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HAPPY 70th BIRTHDAY GEDDY!!!!

(meme credit to u/rtphokie on reddit)

OH, AND WHAT’S THAT?!?! IT’S ALSO THE 49th ANNIVERSARY OF NEIL PEART JOINING RUSH?!?!

In order to celebrate these wondrous occasions, I have compiled 70 reasons why I love Rush (especially Geddy):

70. They don't have any unlistenable albums. I can put on any Rush album and at the very least enjoy it, which is saying a lot!

69. ANDDDD they have 19 studio albums!!! 167 songs!!!

68. Alex's iconic Hall of Fame induction speech.

67. The movie I Love You, Man. The main plot of that is just two guys geeking out about Rush and then going to see them in concert.

66. The Bb5 in "Cygnus X-1 Book 1: The Voyage". For the record, the other famous Bb5 sung by a male singer in rock is the high note in "Bohemian Rhapsody", sung by Roger Taylor.

65. Geddy's range in general. Say what you will about his voice, but he had range.

64. Their pre-concert videos.

63. "Hey baby it's 7:45 and I need to go to bed soon, let's fuck"- In the Mood. The debut album was something else, man.

62. They wrote songs during soundcheck when they were on tour. This includes songs like "Tom Sawyer" and "Chemistry".

61. They went to a Yes concert while recording Caress of Steel, and almost quit making the album. I, for one, am very glad they didn't!

60. The "rap" in "Roll the Bones". Sit back, relax, get busy with the facts...

59. Gene Simmons thought they weren't into women because they didn't want to party with KISS. True story!

58. They listed their baseball positions in the liner notes for Signals.

57. Neil wrote lyrics to a song using only anagrams. The song is called "Anagram (For Mongo)", and is on the album Presto.

56. They thanked themselves in the liner notes for Hemispheres. Listed as Dirk, Lerxst, and Pratt, ofc!

55. They would challenge themselves to write last-minute songs. Results of this experiment include "Hand Over Fist" from Presto, and "Malignant Narcissism" from Snakes and Arrows.

54. The mere existence of "A Passage to Bangkok". I wonder what their thought process was to put a song about smoking weed around the world after a 20-minute long dystopian prog rock epic...

53. "La Villa Strangiato". Just... everything about it.

52. The kimonos. You know the ones!

51. Their nicknames for each other!! (see above)

50. They had the second-longest stable line up in rock music! The only ones with a longer stable line up was ZZ Top.

49. They had a 40-year career! Even longer if you include pre-Neil and their adventures since the R40 tour.

48. The synth era. I unapologetically love 80s Rush, especially Grace Under Pressure and Power Windows.

47. "The Necromancer" basically being self-insert Tolkien fanfic. I wonder who the "three travelers" are supposed to be... OH WAIT!

46. They're giant nerds. All prog bands are, but they are especially nerdy.

45. Hugh Syme's awesome album covers. He did every single one from Caress of Steel onwards, barring the front cover for Snakes and Arrows.

44. The 7/8 section in "Tom Sawyer". That was my first intermediate bass line! Thanks, Geddy!

43. They're Canadian icons. Unironically, they're the first thing that comes to mind when someone mentions "Canada" to me.

42. The horribly cheesy, terrible, but also really funny music video for "Time Stand Still". That song, btw, might be my favorite 80s Rush song, and is probably in my Top 5.

41. The triple-entendre pun of Moving Pictures. They're filming a movie (moving picture) of people moving paintings (moving pictures), while someone is getting moved by the scene (moving...pictures...).

40. They quote the 1812 Overture in the overture for "2112".

39. Geddy taught Les Claypool how to properly play "YYZ".

38. The Permanent Waves era glasses!

37. The opening of "Xanadu".

36. The weird stuff Geddy would have on his side of stage after he stopped using amps. This includes rotisserie chickens, washing machines, dryers, and popcorn machines.

35. "Music by Lee and Lifeson, Lyrics by Peart" on almost every single Rush song.

34. The ending of "Spirit of Radio". OF SALESMEN!!!

33. Their inside jokes. Example: The Bag.

32. They took French classes together, and began announcing their songs in French in Quebec.

31. The progressiveness of Counterparts. What other 40-year old rockstars were talking about healthy relationship boundaries and openly supporting gay people in 1993?

30. Their vaults are practically empty because they scrapped songs that weren't up to their standards. This is why we have no sub-par Rush material!

29. Choosing to end their careers with grace.

28. Ending the last show of their career with "Working Man", the song that got everything started.

27. "Dreamline"--"Learning that we're only immortal / For a limited time".

26. Geddy and Alex inducting Yes into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2017.

25. Then, of course, Geddy playing "Roundabout" with Yes during their induction! (Unfortunately, he did not play his Rickenbacker :( )

24. No decisions were made regarding the band without it being unanimous.

23. "Closer to the Heart". To me, that song is like a musical representation of their friendship, and it always leaves me with a warm, fuzzy feeling after listening to it.

22. Neil's books. Ghost Rider, in particular helped me get through a rough time earlier this year.

21. Geddy's Big Beautiful Book of Bass. I love that thing, and I am looking forward to his memoir in November!!!

20. That incredible Rickenbacker. I know it hasn't been his main bass since the early 80s but...

19. All their other creative projects. Geddy and Alex have a solo album each, Alex is involved with Envy of None rn, and Neil had his blog.

18. All their other stage interactions.

17. "ATTENTION ALL PLANETS OF THE SOLAR FEDERATION! WE HAVE ASSUMED CONTROL!" -"2112". Just... all of "2112".

16. They got me into prog. I wouldn't have this blog right now if it weren't for Rush.

15. The Lifeson chord. The F#7add11 voicing that you can hear in so many of their songs (it's the opening to "Cygnus X-1 Book II: Hemispheres").

14. Neil's drumming. They call him The Professor for a reason!

13. Geddy's bass playing. And his singing. And playing keys. And... yeah, we would be here all day!

12. The Dinner with Rush video. I make daily references to this that no one notices...

11. "The measure of a life / is a measure of love and respect"- "The Garden". The final song on their final album, and possibly the most amazing closer of all time.

10. Their charity work. IIRC, this includes giving away the aforementioned rotisserie chickens, as well as various fundraisers.

9. Their constant strive to improve themselves. Including Geddy working with a vocal coach, Neil working with Freddie Gruber, and of course, disavowing that Ayn Rand shit.

8. They give me something to strive towards, both as a musician and as a person. If I could make records half as good as Rush, and handle the fame with half the grace that they did, I would consider myself well-accomplished.

7. Neil's lyrics inspired me to get back into writing.

6. They inspired me to become a musician, and to pursue a career in music. If it wasn't for them, I wouldn't have stayed in choir or picked up bass, and I would've never considered a career in audio technology.

5. Their music helped me bond with my dad.

4. Geddy talking about his family's story of survival during the Holocaust. I think that's really important to talk about.

3. Other Rush fans. Well, okay, some of them like to brag about how many concerts they've been to, or tend to be a little gate-keep, but most of them are really chill people.

2. Their music helped me get through the toughest times in my life. Without getting too personal, I even credit them with saving my life on multiple occasions.

However, what I admire about Rush, above all else...

1. Their friendship with each other.

Once again, happy birthday Geddy! Your music has inspired me in so many ways, and I wouldn’t be the person I am today without it.

