Chris And The Lost And Found Melodie, 2 Week Angst Festival, Christmas Simply, And Moussa And Sonny And The Toilet Seat That Gave Way To Too Many Bums

Thanksgiving night after we returned from our wonderful meal at Le Petit Tour, there was an email from my old friend Chris Madison that his daughter Melodie had gone missing in Paris and that he wanted me to call him in Denver where he was on leave from the State Department visiting his parents. After speaking with him we found out he was arriving in Paris early Saturday morning and of course we volunteered to host him here for however long it took to find his daughter and provide him with a modicum of serenity in an otherwise pretty insane environment. Chris and his now ex-wife Christine who I traveled down south here with last Summer have an amazing talented daughter who has musical talent bordering on prodigy levels and who is currently 16 which is a tough age for anyone. Melodie's mother Christine is an independent journalist who's beat is usually Western Africa most specifically Senegal, and due to that, has to be gone a lot to pursue her stories which of course leaves Melodie here with either part time nannies or friends looking out for her. In hindsight, perhaps other decisions probably should have been discussed and considered regarding Melodie's needs. Suffice to say, after Chris arrived Saturday morning he showered here, grabbed my cell phone and headed over to Christine's apartment in the 17th and as he was walking into the building, Melodie was walking out so she was found almost immediately much to everyone's relief and joy. Much as transpired for all since that day but that story is not one for me to tell in these pages. Melodie is going to be fine.

Chris stayed with us for a little over 2 angst filled weeks for just about everyone and during that time he and I renewed an old friendship that dates back to 1976 when Chris and I and our friend Mark Patrick used to play in the Metro here in Paris while Chris and Christine were both here in college. Chris was a huge influence of mine as a guitarist and also with his taste in music that I adopted very quickly and I learned many many important things from him not only as a musician but also in his kindness to me and openness and generosity. We hadn't seen each other since 1977 and Cassie got to witness and participate in our musical reunion. We all also got to witness Chris and Melodie play music together and jam with our other musical friends here who all closed ranks behind Melodie chatting her up and making her feel like she belonged with them which was a very special moment for us all...... Chris's smile watching his daughter play with professional musicians and hang in with them was worth the price of admission any day. It was great hosting Chris in our home. His next posting with the State Department will be in Khartoum, Sudan. Chris is a "military attache'" who's somewhat in the terrorism interdiction biz. To say I'll worry about him there is an understatement.

After Chris's departure we prepared for a quiet Christmas and New Year which has been accomplished even thought we had invitations to spend time with other friends some of which would have been in the Black Forest. Cassie needed the down time and we were all very happy to oblige. It's been a crazy year and nobody here knows what the New Year will bring. Many many things are up in the air and major decisions that should have been made by others have gone to the place where all of their kindred always reside which is nowhere doing nothing. Perhaps these things will change soon but we're still in Paris so what's not to like?

Lastly no blog entry would be complete without a French home improvement quandary. Over the last 6 or so months I've been endeavoring to keep the toilet seat in our main bathroom together but earlier last week it finally gave up and came apart. 6 months ago I tried to get it off with the rudimentary tools I had here but I was unable to get it off as the bolts that held it on had no edges to grab plus everything was rusted together. I called one person named "Moussa" out of an English language periodical here who'd advertised as a handy man and he came by, took a look, told me he'd come back the next day and then disappeared. Yesterday, we called another person recommended to us by an American electrician we met here last summer who's an Irishman named "Sonny" who speaks with a "brogue" a mile long. Sonny came and had to use a hack saw to cut the bolts off the old toilet seat after which he proclaimed, "must have one too many bums on that one".........Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. I'd purchased a plastic toilet seat set for an absurdly expensive price in the neighborhood here last Summer that he installed for us while regaling me with stories of how he'd been taught to make "petrol bombs" to hurl at the British Troops in Belfast when he was little.........* Wow...... but all that being said he was a great guy...... Still amazing the folks we meet here and brought to mind my favorite running buddy here Johann Sebastian Bach and his dog Sture............

Life is good here in Paris and we're all ok..........it's been a momentous and tumultuous year but a great one none the less.

Love to all everywhere!

Sid

Cruella De Ville At The Casino And Thanksgiving Dinner At La Petit Tour With Sebastian, Anna, And Sture

If you've kept up with this blog you would have read that sometime last year early on I saw a woman who obviously lives in our neighborhood who looks and dresses like Cruella De Ville but doesn't seem to have any dogs nor one of those old cars. None the less, seeing her was quite treat and while grocery shopping yesterday at my local super marche (AKA Casino) she ended up in the same check out line I was in. I never thought I'd check out in the same que as Cruella but there it is here in Paris.

The beginnings of any and all holiday seasons are usually quite frenetic and this year's is no exception to that. Add a 6 day excursion into the Black Forest with a bunch of highly organized French and German folks and it should be an interesting beginning of 2012 for us all.

In the interest of not trying to do too many things all at once this year our normal Thanksgiving gathering was cancelled and our friend Gary from what is becoming our favorite French restaurant in our neighborhood, La Petit Tour, is going to cook for us all tonight including our new friends Sebastian Bach and his girlfriend Anna and their dog Sture. We're looking very forward to dinner there tonight. I'll make sure to take photos and will do another entry tomorrow with a link so you can see them.

Much more news will be forthcoming in this blog in the very near future but this is about all for today.

We wish all of you the absolute best this holiday season.

Try not to eat too much!

Love to all!

