Why My Patients Are Like Herbie Hancock Albums

So I've been reading a lot of autobiographies lately. Well, reading and listening to them - audiobooks are one of my new favorite things. I especially love listening to autobiographies because they're usually read by the author him-/herself. Hearing them tell their own stories in their own words can be such a cool experience. The latest stories I've been told are those of the great jazz piano player and electronics explorer Herbie Hancock. Now entering his 7th decade of making music, Hancock's book could be used as a primer on music history, and he discusses his own unique experience with each new wave of musical change.
Herbie Hancock was a proliferative musician with over 40 albums of predominantly instrumental jazz. With his last three albums he decided to explore vocal jazz. I had originally glossed over these albums, not being big on vocal jazz when they came out. But hearing Herbie Hancock talking about the thoughts behind these albums, the stories behind their recording, and the incredible musicians and ideas that made them possible...I went back and listened to them. And I couldn't believe I had not skipped out on them before. There's so much great stuff on these records!

As I listened to Herbie reflect on his career, I couldn't help but be led to reflect on my own education and fledgling career. And how patients' stories, in their own words, are what will help me see their problems in new light.

My medical school class is officially post-Match Day (actually, it's taken me so long to write this post that we are closer to graduation day - 7 days!). We have found out what we are doing for the next several years of our lives. Whether we are going on to medical residency, or research positions, or other great ways to apply our medical knowledge, it's been a wild ride. Four or more years of slogging our way through lectures (both exciting and boring), histology slides, research labs and statistics, 8-hour-long exams, hospital wards, and surgical operating rooms. My first real post (after the introductory one) on this blog was inspired by that first week of medical school. Looking back on those posts, it's funny to note the evolution in my thinking - or at least, the inner conflict that happens now.

Medicine is constantly changing. I am only just beginning my career, but even in the last four years of my training, my class and I have seen the rise of widespread electronic medical records (EMR) and the sweeping changes of the Affordable Care Act (which, whether you like it or not, has made some significant and at times impressive changes). We've seen doctors finally get to the point where it has become necessary to push back against frivolous malpractice suits. And we've also finally seen those same doctors reach the point where they have to realize that they are human, and they make mistakes, an important realization in order to try and prevent the legitimate malpractice lawsuits.
And, arguably most poignantly, we've seen a new plateau in the evolution of the doctor-patient relationship. I see old doctors every day who came into medicine as the most respected men around, when what they said was the final word. They made the decisions for patients, and no one questioned them.

Now, these same doctors find themselves and their suggestions (no longer orders) to patients questioned, and sometimes ignored. They work with a constant underlying fear of being sued if the smallest thing goes wrong. And they are at the mercy of insurance companies and reimbursements. In order to make the money that used to come much easier to them, they have to see way more patients in a day. Where previously they never worried about billing and getting paid, now it's a constant subtext to every medical action and order. They have to document everything, and they have to do it in just the right way or risk losing money on the encounter. They have to deal with drug-seeking patients who will berate them while putting them at risk for malpractice suits. They have to try to reason with (for example) chronic diabetics who refuse to do anything to control their blood sugar and then cannot believe they have to get their foot amputated. And they have to try and help and educate patients who, through no fault of their own, have been suckered by sensationalists like Vani Hari (the Food Babe) and Dr. Oz who convince them to disregard science and medicine for unproven and, more often than not, false remedies.

All of this is part of the ongoing grudge match between the family doctors of old, who essentially became part of the family as confidante and friend, and the modern doctor (whether generalist or specialist) who has to perfect the art of the 15-minute visit in order to see as many patients as possible in order to get paid something that justifies the long hours he/she is putting in, while spending even more time inputting progress notes and orders and wrestling with EMR. It's a tough battle, and no one is happy about it. The patients don't feel that we spend enough time with them (which we probably don't), and the doctors start to see patients as their computerized charts, as their most acute problem rather than the real, whole person. 

In light of all of that, I am never surprised when a doctor gets jaded and starts to hate his/her job. I am saddened, but never surprised.

And that is where patient's stories come in. Dr. Arnold P. Gold (co-founder of the Gold Humanism Honor Society) and Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen (author of Kitchen Table Wisdom) are two of the world's biggest leaders in a renewed surge in restoring the humanistic element to medicine. As one of my favorite Buffalo doctors (and teachers) puts it, it's about "separating the iPatient from the real patient." It's the next round in the aforementioned grudge match. Just the other day I heard from an attending who had come from talking to a particularly nervous patient, and said, "It's not enough to hear what the patient's saying. You have to make the patient feel like - or realize that - they're being listened to." It's about forming partnerships with our patients. Not just dictating their care, but helping them take charge of their care, while guiding them in its management. We have always been taught to get the history from the patient about what their medical problems are, but there is a deeper meaning to be found in hearing what makes them tick, and what drives them, and what their goals are. And that deeper meaning helps us to form better partnerships with our patients.