Wherever They May Roam: Jason Newsted

Jason Newsted was born on March 4, 1963 in Battle Creek, Michigan. His family would relocate to Kalamazoo when he was 14. His early family life would take place on a farm. The guitarist essentially was raised initially as a country boy. He would later say this in an interview. "It's where I learned about life – seeing a baby cow born right in front of your eyes when you're eight years old is pretty intense…I was from a very strong family and I was raised to be a strong, pure Americana farm boy." His mother began teaching him piano at the age of nine, but at the age of 14 he switched instruments to the bass guitar. Some of his musical heroes ironically included the same ones as a Cliff Burton like Lemmy Kilmister, Geezer Butler, and Geddy Lee. His inspiration for switching to bass came after listening to Gene Simmons of Kiss on an album. In 1981, Newsted left Michigan with the hopes of starting a band in California. He and a friend made it as far as Phoenix, not California. He helped to start a band called Dogz, which later became Flotsam and Jetsam in 1983. They specialized in the newly found genre of thrash metal. One of the bands that they looked up to at that time was none other than Metalica. Their debut album was released in 1986 on Metal Blade Records entitled Doomsday For the Deceiver. At that time, Newsted not only played bass, but he was also the primary songwriter and lyricist for the band. That same year, Metallica auditioned new bass guitarists following the tragic death of Cliff Burton. Although Flotsam and Jetsam had a bright future, Newsted decided that he would try out for Metallica. The bassist competed against 50 other guitarists auditioning for the job. They included bass players from other established bands like Trestament, Megadeth, Blind Illusion, and Heathen. Newsted would be the last one to audition, so in preparation he had learned most of the songs that the band would be playing for their next tour with Ozzy Osbourne. Upon walking into the audition, the bass player handed Lars Ulrich a list of all the songs he knew how to play. Metallica named Newsted their new bass player at a second meeting, where they had even invited his parents. His mother would say to him that day, “You are the one. Please, be safe."

His first live performance with the band would take place in July 1986 in Reseda, California. His first recording with the band would occur on the 598 EP: Garage Days Revisted followed by his first feature length album, And Justice For All. This became a less than auspicious debut for Newsted as the album’s bass could barely be heard at all causing Ulrich and Hetfield to complain at length about the production quality related to the mixing of the album. Newsted would go on to perform bass guitar on Metallica, Garage Inc., Load, Reload, and three live albums. He sang backing vocals on the tracks for “Creeping Death,” “Whiplash,” and “Seek and Destroy.” The guitarist co-wrote the songs “Blackened” and “My Friend For Misery” during his tenure with the band. His last performance with Metallica took place in November 2000 at the MTV Movie Awards.

On January 17, 2001, Jason Newsted announced his resignation from Metallica. The backstory to this will be discussed at length in my article on the St. Anger album. Newsted had wanted to pursue a side project called Echo Brain, but James Hetfield was quite vocal as to the fact that the band should reject any thought about such a thing. In a 2009 interview, he looked back at his decision to quit. “I tell you very honestly, one billion percent, I have never regretted leaving Metallica. It was the right thing for everyone. It was the right thing to do for the camp. That's it. I've never told anyone that I wanted to go back or anything like that—not once. I made up my mind. It was not an easy thing to do, but it was something I had to do. I thought about it very much before I pulled the trigger and because of that, I have never looked back. The past is where it's supposed to be." The aftermath of all this along with Hetfield going into rehab almost led to the break up of Metallica. Despite all this drama, the bassist remained good friends with the band even appearing on stage with them over the years including side-by-side with his replacement Robert Trujillo at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in 2009. The guitarist was subsequently inducted into the Hall of Fame with the rest of the group that night.

In 2002, Newsted joined the thrash metal group from Canada Voivod as their newest bass player. He would appear with them at Ozz Fest 2003. On that same tour, he filled in as the bass player for Ozzy Osbourne‘s band ironically because their bass player Robert Trujillo had left to join Metallica as Newsted’s replacement. He had discussed possibly making an album with Ozzy Osbourne, but following the completion of the tour these plans never saw the light of day. Jason went on to record two albums with Voivod, Katorz and Infini. For the latter album, the band’s website noted that Newstead played all the bass parts on that particular album. Sandwiched in between the release of these albums was his participation in a super group called Supernova. This was only meant to be temporary as it was based on a television show creating a new band using recognized musicians to find a new lead singer. In the fall of 2006, the guitarist injured his shoulder trying to move an amp head in his studio. This would lead to a hiatus from playing as he endured a lengthy rehab. Two things came out of this rehab, positive and negative. On the plus side, his girlfriend later his wife artist Nicole Leigh Smith encouraged him to begin painting, This is a hobby the guitarist still continues to this day. His first gallery showing took place in 2010 with many of his original paintings being sold. Newstead said that his artwork is quite similar to his music, crazy and colorful. On the negative side, Newsted relapsed into his addiction to pain killers, which he had struggled with earlier in his career. The good news is the guitarist has said that he has not touched a painkiller since 2010. More recently, Newstead has been involved in three other projects. In 2010, he participated in a super group called WhoCares, which included Ian Gillian, keyboardist Jon Lord from Deep Purple, guitarist Tony Iommi from Black Sabbath, second guitarist Mikko Lindström from HIM, and drummer Nicko McBrain from Iron Maiden. The group created two tracks for charity including “Out of My Mind” and “Holy Water,” which was sold online. In 2012, he formed his own group called Newstead, which would go on to release an EP and a debut album called Heavy Metal Music. Any reference to the group has faded away since 2014 as the guitarist noted the project became a little too costly as he had to put up most of the money for it. “It cost me an awful lot of money – hundreds of thousands of dollars to take the Newsted band around to the 22 countries we played." In 2016, the guitarist formed an acoustic group call Jason Newsted and the Chop House Band. The group has performed a variety of live dates in small venues around the country in the past few years.

Die Another Day - #24WeeksofBond

24 Weeks of Bond hits the low point this week with Pierce Brosnan’s swan song as 007 in “Die Another Day”.  Oh man, there is just so much to say and unpack about this movie, it’s hard to put into summary every which way this film fails to deliver.  This film came at a cross-roads for film goers who still loved Bond, but were starting to grow a little tired of the hokey-ness and sleaze of James Bond and were wanting something a little rougher.  “The Bourne Identity” had come out just a few months prior to high praise for it’s hard hitting, intense, stripped-down style...it was fresh.  A few months later “Die Another Day” comes out with an older Pierce Brosnan, some god awful writing and cartoonish cinematography.  Change needed to happen, and this movie would mark the end of the sex puns, over the top gadgets, and far fetched scenarios.

Listen, I LOVE Bond.  I really have a hard time saying a Bond movie is bad...but this movie. is. bad.  This is a tale of two films. The first half is an action packed drama that is gritty, and dark and the second half is like watching a Joel Schumacher Batman film (the one where Batman has nipples).  The plot is also a rip off of “Diamonds Are Forever” and constantly goes for the cheap pop - bringing out all the old gadgets and familiar looking scenes for the 40th anniversary of Bond.  There is just so much trash talk to shell out here, but let’s start with the good stuff.

Die Another Day actually starts out quite promising and delivers a thrilling pre-title sequence with Bond infiltrating a North Korean Army base where he has stolen the clothing of a man trading African Conflict Diamonds for some weapons with a Colonel of the North Korean military and his stooge Zao.  Bond is eventually found out but manages to escape the firing squad to chase down Colonel Moon on a HOVERCRAFT!  Pretty neat.  Colonel Moon eventually runs out of road and takes a fall appearing to be slain, but Bond is caught again by Moon’s dad and for the next 14 months, Bond will be held prisoner and tortured.