Sid

My Friend Mike Who Didn't Need To Die

Last week an old friend of mine died in Rapid City, South Dakota. That's him at the far left in the photo back in what looks like the 70s. His name was Mike Stevens and when I was very young growing up in a small South Dakota town, Mike was kind to me and my friend even when others there shunned me. The story behind my travails there at that time are not worthy of mention here but suffice to say that Mike's friendship and kindness along with his entire family saved me often in what were sometimes desperate times there for me.

I didn't keep up with him unfortunately as our paths lead us both away from the little town, me to Atlanta, GA, and then eventually the Army and him to the western part of South Dakota.

At one time during the 60s my father was Mike's family doctor from what I remember and in South Dakota, times have always been hardscrabble for almost everyone who's ever lived there. Mike's dad was a farmer and they were a large family. My father was one of 2 doctors in that little town and there was also a small hospital. I don't have any memory of ever hearing that anyone was ever denied care there. Back then, it just wasn't something any doctor would even consider. The reason I'm mentioning all of this is that back then, there wasn't much in the way of health insurance nor were there megalithic heath care corporations that owned all of the hospitals or that had huge lobbies in congress. In the town I grew up in while living in South Dakota in the early 60s, nobody was ever turned away or refused care when they needed it and if they couldn't pay the full bill, they paid what they could and continued their lives. Some of my dad's patients paid in barter. Folks there thought we were rich but we were far from it as my father was a healer.....not a businessman. It's amazing how far the lords of greed and avarice have come to control who lives and dies these days in the US and what a different time it was back when we were all young.

My old friend Mike died of complications secondary to undiagnosed hepatitis. For those of you who aren't in the medical field, hepatitis is treatable and if not curable doesn't usually result in death if caught early like say during a yearly physical. I found out that Mike had no health insurance and like millions of other Americans, was probably reticent to go to a doctor or emergency room, or other clinic without insurance, because the fee for uninsured people is either triple or quadruple what it is for people who do have insurance. For someone without health insurance, any illness can eventually spell economic disaster for them and their entire family resulting in a loss of just about everything. It's a terrifying choice to have to "roll the dice" every year and hope that you don't get sick. In some ways, that takes everyone without health insurance back to the 1800s when the flu could actually kill you.....*

In today's economy there are more people in the United States who are without health insurance than ever before and I strongly suspect that this story is being repeated daily across what is the most powerful nation on the planet. It's criminal and when you think about it, anytime the words "healthcare" and "profit" are mentioned in the same sentence you end up with an oxymoron because once profit becomes the driving force in almost anything it's not long until humans become secondary. I think the number of folks without health insurance is up around 60 million.

I currently live in Paris, France, where there's a "single payer" healthcare system that's been in place for decades. If my friend Mike had been a citizen here, he'd be alive today...........* In France, everyone regardless of status has access. The French pay what in the US is considered unreasonably high taxes but to a person, every French friend we have here takes great pride in their healthcare system and none of them have any qualms about paying high taxes for it. The governments throughout the EU all put the welfare of their societies before profits regarding health care for their citizens and regulate what hospitals and doctors and pharmacies can charge including insurance companies. If one is poor, retired on a small pension, or even a visitor in their countries and becomes seriously ill, they're treated without being accosted about what kind of insurance they have if any. Some of my friends here inquired if we could get Mike here but by then it was too late.

In the US, organizations like the TEA Party, and right wing politicians who are in the pockets of the healthcare lobbies spout lies about Obamacare being socialist and the president being an Islamic terrorist and other things like "death panels" and healthcare being a "privilege". Those are pretty interesting thoughts but at the end of the day, people like my friend Mike pay the ultimate price for their lack of access and of course all of the TEA Party faithful in the Senate and Congress have excellent healthcare plans and guaranteed pensions for life even if they're thrown out of office and their esteemed colleagues across the isle have the same things. In my opinion, until everyone in the US has access to health care without bankruptcy or losing everything, we really can't call ourselves truly civilized. Currently in the US, profit trumps just about everything else. Society is secondary.

I'm not writing this to politicize my friend's passing. I can however tell you that my blood boils when I think of how he should have been able to get treatment for his illness without being saddled with insurmountable debt. As it is, he spent at least 10 days in the hospital at the end of his life and his survivors will be presented with a huge hospital bill that they won't be able to pay.

My friend Mike didn't have to die...

This is 2011....

He was 58.

If all of you don't start demanding change, you could be next......

Sid Hagan

November, Carla's Gone, Turkeys In Paris??????

Bonjour all........ Geez, it's November already??????? And after what seemed like an eternity, Carla Bruni had her baby and about 2 weeks ago the cordon of security people and paparazzi were finally gone bringing back the natural order of things here which of course is traffic jams, millions of loud motor scooters, trash trucks at 5 am among other things which now seem normal to us all here. Like living anywhere overseas for an extended period, things naturally become habit and routine while doing what is normal where you happen to be living; and we're no different as we all feel a sense of belonging here when people on the streets recognize us and wave and everyone at our favorite Brasserie (Chalet 16) treats us with deference it is indeed a special feeling that when we leave will go missing.

There was an upheaval of sorts at the above mentioned brasserie when 2 of their waiters we knew well were fired for apparently being drunk at work which was quite a shock but then life went on.

Cassie's colleague Matthew and his wife Audrey had their new baby Hippolite a little over a week ago to add to their growing family which brought joy to everyone here. And we now begin the countdown to the quintessentially American Holiday Thanksgiving here which of course is way different in our approach than what we normally do in the US. For a number of years leading up to our moving here we'd left off on cooking our turkeys and instead paid a friend of a friend to deep fry them for us which really took a lot of the major work out of doing the dinner not to mention how amazingly tasty they turned out. Even if we wanted to cook a big turkey here our oven isn't the appropriate size to do it so we purchase an already cooked turkey (farm raised specially in Normandy) from The Real McCoy along with a couple of pies and invite a small horde of Americans and French friends to dinner making it a big covered dish event too. This year's edition may be scaled down a bit but it will still happen. It still promises to be another great evening of food and conversation.

