Hello Brian here and I am at the beginings of my new career, blogging. I am truly a Mid Fifties Rock ‘n Roller. My whole entire life was based around music ever since I was a child and earned enough money to purchase a portable FM radio. This unit was no larger than than my hand and I could tune in rock stations and listen to all the greats ( most of whom are deceased now). Which brings up the topic of health which is what most of this blogging is about. I chose health to blog about because of its importance to each and every one of us humans throughout our existence. So I have listened to rock ‘n roll all my life and have seen the general health of many rockers decline, whether they were musicians, technicians, engineers, fans, whatever your title would be in the world of rock. The departments in which I worked for 37 + years was lighting, rigging, electrical, trucking, etc…. There are so many titles that some days I may have worn up to 10 hats.
All of the jobs involved in rock shows are very entailed to the TEE! Some jobs are more tedious than others and others are more stressful. Being in this quick paced industry, one must learn how to handle pressure and stress big time or they will have failing health. One of the ways is to drink. Other ways are drugs. Being in the industry that is base on Sex, Drugs and Rock’n Roll most individuals have partaken in all 3 for extended periods throughout their lives and or are passed or still going till they drop. What does that actually mean ” to drop dead” ? I guess it is when your body physically cannot handle anything anymore! I was a lighting guy out on tour and I took part in all 3 of the activities: sex,drugs and rock’n roll everyday. The whole aspect in life was to catch a buzz and get laid, while listening to music. Now if I could earn a living incorporating SDRR, than I found the golden ticket. I abused myself to a certain point and had blast when I was out on rock tours, but I always tried to take care of my physical health at bare minimum. What about all those rockers who never paid attention to what their body needs. Where are they now?
Here I sit at 57 in pretty good health compared to many. I had some health issues come up when I was out on AC/DC tour that forced me to change some of my dietary needs. Making some of these changes that are necessary in order for the body to operate properly was a must. So, I started to stop the intake of certain foods that I felt might help me alleviate some of the unwanted bodily functions. Once I eliminated ‘MILK’, then I started to eliminate all dairy little by little. As soon as I stopped all the dairy the problems decreased. This was great and I continued on touring with other acts rocking and rolling along. Watching my health and mostly my intake I soon became animate about reading ingredients labels to make sure I was not taking in any dairy. I figured a good habit to get into would be doing what ever it takes to not intake any dairy, whatsoever! As I continued through life with out dairy, my problems almost disappeared 100{3813292df256cc7359db914c8bfffc508a0964aa786224d36d2cb21f4b33d600}.
After AC/DC tour I went directly out on tour with Metallica. WOW, the energy was so high the work was tremendous and the Partying was incredible! Now I started going full speed ahead with no stopping. Sex, Drugs and Rock’n Roll was in full bloom and at its peak for me. Now what do you do when you start disregarding your health (physical,mental and spiritual). Who cares when you believe you have everything and all is going so perfect. You are out on the road with the biggest Rock Band, chicks will do anything, drugs are available. Well, I worked my ass off and I partyed my ass off. I got paid well and I was young. I pushed things to the limit. Then after a very long bus ride and partying all nite and morning we checked into a hotel for the remainder of the day. Our show wasn’t until the next day so my buddy and I went out to go get something to eat and drink. We ran into some girls who gave us a ride a bit later back to the hotel where majority of the crew was drinking at the hotel bar. We hung out for a bit then decided we were off to Denny’s about 11 pm for a bite to eat before crashing for the night. The girls saw us heading out and were going to give us a ride to Denny’s. We crammed into her car and as she is pulling out from in front of the hotel, she punches the gas and tries to pull a U-Turn. Well it was sprinkling rain and the road was wet so the car fishtails into a parked car and a pick-up truck. Me being crammed up in the back seat on the passenger side with 3 people in the back of a 1979 Toyota Corolla took the brunt of the crash. We hit on my side causing me to get slammed. My head hit the coat hanging hook causing a V split in my skull. 12 stitches was the count also Herniated Disks in my neck. I was unconcious and came to in the hospital when they were putting me into a CAT Scan. The lead backline tech held my hand and had me sign out of the hospital and put me in my room at the hotel.
The next day I was a mess. I slept in and missed my bus call. The production went on without me and I had to get my mental health together quick because of the predicament that I got myself into. That takes quite a bit after a such an impact on your brain. It took me a bit of walking around in circles in the lobby after checking out to figure what I was going to do. Not only about the tour, which I might be getting released from, but about my life.
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