I always liked how they utilized the title sequence to take us through Bond’s captivity (even though we are forced to listen to Madonna’s over produced and just flat out weird song...what’s the deal with the random “Sigmund Freud” lyric?).  Though the song is hard on the ear drums, it does a great job in providing an aura of despair and pain in the torture aspect of the title sequence...maybe because the song is torture?

We come back from Madonna, and Jesus Bond is now being traded for Zao who has diamonds permanently implanted in his face from Bond’s intrusion.  This makes Bond angry and makes him question why MI6 would give Zao up.  M is also pissed about it, it appears that there is someone who is playing MI6 for fools.  M is so mad that she essentially burns Bond and relieves him of his 00 status, but this doesn’t stop Bond from forcing himself into cardiac arrest to escape and find out who is behind all of this.

See?  Starts out great!  If only they can keep this momentum going...(spoiler alert: they can’t)

Another positive about this movie is a great fencing scene with Bond and Gustav Graves (Toby Stephans).  I've just always been tickled by how much this scene escalates from a little game of fencing to an all out sword fight.  It is one of the few highlights of the film, complete with a cameo made by Madonna...something I’m sure she negotiated to sign on for the Bond theme.  Get that payday, Madonna!

Well thats about all the positive I can muster for this film.  It’s time to take the gloves off.  Die Another Day’s wheels start to come loose when Bond is in Cuba looking for Zao...during this time, he meets Jinx (Halle Berry), and the dialogue that will unfold, sounds like the writer brought in his perverted nephew, who is just out of high school, looking to write a scene to get his friends to laugh when they watch it in his parents basement.  Halle Berry is the victim of poor writing, and possibly poor directing, yes, but she also tries WAY too hard to be a cool, witty, and deadly agent.  I’ll give Berry the benefit of the doubt to an extent, but I really think she just over acted here.

On top of that - Brosnan and Berry have absolutely ZERO chemistry.  Brosnan is no spring chicken anymore, so we are supposed to believe a woman like Halle Berry would welcome the advances from a bird watcher in his mid-50′s who says Mojito really weird?  Come on.  And the obvious dick jokes and creepiness from Bond who is foaming at the mouth, desperate for sex after being tortured for over a year makes this scene so uncomfortable to watch.

But we later come to find out that Jinx is more than just a reincarnation of Honey Ryder from Dr. No...she is also a secret agent that seems to never take anything seriously and in the face of death by laser, still has time for jokes.  We find out Zao is trying to do gene-therapy treatment to change his identity to someone else.  Much like Colonel Moon had done, turning himself into the man we will come to know as Gustav Graves.  The adrenaline filled, publicity junky, billionaire with an eye for diamonds.

Speaking of over acting, Toby Stephans puts out a good effort with the Gustav Graves character but he is just so over the top with his “evil” looks that there is no denying that he is indeed the villain.  Some of the best villains in cinema and television are villains that get you to like them.  They play to your emotions, let you in on their dark secrets, give you a smile and a laugh, maybe even make you connect with them in a twisted way...but Graves lets you know by his nostril flares and angry glares, that you couldn’t possibly like him if you tried.

Graves invites Bond to his party in Iceland, (isn’t Greenland the icy one?). This is when the movie goes off the rails completely, the second half of the film that looks like the props, sets, and lighting design were borrowed from the Power Rangers.  This ridiculous ice palace accompanied by the super ridiculous revelation of the “Icarus” - a satellite made out of diamonds (exactly like Diamonds are Forever) is just so off-putting. The Icarus shoots a beam as powerful as the sun and can also be used as a freakin sun beam death laser from the sky.  Yes, you heard that right.  At one point Bond is involved in a chase where he is being tailed by a sun beam death laser from the sky.  This leads to the most cringe worthy scene in all of Bond...Bond escapes by CGI surfing.

I’ve said before, one of the aspects of the Bond films that makes the series so successful is the heavy emphasis on real stunts.  REAL STUNTS.  Director Lee Tamahori thought it would be fun to amp up the CGI because he thought that CGI was the future of the Bond franchise, oh was he sorely mistaken. He also thought it would be a good idea to insert a bunch of slow motion shots throughout the movie, they were going for the ‘Matrix effect’ but it did not play well.  It’s choppy and pixilated and just ruins any momentum they managed to build up - it just ends up being annoying. 

If that wasn’t bad enough, Q Branch comes out to “Jump the Shark” by delivering an invisible car.  Really?  This is just another example of the theme of this film taking everything one step too far.  But maybe you could argue that that is what we needed in order to know what our threshold as a Bond audience is.  You could say that maybe Die Another Day was the most important film in the canon for that reason.  Maybe Die Another Day was the sacrificial lamb to fall on it’s own sword to prevent us from going in that direction again, maybe...this movie SAVED THE BOND FRANCHISE??

Eh, Now I’m just devil’s advocating myself.  This is thee worst Bond movie of all time and anyone who says differently has no idea what they are talking about, or are just trying to be ‘Ironic’, or whatever.  This film ends with Gustav Graves becoming an electrifying super-shredder villain whose design was probably stolen from the Mega-Man video games.  The final battle taking place on a plane that is crashing due to a window being knocked out and is also being destroyed by the Sun Beam death laser from the sky.  In other words...more CGI.

And to top it all off, we end on another uncomfortable scene with Bond and Jinx again, spitting out blatant toilet humor dialogue making us think that they are getting busy, but it turns out Bond is just putting diamonds in her belly button (which she really wants to leave in for some reason).  Traditionally, a Bond movie would end with some witty pun being the last bit of dialogue you would hear before credits, but this...I still can’t figure out how this left the writer’s table. 

Bond: “I'm still not quite sure how good you are.”

Jinx: “I’m sooo good...”

Bond: “Especially when you’re bad.”

huh??  It’s not even a pun, it just doesn’t make sense.

Honestly, you can tell Brosnan is thinking “who the hell wrote this shit?” while he is delivering that final line.  sigh.  The good news is that we can only go up from here!  This would be Brosnan’s final performance as James Bond, even though he publicly announced he was going to do another one.  Didn’t quite work out that way, the film studio eventually phased him out, leaving Brosnan at curbside.  Probably for the best, Brosnan was great for that time, but the pressure was on for change.  And change we would get - with Daniel Craig.

That’s all for me tonight, let me know why you hated this movie!

Reviews from Friends:

Tyler Dahlgren

See I like Toby’s Graves. That guy plays despicable well (Black Sails anyone?). It’s the redeeming part of the movie for me. That and the car. I love the Aston Martins, let’s stick to those.

Andrew Albertsen

I think the whole movie should’ve just been about Bond’s incarceration and torture and eventual escape.

My Mom

Sam you don’t mention Rosemund Pike in your review. I thought she made an outstanding ice queen. This had its moments and I do love Pierce Brosnan as Bond but this film was way too long and too much continuous action. A person tunes out.

Jake Benrud

The end of an era. All the gadgets and the over the top villains complete with "diamond face" and a genetically modified psychopath with daddy issues. I don't understand why he needed to drive his car in the ice palace in the first place. Also, that was an epic dive by Halle Berry.

24 Weeks of Bond will return next Monday with - 

Quantum of Solace

An essay on why Mama Mia is about a bunch of sirens and takes place in the same universe as Kingsman

Buckle your seatbelts kids, and let me tell why all the leading ladies in Mama Mia are sirens and how this applies to Kingsman. (and James Bond, sometimes)

So it’s the 80’s and Kingsman is keeping tabs on MI6, as they do, when they see that they’ve sent 007 to Greece of all places. Merlin assumes that this is because of the very bizarre reports they’ve been getting about possible mind control drugs, and when 007 is reported being seen with Donna (Meryl Streep), he sends Harry out under the guise of Harry Bright.