The weather has cooled considerably and Winter is set to make the scene here soon with gray rainy days which are the norm here in Paris.

Occasionally I'll complain about how things go here in France but I must say again the majority of French people have been more than kind and generous to us and we are very fortunate indeed to be living here amongst them in Paris and even on the craziest days are better for it...................
It'll be hard to leave here when the time comes as I remember it being when I left Paris the first time in the late 70s wondering if I'd ever return.

Love to all everywhere and Happy Thanksgiving as we all have so much to be thankful for......*

Sid

Carla Bruni Next Door?????

About a week ago I got a message from the young British lady who watches our cats and apartment whenever we travel, that Carla Bruni (the very pregnant wife of Nicholas Sarkozy AKA the French President) was going to have her baby at the Clinique Muette which is the Obstetric Hospital right next door. She was wrong but evidently had seen a news report where Carla's father told the reporter that she was going to have her baby there.

This is the same place previously mentioned here that is SO different than American hospitals in that there is no loading dock nor is there any parking which means that everything either coming or going IE: trash, expectant mothers, supplies, etc. goes through the front door. The news reports also all state that the Clinic has undergone a facelift in preparation for the arrival of the president's wife which led us all to wonder what it was like before and why it needed to be so updated..........*

Needless to say we currently live amidst hoards of paparazzi and media folks including television crews who've staked the clinic out hoping to scoop each other when Carla arrives and perhaps even sneak in and get exclusive photos and film of her in labor and pushing the baby out. It's already a narrow one way through street and this has made it even weirder and more congested.

I doubt if this will make the news in the US but if she does have her baby here you'll all know that it was right next door to our apartment building and we have a birds-eye view of the street where all of the vultures await her arrival.

Love to all!

A bientot,

Sid

Aperock Purveyors Gig, New Dryer, October And Missing A Reunion

September 22nd my band Purveyors such as it is these days played a small bar in the 11th called Aperock Cafe with our new friend, the amazing Andy Guthrie who doesn't really need us but he sure made what we do sound amazing.... It was the first time I'd played in a Parisian bar since 1977 so it was really cool for me. Most of the Parisians were somewhat nonplussed by us but we had a blast as you can see in the photo here which has all of us in motion and that was the way of it the entire evening. Honestly, we didn't much notice who was there for most of the night until the end of the show.

Veiled threats offered as "wolf tickets" to the management company who gets paid by Cassie's company for our apartment here in the 16th and who manages the apartment for the absentee owner, finally produced a new clothes dryer after over 100 days without one and constant foot dragging by everyone concerned save us. The implied threat involved withheld money in substantial amounts finally produced the desired result although it was unfortunate that it had to come to that. So it goes managing things here in France.... We DO love living here and there are many things the French do really well but customer service usually isn't one of them unfortunately.

This month in fact yesterday evening there was a 1971 St. Joe class reunion in Atlanta that I missed but helped out a bit with a bunch of music in MP3 form which I hope added to the festivities. I fondly remember the reunion I attended in 2006 that was really really fun for me and served as a huge reconnect with a whole bunch of folks I hadn't seen in many decades. I wish I could have been at the one last night but did see photos on Facebook today that made me smile. I need to get back in touch with as many of them as I can in the future. It's nice to reconnect and I love seeing those folks. I hope they do it again soon so I can attend.....*

Love to all everywhere....*

Sid

Brian Wilson, MIA Dryer, And The Rash Of Rashes

I know it's September and I haven't been back in here in a while. It's been a busy time. Kian and Niall are now enrolled at Kaplan University as Strayer University cancelled all of their Liberal Arts Programs earlier this year. Suffice to say that accomplishing that took many many hours and days and for the most part has been accomplished but is still a work in progress. As with last year, Fall started in August after a very temperate Summer with very few 90 degree days. I have of course really enjoyed that and the weather continues to grow cooler and more Fall like every day. The leaves here don't really change colors at least not so much in the city and just drop off the trees onto the sidewalks.

My amazing cousin Bruce Boyd Raeburn was back again a week or so ago and we had a great visit with him and Cassie got to spend some time with him too. The week culminated in another musical party here with 20 plus folks in attendance and Bruce got to hear Cassie and I sing together for the first time. For me it was like a circle closing as Bruce is truly a music expert who's the curator of the Hogan Jazz Archive at Tulane University in New Orleans. Let's just say that the level of discourse on just about everything here was elevated again while he was here which is something we always welcome. We DO love Bruce Boyd and his wife Linda and again welcoming him into our family circle has been like finding gold in the back yard...... Knock me over with a feather......a relative I actually like.....*

We are now 90+ days without a clothes dryer and things are becoming a bit restive here over that. The French do many things very well but again customer service isn't one of them. Now we are hopeful that we'll have a dryer by the holidays but are not holding our breath.

My illness continues with modest improvements but again there are skin rashes literally all over me or I look continuously flushed (red.....). A good example of how I look is the way the folks at the American Library commented on how much sun I must have gotten while on vacances..... which of course was very little as I'm supposed to stay out of direct sunlight whenever possible so I look like I'm sunburned. I just smiled and said thanks........* Of course my doctor thinks I'm improving......