Of course there are patients who are just non-compliant. There are patients who just don't care about their health. There are patients who just want the high of hospital-grade narcotics. And there are patients who take WebMD to heart and make their health worse just by worrying about it too much.

But I will always remember a patient suffering from new-onset congestive heart failure who was starting to get on the team's nerves because she was threatening to leave against medical advice before her symptoms were resolved and kept complaining that we were keeping her there (even as she could barely sleep without being in a seated position and felt short of breath with minor exertion). We were all getting annoyed that she could not see her own continuing symptoms, until our attending came to us one afternoon and explained that he had just come from talking to her. She was trying to leave because she was in a struggle with her medical insurance and wasn't sure if she could afford the hospital stay. She misunderstood her condition, thinking she could just go home to recover in a few days and it would be done. She did not understand why we were still diuresing her and waiting on an echocardiogram to assess her heart function. As he sat down and discussed the merits of the treatment, and the dangers of exacerbations that could bring her back to the hospital, and the social worker began to work with her insurance problem, she suddenly became that much more patient with us. And, more importantly, we suddenly became more patient with her. Now that we understood what she needed from us, and why she felt the way she did, we suddenly could not believe we had been so quick to write her off before. It was a learning experience for us, especially for me as a student. And it's one that I remember every time a patient disagrees with a treatment plan or wants to go home before we feel he/she is ready - it's not always that they are trying to be difficult. They often have their reasons, and I need to understand and appreciate that. I watch my residents now and I realize that many of them have learned this lesson already, and I again understand that this is part of modern medicine.

Another example that I have mentioned on this blog before - you'll notice that when I talked about the Food Babe and Dr. Oz, I didn't include Jenny McCarthy. As much as I hate the message that Jenny McCarthy puts out in the world regarding vaccines, I know her main drive for that is her children. She is, at the heart of it, a mom trying to find something to hold onto in the face of her child's struggle, and from what I have seen, there is very little that is more difficult than watching your child struggle. It does not make the message right (though there are those that disagree with me there), but it makes me less spiteful towards her and towards anyone who is anti-vaccination. Just like hearing Herbie Hancock's stories helped me go back and understand and appreciate his vocal jazz albums more, so it goes with "difficult" patients and their stories.

To go back to the book, while I could music-nerd out over Hancock's name-dropping and pioneering, what struck me most about the book is how well the title describes his personality: Possibilities. Hancock's attitude is about embracing new things, integrating new technology and musical ideas while trying to preserve history and learn from his successes as well as his failures, and those of others in the industry. That attitude is exactly what new doctors take into their medical careers. And now, as I stand with my classmates on the cusp of graduation, I can't wait to see the possibilities that unfold.

The Island's Got You Covered...(Or Insert Other Bad Cover Pun)

I don't remember if I came up with this on my own or if I heard it somewhere, but I firmly believe that "a good cover is one that makes you appreciate the original in a different way." My good friend Harsha and I have talked at length about the value of a good cover. They come in many forms - some stay true to the original, and some alter it almost to the point where it's a different song entirely. Of course the best way to judge a cover is "does it sound good?" But even that is difficult. We've all seen those YouTube comments that describe a cover as "better than the original!" Or on the flip side, "utter garbage." Because everyone wants something different when they hear a cover, depending on who is doing it and in what context.

This is probably going to end up a multi-part list, so I'll just start with five. I won't be talking about covers that many people know better than the original - so I won't mention "All Along The Watchtower" or "Higher Ground", and I'm gonna try to avoid the ones that are often mentioned in "Best Covers" lists (including one of my favorites, Johnny Cash's emotional man-at-the-end-of-his-life rendition of NIN's "Hurt"). I'm gonna try to talk about the ones that I find interesting, whether positively or negatively. I am also only going to talk about covers that are recorded on albums or as singles/B-sides, rather than some that bands exclusively perform live. Otherwise I could be here all day.