Off he goes, discovers that there are, in fact, no drugs, and comes back. All is fine and dandy, no one is any the wiser of the siren thing, and nothing happens for twenty years or so. But then Harry gets an invite to a wedding, Merlin catches wind that 007 is also going, and yeah that’s a little suspicious, so Harry gets sent back off to Greece.

“Remember that Harry Bright is not spontaneous and a dork,” Merlin reminds Harry as he ships him off. 

Queue Mama Mia, the movie, and Harry getting dragged into a bunch of song and dance routines while Merlin makes sure to record every second for posterity. Merlin eventually figures out that it’s not mind control drugs, it just so happens that Donna and Co are sirens and are much more powerful in numbers than they are on their own. Both Donna and Sophie are a good deal stronger than Donna’s friends, but that’s neither here nor there. They also have zero interest in using their powers for any purpose except for seducing the occasional person and throwing really wild parties. So he tells Harry to ride it out, which is why Harry pays for part of the wedding (with Kingsman money), and also claims to be 1/3 of Sophie’s dad even though there is no way that she’s his because Kingsman has all their agents on birth control. Even though there is nothing worth seeing (from a Kingsman perspective), Merlin has Harry stay for the rest of the wedding, James Bond gets married, and Harry has a brief fling with that Greek dude because why the hell not.

Merlin does a bit more research on sirens, and discovers the following;

Sirens are pack/school/pod whatever creatures and their powers are amplified in a group setting. The more of them there are, the more convincing they are, and can pretty much get entire crowds to join in. Since humans are also group based creatures, once there's a large enough group doing an activity, others are likely to jump in even if they aren't as easily effected. (like in flash mobs! there's always randos joining in)

Their powers are centred in suggestion, and since song is a really great way to get people to remember things, singing always works best for sirens. Plus makes it easier for other sirens to be in sync, vs just shouting things at random.

While sirens did use to bash ships onto rocks and lead men to their deaths, they only did so to protect their own territory. But now there’s laws against that, and also things like wifi. Sirens like youtube videos of baby animals just as much as the rest of us.

Sirens can’t really use their powers on each other; it’s just very tempting for other sirens to join in when they’re singing. There’s a certain pull there, but it’s easily resisted.

The siren gene is passed down on the mother's side, but not all sirens are female; there are male sirens, but they're a lot rarer just since there is a guarantee that female offspring will be sirens, but there's only a 50/50 shot that the male one will be. Female offspring are also more common, occurring 75% of the time.

And now let’s get back to Kingsman under the cut. 

Because you know who is a siren? Michelle Unwin, that’s who. I have evidence for this, but we’ll get to that later so bear with me. Like I said before, sirens are highly social, group based creatures; so when Michelle fell in love with Lee, it was VERY difficult for her to leave her family. But she loved him, there were tearful goodbyes and promises to visit the little coastal town she was from, but it wasn't on any main rail lines and they were busy with baby Eggsy and then Lee had to go off and join Kingsman and die. So while Michelle used to sing to Eggsy when he was a baby, she gets too depressed after Lee’s death and is trying to keep the two of them afloat, so she stops singing entirely.

Once Dean comes around, Michelle hasn't sung in years, because any songs of grief she would have sung for Lee would have been group based, as all siren songs are, and she hasn't been around any other sirens in years. She's too buried in her grief to consider going back to her family, and has lost contact anyhow, and then she meets Dean and she’s stuck there.

She's not 100% certain that Eggsy is a siren, but she forbids him from ever singing along with anything. Probably under the guise of 'Dean will hate it' or something, maybe even going as far as to telling him that Dean had complained about the quality of his voice (which is MASSIVELY taboo in siren culture, to tell another siren that their singing voice isn't up to par; that's just not a thing. It's not something you can ever say with any breadth of kindness) Eggsy is a good kid though, so he doesn't sing, even when he gets the urge.

He doesn’t sing at all until Daisy is born, and even then he’ll only sing when it's just the two of them, and only when she's upset. But even then it's super quietly, and only bits and pieces of a song. Daisy will always calm down when he sings, will just stare up at him and wave her tiny fists around happily or just go to sleep. Since Daisy is female, she’s for sure a siren (it's why Michelle was so terrified, when she called Eggsy in hysterics and demanded he come home from the army; she couldn't protect a baby from Dean by herself if she started to show her abilities). Singing and talking happens around the same time for baby sirens, and in the same way you can't forbid a baby from screaming or crying, you can’t forbid them to start singing if they get the urge. Since Eggsy sings to her, sometimes, she still has that social aspect that keeps the siren powers ‘awake’, even if it's weak. So her cries don't bring everyone running, but it does keep Dean and his men from trying to do anything unfortunate to keep her quiet. Sometimes they'll start to push past it, but once they get close enough to her crib she'll shriek loud enough that the 'back off' message is just strong enough to get them to leave her alone. Even baby sirens aren't helpless.

Side note; sirens have larger lung capacities which they use for singing, and are great swimmers because their preferred habitats are islands and they’d swim out to crash ships to protect them. Which is why Eggsy can hold his breath so long in that water test in comparison to the others.

Here’s how this ties back in properly to Kingsman; Valentine’s tech were based off of siren song. Originally, they were trying to reproduce it to the point so they could, like sirens, suggest a specific idea. That proved to be too complex though, so they settled for just suggesting a certain emotion, and then amp that frequency the hell up. So when the devices go off, Michelle has been suppressing her siren abilities for a solid seventeen years or so, so she gets drawn into it though. Daisy though? Daisy has been using it on and off, and she’s nearly a toddler when V-Day happens. Toddlers are entirely capable of the feeling of anger, and at the very least she should be throwing a temper tantrum, but instead she just sits in the bathroom and gets upset while her mother goes berserk and tries to murder her. Latent siren powers, huzzah!

Anywho, the rest of the Kingsman film goes as scripted, Eggsy becomes Gwaine, Harry comes back from the dead, neither Roxy nor Merlin die, Eggsy does not move out of Harry’s house, time passes, Harry and Eggsy get together, etc etc. I should mention that I have not seen Mama Mia 2 yet so we’re just going to ignore everything that happens there, but Harry gets an invite to Greece. Merlin insists that not only does he need more data points on siren abilities, especially post V-Day, Harry needs a vacation, and MI6 is there so he has to go. Harry points out that James Bond lives there with Donna, and therefore it doesn’t count as MI6 having a presence. Harry argues until Merlin mentions he’ll be sending Eggsy with him as backup, and suddenly Harry is thrilled to see his 1/3 daughter.