We saw Brian Wilson at Casino de Paris last night and had amazing seats (7th row off center a bit). He's touring with his band (who are amazing......*) performing the Gershwin album he released last year. The arrangements were tight and the band crack but Brian didn't look like he was truly enjoying himself and wasn't in good voice. It was bittersweet to finally be able to see him live and watch someone who's down the road a bit too far to continue with things like this.
He is still a legend and after the Gershwin set they took and break and came back to play some very old deep Beach Boys songs the best of which for me were "In My Room" and "God Only Knows" which both always make me cry. It was indeed moving to see him sing those and know that I was in the presence of who actually wrote them as Brian Wilson has been a music part of my life since the early 60s when I listened to and purchased every record they released. Those old songs also brought back many of the memories of living in Faulkton, South Dakota in the early 60s some of which are not so good. None the less, it was brilliant to actually see him in person and I loved the band which is one of the best in the business.

It's starting to look like we'll be coming back to Virginia sooner than we thought but I can't elaborate on that fully yet. It'll be in another post very soon.

I hope all who follow this are happy and well........

Love to all everywhere.....*

A bientot,

Sid

Vacances Redux And Into Fall.....*

Almost the end of August here and the twins will be starting at a new college (Kaplan University) as Strayer University decided to eliminate all Liberal Arts Programs and classes. Cassie is back to work and I'm back to writing my book and working on new music. Guests will be coming soon in the month of September and big changes are in the air for us in the somewhat near future but there isn't any way to address that in here yet. We're still amazed at the wonderful vacation (vacances in French...) we had and closed out with a week in Burgundy (pic posted on the blog is from our front porch there....) which really rearranged our molecules in really good ways. We played for the "Fete de Passions" in Chevagny again with our friends Fred, Xavier and David and ate great food and drank great wine. The cows mooed and the sheep baaaddd and the hawks in the quiet skies sreeched while Cassie laid in the sun and relaxed. It was and still is great to be alive in France.
Our clothes dryer is still broken after over 2 months and 3 repairmen although the word on the street today is that another guy is coming tomorrow. We still don't have a cleaning lady (me and the twins have been doing it for months now) and the Guardian is still on vacances which means that we get our mail sometimes. My illness is still somewhat less than out of control which is better than it was but not better than it should be. I continue to hear that I could be a better communicator and will endeavor to become one. I'll need to consult with some experts.......*

Love to all everywhere!

Sid

Burgundy Photos

Vacances Continued - Chevagny 2011

Ahhh......La Bonnette in Burgundy, and The "Fete de Passion" again in Chevagny with our dear friends Fred and Claudia, David, Jean Francois, John and Naida, several Michels and one Christine, Gerard and Marie Rose, Jacqueline, and the entire village of Chevagny who always take us in like we're part of the village. To add to the final part of our "vacances" this year Fred and Claudia purchased an entire week at La Bonnette which is the house in the picture on a hilltop where you could see miles into the distance from the front terrace.......* As we told our friends there, whenever we are in Chevagny we are all always changed in good ways that will stay with us a lifetime. Both Cassie and I would love to retire there and just might one day. A little later this week I will add a link to our Shutterfly page so all who read this can share in the photos which (there are over 400 at present) I'll endeavor to make some sense out of and upload. The best way to describe the overall experience was as Elmer Fudd so aptly put it, "west and wewaccation".......*

I will write more later on this week also but wanted to get this initial post up. The twins and Cassie will also post about this I'm sure.

Love to all everywhere.....*

Sid

Frontignan

Welcome to "vacance" which of course is vacation in French. I'm currently in Frontignan la plage which is on the beach so to speak in far southern Provence near Montpelier but around 200 km from Aix. I'm here with my old friend Christine who's a bit like the Energizer Bunny and is the ever present tour guide and cheerleader when it looks like I might be getting a little too relaxed. When we arrived Saturday night the wind was howling at a brisk 35 kph pace and it was in the high 50s which is uncharacteristic for this time of year here. It's Thursday now and it's shaping up to be the first day that it's not going to rain since we arrived. No complaints though as I've seen a lot of the countryside (we rented a car) and have eaten lunch and dinner in some very nice restaurants sampling some really good seafood. Christine's house here is quite nice and very new but there is still work taking place here and I've been a little in the center of that too while here this week. Fortunately that's starting to wind down and this Saturday we travel up into the hills around here to visit some friends of Christine's that I will probably end up playing for Saturday evening.

I've attempted to do some writing here but the lighting in the apartment we're staying in which is downstairs is poor in the evening and that has made it difficult for me to focus. Other things have entered into that too but I'm letting them go. I have played some since getting here but never ventured in DADGAD which is something I very much want to do eventually. I'm also preparing here for our show in Chevagny on the 15th with our friends Fred and Claudia and Xavier. We'll be in Burgundy for that entire week which should be a better place for me to write.

I'm still very much enjoying being surrounded by the French with all of their drama and nuance which still pleases me very much even when I should be annoyed by it all. This is the most time I have spent with Christine and she is marvelous as I remember her but also quite vulnerable and I've reminded her a lot since getting here that she's fine and needs to concentrate more on first things first and not try to do everything all at once. Like it is for all of us, sometimes when we continually wring our hands about things we can and can't control everything usually works out in spite of that.

I head back to Paris on the TGV (high speed train.....WOW, 300 kph) Monday afternoon and then will be home for a week until Cassie and the twins return from their USA sojourn. I intend on doing some writing and recording that week also. Christine is and will remain a great friend of mine and this has been a good escape for me from the crowded and polluted streets of Paris. I will endeavor to post again before leaving on Monday.

I did however turn Christine on to Cassie and my current favorite show "Falling Skies" last night which she enjoyed hugely and we'll continue watching this weekend so she's up to date with it. Ah, American TV, just can't seem to live without it!