So here goes:

1. Katy Perry: "Use Your Love." We'll start with one that Harsha showed me. He and I have a love for The Outfield's "Your Love" that borders on ridiculous. The mighty one-hit wonder is an oft-quoted source of joy in our lives, and the 2013 SNL sketch revolving around it is amazing. Now, Katy Perry is an admitted guilty pleasure of mine, and I like a lot of her songs. Still, this cover took me a few listens before it grew on me. She alters the lyrics to be from a girl's perspective, matching The Outfield's moral ambiguity with her own (regarding cheating), and ups the tempo into a dance pop number (which, when Perry first heard the original in a club, was the vibe she got from the song, inspiring her to cover it). The result may not be quite as satisfying as the original, but it's still a lot of fun, and despite the hate that Katy Perry gets from most classic rock fans, is definitely worth a listen. Use Your Love Video

2. Toto, "Burn Down The Mission." Toto's 2005 covers album, Through The Looking Glass, was seen as somewhat of a letdown by critics who were hoping to see more of a reworking of the songs, rather than straightfoward renditions. But Toto's goal in making the album was just to have fun playing their favorites, and adding a little Toto flavor while they did it. Bobby Kimball, (now-former) lead singer, chose to pay tribute to Sir Elton John with this cover, and it's a great choice. All the power of Kimball's over-the-top vocals comes into play as he channels the desperate-turned-triumphant emotions of the song's protagonist, and this, combined with the rest of Toto's musical prowess, creates a whirlwind of a song that will definitely make you take anything the critics say with a grain of salt. Burn Down The Mission Video

3. Santana ft. Nas, "Back in Black." Believe me, I already know what you're thinking. "I'm sorry, what? Nas singing AC/DC?" 2010 saw Santana taking his trademark formula of teaming up with assorted lead singers on each album and applying it to classic rock covers, resulting in Guitar Heaven: The Greatest Guitar Classics of All Time. He brings in several modern names in rock and other genres to perform Santana-fied renditions of some of the best rock songs of decades past, and in teaming up with Nas...I'm not ashamed to say that I finally understand the words to this song after hearing Nas rap them. But more than that, the song is totally fitting for a rapper. It's all about how awesome the vocalist is, how he packs a punch and can't wait to show you how legendary he is. Whether it's Brian Johnson singing at the top of his lungs, or Nas bringing his cool swagger to it, the song becomes a serious headbanger in either version. Back in Black Video

4. Alex Clare, "When Doves Cry." Alex Clare is best known for the song "Too Close", made popular by those MSN commercials from a few years ago. His 2011 album The Lateness of the Hour attempts to fuse EDM soundscapes and pop songwriting. It doesn't always hit its mark, but one of the spots where it does is this cover. He takes Prince's synthpop seduction dance and turns it into an emotionally-charged dubstep-flavored ballad. Clare's story is an interesting one - according to legend, his first record deal fell through when he was unable to book dates on Saturdays because of his Orthodox Jewish practices. He later gained fame through the Microsoft commercials, while his vacant spot at the first record label was filled by a young woman named Adele. Funny how life works out. (The only available video is this one, where someone choreographed a hoop routine to the song: When Doves Cry Video)

5. Vanessa Carlton, "Paint It Black." I first heard this song at a dance concert, where someone choreographed an intense piece that was only enhanced by Carlton's raw vocals. The songstress behind every '90s-kid's favorite piano intro has a rock side, too, and in fact, it's later on that same album that brought us "A Thousand Miles" where she pays homage to the Rolling Stones. When the sitar drone brings you in, followed by the floor tom pedaling up to the first verse, you think, "okay, this could be good." Then the drums drop out and it's just Vanessa and the bass line spitting out the words through gritted teeth...and then that snare hit and Vanessa cuts loose with, "I see the girls walk by..." and once again, you can't help but headbang the whole way through. Paint It Black Video

I could go on and on about my favorite covers. But what are some of yours? Or do you disagree with my thoughts on these? Or are there better cover versions of these songs? Let me hear from you!

Musical Drumming vs. Accompaniment, or Why The Guitar Center Drum-Off Disappointed Me This Year

I've never really been considered "trendy." I eventually catch on to things, and I even embrace them, but I'm always a little late to the game. Which I'm okay with. I recently finally bought a black woolen peacoat, which has been a staple of men's fashion for years now. As you may have read a couple of posts ago, I recently learned what expressions like "put on blast" and "turn up" means (though I haven't started using them).
(Shameless self-plug: If you'd like to read my thoughts on some not-so-trendy but still recent music, click here.)
Trends are found in clothing, language, and virtually every aspect of modern life. Today I want to talk about a trend in music. Specifically, my aspect of music. Drumming. This line of thought was inspired by a recent Facebook post by a good friend and fellow drummer. Steve is a talented guy and I love watching him play. His performances with the UB Jazz Ensemble when we played there in undergrad were always a highlight of every concert, especially his solos. So when he posted about the Guitar Center Drum-Off competition, I took notice.
I am no great soloist. I perform drum solos with my band Mayday (as I did last weekend), but it's with the song Wipeout, usually near the end of the second set or beginning of the third. People are drunk and dancing and they want to keep doing that. So I play a dance-y solo, simplistic in nature, and featuring my favorite gimmick, leaving my drumset and drumming the whole way around whatever room I'm in. I should practice more and work my solo into a better drumming showcase, one that remains dance-y but shows off the intricacies of my playing and the capabilities of the instrument - because that could certainly be done. But I'm unable to make that time. Which I've grown to accept.