Both Eggsy and Harry work on some resistance training against siren song best they can, which is pretty easy because Harry has been actively been working on it since V-Day. Meanwhile Eggsy is a. stubborn as all hell b. has spent nearly his whole life resisting the urge to sing, which is half of the deal. They get to Greece, and Sophie IMMEDIATELY takes a shine to Eggsy, and is absolutely thrilled that Harry found someone to be happy with. Eggsy thinks Sophie is great, and that dorky Harry Bright is adorable. After the first few days though Eggsy is fairly stressed because he’s surrounded by several very powerful sirens and keeps resisting their siren songs, AND Harry keeps getting viciously hit on by everyone. I mean they're hitting on Eggsy too, but he doesn't notice because he's too busy being territorial; there is a very tan Greek man who keeps making doe eyes at Harry because they shacked up last time. (fun fact, greek dude from Mama Mia is also a siren, Merlin is cackling in the background)

The power keeps building as the third day goes around, and that night is when the party REALLY starts. Sirens feed off of group emotions, which is why they’re always so quick to cheer each other up, since otherwise you can end up bumming out everyone in the vicinity. It’s also one of the reasons that Valentine’s tech worked so well; the more people got involved, the more powerful it got. Anyways, by that point Eggsy’s jealousy has built and he’s fairly worn down by the constant barrage of “let’s throw a rager and flirt with everything that moves” mood the sirens have been throwing off the entire day. So when the karaoke thing starts, and Sophie goads him into doing a song, Eggsy is like “Yeah fuck it who cares if my voice is shit I am getting my ass up there here goes”.

Meanwhile Harry is also concerned because he’s been living with Eggsy for a year now and has never heard him sing, not even at Daisy’s birthday party where everyone sang and he just mumbled along. So he’s viciously texting Merlin about how he thinks that Eggsy has been effected and is going to make a fool of himself or something against his will, and please delete the recording as soon as it’s over, and then never bring it up. In the meantime Eggsy has vaulted up onto the stage, still stubborn and scowling, but once he gets up there he realises that he’s on a makeshift stage and has never sung anything before in his life. But he commits, because Sophie is giving him a thumbs up, and he’s not going to climb back off the stage now, is he?

Sophie puts on ‘Lay All Your Love On Me’ and while Eggsy is a little shy for the opening line or two, by the time the chorus starts he’s completely into it. By the second chorus the rest of the sirens have joined in, and Eggsy has jumped off the stage so that he can confidently put himself in Harry’s lap and is generally radiating such a strong ‘back the FUCK off’ vibe that he’s cleared a good sized circle around them. Donna is thrilled and is shouting things like “YOU TELL EM BOY” and Sophie is cackling because she’s placed bets on whether or not Eggsy had siren blood in him and will be collecting good money that night.

Harry is entirely shocked at first, and Merlin is 50% thrilled because this will be so useful and 50% pissed off because how did they not know about this earlier?!

The rest of the trip goes very well, aside from some shenanigans about whether or not James Bond is James Bond (Harry and Eggsy both swear that they’ve met James Bond, but Eggsy insists that that’s not him, because James Bond is blonde and blue eyed and together with MI6’s version of Merlin, and that’s how they figure out that James Bond is as much of a title as Galahad is), Sophie and Eggsy bond and she gives him a bunch of super secret siren tips that Merlin really wishes he hadn’t overheard. There’s singing, there’s dancing, etc etc.

Once Merlin gets over the things he heard and Eggsy and Harry get back to HQ, he already has a bunch of tests for Eggsy lined up. Which is how Eggsy and Roxy get locked in a sound proof room while Merlin hangs out on the other side of a sheet of soundproof glass with a mic and a cup of tea while Eggsy tries to get Roxy to join in on a duet of a Spice Girls song. That then inspires Merlin, and Eggsy finds himself staring down Roxy saying "tell me what you want, what you really really want" in various intonations to see if they could possibly use Eggsy's abilities as a truth serum. ((The answer is no, in part because Roxy can’t stop laughing))

They discover that Eggsy's powers mostly extend to people who are either susceptible to a good mental push (like drunk people, or those of particularly weak constitutions) or people who are letting themselves be pushed (like Harry, if they're alone and he's feeling like indulging Eggsy's brattiness). But as Merlin puts it "Unless we have an influx of targets hanging out in karaoke bars or greek islands, I don't know that it'll come up often”.

Oh and when they need more recruits Eggsy nominates Sophie. She’s been taught to fight by James Bond in the past few years so she has a leg up there, but she passes with flying colours and joins Kingsman.

Anyways thanks for coming to my TED talk on why Harry Bright is just Harry Hart’s cover and Eggsy and the ladies from Mama Mia are all sirens.

CLAUS BACHOR

[ Dash One / R.B.R. / Boozter / Blast From The Past | Psycho Thrill Recordings | Authentic Music | Sky's Ablaze Records | BangTech12 DET | GOLZHEIM/ GHM | SpyInTheHouse / 674.fm,  Cologne / GER ]

Brief bio of a DJ: PSYCHO THRILL Cologne-founder CLAUS BACHOR is one of the German long-term House and Techno DJs at all, and as friends in Detroit say "he's been doing this as long as anybody else that we know! His sets can range from classic Disco & old school House classics all the way to the darkest, bangin' techno that you've ever heard!" However, he's not standing still yet: The Psycho Thrill club and vinyl label run by him has just turned 27 and Bachor is still doing bookings all over Europe, the United States and beyond. Keep reeding more via Soundcloud Bio  RAVE CLUB COLOGNE:  In the course of history, clubs have been emerging and disappearing in European metro areas like the tides. Yet, some of Cologne’s night life strongholds such as LOVERS CLUB/DISCO INFERNO, PIMPERNEL, COCONUT, LE BATEAU or MOROCO have managed to leave stable marks in terms of quality standards regarding Funk, Disco, Electro, Hi-NRG, Proto-House and club hedonism/escapism within the steady quicksand of Cologne’s club history via their protagonists JOE (Coconut 1976-81), CAROL MARTIN (Moroco since 1981) and KLAUS STOCKHAUSEN (Coconut 1981-83 / then FRONT Hamburg), as well as through club icons like the well-known keeper BOGDAN since the mid 70s, and quite a few of the present clubbing generations still feel a lot of admiration for them. As these were slowly absorbed by mainstream’s vortex with new club venues like PICCIONAIA and NEUSCHWANSTEIN in the mid 80s, new alternative quality guardians of pure Soul/Northern Soul and Funk such as SOULFUL SHACK appeared on the scene, one who was tightly connected to the former Cologne SPEX desk, whose editorial core of authors like GERALD HÜNDGEN, OLAF KARNIK, LOTHAR GORRIS, DIRK SCHEURING and RALF NIEMCZYK, as well as the fellow DJs MICHAEL REINBOTH [later Compost, Munich] and MARKUS JÄHNING, set the initiative towards a clearly perceptible program club for the Soulful Shack topic and Hip Hop/House at the beginning of 1988.   Keep reeding more via RAVE CLUB 1988/89

without the past … there’s no phuture … these alltime RAVE CLUB COLOGNE essentials in alphabetical order only

