters, somewhere down around #5 or #6 probably.

Would love it on CD. There's one alternate take of a track, iirc. I think the whole session was (is?) available as mp3's off Amazon or something, iirc. But it's just about the last Toliver session I don't have on CD, if I'm remembering right.

Turns out I started a thread about these very same specific four (4) dagger releases on the Hoffman board 9 years ago. https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/which-of-the-non-live-hendrix-dagger-releases-are-most-worth-getting.229362/ So there's some crowd-sourced input on them right there. Tempting.

The Hendrix CD's on Dagger are tempting. Not sure if I'd take all of them -- I need to investigate more this weekend.

Every day I alternate between 1) being absolutely terrified of dealing with the enormity and complexity of all this -- even just struggling to hook myself into finding and talking to the right people. ...and 2) finally getting somewhere on something related to all this, and suddenly feeling like: well, that's one less thing that I'm 100% in the dark about. We had another big scare last night (long story), but it turned out to probably just be that my dad was super-tired, and really out of it (he answered the phone, but all he would say (mumble) was "hello" every once in a while, for almost 7-minutes straight (I looked at the time on my phone). I had to call the police to have them check on him and make sure he wasn't having a stroke, or delirious for some other reason. I'm going to have to look into getting him some new landline phones while I'm home next week (jeez, where the fuck can you buy simple, bare-bones landline phones anymore? - guess I'll find out). But then I finally got his home visiting-nurse care people on the phone today, and just had a wonderful 45 minute conversation, and now I'm 10x better in the loop about their stuff (and his physical and occupational therapy). Turns out they did have all my contact information since they first saw him at his home on Monday. But he's been well enough every time they've seen him (no specific new health events/issues) that they normally don't call relatives, unless there's a specific need to (or specific new information) -- or unless the patient (my Dad) asks them to call me. And because he's also been communicative and "very high-functioning cognitive" all of the 3 times they've seen him... they said they didn't have any reason to call me. Meanwhile, for 3 days, I kept waiting for them to call me -- since I had NO idea who they were, or even what the name of their agency/organization was (or any contact info for them), and all my Dad knew was that it was on some piece of paper around his house somewhere (with all the papers they sent him home with from the hospital). Luckily I called this morning when his home nurse happened to be there, and I had him hand the phone to her. As I said, a complete roller coaster between abject terror in trying to deal with the totality of something like this, when I don't even have any contact info for almost any of the professionals involved. But when that barrier (and lack of communication) finally drops, I am suddenly finding super helpful and really incredibly kind people (who clearly found their calling in life). I'm sure I'll know more, and feel a little less chaotic about everything when I'm actually there with him early next week (I fly out Wednesday first thing). I'll be there a whole week, almost -- from March 27 thru April 2. Incredibly grateful for the warm, kind, and gentle medical professionals I've been talking to on the phone (finally) this morning. But I'm still more than a little terrified of dealing with the enormity of all this. And it's NOT that I'm worried about making bad decisions, or "doing the wrong thing" -- it's just navigating everything, when I don't have any earthly idea about any of this, except purely in the abstract. But some progress, finally.

I was about to say "none" -- but then I remembered I did catch Sonny Rollins in Kansas City -- back in the very late 90's, iirc. But I think that's it, for me.

I think my dad *would* easily qualify for assistance if the means-testing is based on his annual income. He has some investments, but more than anything, he's as frugal as anyone on the planet, practically -- and he barely touches the principle on his investments, and relies a great deal on Masonic community he's involved in (for some of his meals, and such). To be honest, he gets more food from left-overs from the Masonic events that he EVER asks for. There's always food left-over, and whenever he orders anything "to go" - they just always give him 3x as much as he ordered (even though he's never asked for that). Likewise, I think might qualify if his means-testing was based on liquid assets too -- he's certainly not rich (by any measure, whatsoever) -- just frugal as all getout. We've been researching on-line all weekend, and have some leads -- but to say it's arduous doesn't even scrape the surface. No religious affiliation any long -- he used to be a LONG time member of the United Church of Christ, but the particular congregation he was involved in folded (everyone got old), and he never got involved with any others. He is still a pretty religious man, and DEEPLY devoted to the Masons. There USED to be a couple Masonic retirement homes that he and my Mom had planned to going to "some day" (20+ years ago they looked in them) -- but all of those with 250-300 miles have all gone belly up 10+ years ago. I may search farther and wider to see if I can find any that are still in business, but the two in downstate Illinois are no longer in existence. My wife's grandmother was in a Mosaic-related home 10 years ago (up in the Minneapolis area), so perhaps we could find something out here on the east coast. But we haven't yet looked into that. Plus, I really don't want to pull him away from everyone he knows (and everyone who knows him), around the area he lives now. I suspect he could still go places, and I think there's plenty of guys (Masons, and some other non-Masonic friends), who would take him places -- since he would probably be fine in a wheelchair.