From my first years in high school jazz band, I've known that drum solos are often looked down upon by other musicians. I don't blame them. Most of the non-drummer musicians at my high school (including my band director) were used to high school level drummers who just wanted to play as fast and as loud as they could (which I still sometimes fight the urge to do). God knows Mr. L certainly dealt far more often with loud-and-fast drummers than with drummers who tried to be musical, even while showing off. So I never blamed them for thinking that way - I just used their aversion to spur my efforts to be better and convince them otherwise (an quest which has stalled in recent years due to things like medical school).

But there are people who work hard to make this an art. Steve has great musical playing. All of my favorite drummers take the time to make their drum solos (if they do those) sound musical as well as fun. And this is supposed to come to a head at the annual Guitar Center Drum-Off Competition. The trends of solo drumming present themselves boldly as the focus of the competition. The winner is crowned the best undiscovered drummer in the world. Here's this year's winner (the video's only 5 minutes):

Did you watch the whole thing? No? That's okay. It's a fun solo, but it's not my favorite. If you didn't watch it, it's pretty heavy on the Octapad. For non-drummers, that's the electronic console on the drummer's left, where he's concentrating 90% of his efforts. When I said heavy on the Octapad, I mean the amount of his solo that doesn't rely on electronics and a synthesized melody of some kind is about...30 seconds.

This is NOT a judgment on Shariq Tucker. Actually if you watch his solo from the 2013 competition, it's actually pretty awesome. It displays a lot of chops, even as it threads the fills together with musical drumming; it works in the Octapad purely as icing on the drumming cake. But that year, the winner was the talented D-Mile, who played way more Octapad than his competitors. It was still a decent drum solo, but relied much more heavily on the Octapad to constantly underlie the drumming. So this year, when Tucker came back to the competition, he knew what he had to do to win. Which is why the winning solo in the 2014 Drum-Off is almost completely carried by the Octapad - Tucker faces the Octapad almost more than he does the drumset.

Now, this isn't bad performance. In fact, it's impressive as far as the music and technique. It's a terrific display of balancing drumming and Octapad usage, complete with homage to Bell Biv Devoe's "Poison" as well as classic jazz. It's fun, and he displays a great deal of talent - it still takes major coordination to work in that melody as well as the drum beat. But if you take away the Octapad, the part on the actual drumkit is rather on the shallow side, seeming more like accompaniment than a solo. It's a far cry from the subtle but well-layered electronic additions he made the previous year (and, incidentally, if you watch last year's video...he's smiling a lot more back then).

YouTube comments should be no one's source of inspiration, but I misread one comment yesterday that gave me the notes on which to start this post. I won't tell you what it actually said, because it was just a sarcastic YouTube comment, but my misreading was, "Is drumming so boring that he needed [an Octapad] to keep people entertained?"

To which the answer is no. Or at least, it doesn't have to be. Drumming can absolutely be musical, even melodic. There are so many things a drummer can do to make a solo come alive, to get people dancing, or thinking, or rocking out. There have been Drum-Off competitions where that's been the case, but in my opinion, this solo is not representative of that.

Now I get that this is a big corporate-sponsored competition (subject to the same pressures as American Idol or any other musical competition), and so part of this is corporate politics. Roland (the company who makes Octapads) is a huge sponsor in this event and it's because of that that every Drum-Off set has an Octapad hook-up, and that it's become nearly a requirement to work it in (that's been happening since at least 2011, when JP Bouvet took the crown with a beautiful solo). But trigger pads have been an evolving trend since the 1980s when they first came out. From giant drum-shaped pads to little ones that fit in snugly in the spaces of a drumset, and every shape and form in between, trigger pads are awesome for working in those unconventional or cumbersome instrument (or non-instrument) sounds. But that has evolved naturally through the decades...it doesn't need to be shoehorned in by a corporate sponsor at a competition that is supposed to be about the art of drumming. About how this instrument can be just as musical as any horn or piano or strings.