Hope everyone is well and happy wherever you happen to be.

Love to all everywhere and bonne vacance!

A bientot,

Sid

The Dryer and Vacance.......*

Bonjour pilgrims,

After another extended absence (I know I keep promising not to do that....) I'm back this morning. Cassie and the twins left for the US Thursday morning and I leave for Frontignan in the South of France this afternoon to spend a little over a week there on the beach and in that area with my old friend Christine Holtzbauer who will be helping my write my book about my experiences with the twins in the schools which even on a slow day is quite a story. Christine is who talked me into doing this (I'm NOT a professional writer) and she wants to translate it into French in hopes that it might help others who have similar family situations to ours here. From what I know, France is about 25 years behind just about everyone else on all things that have to do with Autism and frankly, if our sons had been here when they started school they would have been lost in the system immediately. In any event, it should be an interesting 9 days.
Will keep everyone posted as to when and where the book will be published.

There is a really nice young British lady who will be tending to the cats while I'm gone which leaves me with little or no worry to take the trip. Of course even being at the beach will be interesting for me as I'm not supposed to be out in the sun very much so I'm curious how that's going to go. I will endeavor to post again while there and hopefully also post a couple of photos.

The photo above was taken on July 14th (Bastille Day) from a friend's apartment terrace in Saint Germaine but the camera I was using didn't have a wobble fix. It's the Tour Eiffel with fireworks going off around it.

We've been without a clothes dryer now for over a month and have had 3 repair persons come over the last 3 weeks all of who brought parts none of which ever fixed the dryer. Of course now they won't be back until vacance is over. Perhaps we will never have a dryer again while living here. There's no telling.

My illness is pretty much the same although it's migrated to other parts of my body which I will not share today. Needless to say I'm living with it but as life partners go I'd just as soon murder this one......*

Try and stay cool wherever you are. It's been an unnaturally cool Summer here with temps primarily in the high 60s the last 2 weeks and that won't be topping 75 even over the next 10 days. Fall arrives here in August......

Please keep the folks in Norway in your thoughts today and be happy wherever you are.

Love to all,

Sid

Happy Independence Day (But We're Still Not Free.......*)

Of course we all hear about things like this but we never think it will actually happen to us. Americans are famous for this and almost always slow to react until something bad happens to them personally. For those of you that read this blog, you know that in February of this year I was hospitalized for 9 days of intense invasive testing to rule out any damage to my internal organs due to my contracting Dermatomyositis which is a 10 on anyone's "Weirdshitometer".

My health insurance is courtesy of Carefirst Blue Cross out of Maryland through a contract with Cassie's company.

When one accesses health care in the US we pay a co-pay and then whichever entity we got service from would submit the claim for insurance reimbursement whereas here in France with American insurance, WE have pay CASH and THEN WE HAVE TO SUBMIT THE INVOICES FOR REIMBURSEMENT. Soon after that with Carefirst, the debasement and begging begins as we try and get reimbursed for the literally thousands of dollars we have out of pocket for my continued healthcare here. Let's just say that Carefirst has outdone themselves in elevating their "process" to the point that even their own customer service reps can't get answers from their various divisions none of which share information with each other to the point that even their own executives are sandbagged. Not sure how many of you have ever had over $6800.00 in doctors fees out all at once without reimbursement for over 120+ days but I'll bet you'd be hurtin if that happened to you. Once a company like Carefirst get's a hold of your claim you can just about kiss that money goodbye. The mistake that I made was to get sick in France.

Personally, I have never been so marginalized and that's after stints in both the Army and Navy.
So, even though it's American Independence Day, the Founding Fathers never could have imagined that they'd founded an entire nation held hostage by the insurance companies.

The longer I'm alive and see single payer systems in other countries first hand (IE: France) I become even more convinced that the words "profit" and "healthcare" = OXYMORON. Any thinking person knows that anytime the word profit is used humans get either hurt or ignored while the bottom line is worshiped.

So, I wish all of you fellow American hostages a happy Independence Day but with the caveat that if you're not living in a country with a single payer healthcare system you're actually enslaved in the grand tradition of the southern plantation owners and worse from our country's long and checkered history courtesy of insurance companies that are not checked at all by our government. Those of you who may disagree haven't yet had to debase yourselves enough but mark my words......your day is coming.........although I wish I could say that it won't.

Love to all everywhere......*

Sid

London And OMG Are You Kidding Me?

Bonjour Pilgrims......

Last week we spent an amazing long weekend in London and everyone had a great time but WOW was it expensive. Don't worry, no specifics here but let's just say that beers were regularly over 7 pounds (roughly $12.00) and that's for one beer.
We toured The Globe Theater and The Tate Modern Gallery as well as the National Gallery off Trafalgar Square. We also toured the Tower of London and saw the Crown Jewels there and Saturday we spent the entire day in Greenwich and toured the Royal Naval College and went up the hill to the Observatory where the International Date Line is and had lunch up there. It was a beautiful day in fact all of the days we were there were really nice save for the last one which was breezy and cool but we weren't sight seeing that day and just loaded up and went to the train station for lunch and a little light shopping before we caught the Euro-Star back to Paris. Pretty cool to be traveling by train under the English Channel at 300 kph. 2 hours and 15 minutes to Paris from London. Now that's civilization even if it cost a fortune.

The latest on my continuing medical adventure is that the holes in my hands I'd mentioned in the past were actually infections which I'm now undergoing another BIG anti-biotic course of treatment for. Other than that, I'm still taking lots of drugs, and sleeping fitfully but overall doing well. Hopefully as the Summer progresses I'll continue to improve or at least get to a place where managing this disease becomes more routine.

