Diverticulitis and Other Downers (#BOTB Results)

  Let me get down to business before I get to business.  After all, life is full of surprises and sometimes the pleasure gets stepped on by the business...

Battle of the Bands Results

         My previous Battle between The John Mayer Trio and the pairing of Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso with contrasting versions of the Jimi Hendrix song "Wait Until Tomorrow" had a surprising outcome.   This looked like a shutout with the Mayer Trio rapidly taking a lead until votes started pouring in for Veloso/Gil.  Whew!  Thanks to all who help prevent a dreaded shut out. 

         Actually the outcome was pretty amazing.  My vote went to Veloso/Gil because their version was unique and told the song's story better.  And I liked the percussive Brazilian style.  Mayer may have won in the end, but it was a squeaker. 

Final Vote Tally

John Mayer      11 votes

Veloso/Gil        10 votes


Sometimes You Have to Wait for Tomorrow

         When I prepared my previous post I knew that some negative vibes were in the air for me.  Then, the cherry was placed on top of a crap sundae.  This past Monday I ended up in the ER with severe stomach pain.  The diagnosis was diverticulitis.  I'd heard of this before and now I know a lot more about it.  For one thing it hurts--a lot. 

          All day Sunday I had been feeling poorly and in the evening I considered going to the ER.  But I figured that it was something that would go away after a good night's sleep.  As it turned out, I didn't get much sleep and at 4 AM I told my wife I was going to the ER.  Going to the hospital is nowhere on my list of favorite things.  I don't even like to visit a hospital.  However the staff was very nice and accommodating and got me out in about 8 hours with two prescriptions for antibiotics which so far have made me feel almost as bad I had felt previously.  Now I'll have ten days of taking those.  Hopefully I'll get more accustomed to the side effects.  I just have to wait until tomorrow I guess to see if I feel better.

         As I indicated on August 1st, my current post would provide an update about my Cover Version Challenge of my song "Let's Run".   I had put out a call to any singers/musicians/producers to make a cover version to be pitted in my next Battle of the Bands post.   So far no luck from the blogging community.  I still need to reach out to more of my musician friends to see if anyone wants to take me up on this. Over all though, my mind has not been focused on this so I haven't done very much about it.

       I'm still trying to stay optimistic about this Cover Version Challenge, but seeing as how I only have a week before my next BOTB post I doubt whether this Battle will take place on August 15th.  If not then that's okay--I'll extend it to the Battle of September 1.  If anyone is interested in doing this, I will send rough recordings of the melody line and partial vocals along with a lyric sheet. You just have to let me know an email address where to send it. 

        Also I'm going to add an alternative approach.  If you'd rather just come up with your own melody behind my lyrics then we can be song collaborators.  And once I'm back to a better performance level I will continue to try to come up with another cover myself. 

         That's the update for now.  We'll find out more in my next post...


Next Battle of the Bands on Wednesday August 15th!

         What will it be?  You'll have to come back to find out.


Have you ever experienced diverticulitis?   Are you good at improvising when things don't turn out like you planned or hoped?    Do you have any other suggestions where I might find someone who might be interested in participating in my Cover Version Challenge?