And yet Roland's sponsorship (and the subsequent requirement of the Octapad in solos) kill that push to challenge the boundaries of the instrument itself, and instead relegate the actual drums almost to the role of accompaniment next to the electronics. There's nothing wrong with making music that way, and I would enjoy hearing some of that in a different performance or album context. But in a drum solo competition, it makes me feel like my instrument is not good enough on its own. Which I know is not true.

Maybe I'm just a dinosaur. But I feel that this competition should fuel a kind of creative excellence, not channel it and forcibly shape it. I know drum solos are capable of a great deal of musicality, without overusing electronics. This musicality can make drum solos accessible and enjoyable to drummers and non-drummers alike. Because in the end, that's what drumming is about - the enjoyment of the music. 

My Favorite Musical Finds of 2014

This post is quickly becoming less than timely. But I have two loves in my life - medicine and music. And this one's about music. 2014 spawned a lot of popular hits, many of which now grace my iPod. Ariana Grande maybe the first Top 40 artist in years who had an album that I listened to all the way through ("Problem" and "Love Me Harder" were in my head for weeks). My sister was, for a while, playing through an endless loop of Ed Sheeran's "Don't", Disclosure's "Latch" (or as I refer to it, the "Thah-Thah" song), and Hozier's "Take Me to Church." My fiancée will be incredibly pleased when the day comes that she can say the word "happy" and I don't immediately ask if she wants to CLAP ALOOONG IF [SHE] FEEEELLL[S] LIKE A ROOM WITHOUT A RO...sorry.

But there are a lot of great artists that won't be heard on the Top 40 stations, or if they are, not nearly as much as some of those artists. Some of these have been around for a long time, others are just coming into the light as artists. But here are my favorite musical discoveries of 2014, in no particular order:

1. Elizabeth Shepherd: The Signal. I tend to prefer instrumental jazz to vocal jazz, and it's rare that I buy the latter. However, sometime in October, Canada's Jazz.FM 91.1 newsletter highlighted Ms. Shepherd's new album and its unique sound. I went to iTunes and previewed 2 songs. I listened to about 10 seconds of each, and immediately bought the album. Fastest I've ever done so with a new (to me) artist. I know I said this list is not in any order, but this is definitely my favorite album of last year.
Shepherd stated in an interview once that she was reluctant to call this album "jazz" because jazz lyrics, at least classically, tend to take a backseat to the melody. Shepherd combines the freedom of jazz form and instrumentation with a deliberate and serious approach to lyrics, and the result is gorgeous. I could make a whole post about why I love this album, but suffice it to say I can't listen to it enough.

2. Richard Marx, Beautiful Goodbye. If you've read more than two or three of my entries here, you know I've been a lifelong fan of Richard Marx. With the exception of a Christmas album two years ago, it's been about six years since his last album of new material. When the first single for this album came out, it was clear that Marx was choosing to embrace the fact that he is loved by middle-aged women everywhere (the music video certainly plays to this strength). "Whatever We Started" depicts the feelings of two people who can't help but have an affair. That sets the tone for the rest of an album that oozes with sensuality, where Marx employs modern pop and EDM production to channel his cougar's-darling sex appeal. Except for final track "Moscow Calling" - I'm pretty sure that's just him having fun. While this kind of lyric material is not my usual cup of tea, Marx's voice and clever lyrics (ranging from subtle to not-at-all-subtle) continue to be great. And for one other highlight - in his recent trend of taking songs he wrote for other artists and re-introducing them in his own voice, he brings back a re-recording of "Suddenly", originally recorded by Toni Braxton. If you're looking for a good adult contemporary/soft rock album, look no further.

3. Meg Myers, Make A Shadow. My former roommate Eric and I share a fondness for great music (and a fondness for ranting against the music we don't find great). We occasionally disagree on what's great, but for the most part we tend to enjoy the same stuff. So when he told me to go and listen to this girl Meg Myers right away, I figured it would have to be pretty good. 19 seconds into the album, when the harsh guitar chords of "Desire" kicked in, I was immediately hooked. I have since described my reaction to that song as "I don't know if I'm turned on or terrified." This is Myers' second EP, and she ranges from Florence + The Machine-style art-pop choruses to femme fatale seduction to raw powerful screaming vocals that sends chills down your spine. Alternative rock has a new siren, and she packs a punch. Also, her Instagram is pretty funny.

4. Snarky Puppy, We Like It Here. Snarky. Freaking. Puppy. My old friend and fellow drummer Ryan sent me a video via Twitter, and the minute I heard "What About Me" - my jaw hit the floor. Described by my friend Mick as "Red Hot Chili Peppers meets Blood Sweat & Tears," this jazz collective is exceptional at marrying prog rock, fusion, jazz, and insanity all in a beautiful onslaught of sound and fury. The recording session, filmed and recorded live over 4 nights in the Netherlands, is as much a visual experience (the entirety is on YouTube) as it is aural - you gotta see the joy and the intensity these players display, and how much fun they're having. Drummers especially should watch as well as listen as Larnell Lewis (subbing in for usual drummer Sput Searight) melts everyone's faces off.