We have more travel planned for this Summer which includes a visit back home for Cassie, Kian and Niall, but like I did back in the 70s, I plan on staying here for the duration as everyone or anyone who might want to see me knows where I am so I hope they decided to visit. If not, I'll catch up with them a couple of years down the line. I truly AM loving living in Paris and the EU even with the foibles that come with that. I'm blessed with a great family and friends here as well as back home. Hopefully one day everyone else will post to this blog besides me but until then you're stuck with me.

Love to all everywhere!

A bientot,

Sid

Ferraris In The Streets And Bugs All Over My Skin

Ahhhhh to have Ferrari's in the streets where one lives........* I know it's been forever since the last blog entry. Hmmmmmmmm, where to begin......... It's been quite busy with guests coming and going, doctor follow up visits, elevators going offline for 2 months, and the never ending day to day navigation of any and all things French here. In the last 2 months, the twins have gotten their Carte de Sejours (French Green Cards) which took 3 different visits (one to the OFII at Bastille and two the main Prefecture de Police at Ile de le Cite) that spanned 6 weeks from start to finish. Learning to interface with Blue Cross on our mounting medical bills that needed insurance reimbursement and the labyrinth of silliness that entails. A "possibly" compromised Carte Blue (ATM Card) that involved several lengthy discussions with French bankers who sort of spoke English that led to spontaneous Abbot and Costello "Who's On First" routines with no resolution at all. A lecture from a new neighbor about how the twins running up and down the steps were ruining the carpets. Cassie availing herself of the SOS Medicines service which is one of the coolest things we've found here that when one is sick, they call the SOS Medicine phone number, do a short interview on what your symptoms are and in an hour a doctor makes a house call at your home for 70 euros. That's another one in your eye TEA Party morons.......* Cassie DID stop for a week during that time and dodged a major bronchitis and possible pneumonia. Plans are in the works for vacation this Summer and the twins are taking the Summer off from college to travel with us.
Our cleaning lady ditched us and now the twins and I are back at it again just like home. I start my first paying mastering job with an American country band from Berlin called Modern Earl this week which should be interesting but of course they're a great band.

Lastly, my disease Dermatomyositis is still very with me and is nowhere near receding into the background yet. Even on good days my skin feels like I have bugs crawling all over me and I have rashes over my torso, on my knees and elbows which I have various creams and lotions to apply that make me a bit more comfortable and fist-fulls of drugs I take every day that hopefully will take this irritating malady into remission. I wish I had more positive news on this. There are other things I could mention but won't as I have no desire to give too much energy to this. Suffice to say I'm following my doctors' orders and doing what I'm told.

Cassie took the photo of my with her new I-Phone last week as we were headed to dinner.

As always, I will endeavor to keep up with this blog better but sometimes it just doesn't work that way.

Love to all everywhere!

Sid

It's rare in anyone's life that they meet someone they're related to after almost an entire lifetime. Last week that happened for me when my 2nd cousin Bruce Boyd Raeburn came to visit with his wife Linda Carroll for a little over 4 days. Bruce's father Boyd "Albert" Raeburn was my Grandfather Hagan'
s sister's son and Boyd was a semi famous groundbreaking big band leader in the early 40s into the 1950s. I heard about his dad for decades from my father and actually heard some of the Boyd Raeburn Orchestra albums my dad had when I was quite young but wasn't smart enough to realize how cool what was actually happening on them. I didn't really explore Boyd Raeburn's music until we were living in Sioux City, IA, in the mid-90s when my dad's cousin Jim made me 15 cassette tapes of all of his old Boyd Raeburn albums. I was totally blown away and found out from Jim at the time the Boyd had a son named Bruce Boyd who was at Tulane University in New Orleans and who ran the Hogan Jazz Archive there. Bruce has a PHD in History but also plays drums and has been playing in Punk and other bands in New Orleans for decades. I told someone earlier this week that meeting Bruce Boyd was like gaining a brother for me and I think he feels the same.

So last week for me was an especially good week here and I plan to keep in better touch with Bruce and interact with him far more than I have in the past.
Bruce's wife Linda was amazing too. She teaches Italian at Tulane but has been on sabbatical in Padua, Italy, for the past 9 months researching 16th century Italian playwrights. Having both of them here last week was a gift plain and simple.

Life is good here in Paris but then, I guess that's not a surprise is it???

A bientot,

Sid

Getting Somewhere And The Rhythm Of The 16th

Good news yesterday.........my staph infection is almost (and I stress.....almost) gone and my doc (the plastic surgeon AKA part of my "Gang Of 4) was certain I didn't need any more anti-biotics and in my new role of far more aggressive self advocate with my French Docteurs, I pushed back and told him while a medic in both the US Army and Navy, it was common practice when treating an infected wound to continue with anti-biotics until the drainage was clear and since mine wasn't clear yet I wanted to continue with another week of anti-biotics. He reluctantly agreed but acquiesced telling me that I seemed to want another prescription. OK THEN............* I don't have to see him for another 2 weeks as he'll be in Bordeaux at a conference. I told him to watch out for the wine and he laughed and said, oui, it is very good and I agreed.