Thanks everyone. We didn't really have any plans yet for my 50th, to be honest. A nice dinner this coming weekend, but we hadn't figured out where yet. Hard to even consider it, with all that's going on now. But thanks again, everyone. Don't want to be a Debbie-downer in my own birthday thread.

Thanks again, everyone. My employer will be incredibly supportive, and they were doing FMLA before it was ever mandated. I'm planning to spend the better part of next week with my Dad, trying to get as much figured out near-term, as I can. Probably the first of several trips in the near future. We think our very first priority is getting him a medical aleart system that he can wear on his wrist (or around his neck), with fall-detection cabability. Something he can push a button, and get help with. And even if he can't push a button, if he falls, an alert is generated, so he can get help fast. Second but almost equal priority may be getting him a wheelchair he can use at home, so he isn't on his feet nearly as much, so if he has one of these episodes, he isn't walking around nearly as much. Of course there's half a dozen other things we've got to figure out in short order after that. At the moment, I'm trying to get his primary care doctor to call me, so I can strategize with him. They won't get the records/results from his hospital stay until tomorrow or Wenesday, but I need to get that channel of communication going. I've left messages this morning with his office, and am waiting to hear back.

Sorry I seemed so freaked out about all this yesterday, and probably still this morning. I mean, I am still freaked out about it. But either my ability - or my interest - in better editing my thoughts here, it just isn't there. It's nice to have a place to, not exactly 'vent' about it, but a pressure-value where I'm frankly just letting off steam about my frustrations. When I compose myself, and think about this more abstractly, clearly hundreds of thousands of people deal with stuff like this (and worst) every year. Doesn't help, though, that I'm deathly afraid (almost phobic) about dealing with forms, bureaucracy, taxes, anything like selling a house, investments, and anything of the like. Terrified is probably too strong a word, but if you saw my natural tenancies to avoid stuff like this in my own personal life, the word "terrified" probably wouldn't seem all that out of line with my ability to try to avoid stuff like this like the plague. (How to do get by?? Hint: my wife does all our taxes, insurance, and when we bought a house back in Kansas City, etc. I'm really lucky, in that she works in biggest bureaucracy on planet earth, the Federal Government -- and has for 25+ years. And she has a law degree. One of 1,000 reasons I married well.) I really appreciate being part of this community, and everyone's feedback. Sorry I'm so all over the map. It's so weird. I don't even know why, suddenly having typed all this, I'm suddenly near letting the floodgates of tears again, and I don't even know exactly why - ?? I've been completely even-keeled practically all day. It's like I'm randomly just letting my guard completely down, and I'm not even clear what specifically is triggering that.

I hear you, and my name is already on all his bank accounts, and his CD's (I think?). I've forgotten the details since we last went all over everything, about 2-3 years ago (I think it's been more like 3 years). BTW, when my mom died in 2003, it was a sudden aneurysm and she never regained consciousness and passed away a couple days later. I drove to St. Louis (from Kansas City) immediately, and less than 24 hrs later we made an end-of-life decision. She had been pretty much in good health before that, certainly nothing that I had any involvement in. Both my wife's parents are 10-15 years younger, and we haven't had to have any involvement in their health issues yet either. And frankly, neither my wife or I have ever had any serious health issues ourselves, so we don't even have any personal experience with the two of US either. I think yesterday was literally the very first time I'd ever talked to any of my Dad's doctors, since he had been able to manage everything up until this point, and he hadn't ever had any significant issues up until this point. Other than his bout with prostate cancer 20 years ago, he hadn't ever been in the hospital a day in his entire life. And after that, just appendicitis and getting his appendix out 6 years ago -- which I never even heard about until 2 weeks after the fact.