5. Lindsey Stirling, Shatter Me. Ms. Stirling's story is fairly well known now - auditioned for America's Got Talent, the judges told her a dancing violinist wasn't enough to fill stadiums, she took to YouTube posting violin/orchestral/dubstep covers and originals and became a sensation. Her first album was in heavy rotation on my Pandora study playlists, and I wondered if she would actually be able to do better with her sophomore effort. Well, she did and then some. She takes the EDM+violin concept and expands it, incorporating more diverse themes and motifs in her playing (channeling Westerns in "Roundtable Revival" and dripping with '90s-style hip-hop in "Swag"). She also makes it a much more personal album with the title track, in which guest vocalist Lzzy Hale* belts out Stirling-penned lyrics inspired by her history of dealing with an eating disorder. Stirling also enjoys transforming her songs into visual experiences, and her music videos continue to be awesome.
*Also, check out Lzzy Hale's guest appearance with Eric Church where she basically sings him off the stage during "That's Damn Rock n' Roll."

6. Eric Clapton, The Breeze (An Appreciation of JJ Cale). The world lost a great blues songwriter in 2013 when JJ Cale passed away. He wrote so many great songs, though most of the world (including me) knows his work due to other artists' covers of his tunes. The great Eric Clapton hit "Cocaine"? That's JJ Cale right there. Clapton and Cale were long-time collaborators, and so to commemorate his beloved friend, Clapton teamed up with John Mayer, Tom Petty, Doyle Bramhall II, and a host of other great blues/rock players to pay tribute. I admit I'm not familiar with a lot of Cale's work (beside what Clapton's done), but the songs on this album make me want to listen to more of it. There's more old school blues rock songwriting and sentiment here than you can shake a stick at, coupled with some terrific guitar work by Clapton, et al., yet it's accessible enough for today's listeners.
Also, if you want to hear some of Cale's collaborative work with Clapton, I highly recommend their duo album, The Road to Escondido, from 2006. One of my favorite albums for years.

In addition to these, you probably heard about a couple of my other favorite albums from last year, these two actually on the charts - Beck's Morning Phase (listen to it, and ignore the awards show "controversy" there - just enjoy the album), and the Foo Fighters' Sonic Highways (and its companion HBO documentary series by Dave Grohl). Both very much worth a listen.

There's already a lot of great music to look forward to in 2015. Florence + The Machine, Toto, jazz drumming legend Steve Gadd, and many others are already in the pre-order stage of their album releases, and there are many more to come. Here's to another year of great musical finds!

But Seriously Though, How Great Was Saved By The Bell?

So if you've been on social media at all for the last week or so, you've probably seen this clip. And, of course, if you watched TV in the early 1990s (or reruns at 7 AM in the early 2000s), it was a nostalgic sucker punch. If there's one thing anyone over the age of 20 likes, it's a reunion of the characters of their favorite shows or movies or anything. And Saved By The Bell was definitely one of our favorites.
Before I go on, here's the clip. If you haven't watched it already, there will be spoilers below:

This clip is great. They got the makeup and outfits right, the musical vibe was there. On a related note, as my good friend and band mate Loren pointed out, apparently rolling up one's sleeves (in a non-proverbial sense) went out of style a long time ago and no one told us. It's okay, though - we're bringing it back. 

As usual, I digress. The inside jokes (for lack of a better phrase) in this clip are my favorite part. References to Tiffani Thiessen (who is still just as gorgeous today, even pregnant) and her post-SBTB run on "Beverly Hills, 90210," flashbacks to Mario Lopez's spandex-clad dance ability, and Elizabeth Berkley's brief stint as a fictional stripper in Showgirls. There was also a reference to Jessie Spano's most iconic moment in the show. She's made a couple of flashback references to the SBTB ladies' rendition of the Pointer Sisters' classic hit, "I'm So Excited." Her run on Dancing With the Stars (which I don't watch, but again, social media brought it to my attention) was remarkable for a flippant nod to that moment leading into one of her dances with her partner, Valentin Chmerkovskiy. Everyone laughs at the reference, as they should, the same way they did when she did it in the Jimmy Fallon sketch. I laughed at it, too, but it was uneasy laughter.