I am and have been in writing mode ever since arriving here over a year ago and am now writing about our neighborhood which is the 16th arrondissement and not so much a tourist destination here in Paris but rather a quite upscale residential enclave which is percieved by almost everyone else in Paris as a Gros Bourgeois hood filled with stuffy rich people. Personally I find the neighborhood charming and find myself and my family including the twins moving in harmony with the rest of the folks who live here. There's something special about living in Paris that defies description in ordinary terms and to me it has most to do with the "rhythm" of the neighborhoods and the people who live in in them. Most definitely after over a year we have settled in and frankly I don't really miss the US or Lynchburg that much although I do miss quite a number of people back in the states it will not take much convincing to keep me here forever which is how I felt in the late 70s when I left Paris to go back to the US and school and never thought I'd return. I immediately found the part of me I left when I got back here a year ago and that part has grown in me completing much that had been left unsaid and undone simply just by living here. I love the French and everything about them, even their strikes and drama.......* They truly know how to live........*

Bon journee all......*

A bientot,

sid

Can You Say "Staph" Infection??????? And Observations From A Year On Here......*

Well, my life as an ongoing medical experiment and curiosity here in Paris continues with the follow up visit I had with my Plastic Surgeon (I'm now followed by 4 doctors here) who informed me casually yesterday that the pathology results from my wound he re-opened a week ago indicated that I had a Staph Infection which sort of freaked me out and for the first time I became a bit adversarial with him. I'd been trying to tell various doctors including 2 of my other doctors about lump on the side of my leg for over a month including an emergency room visit follow up with my Internist both who informed me that it wasn't an infection but scar tissue even though it was swollen and hurt in ways that made me walk like an old man. Going forward, I'm to be just that......FORWARD in all aspects of my care here even if it goes against the party line. Don't get me wrong here, overall my care here has been very good but this infection could have been stopped over a month ago if someone had listened to me. Lesson learned..........* Nuff said about that topic. Suffice to say I'm being nuked with MAJOR anti-biotics presently that will clear whatever ails me up in short order.

Now some notes and observations on living here for over a year now which hopefully be followed by Cassie and the twins in separate entries.

1. You can't ever be in a hurry here although all of the locals endeavor to do so. There's a way things are done in the rest of the world and then there's France. Nuff said.....*

2. Some neighbors are always going to be assholes and that's the way of the world here too although we've met some lovely folks in our building which has been great.

3. The food and wine is BETTER than advertised and for the most part French people are quite pleasant and easily approachable. We love it here and will be hard pressed to leave when the time comes.

4. Paris is a VERY NOISY city although living right next door to a small hospital doesn't really help much. We do however love our apartment and wouldn't change if for the world. Now if one could just get rid of all of the scooters.

5. Lastly, it WAS a great idea for us all to come. Everyone is doing so well including the twins who are more independent here than they ever were in Lynchburg. They've really blossomed here and are all the better for the experience. Cassie has done so well with her new position and gained so much confidence it's a real marvel to see her and be around her now. What a transformation I've witnessed since we first started living together over 26 years ago! Pretty cool! And my audio mastering business is starting to get going here with the upcoming album project by the all American Country Rock Band from Berlin named "Modern Earl" who came to me through my friendship with Liane Edwards and her band who's "Branded" album I remastered last Summer for them.

Pretty cool stuff.............

That's all for now........

A bientot,

Sid

Gary Snow, The First Salon, And More Fun As A Medical Experiment

I know I indicated that I'd write more and here I am almost a month down the road. We've had guests galore, Oslo and Gaia, Gary Snow and his daughter Jessie and her fiance Joshua and hosted our first "Music Salon" with a rare Purveyors performance (Gary played with us while we were in Iowa...) that included our new friend Andy Guthrie in front of 30 plus people in our living room here that was was a huge success. There just hasn't been enough time to actually sit and write anything until this morning. Our next group of guests arrive on the 5th of April and then again later that month. We are planning to get a trip to London in sometime very soon and the twins are going to take the Summer off from College this year so we can do some traveling. More on that as it develops of course with pictures as they become reality.

After some success treating my illness (Dermatomyositis) with steroids and other things my docs were pleased and reduced the amount of steroids I've been taking (GREAT!) but the biopsy site on my right leg started swelling about 3 weeks ago to the point I became alarmed and went to the ER at the American Hospital here and they looked and proclaimed it not infected (Good) but it HURT a lot and about a week later saw my Internist who I showed it to and he said it was scar tissue and that I would probably be "ugly" on the beach this Summer (hahahahahahahahaha). It still hurt though and I saw my Dematologist who doesn't have a good poker face and he was unhappy and proclaimed it to be "un-natural" and told me it would have to be "opened up" to be cleaned out.......which happens this Friday at 2. My appointment yesterday also addressed scaly skin on my scalp (new development) and the return of some of my rashes (Geeeeeez........) with the accompanying itching and discomfort which now brings me to a whole new drug regimen that as a bonus includes weekly blood tests to measure levels of the auto immune suppressant drugs I will be taking. Whenever I show up at my local pharmacie here with my multiple sheets of prescriptions there's always a stir as the ladies all gather around and of course not many Americans frequent it so English becomes fractured but we always get to yes and they are all very sweet and caring. I can say with certainty though that Friday I'm not leaving the "Petit Chuigerie) until the doc gives me a scrip for prophylactic antibiotics. I'm not gonna go through that again.

That's all from here for now. More later.

Love to all,

Sid

Follow Ups

Thursday began my round of follow up appointments with all 3 of my Docteurs here with more blood being drawn and this morning my appointment with my Internist Dr. Khayat who was pleased with my progress and took me off one of my meds and told me to eat more salt. Good news and certainly welcome for me and mine here.

Next week is follow up with Dr. Zyberberg and Dr. Usdin with another Echo-cardiogram. And it continues......

I've lost essentially one and half pant sizes but that really translates into one for now. I'm down to 2 pairs of pants until my new ones come from the states but I'm enjoying that.

More later on......