Thanks Shrdlu. There's no way I could manage his estate myself, even if I lived locally frankly. I'm horrendous with legal stuff/paperwork/forms/taxes, etc. -- damn near a phobia, if I'm honest. His entire estate isn't that big at all (I'm sure his house is worth half of what HE thinks it is), and his his non-house assets aren't dramatic either. His executor is the bank he's dealt with for 40 years, and we've met with them every few years, and they seem perfectly straight forward and competent, far as I can tell. I'm sure they'll just dispose of it with as little drama as possible.

We do have medical power of attorney, and I'm nearly positive full power of attorney too. From about 2000-2015, my name was also on the deed to the house, and I know my name is also on his car title. But then about 4 years ago he got a trust set up, so his estate could avoid probate (for whatever reason, he felt like probate was the worst thing in the world -- I guess because my dad had been the executor for 2 other people, about 15-18 years ago). But even before that, for the last 20 years at least, my dad designated the bank as his executor, primarily so the sale of the house (and everything in it) could be handled by the bank (so I wouldn't have to do any of that). We are super close; none of this was to keep me from getting anything after his passing. His will states that after his passing, I can take anything I want and I suppose that could include the house even. The whole point of getting an executor was to keep me out of all the logistics and paperwork of dealing with everything. His funeral, grave-marker, and plot have been paid for, for the last 30 years I think. What I lack is any practical experience in dealing with all this in exerting all these powers, especially from 1,000 miles away. My wife and I are looking into home health care options now, and a retirement community that can shift into assisted living when that becomes necessary. As I said, the trouble has been that my dad's mostly been in excellent health his entire life, and he's always been able to be so fiercely independent until just this month really. So much suddenly to deal with.

Thanks, Jim. One other anecdote from today. When I finally got to speak to the nurse about his condition/situation, ALL IT TOOK to get the nurse to talk to me (in terms of the HIPAA privacy limitations), was to get him to hand her the phone (literally). He was determined to be of sound mind when he presented himself in the ER, fully able to make decisions for himself, and him just handing her the phone triggered "permission" being granted for her to talk to me openly about his condition. And that ONE "phone hand-off" triggered consent for ALL his heath-care people at the hospital (and that consent was immediately noted on his chart). So his attending doctor, and the case-worker/social-worker could suddenly talk to me ad infinitum for the rest of his stay. I had talked to my dad on the phone 5-6 times before that, and for 24 hours the only information I had was whatever I was getting filtered through his 92-year old understanding of what was going on. Before that "phone hand-off", we had no way to know who to talk to, or how to interface with the hospital personnel, or any way to know how to trigger that level of communication. I'm sure he listed me as next of kin, but I didn't know (for sure) if he had my phone number on his admission form (did he have a copy of it in his wallet?). And every time I'd call, either he'd be all alone in his hospital room. Or the nurse would be in there to do something for/with/to him, and he'd suddenly say he couldn't talk, and have me call back 15 minutes later and catch him when he could talk. After that "phone hand-off", the nurse immediately gave me her direct cell-phone number, and the number of her nurses' station. And she got the case-manager/social-services guy on the phone with me 20 minutes later. And then he got his particular hospital doctor to all me in less than an hour. But for 24 hours I was -- not exactly in the dark -- but in a room only lit by my father's impressions of things To say I've felt helpless in all this, and still half do (and especially from 1,000 miles away), is putting it mildly. After that first time I talked to the nurse (for 15 minutes), she offered to hand the phone back to my Dad, and suddenly I broke down and just lost it (the dam of tears started flowing). Had to ask her to give me 15 seconds to get myself together, before I could talk to my Dad, and she kindly stalled and talked to him while I got my shit back together. I lost it again after I got off the phone with the doctor. I'd been keeping everything tamped down, and bottled up all day -- really a lot more UNconsciously, than intentionally -- for a whole day since yesterday, and it all decided to come out at once. More rambling, I know.