Saved By The Bell, like most high school-set sitcoms, was known for its occasional "special episodes" where a more serious issue would be raised in the course of the show. One of those is the episode where Jessie gets addicted to caffeine pills while trying to balance forming a musical girl group with Kelly and Lisa (whose lead single is a cover of The Pointer Sisters song) and maintaining her grades to get into Stanford University, which culminates in her realizing her addiction ("I'm so excited! I'm so excited! I'm so...scared!") and collapsing in Zack Morris's arms.

15 years down the road, I fully acknowledge that this is a pretty laughable portrayal, but for me, as a fairly naive 11-year-old kid watching Saved By The Bell reruns, Jessie's breakdown was kind of a scary moment in the show. Everyone at that age knows not to do drugs, but that was the first time I'd been shown the emotional toll of drug addiction (you know, in a still-innocent high school way). At age 11, I had known for 6 years already that I wanted to be a doctor (yeah, I was that kid), and so I viewed this with the same desire to help that I intended to apply to all of my future patients.

I've seen other fictional characters get into much worse situations because of their addictions, ranging from Mason in Dead Like Me feeling sick when a bag of cocaine bursts in his rectum, to Dr. House's visual hallucinations and complete lack of control when the Vicodin becomes too much, to every character in Requiem for a Dream when they succumb to the effects of their drugs of choice.

I have met real people (mostly patients) addicted to drugs (far worse than mere caffeine pills) and I know people who use caffeine pills and other supplements on a regular but non-addicted basis. Heck, I get headaches when I don't drink at least one cup of coffee per day. But I still remember how I felt when I saw Jessie crying, because I was picturing how Zack must have felt when he encountered her. I didn't have the benefit of knowledge and experience to help me deflect the emotions there. And it still gives me a funny feeling in the pit of my stomach.

I'm not saying it's wrong to laugh at these humorous references - like I said, I laughed myself. I'm sure Elizabeth Berkley shakes her head at herself when she thinks about it. But there's that moment of hesitation there when I remember that poignant moment, that's stuck with me through the years.
And then I wonder if I'm taking myself and a 1990s sitcom too seriously. In fact, I'm certain I am. Even back then, the very next scene is of Kelly and Lisa performing a live version of the song, with Screech hilariously filling in for Jessie (Season 3 episode 9 if you want to watch it on Netflix). And all is well again.

But I think of it this way: While I am busy memorizing all of the signs of addiction to various drugs, as well as their withdrawal symptoms, it's easy to forget that there are real patients behind those test questions. And until I get into the real world of treating patients as a doctor (which will hopefully be pretty soon, as I graduate in May), I can always use a reminder of that human component. In this case, that's where Jessie Spano comes in. So I will always be thankful to SBTB for that.

And, on a less serious note, for moments like this. Very few shows can pull off a rapping portrayal of Snow White.

Things I Just Don't Get, or #OldManRant

Happy New Year! Now, on to the blog post:
There are a few things in this world that I don't understand. Actually, there are a lot of things. But a few of those things are funny. I understand some of these things on an intellectual level...kind of. But every time I encounter these situations, I'm left scratching my head. Allow me to point out that I do not judge anyone that does these things...I just don't fully get them. And I'm about to make fun of them a little bit. People who display these have acknowledged that they are funny, so hopefully they won't mind.

1. The horrified reactions to words like "moist." I have a few friends that have this particular hang-up. It's not just moist. There's a whole bunch of these words that, when spoken, people lose their minds. Other words include, "pustule" (understandable, that's a pretty gross thing objectively), "squirt" "phlegm." I have one friend who can't stand the word "slough." And of course, one of the organs that my intended field of medicine, gynecology, focuses on...has a name that cannot be mentioned in front of many people without evoking an appalled reaction and dry-heaving. And no, I'm not talking about ovaries.

2. Unofficially assigned seats. I mean, when I repeatedly attend a lecture hall, I tend to drift toward the same seating area. It's comfortable, you get used to viewing the lecturer and the screen from the same angle day after day and/or week after week. But there are definitely people who will stare daggers at you and ponder your death if you sit in their seat of choice. And they know it's a little unreasonable, but that doesn't stop them from wondering if their hands would fit around your neck.

3. (Relation)shipping. This goes all the way back to shows like Moonlighting...maybe even older shows, but I haven't done enough research to fully support that claim. There's probably a Buzzfeed article about this somewhere. Anyway, apparently people couldn't wait until Bruce and Cybill got together in that show - but that made sense because they had great chemistry and sexual tension. Castle and Beckett managed to play it out for a long time before finally giving the fans what they wanted. But some people think Sheldon and Penny from The Big Bang Theory would be good together. And that Jack Donaghy should get with Liz Lemon. Really? That makes sense to people?
And there's one comedian who talks about reading fanfiction about Bellatrix and Hermione. Now, I know why she looked that up (and it's not exactly a family-friendly reason), but that one's just funny.