Sid

If It Wasn't For Bad Luck

I know I haven't posted in many weeks. At the beginning of the year there was a whirlwind of activity here that included some pretty major oral surgery for me and of course the twins started a new quarter at Strayer which also resulted in Kian getting a less than responsive professor who started giving him zeros for assignments he didn't think were submitted correctly and Cassie traveling and naturally back at work.

All this time and in the months starting back in September I'd noticed a rash on both my hands with bumps that were hard to the touch and thought it was the hard water here and my washing dishes without gloves on. Various friends here recommended lotions and creams and although they felt good, the rash remained. Right about the time of my oral surgery I'd then developed a rash around my lower torso and on my arms which after the surgery spread to my stomach and my face looked like I'd been sunburned. The rashes were very uncomfortable and cause a lot of skin irritation and itching and that in turn started to keep me from sleeping much at night. On February 8th I called the American Hospital here in Paris and got an appointment with a Dermatologist named Louis Zylberberg. He saw me that afternoon and all I can say is that he should never play poker as his face showed alarm and he wanted to take pictures of where all of my rashes were and then sent me to the lab for blood-work which was 13 vials all at once! He wanted me to come back the following day for a biopsy at 10:30. Pretty much immediately after I arrived the next day and entered the small surgery suite Dr. Zylberberg told me that I was very seriously ill and he had to admit me to the hospital now........... It's then that he told me he was pretty certain that I had what is called Dermatomyositis .http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/dermatomyositis/DS00335

Of course I had no idea what he was talking about but was pretty freaked out when he told me how sick I was and seeing my level of stress he got his nurse to get me a valium which was VERY welcome........ Then I called Cassie and told her that she needed to come to the hospital as they were admitting me and after that Dr. Zylberberg's nurse accompanied me to the Emergency Room where I was admitted and the tests began which of course was 7 more vials of blood and the backless robe and EKG, full evaluation by the ER physician and then chest X-Ray, Echo Cardiogram, and deep muscle and tissue biopsies under local anesthesia which took an hour and that I'm still sore from 11 days out. A new doctor entered the picture during this named Dr. Khayat who is an Internal Medicine Specialist who would manage my medication treatment and also Dr. Usdin who's a Cardiologist I'd seen previous to my oral surgery.

Of course my diet changed to a low or no salt diet as well as restricted sugar and fat intake and my inpatient saga began. To tell the truth, I'm loath to go into too much detail here so I'll try to condense the schedule of tests and information that kept coming at me while I was there.

While in the hospital over an 8 day period I had:

3 different CT Scans all that included either radioactive injections or injections of something they called "contrast" as well as some kind of oral vaso dilator that would enlarge my aorta during the last CT Scan when they looked at my arterial spaces (which were fine thank you very much....)

1 PET Scan which was a full body scan with more radioactive stuff injected into me which was essentially looking for any kind of obvious Cancer (negative)

2 different radiological scans the title of which I'm still uncertain of that took more pictures of my heart which also included radioactive injection both of which involved me having to lay on my stomach for 25 minutes at a time with my arms over my head. This was one in the morning and another later in the afternoon......

1 MRI which was also a heart exploration with "contrast" injected which was also not fun but at least I got to wear headphones. This one is where the French Radiologist came to me while I was still on the table who told me that they saw something "not so good" on my heart which also freaked me out........

I spent a 24 hour period wearing a small telemetry device that was really a continuous EKG looking for "crazy rhythms" in my heart.

All through this, I was getting to know my doctors which all being French are a whole different animal than Americans. In the US, there is a giant specter of litigation so all doctors and health care professionals are very forthcoming with information about just about everything. Here in Paris, docs order things and patients comply period and so there were surprises for me in the hospital every day to the point that one morning the transportation guy came for me before I even had my pants on and the nurse just shrugged and said you must go for this test.
I lost my temper that morning...............

Overall though through it all, my experience was a very good one and what differences there were had to do with culture more than bad things happening.

11 years ago I suffered some heart disease while we lived in Iowa that almost killed me but I recovered fully after a year. I have a suspicion that some of the findings on my heart here by my medical team are residual from that time period but of course none the new guys had ever looked before so there was some consternation and resultant more "explorations" because of that. I give my medical team an A+ for their continuing efforts on my behalf and I will do everything they tell me to do. I'm not sure if I'll ever beat this auto immune thing but I'll sure as shit deal with it. Count on it.

The last thing that I'll mention here was what I now refer to as the "twofer" which was a colonoscopy/endoscopy that was conducted by Dr. Louis Zylberberg's twin brother Herve' which was disconcerting a bit but that too ended up with a negative report. Go figure, I was treated by twins in the hospital here........*

Of course the American Hospital here is billing Blue Cross back in the states and we had to pay the Doctor's fees which although steep were nothing as high as would have had to pay in the US.

I'm still a bit whooped from all of this but have been out walking and am on a strict diet now which will result in me looking like a Frenchman before years end. I will however NOT wear pointy toed shoes.........*

Through this all, I received numerous emails, phone calls, and visits from our friends here in Paris and my friends and family in the US. As I've told all of them and for you who might be reading this now, you all lifted me up in what was for all intensive purposes a very scary thing for me and my family. Cassie was magnificent as always as were Kian and Niall who ran the house without us pretty much for 8 days which included grocery shopping, going the library by themselves and basically holding the fort down while there was an upheaval happening. I'm so proud of them and so humbled again to be a part of such an amazing family without who I would most certainly be lost even on the best of days......... Even through all of this, I woke up under a rainbow every morning and continue to do so..........*

I promise to be more in this blog on an almost daily basis as I have a lot of writing to do the rest of this year.

Love to all everywhere..................

Bon journee!

Sid