I'm sure my dad will ultimately be willing to consider whatever is most appropriate. The trouble is that he doesn't like change the least little bit. For instance, he loves (loves, loves) trains - and has his entire life. He still hasn't entirely gotten over diesel engines replacing steam engines. I kid, but seriously, my father has always lived a good 20 years in the past -- at every given moment in his entire life. He's also one of the most risk-adverse people I've ever known. Four different times today my father told me "things are getting complicated", and what he said next each time (I'm now realizing) didn't really didn't fully elaborate on the kinds of things he was being told by his doctor and his case-worker/social-worker type consult. But "it's getting complicated" was as much as he could bring himself to tell me. When I finally spoke to the doctor a couple hours ago, one of the things I asked was whether he had any business ever driving again, and the answer was "no". That's one of the realities of the situation, and of course it'll have a huge impact on his independence. I suspect he either also got told that, or he suddenly sees that handwriting on the wall. The case-worker/social-worker type person said he is really going to have to live somewhere where people can check on him pretty regularly, several times a day. Not 24/7 assisted living, but definitely a retirement community of some sort. He's been on a blood-thinner for 15-years. Not a problem in and of itself, but now that he's fallen twice in the last week (because he seems to suddenly loose all control of his muscles, almost like fainting but not losing consciousness). But then if he fell and cut himself in the process, the bleeding could be, well, very bad. Likewise, if he goes off the blood thinner, then he's at a much higher susceptibility for a very serious stroke. (Damned if you do, damned if you don't.) So he like needs people checking on him 3-4 times a day, so like a retirement community. My dad won't put up a battle, but this is going to trigger a dozen things -- HUGE CHANGES in his life -- that he does not want to face. Can't drive. And he'll have to move from the only place (only house, literally), that he's ever lived in his entire life (save for college, and two other brief 6-month periods). He knows that house inside and out, and literally everything in between (like in between all the walls). He's personally installed, not one, but TWO new furnaces in that house, with his own hands. And the first one he pretty much designed and mostly fabricated himself. He's also personally rewired half the house himself (the rest is all still knob-and-tube), and re-plumbed half that house himself too. He installed a second hot-water heater in the other end of the basement, so there'd be quicker hot water in the kitchen (and main bathroom), with an ELABORATE crossover system of pipes that allowed either one of the hot-water heaters to INDEPENDENTLY service the ENTIRE house (if either one ever failed), with cross-over valves, and all kinds of stuff. Holy shit, he had TWO different thermostats that created two COMPLETELY INDEPENDENT heating zones in the house -- 25 fucking years ago, back before that shit was ever done in typical houses. Did the furnace have two blowers? Hell if I know. But it worked. It was like having two furnaces in the same house, that each ran independently, servicing two different living zones -- but it was all one furnace. THAT was the first one that I said that he designed him self, and (mostly?) fabricated from scratch, with his own two hands. THAT'S the house he lives in, and has lived in since 1928. His father was a dentist, and saw patients at his (my dad's) home 1-2 days a week -- instead of the office downtown. The house had two front doors, and one went into the "dentist's office" carved out of the corner of the first floor -- that decades later my dad remodeled into private dressing room for my mom. ---- My Dad will do whatever he has to, but I can tell he's scared. Not so much of any one particular detail -- but of all the god damn change headed for him like a damn train. I also prayed that my Dad wouldn't ever have to sell that house. He thinks it's worth a quarter of a million dollars (or a hair more), in part because it's on 3 lots of land. But it's in a neighborhood that's not in a super desirable area. It is a nice house, but nothing's been updated on it since 1980, other than all my Dad's totally functional "mechanicals" changes. But aesthetically, it has a mountain of deferred modernization. I doubt the house will sell for anything more than $150K, at best. Or maybe I'm wrong. But in any case, I was really praying that he'd never have to see that house sold, and all the contents of it -- a LIFETIME of stuff -- all 'disposed' of. Hell's bells, there's 15-20 years of his dad's dentist records and (his dad's) cancelled checks up in the attic from when his DAD lived there (and ran that house), and that all dates back to the 1940's and 1950's (my dad's dad died young in his mid-50's -- but his mother (my grandmother) lived to be 100). I guess I'm just processing everything myself, I'm sure you can tell. Lots, and lots, and lots to manage and deal with now, and next week, and next month, and 6 months from now, and I'll be lucky if half of it is done by the end of the calendar year. Individually all these changes, considered one by one, aren't insurmountable. But COLLECTIVELY, I'm feeling like the totally of it all -- which just happened in the last less-than-24-hours -- that's all just barely beginning to sink in. Gotta run, and call my Dad for a bit. I'm just rambling, I know. Working things out inside, I guess, and getting it out, or some of it at least.

Just had long conversations with his attending nurse, and his case-worker. Lots more info now. And talked to his attending doctor at the hospital too. I'll be home anyway in less than 2 weeks (trip already planned), but I may try to fly home earlier by several days or a whole week. My dad's going home tomorrow (all his tests came back decent, sort of inconclusive, but "OK" for his age), and a friend is going stay with him to make sure he's ok for the next week. Lot more than that, but I've gotta go run and meet my wife, and head home finally.