4. Turning down and/or up. Lil' Jon's "Turn Down For What?" kind of made sense to me. At least it did when I saw the hilarious and magical cinematic masterpiece that is the music video. So it made sense that to "turn up" would be the opposite. But then people started talking about how we have to "turn up at this place" and "soft turn up for this thing!" It's like when you hear a word too much and it starts to sound like it's not real anymore. Does it mean "turn up" as in randomly show up? Or turn up the volume? Or are you just being an underground root vegetable?
And then I got nervous about turn down. Is it another word for what you do with blood in a centrifuge? Or turning down the volume? Or is it what you do with bedsheets before you go to sleep?

And how is one "turnt"?

5. Bae. The acronym for "Before Anyone Else" and its...you know what? This one I might be judging a little bit. Yeah, I'm just gonna put it down and walk away.

What are your thoughts on these things? What are some funny things that you just don't get? And seriously, can someone explain the word "turnt"?

Some Writing About Reading

I don't read as well anymore.

Not in a "I can't see the pages anymore" kind of way, nor am I just gradually becoming illiterate. And I wish I had some great profound point (you know, something I think sounds profound, even if no one else does), or a humorous touchstone to this post (you know, something I find humorous, even if no one else does). But I just felt like writing, and my latest foray as a TV binge consumer, 30 Rock, only requires half my brain's attention span (though it is a much more brilliantly written show than I had originally given it credit for).

I just finished a book today. It's the first one I've read in a while...at least, the first one that wasn't going to be on a big exam involving medical treatment and diagnosis. And it was the first one I actually read in a while...as in, I didn't listen to it being read to me via headphones or my car speakers. Though I should point out that audiobooks have been a godsend in my life these days. My most recent long car trip, a 4-hour drive to Pittsburgh to see old friends, was made much quicker by C. S. Lewis' "The Screwtape Letters" read to me by writer, actor, and tall person John Cleese. Highly recommended, both the book and the audio recording.

Anyway, after I took Step 2 of my board exams, I immediately went to Netflix and started through my queue of movies. After Thanksgiving, I began the final season of The West Wing, which I had been putting off for close to a year while I kept up with the non-stop pace of the third year (and the beginning of the fourth) of medical school. Upon finishing that, I went the next day to the library and checked out two books. I could have waited and done one at a time - it's not like there are that many people in Amherst, NY waiting for the memoir of Steely Dan's Donald Fagen and Sheila E's autobiography. But I figured, I used to borrow multiple books at a time, and I would finish them long before they were due back.

I can remember buying the Harry Potter books the day they came out (after pre-ordering it - by phoning the bookstore - and waiting in line at Waldenbooks, obviously). I read all of them within 24-48 hours of their release (except the 7th one, where I had to wait close to a week because my sister Jocelin somehow hijacked it before I could start reading it...I have no idea how that happened, but I remember it seeming to matter way more than it actually did).

So I was counting on that kind of reading speed now that I could fully devote my time to leisure reading, and losing myself in the pages of these books. Maybe it was because I was reading a more scattered memoir, with a tone more wry than out-and-out funny...but it was a struggle.

It's ridiculous. Multiple times within chapters (sometimes every few pages) I would find myself checking my phone and its connection to the rest of the world - to see if I had gotten a text, to check Facebook, to look up something in the book that would eventually lead to some other random Internet search, things I tried not to let myself do while studying. And I can't seem to stop going to the kitchen for a drink or a snack, either. But I still liked the book, and wanted to keep reading it.

These kinds of things happen to me during movies and TV shows, too, but not to the same extent. The visual stimulus holds my attention a lot better (as long as it's good), I guess. Mr. Fagen, the self-described puny malcontent musician whose memoir I finished today, probably would have been disgusted with me for the amount of times I put down his book for silly reasons.
The only reason Mr. Cleese had a captive audience is because I couldn't leave the car to get a snack (and I recently dropped the texting-while-driving habit...that one's still tough to maintain).

I'm not making some sweeping declaration about technology and social networking in my life...that's a slow undertaking. Nor am I trying to philosophize or wax poetic about it. It's just a mental resolution: just like I had to do with my study reading, I'm trying to get better at shutting down distractions faster. I have some rare free time for now, though I'll have to go back to medical studying soon enough. I have a long list of books I want to read in this time, and I look forward to losing myself in them. I just have to let myself get lost.