So what's new?

[AllenLowe]

I have returned, like MacArthur (the general, not the award); I am relatively happy but a bit sidetracked by PTSD. But I am, hopefully, done with surgery (25 to date).

Not a lot new to report. Still annoying people. Trying to finish a film (long story in and of itself). Just did a really nice recording session in which Leo Wadada Smith played four tunes. Will be part of the soundtrack to the film.

Health is ok though not terrific. Tried to find Larry Kart, though I suspect, based on his prognosis and the fact that his phone no longer works, that he is permanently hospitalized, which makes me very sad.

All I do is compose and practice. Beats working for ICE.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 15 by AllenLowe

[jazzbo]

Thanks for the update Allen. Glad you being active. Keep us posted.

[kh1958]

Glad to have your perspective back.

[felser]

Great to have you back, Allen!

[Niko]

Yes!

[Neal Pomea]

I just recently revisited Really the Blues and Turn Me Loose White Man! Learned a lot. Thanks for your work on that! A friend called me an expert on roots music and I was so embarrassed after having worked my way through those 2 collections! He has no idea.

[mikeweil]

On 3/15/2026 at 10:14 PM, Niko said:

Yes!

Indeed!

[Tom in RI]

Glad you are back Allen.

[clifford_thornton]

Good news, and glad to have you back. I owe you a call, just been swamped/under various rocks...

[Kevin Bresnahan]

On 3/15/2026 at 9:23 AM, AllenLowe said:

I have returned, like MacArthur (the general, not the award); I am relatively happy but a bit sidetracked by PTSD. But I am, hopefully, done with surgery (25 to date).

Not a lot new to report. Still annoying people. Trying to finish a film (long story in and of itself). Just did a really nice recording session in which Leo Wadada Smith played four tunes. Will be part of the soundtrack to the film.

Health is ok though not terrific. Tried to find Larry Kart, though I suspect, based on his prognosis and the fact that his phone no longer works, that he is permanently hospitalized, which makes me very sad.

All I do is compose and practice. Beats working for ICE.

I'm sad to read that Larry's phone has been disconnected. Being hospitalized or in a nursing home doesn't usually = no phone, so something bad might have happened.

[Brad]

That’s too bad about Larry. I imagine it’s a function of life advancing to its inexorable conclusion. 

[Dan Gould]

3 hours ago, Kevin Bresnahan said:

I'm sad to read that Larry's phone has been disconnected. Being hospitalized or in a nursing home doesn't usually = no phone, so something bad might have happened.

I would think Larry is important enough among journalists and writers that news like that would make it into social media. (Although it is true as you age that there are fewer people who know you IRL to pay tribute or make sure tribute is paid.)

[medjuck]

IIRC (and I often don't)  he posted here that his wife had had him involuntarily hospitalized. but that he's managed to escape? 

[Kevin Bresnahan]

3 hours ago, medjuck said:

IIRC (and I often don't)  he posted here that his wife had had him involuntarily hospitalized. but that he's managed to escape? 

Larry's last updates did say something along those lines but there were lawyers involved, so maybe his wife was able to move him back permanently. If he was diagnosed officially with dementia, it would be very difficult for him to take back any sort of "control" on his own. To be honest, I'm surprised his lawyer did it that last time.

I just don't get that they took away his phone. My mother was suffering from dementia near the end of her life but I was still able to call her every day on her phone and talk to her. If they had taken away her phone, I would have given her another one.

 

[mjazzg]

Whereas my mother's dementia meant that not only was she unable to use the phone for the last two years of her life but that she was also scared and intimidated by it. I therefore stopped trying to speak with her on the phone as it was far too upsetting for her.

I also worked with people with dementia who no longer had any concept of time of day. They would telephone people at any and all times be that 3.00pm or 3.00am. 

Everyone's experience of dementia is very individual. There are reasons why restricting access to a telephone is maybe not as cruel as it may sound without knowing the full context.

Edited yesterday at 12:20 PM by mjazzg

[Kevin Bresnahan]

All of that is true. We can only speculate what is going on in Larry's situation right now. My comment was based on Larry's last words here, which indicated that he & others felt that he was not that far gone to dementia.

I think it's safe to say that at this point, we'll likely never know one way or the other.

[AllenLowe]

last I spoke to him he was diagnosed with early-onset dementia. I had been talking to him for a while since his wife  stuck him in a facility without telling him what she was doing, and while he was still very cognizant. At that point he got a lawyer and was sent back home. He had started to fade, and when I did last call, a caregiver came on the phone and said he was doing ok. That's the last contact I had. I imagine he is in some kind of care facility and probably totally out of it by now. He does have a son but I cannot remember his first name, so I know of no way to reach him, sadly enough. 

Edited 11 hours ago by AllenLowe

[Kevin Bresnahan]

9 hours ago, AllenLowe said:

last I spoke to him he was diagnosed with early-onset dementia. I had been talking to him for a while since his wife  stuck him in a facility without telling him what she was doing, and while he was still very cognizant. At that point he got a lawyer and was sent back home. He had started to fade, and when I did last call, a caregiver came on the phone and said he was doing ok. That's the last contact I had. I imagine he is in some kind of care facility and probably totally out of it by now. He does have a son but I cannot remember his first name, so I know of no way to reach him, sadly enough. 

According to Facebook, his son's name is Jacob. Unfortunately, his son does not have a Facebook page himself. If his son Jacob is a musician, this is his bandcamp page: https://bandcamp.com/jacobkart

[Niko]

That should be him, if you search this board for "math rock", you find some instances of Larry discussing his son, apparently his former band as a guitar player was Crush Kill Destroy