Thanks, both of you. Yeah, he was admitted just for observation for his overnight stay last night. No other choice really, I guess? I mean, he was admitted before I even knew he'd gone to the ER (or was 4 hours into the process of being admitted). I definitely need to try and get in touch with his doctors, and my father is totally OK with that I'm sure. But I'm having trouble even figuring out anyone to talk to. His daily phone-call-contact-person was just in his room when I called my dad 10 minutes ago, so if I can talk to her, then that's at least another set of eyes and ears in the room that I can enlist to help get a message to whomever is his attending nurse (I guess that's the term?), to get me and my wife in the loop. I think (90%) my father has our cell phone numbers in his wallet, but to be perfectly honest, I'm not 100% sure he does. If he doesn't, I'm not completely sure he remembers my phone number without looking at it on paper to dial -- so I'm not 100% sure the doctors have my contact info (other than he's surely listed me as next-of-kin). I also have no idea the names of the doctors treating him at the hospital, or how to contact them directly. Somewhere at home I might have his GP's contact info, but I'm not totally sure of that come to think, though anyway, there's no way to get ahold of them until Monday. Sucks being so far away, without enough of a game plan for this sort of thing, I'm (frankly) I guess a little ashamed to have to admit. About to call him back now. When I talked to him 10 min ago, some medical person came in to talk to him about something, and he said he had to go, and I said I'd call back in 10-15 minutes.

Where to begin. I'll be 50 in a few days, and my Dad turns 92 in May (he lives in St. Louis). He's always been mostly the picture of health, and he STILL lives in the very same house he grew up in (since he was 6 months old). He did go off to college, and worked in Kansas City briefly after college, and was in the army at the very end of WWII (never went overseas, he was just in basic training and stationed on the West Coast for 6 months). Then he moved back home after that brief 'internship' (practically what it was) after college. And bought the house from his own mother, in a deal that might as well have been worked out on the back of a napkin. Anyway, he's 91, and still drives, and has mostly been doing great all these years. Brief bout with prostate cancer 20+ years ago (which my Mom managed), and he had to have his appendix out 5 years ago. But otherwise, he's barely been in the hospital 10 days in his entire life probably. Then he started having some dizzy-spells now and then about 4 years ago, which is probably Ménière's disease, which has been mostly pretty manageable. But then in just the last 6-8 weeks, he's had three (3) other kinds of episodes, that he described to me as mini dizzy-spells (lasting 30 seconds, but he'd never loose consciousness). The most recent one was Wednesday night. He took a tumble at his Masonic lodge meeting, and picked himself back up again 10-20 seconds later. But he said it was like all his muscles suddenly stopped working. Yesterday I found out the same happened last Sunday at home too, in the kitchen, which he hadn't told me (or he told me in such a minimized way, that I didn't realize exactly what it was). Then another time about 5 weeks ago, he said he felt funny driving for a moment, but then he was fine a few moments later. He said he just coasted for a moment is all. I'm not sure what that was, but now (suddenly, in retrospect), I'm wondering if that was maybe the same thing too - ? [I'm wondering if these are mini-strokes maybe? - just the first thought that occurred to me last night.] Anyway, the local friend of his who checks in on him -- they trade phone calls every single morning -- yesterday morning she found out about the episode Wednesday night (2 nights before). And he shared with her that it was kinda like the prior Sunday (that event he never mentioned to me at all), and she said he really needed to go to the hospital and get this checked out ASAP. So he went to the ER yesterday morning, and was admitted overnight. They're doing all kinds of tests, MRI, CT-scan, EKG, and some other tests (he wasn't sure what those really were, but one involving drinking something with caffeine). ANYWAY, my wife and I live 1,000 miles away in Washington DC. And my Dad lives all alone, and has been perfectly self-sufficient all these years. But kind of semi-suddenly we're coming to the realization that we need to figure out how to better manage his healthcare from a distance. We do have a medical power of attorney set up (which was set up 30 years ago, back when my Mom was still around (she passed in 2003), and it was updated 15 years ago too. And he has a "living will" too. We've done all that stuff, eons ago in fact. But what we have practically ZERO experience with, is how in the heck to be more actively involved in his healthcare, and whatever systems could be put in place to get us more in the loop on things. He has his main general practitioner (GP), and a couple specialists he's been seeing now and then (as needed): primarily for the dizziness thing that started 4 years ago (but which had mostly gone away 2 years ago, and has only come back just recently, in the last 3-4 months I think?). And a skin-cancer specialist, who has managed various small cases of skin cancer my Dad's had for the last several years (all very manageable, all things considering). Anyway, we've (my wife and I) have not been directly involved in any of that, primarily because of the distance (1,000 miles). And there's never been a conduit set up for us to get his medical information from his doctors directly. I guess we've been derelict in not doing that before now, but with the HIPAA Privacy regulations, we've just never (yet) figured out how to breach that divide (between his doctors, and us). Also, I'm an only child, and there nobody else in the family really (other than some cousins of mine, who live thousands of miles away too). Now, suddenly, I think we're going to have to try and figure out how to find someone LOCAL -- more than just his Masonic buddies (we and he have no close relatives anywhere within 400 miles of where he lives). ...someone local who can help manage his healthcare (someone we'll have to hire, obviously), and then I presume they'll be more of that conduit between my Dad's doctors and us. Anyway, my Dad's extraordinarily good health all these years has really put us at a disadvantage in that we have ZERO practical experience trying to navigate all this, especially from 1,000+ miles away. When I lived in Kansas City (1994-2011), he was just a 4-5 hour drive away -- but even then, he's practically never had a (significant) sick day in his life. I might add, he's always been really private about his health, with the world (and with us too). I *literally* didn't find out that he'd been in the hospital and had his appendix removed 5 years ago, until about 2 weeks after it happened (when he finally told me, "oh, by the way...!" - by phone, after I'd moved to DC). [Side-story -- his Sister, my aunt -- who we were all very close with. *20 years after the fact*, we learned she had breast cancer back in the 1980's I guess(?), which they must have caught early, and treated 100%. We only saw them 1-2 times a year back then. And both my parents and I -- NONE of us ever knew she had breast cancer until 20 years later(!). And this was my father's closest blood relative. So being "private" about health/medical stuff is something that runs in the family, I guess you could say.] This is getting really long. I'm sure I'll have more to say as this thread unfolds. I guess "health care advocate" is what I'll be Googling this entire weekend, or if anyone else has any good search-keys (or other on-line resources) to suggest, I'm all ears. BTW, none of the tests have come back yet (from when he was admitted last night). Not idea if the results are good, bad, or conclusive (or more likely, inconclusive) yet -- all those test results just aren't in yet. Maybe later today, or tomorrow. All I'm getting now is what I'm hearing from my Dad on the phone when I call his hospital room, and I'm hoping to figure out if there's some way I can get his doctor to call me. I'm sure he listed me as next-of-kin, but is that enough to breach the HIPAA divide? I'm not really sure, to be honest. My dad's a very independent-minded person, and very reserved. And he's also probably too timid about asking good follow-up questions about his situation too. And he's definitely getting older. All stuff I'm grappling with at the moment. Thanks for listening.

