music in the shed

I've always thought rap music is shit, but this bloke is different. I'm not even sure that this fits into the genre of rap, but I dunno what else to call it. Whatever it is, he's done something quite brilliant. It's 9 minutes long but worth staying to the end. You won't be bored, especially if you or someone you know is struggling with physical or mental health issues. Apologies if it's been posted here before.

 

" Stop wanking ... " ..........

Speaking of which , the NME reporter at the time reckoned there was a " lot of liquid " ... ( his words ) ..... flying around at David Bowies farewell Ziggy Stardust concert at the Hammersmith Odeon in 1973 .........

The implication ? ..... I`ll leave that for you , and your imagination , to decide upon ........... All I know is it`s best not to stand directly beneath the upper balcony when the gents is a good five minutes walk away and back .........

Anyway , that`s glam rock for you ........
 
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I'm not a regular poster in this thread because I'm less enthusiastic about music than most people. That's not to say I don't like music. It's just not something that's vitally important in my life.

But since discovering this young bloke, Ren Gill, on YouTube a few weeks ago, I've been blown away by his talent as a musician and his ability to assemble such eloquent lyrics that take the listener on an intensely emotional journey.

To better understand his lyrics, it helps to know something about his background. Some of his material is a bit unsettling because it comes from his experience of spending about a decade of his life seriously ill, both physically and mentally. He was bedridden and in severe pain for some of that time and he thought he was going to die. But all those years of suffering were simply down to being repeatedly mis-diagnosed, and could have been avoided with a correct diagnosis (of Lyme disease) in the first place. Lyme disease is unpleasant enough even with a timely diagnosis, but if left untreated for a decade as in his case, it can be appalling and cause severe life-threatening complications, brain damage and permanent disability. It would be completely understandable if he was bitter and twisted about the combined failures of a series of doctors to figure out what was wrong with him, but he doesn't seem to be.

He shines a light on health issues and failures within the health system. But he does it in a way that doesn't attack or condemn the health system itself or anyone in it. He lays himself bare as a damaged and vulnerable person who's still working through his problems. He allows people to understand how he felt while going through all that, and identify with his plight.

I think what he does is important, and it takes a bit of courage and unselfishness be that open about his own health issues. He gives a voice to people who may be in similar circumstances but are not be able to communicate those feelings themselves as effectively as he does. If that helps anyone deal with their own problems, then he's done a good thing.

Ren's words in this particular song (performed with young woman called Chinchilla) resonate with me because not long ago I spent a year suffering from an excruciatingly painful and chronic nerve condition called trigeminal neuralgia (TN). I was on a whole bunch of nerve block, anti-depressant and psychoactive drugs. The doctors kept throwing drugs at me to dull the pain and anxiety, but they turned me into a zombie. I couldn't function as a human being. Some of you might have noticed that I disappeared from the forum for a while. I eventually had brain surgery to rectify the condition, which was successful, although there's always a possibility of relapse. At least I'm pain-free and off all those bloody drugs now, but I suspect I have some level of PTSD because I don't feel as robust as I did before. The looming possibility that it could come back scares the shit out of me. Having to go through cancer treatment a few years earlier was way less traumatic. TN used to be called the suicide condition or suicide disease before effective treatment was available because the pain is so unbearable that nobody could live with it. If you google "suicide disease" it'll come up with TN. It's one of the most painful conditions known to medical science.

Sorry about the long rave. I got a bit carried away. Here's Ren and Chinchilla with Chalk Outlines.

 
The power of music: To carry you forward in difficult times and show that you are not alone, in what you feel.
Three songs which carried me through late adolescence to a far happier life.
 
Tom Jones, my Dad would watch the Tom Jones show on a black-and-white TV. After Tom had on his show and performed with Wilson Pickett, Ray Charles, Joe Cocker, CSNY, and Janis Joplin, the Janis performance is phenomenal. I thought Tom was cool; I thought my Dad was cool too.
I took my Mum to see Tom in Vegas, 2 rows from the front; thank god she didn't throw her knickers on stage; others did. Tom from the stage did ask my mum her name; I think she wet her knickers.
Anyway, here is a Tom vid; he's still cool
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