Kevin Bresnahan

Did the doctors do an X-Ray or even better, an MRI? If not, then they are simply moving you on and not diagnosing your problem. The co-worker I mentioned had had back problems prior and they usually resolved with some prescription anti-inflammatory meds and thought this was the same. Example 2 on why you should be careful... Now this is not what I am saying you are seeing, but my wife had a serious neck issue 15 years back. It was severe. We ended up in the ER one Sunday night. They took an X-ray and sent her home with a heavy dose of Naproxin. A few days later, we went to our ortho doc to get her checked out. He took blood and agreed with the course of treatment i.e. muscle relaxers. A day later, she woke me at 4 AM saying she needed to go to the emergency room again. They wanted to send her home. I told them she needed an MRI of her neck. They said that they couldn't do that in the ER,only if she was admitted. I said, "Admit her". They said nope. They took her for more X-Rays, including one of her lungs (she was coughing a lot). They came in and said, "We have to admit her, she has a slight case of pneumonia". I said, "Great, now order an MRI of her neck". They said only the doctor on her case could do that. The next morning when I came in (at around 4 AM), they were all bustling around her, prepping her for an ambulance ride to Boston for immediate surgery. The doctor came up to me and had the nerve to say, "It's a good thing we did an MRI. She has an abscess". Two major surgeries later, my wife's still here. It was touch and go for a bit, but because we advocated hard for her treatment, she's still here. You are your own best health advocate. Don't let them use the insurance BS to cut costs of your care. At this point, my wife has probably had about 20 MRIs. If the first or even second doc had done one, all of the rest might've been avoided and my wife would still be able to see her knees. BTW - the infectious disease doc thinks it was all due to an abscess tooth my wife had a few months earlier. Life is tricky.

Muscle relaxers don't typically work for facet joint/nerve pinches. Be very careful here. I had a coworker who woke up like you and he pushed through for a day. The next day, he had to call an ambulance and be rushed to the hospital for immediate back surgery. He had ruptured a disc and came close to doing some permanent damage doing it the way he did.

Another thing - the flu hits so much harder the older you get. I've been very sick for almost 5 days now. I used to be one of those people who got really sick for one day and then I was back at it. Used to drive my wife crazy that I got over colds/flu so quickly. Of course, maybe I should give the current strain of Influenza A some credit here?

I assume you re-did the woofer foam surrounds? Even if they look good, if they are original they are likely not working as they should. I once had a friend say that his woofer surrounds were fine but when he lightly touched one, it crumbled before his eyes. After re-foaming, they sounded great.

Three more bari sax LPs that never made it to CD for the "needle drop" pile: Nick Brignola's "New York Bound" (Interplay), "Northern Lights (Discovery) & "Signals... In From Somewhere" (Discovery). Cheesy covers for sure...

Did it ever get mastered but just didn't make release on CD? I'd go for a download at this point.

Oh man... he was such a big part of Kenny Barron's trio. Great bassist. RIP Kiyoshi.

I'm in the process of "needle dropping" several LPs that have never made it to CD or download. I started with Joanne Brackeen's two Tappen Zee LPs, "Keyed In" & "Ancient Dynasty". Next up will be a couple of Lew Tabackin LPs, "Tabackin" (Inner City) - also called "Let The Tape Roll" & "Tenor Gladness" (Inner City), which has been released on CD in Japan but I never got around to ordering. After that, I'm planning Cecil Payne's "Bright Moments" & "Brookfield Adante", both on the Spotlite label. I'm a sucker for baritone sax dates. I'll probably also do Don Joseph's "One Of A Kind" (Uptown) as I've kinda given up on the expanded digital release that @Chuck Nessa hinted at a few years ago. I used to needle drop LPs a lot years ago but got tired of the process after stupidly agreeing to make about 75 of them for a fellow in Florida in exchange for being able to keep the LPs afterward. I have all of Kamuca's Concord LPs as needle drops. I listen to them often.

I think T.D. is right in that Watanabe got rolled up into the "smooth jazz" side of things and he rode that for quite a while. He's like the Japanese David Sanborn.

The tune I really liked was "For RJ", where Reeves plays the cello instead of a bass. It gives the music a lighter feel.

Nat Reeves - Now In Time (The Side Door). Excellent new CD release issued to celebrate Reeves' 70th birthday. Killer band: Eddie Henderson (tp), Eric Alexander (ts), Steve Davis (tb), Orrin Evans (p), Reeves plucking those bass strings & Jeff "Tain" Watts (d). Nat is 70. Wow. It blows my mind that he's 70. I guess when you get to my age and realize that guys you've been watching up on stage for the last 35+ years were a bit older than you, it shouldn't surprise you that they're getting up there too.

I used to play this CD quite often back in the day... time to pull it out again.

A lot of great pictures are showing up on Facebook. I liked this one: He was good friends with John Fedcock. John posted this tribute on Facebook: The world lost someone special today. There are few people who touch your life in a way that makes an indelible mark, and Paul McKee was one of those people. He was one of my oldest and dearest friends. I first met him in 1984. An opening came up on Woody Herman’s band, and I was given the task of hiring the new trombonist. In reviewing all the audition tapes, Paul was the clear winner, without question. His soloing was so mature for someone in their 20s, and the charts he shared on the tape were professional level. I still have that tape! After only a day or two on the band, we just clicked and have been close ever since. We shared so much in our likes, dislikes, musical heroes, best-liked movies, favorite comedians, the way we thought about music, etc, it was like I had known him my whole life. We both left Woody’s band on the same day in the summer of 1987, and although going our separate ways to different parts of the country, we stayed in close touch and continued to work together. On the road, we developed a special musical connection, first born from us playing unaccompanied choruses together, inspired by our mutual love for bootleg recordings of Carl Fontana and Frank Rosolino doing the same. That developed into a special kind of telepathy when playing in small groups over subsequent years, to the point of us many times falling into the exact same line for a quick few beats amidst an involved counterpoint. That never failed to crack us up. My experiences playing with Paul were some of the most important moments in my musical life. But he was not only a master musician. Paul was also just a fantastic guy. Someone that everyone loved. A great hang. An amazing wit. A BBQ & grill master. To be able to call him a true friend is a privilege I will never take for granted. My heartfelt love, thoughts and unending support are with Angie, Sam and Julia in this immensely difficult time. I feel honored to have been with Paul during his last days on this earth. I will miss him for the rest of my life. But I’m also so glad to carry with me all of the special memories from everything we shared. Rest easy, my friend. You will be in our thoughts forever.

I didn't know he was sick. I've seen several Facebook posts from his numerous students. He was a well-respected teacher, with stints at University of Colorado, DePaul University, Youngstown State University, Northern Illinois University, the University of Missouri at Kansas City and Florida State University.