And what also grinds my gears are the *coaches* who make 5x-8x as much as the presidents of the very same universities they work for. Hell's bells, college coaches (in certain elite sports, for certain elite teams) are often **THE** single highest paid person in the entire public-sector within a given state. My wife keeps reminding me that 90% of that salary doesn't come out of the public coffers, but rather from alumni donations to specific sports-program-funds; money that's all designated for sports-related funding (including coach salaries). But still, we pay these coaches almost half-an-order of magnitude more than every/any other public official in the entire state? Seems crazy to me, but it's all a big-money business, I realize.

Jeez, what a pain. Admittedly, I've only bought a couple dozen LP's through the mail in over 20 years. But I have bought 1,000+ CD's that way, easily. And in all my years, I think I've only ever had one order that was that badly mangled (from Dusty Groove, which I'm sure they had nothing to do with -- the box was really quite smashed up, with 4 of 7 total jewel boxes really half-pulverized). Sure, every 10th CD off eBay comes in a Jewel Box that's cracked, but how many of them were like that before they shipped? In any case, I read about badly damaged shipments with far, FAR greater frequency than I've ever experienced -- and it can't just be that I'm livin' right. Just bad luck, and I've had nearly all good luck?? I'd say that I can really feel your pain, and I have, but only every once in a blue moon (for the last 20-25 years).

If this gets a wider release, or eventually somehow comes to DC, I'll be very interested in seeing it too. Would appreciate if anyone sees any sort of on-line resource about where it might be seen / any sort of release schedule with locations, etc... Thanks!!