01 4-PLAY: Nastyness _ Mona Mixx [ A1-Track from Bigshot Records US 128035 US 12” | 1988 ] 02 A GUY CALLED GERALD: Blow Your House Down [ B2-Track from “Voodo Ray” RHAM! RS 8804 UK 12” | 1988 ] 03 A GUY CALLED GERALD: FX _ The Elevation Mix [ A-Track from Subscape Records ACGCT 001 UK 12“ | 1989 ] 04 A GUY CALLED GERALD: Voodoo Ray _ The Ricky Rouge Remix [ RHAM! RX8804 / Skysaw Music UK 12” | 1989] 05 ADONIS feat. GARY B.: No Way Back _ Vocal Mix [ Trax 112 US 12” | 1986 ] 06 ADONIS pres. THE ENDLESS POKER'S [FLEX, AMP, PERCY RICHBLOOD]: !Poke! _ Your Turn 2 Work Mix [ D.J. International 909 US 12” | 1986 ] 07 AKASA: One Night In My Life _ It's Time [ B1-Track from WEA Records YZ403T UK Promo-12” | 1989 ] 08 AMBASSADORS OF FUNK [SIMOM HARRIS]: Everybody [ B2-Track from Next Plateau 50100 US 12” | 1989 ] 09 BABY FORD: Oochy Koochy _ Konrad Cadet Mix [ Rhythm King RBFord 001 UK 12” | 1988 ] 10 BAM-BAM: Give It To Me _ Club Mix [ Westbrook 105 US 12” | 1988 ] 11 BAM-BAM: Where's Your Child? [ Westbrook Records 107 US 12” | 1988 ] 12 BEFORE THE STORM: I’ve Got The Music _ Tony Humphries’ Club Mix [ Movin’ Records 001 US 12” | 1987 ] 13 BEN MAYS: X-Rated_ Bam-Bam's Club Mix [ Desire Records WANTX-021 US Promo-12” | 1989 ] 14 BLACK HAVANA pres. SOUND FACTORY: Cuban Gigolo _ Kurtis Mantronik Remix [ B2-Track from Syncopate 1004 UK Promo-12” | 1989 ] 15 BLACK RIOT [TODD TERRY]: A Day In The Life _ Club Mix [ Fourth Floor Records 1089 US 12” | 1988 ] 16 BLAKE BAXTER: Does Not Compute [ B2 from KMS 011 US 12” | 1988 ] 17 BLAKE BAXTER: Get Layed [ A2 from KMS 011 US 12” | 1988 ] 18 BLAKE BAXTER: In This House We Jack [ B2-Track from “Jackmaster Vol.4” Westside Records JACKLP505 / D.J.International Records UK 2x12” | 1989 ] 19 BLAKE BAXTER: Sexuality [ Incognito IR 112688 _ Misspress US 12” | 1988 ] 20 BOU KHAN: Magic _ Magical Mix [ Quark Records 009 US 12” | 1988 ] 21 BRANDON COOKE feat. ROXANNE SHANTE: Sharp As A Knife _ Acid Attack [ Phonogram JABX 073 UK 12” | 1988 ] 22 BURRELL [RHEJI BURRELL & RONALD BURRELl]: Put Your Trust In The Music _ L.A.'s Garage Mix [ Ten Records Ltd. 264 UK Promo-12” | 1989 ] 23 CANDY J: Hurt Me! Hurt Me! _ Dueleme! Dueleme! Mix [ A3-Track from Eecho USA Music 023 US 12“ | 1989 ] 24 CHANELLE: One Man _ Frankie Knuckles' One Mix [ A-Side from Profile Records 7241 US Promo-12” | 1989 ] 25 CHAOS [ANNE & KEVIN SAUNDERSON] feat. SIMIANNE: Definition Of Love _ Underground Techno-Nition Mix [ A1-Track from KMS Records 023 US 12” | 1989 ] 26 CHARLEY CASANOVA & CHEP NUNEZ: Casanova's Revenge _ Chep's Down [ B1 from Invasion 7248 / Profile US 12” | 1989 ] 27 CHILLY T: Work The Wax _ Freestyle Mix [ A2-Track from Dance Mania 024 US 12” | 1989 ] 28 CHUBB ROCK with HOWIE TEE: Ya' Bad Chubbs _ Crib Mix [ Select FMS 62336 US 12” | 1989 ] 29 CYNTHIA MT: I Can't Stop _ Bam Bam' House Mix [ Dance Mania Records 014 US 12” | 1988 ] 30 D.F.X. [C.DONATO]: Relax Your Body [ London Street FTM 31634 / Zig Zag UK 12” | 1989 ] 31 DA REBELS [HULA & K.FINGERS]: It's Time To Jack The House [ B1-Track from Clubhouse Records 103 US 12” | 1989 ] 32 DANCER [SIDNEY WINTERS]: Boom-Boom _ Frankie Knuckles Mix [ B-Side from Trax Records 153 US 12” | 1987 ] 33 DANCER: Number Nine _ Bedroom Mix [ A2 from Trax Records 160 US 12” | 1988 ] 34 DENISE M [DENISE MIDDLETON]: Do You Love Me? _ Acid Down Mix [ B2-Track from D.J. International 983 US 12” | 1989 ] 35 DICE [DYCE & MALKANI]: I Can´t Take It [ Production House 001 / Handle Music UK 12” | 1987 ] 36 DIE WARZAU [JIM MARCUS & VAN CHRISTIE]:  Bodybag / Shakedown _ The Ralphie Rosario Remixes [ A3/B3-Tracks from Fiction Records ‎879 099-1 US Promo-12” | 1989 ] 37 DIVA [AELENE COUTEE & VICTOR MITCHEL]: Get Up _ Club Mix [ Express Records 015 US 12” | 1989 ] 38 DOUG LAZY [GENE DOUGLAS FINLEY]: Let It Roll _ Vocal Mix [ A1-Track from Atlantic 86407 US 12” | 1989 ] 39 ECSTASY CLUB: Jesus Loves The Acid _ Acid Chant [ A-Side from Swordfish Records Drop001 UK 12” | 1988 ] 40 EDWARD CROSBY & SINGING DJ: Party Time Remix _ Party Dub [ B2-Track from Get Down Records 101 US 12” | 1989 ] 41 EDWARDS & ARMANI: Sex _ Acid House Mix [ MG Records 66006 / Indisc BEL 12” | 1988 ] 42 EQUATION [RONALD BURRELL]: The Answer _ Frankie Bones Long Division Mix [ A-Side from Nu Groove / Strictly Underground 003 UK Promo-12” | 1989 ] 43 E-ZEE POSSEE: Everything Begins With An “E” _ Original Mix [ More Protein 112 UK WL-12” | 1989 ] 44 FALLOUT [LENNY DEE & TOMMY MUSTO]: The Morning After _ Sunrise Mix [ A-Side from Fourth Floor Rec. 887 US 12” | 1987 ] 45 FANTASY CLUB [BAD BOY BILL & MIKE “HITMAN” WILSON]: Mystery Girls ... Set Me Free _ 4 Track Mix [ B2-Track from International House Records 002 US 12” | 1987 ] 46 FARLEY 'JACKMASTER' FUNK & THE SHY BOYZ: U Ain't Really House _ Really House [ B1-Track from House Records 025 US 12” | 1987 ] 47 FAST EDDIE: Acid Thunder _ Smooth Thunder [ A1-Track from D.J.International Records 961 US 12” | 1988 ] 48 FB3 [THE FUN BOY THREE]: Faith, Hope & Charity _ Dancin' Danny D Remix [ A-Side from Cooltempo Records / Virgin 004 UK Promo-12” | 1989 ] 49 FINAL CUT [ANTHONY SROCK, GREG LUCAS, JEFF MILLS, JOSEPH LAFATA, MAX EDGIN, VAN CHRISTIE]: I Told You Not To Stop [ B3-track from "Deep In 2 The Cut" Full Effect Records FE-0700 US LP | 1989 ] 50 FINAL CUT: The House Has Landed _ This Cut [ B1-Track from Full Effect Records 18560 US 12” | 1988 ] 51 FINGERS INC. feat. ROBERT OWENS: Can You Feel It _ Vocal Version [ A1-Track from Jack Trax 020 UK 12” | 1988 ] 52 FINGERS INC. feat. ROBERT OWENS: Mystery Of Love _ Club Mix [ A1-Track from D.J. International Records 892 US 12” | 1986 ] 53 FORGEMASTERS: Shall We ... [ B-Side from Warp Records 001 / Outer Rhythm UK Promo-12” | 1989 ] 54 FRANKIE “BONES”: We Call It Techno _ House Mix [ A1-Track from Breaking Bones Records 400 US 12” | 1989 ] 55 FRANKIE BONES: And The Break Goes Acid _ Break Boys UK Acid Remix [ A1-Track from "Bonesbraks Vol.2" Underworld Records 135 / Apexton US 12” | 1988 ] 56 FRANKIE KNUCKLES pres. SATOSHI TOMIE: Tears _ Classic Vocal Mix [ ffrr Records 886-665 US 12” | 1989 ] 57 FREAKY D.: It's Just One Of Those Things Mix _ Club Mix [ A1-Track from New Jersey Sounds 07633 US Promo-12” | 1989 ] 58 FRONT 242: Headhunter _ V1.0 [ A-Side from SPV 501393 / Play It Again Sam DE Promo-12” | 1988 ] 59 FRONT 242: Masterhit _ Part 1 Masterblaster [ A-Side from Wax Trax! 036 US 12” | 1987 ] 60 GENE HUNT: Living In A Land [ A-Side from Housetime Records 1015 / Trax US 12” | 1989 ] 61 HOUSE MASTER BALDWIN feat. PARIS GREY: Don’t Lead Me _ Medusa’s House Mix [ Future Sound Records 1002 US 12” | 1987 ] 62 HULA [LAMAR HULA MAHONE]: Hot Hands [ B3-Track from “Acid Tracks Vol.2” Trax 5004 LP US 12” | 1988 ] 63 HUMANOID: Stakker Humanoid _ Mix #1 [ Westside Records 010 UK Promo-12” | 1988 ] 64 INNER CITY feat. PARIS GREY: Big Fun _ Magic Juan Mix [ KMS Records 015 US 12” | 1987 ] 65 INNER CITY: Do You Love What you Feel _ Mike "Hitman" Wilson's Techno Mix [ A2-Track from Virgin Records 96539 / 10 Records US 12” | 1989 ] 66 JACK E MAKOSSA [ARTHUR BAKER]: The Opera House _ African Mix [ B1-Track from Minimal Records 002 / Criminal Rec. US 12” | 1987 ] 67 JAMES “JACK RABBIT”: Let Us Have Love _ Step By Acid [ B2-Track from Housetime Records 1007 / Trax Records US 12” | 1989 ] 67 JEANNETTE “JT” THOMAS: Shake Your Body _ House Shaker Version [ Chicago Connection MB-8610 US 12” | 1987 ] 68 JESSIE JONES pres. LIZ TORRES: No More Mind Games [ A-Side from Jack Tracks JTX-001 US Promo-12” | 1988 ] 69 JOE SMOOTH feat. ANTHONY THOMAS: Promised Land _ Club Mix [ A-Side from D.J. International Records 905 US 12” | 1987 ] 70 JOMANDA: I'll Give It To You _ The Stretch Mix [ B1-Track from Quark Records 005 US 12” | 1987 ] 71 K.ALEXI SHELBY: All For Lee-Sah [ A-Side from Transmat 008 US 12” | 1989 ] 72 K.C.F. PRODUCTIONS: Go Ahead London _ Acid Mix [ B2-Track from G.T.I. DEBU-001 UK Promo-12” | 1989 ] 73 K.C.FLIGHTT: Let's Get 74 Jazzy _ Blaze Dope Dub Mix [ A2-Track from TMT Records 001 US 12” | 1987 ] 75 K-ALEXI SHELBY AND MCD-TA OF THE K.A.POSSE: Dig This _ K.A.After Hours Mix [ A1-Track from Underground 131 / D.J.International Records US 12” | 1989 ] 76 KARIYA: Let Me Love You For Tonight _ House Club Version [ Sleeping Bag UK4T UK 12” | 1988 ] 77 KC FLIGHT: Planet E _ Acid Drop Mix [ B1-Track from Popular / RCA 8897 US 12” | 1989 ] 78 KENNY JAMMIN' JASON with “FAST” EDDIE SMITH: Can U Dance _ Bonus Jack [ D.J. International Records 932 US 12” | 1987 ] 79 KEVIN SAUNDERSON: The Groove That Won’t Stop [ KMS Records 014 US 12” | 1988 ] 80 KEYNOTES [KEVIN SAUNDERSON]: Let's Let's Let's Dance _ Party Mix [ A-Side from Incognito Records 80187 / KMS US 12” | 1987 ] 81 KING SUN [SUN BORN-R]: On The Club Tip [ A-Side from Zakia Records 7254 / Profile Records US 12” | 1989 ] 82 KISS AMC: A Bit Of ... U2 _ Club Mix [ B-Side from Chrysalis 029 / EMI UK 12” | 1989 ] 83 KLANGWERK [PETER ZWEIER, ALEXANDER ABRAHAM & THORSTEN FENSLAU]: Klangwerk _ Warte Bis Es Dunkel Ist [ A-Side from Abfahrt / ZYX Records 6194 DE 12” | 1989 ] 84 L.N.R.: Kream _ Til The Cows Come Home Mix [ A2-Track from House Jam Records 8805 US 12” | 1987 ] 85 LANDLORD feat. DEX DANCLAIR: I Like It _ Cosmic Dub [ B3-Track from Bigshot Records 137 US 12” | 1989 ] 86 LAURENT X: It's Magic _ Hip Clubhouse Mix [ A1-Track from House Nation Records 89064 US 12” | 1989 ] 87 LAURENT X: Machine _ Apocalypse Mix [ A1-Track from House Nation Records 88012 US 12” | 1988 ] 88 LIL' LOUIS & THE WORLD: Why'd You Fall [ B3-Track from Epic AED 1954 US 12” | 1989 ] 89 LIL' LOUIS [MARVIN LOUIS BURNS]: Blackout _ Phase 2 The Night The Club Lights Went Out [ B-Side from FFRR FXR123 UK 12” | 1989 ] 90 LIL' LOUIS: French Kiss [ A1-Track from “... Brings U Music From The Mind Of ...” Diamond LL-001 _ Mispress US 12” | 1989 ] 91 LIL' LOUIS: Jupiter [ A2-Track from “... Brings U Music From The Mind Of ...” Diamond LL-001 _ Mispress US 12” | 1989 ] 92 LIL'LOUIS: The Original Video Crash _ Often Imitated Never Duplicated [ A-Side from Dance Mania Records 011 US 12” | 1989 ] 93 LISA M: Rock To The Beat _ Instrumental [ B2-Track from Jive T201 / Zomba UK 12” | 1989 ] 94 LIZ TORRES: Loca ... You Can Look, But Don't Touch _ Orgasm Mix [ B1-Track from Jive 1299-1 / Zomba US 12” | 1989 ] 95 LIZ TORRES: Pay Back Is A Bitch ... What Goes Around Comes Around _ Club Mix [ A1-Track from Jive 1239-1 / Zomba US 12” | 1989 ] 96 LNR [L.THOMPSON & R.LENOIR]: Work It To The Bone _ The Clubhouse Mix [ House Jam Records 8907 US 12” | 1988 ] 97 LOONEY TUNES [FRANKIE BONES & LENNY DEE]: Another Place, Another Time [ B1-Track from “Looney Tunes” Vol.1 Nu Groove 023 US 12” | 1989 ] 98 M.T.S. [MIKE BUSH]: Spinach Power _ Acid Power [ B1-Track from Housetime Records 1006 US 12” | 1989 ] 99 MARIO REYES: What Ever Turns You On _ Club Mix [ D.J.International 913 US 12” | 1986 ] 100 MARIO SMOKIN' DIAZ: Pump That Base _ Club Mix [ A1-Track from Hot Mix 5 Records 118 US 12” | 1988 ] 101 MARK IMPERIAL: The Acieed That Ate New York [ House Nation Records 89012 US 12” | 1989 ] 102 MARSHALL JEFFERSON pres. TRUTH: Open Your Eyes _ The Enlightement [ Big Beat 0003 US 12” | 1988 ] 103 MARSHALL JEFFERSON pres.SCREAMIN' RACHEL: Rock Me [ A-Side from Westbrook Records 112 US Promo-12” | 1989 ] 104 MASTER C + J: One Day We’ll All Be Free _ Mark Imperial Mix [ Street Side Records 101 US 12” | 1988 ] 105 MATT WARREN: Bang The Box _ Bang The House Mix [ A-Side from AKA Dance Music 001 US 12” | 1987 ] 106 MAYDAY [DERRICK MAY]: Freestyle _ Bongo Mix [ B2-Track from Pheerce Citi 001 / KMS US12” | 1988 ] 107 MC BUZZ BEE: How Sleep The Brave _ 70's Mix [ Play Hand Records 016 UK 12” | 1989 ] 108 MD III [MIKE DUNN] feat. TYREE COOPER: Face The Nation [ A1-Track from Underground Records 111 / D.J. International Rec. US 12” | 1988 ] 109 MIKE DUNN pres. ARMANDO: 151 _ Original Version [ A2-Track from Warehouse Records US 001 US 12” | 1988 ] 110 MIKE DUNN pres. ARMANDO: Land Of Confusion _ Dunn 4-Funn Mix [ A1-Track from Warehouse Records US 001 US 12” | 1988 ] 111 MODEL 500 [JUAN ATKINS]: No UFO's _ D-Mix [ B-Side from Metroplex Records 002 US 12” | 1985 ] 112 MR.LEE [LOUIS HAGGARD]: Rock This Place _ House Mix [ A-Side from International House Records 006 US 12” | 1988 ] 113 MR.LEE: Acid Fantaslee _ Acid Pump Up London [ B-Side from Trax Records 171 US 12” | 1988 ] 114 MR.LEE: Get Busy _ Chicago Mix [ B1-Track from JIVE Records 1274 / RCA / Zomba US Promo-12” | 1989 ] 115 MYSTIQUE [J.GOODWIN & F.BASTONE]: Here WE Go _ Vocal Mix [ Tuff City 128046 US 12” | 1989 ] 116 NELSON “FFWD” CRUZ: My House _ My House Is Your Dub [ B1Track from Minimal Records 008 / Criminal Rec. US 12” | 1989 ] 117 NEXUS 1 feat. Nina [ TYREE COOPER & STEVE SIMMONS]: Yo Body _ Original Body [ A2 from Fierce Records 103 US 12” | 1988 ] 118 NITZER EBB: Control I'm Here _ Command Control Confront Mix [ A-Side from Mute Records Ltd. 071 UK 12” | 1988 ] 119 NITZER EBB: Let Your Body Learn _ Club [ A-Side from Mute Records 126.861 / Intercord DE 12” | 1986 ] 120 P.O.L.O. CREW: Black Image _ Wish Mix [ Wide Angle NS-115 US 12” | 1989 ] 121 PARK AVENUE feat. TONY JENKINS: Don’t Turn Your Love _ Tee’s “O” Mix [ Movin’ Records 002 US 12” | 1987 ] 122 PAUL RUTHERFORD: Get Real _ Happy House Mix [ 4th+B'way Records 113 UK 12” | 1988 ] 123 PHORTUNE: Can You Feel The Bass _ House Mix [ B1 from HotMix5 114 US 12” | 1988 ] 124 PHUTURE: Acid Tracks [ A-Side from Trax 142 US 12” | 1987 ] 125 PHUTURE: Spank - Spank [ B2-Track from Trax 165 US 12” | 1988 ] 126 PHUTURE: We Are Phuture [ A-Side from Trax 165 US 12” | 1988 ] 127 PIERRE'S PFANTASY CLUB feat. J.R.: Fantasy Girl _ Mike “Hitman” Wilson Club Mix [ B1-Track from SRO Records 750487 US 12” | 1987 ] 128 PLEASURE ZONE [KEVIN JONES & JAMES ANDERSON]: Fantasy [ A-Side from Trax Records 164 US 12” | 1988 ] 129 PROJECT 122 feat. DESTRIE: Swing Your Body _ Instrumental Mix [ B1-Track from Playground Records 030 US 12” | 1987 ] 130 R.A.W. [ROD WARREN & IAN TERRY]: R.A.W. Groove [ A-Side from Rumour Records 004 UK Promo-12” | 1989 ] 131 RAGTIME feat. BYRON STINGILY: I Can't Stay Away _ Power-Pella [ A1-Track from Bright Star Records 005 US Promo-12” | 1987 ] 132 RALPHI ROSARIO: In The Night _ Kenny's Night [ B1-Track from HotMix5 110 US 12” | 1988 ] 133 RALPHIE ROSARIO feat. XAVIERA GOLD: You Used To Hold Me _ Riviera Mix [ A2-Track from Hot Mix 5 Records 102 US Mispress-12” | 1987 ] 134 REESE & SANTONIO: How To Play Our Music _ Dub Mix [ B1-Track from KMS Records 010 US 12” | 1987 ] 135 REESE feat. LATONYA SAUNDERSON: Rock To The Beat _ Original Mix [ A2 from KMS 022 US 12” | 1989 ] 136 RHYTHIM IS RHYTHIM [DERRICK MAY & JUAN ATKINS]: It Is What It Is _ Mayday Mix [ Transmat Records MS_006 US 12” | 1988 ] 137 RHYTHIM IS RHYTHIM [DERRICK MAY & THOMAS BARNETT]: Nude Photo _ Mayday Rhythim Mix [ Transmat Records MS-002US 12” | 1987 ] 138 RHYTHIM IS RHYTHIM: Kaos _ Mayday Juice Bar Mix [ B2-Track from Transmat Records MS-004 US 12” | 1987 ] 139 RICHIE RICH meets The JUNGLE BROTHERS: I'll House U _ The Gee Street Reconstruction [ Gee Street 12003 / Idlers l Warlock UK 12” | 1988 ] 140 RICHIE RICH: Salsa House [ B1 Track from “Turn It Up” Mercury 872-187 US 12” | 1988 ] 141 RISQUE III [K-ALEXI & ROBERT MCKAY]: Essence Of A Dream [ A-Side from Stride Records Inc. KK-1837 US 12” | 1987 ] 142 SAX feat. ELAN: Don't Turn Your Back On Me _ Funny Bone Popi [ B3-Track from Loud House / Warlock Records 063 US 12” | 1989 ] 143 SEDUCTION [DAVID CLIVILLES & DAVID COLE]: Seduction _ Vocal Club Mix [ A1-Track from Vendetta Records 7014 US 12” | 1988 ] 144 SEPARATE MINDS [TERENCE PARKER]: We Need Somebody [ Express Records 014 US 12” | 1988 ] 145 SHAWN SHEGOG feat. BARBARA SHEGOG: Love Traxs _ Vocal Mix [ A1-Track from No Name Records 10287 US 12” | 1988 ] 146 SHAWN SHEGOG: Living In The Dark _ Dark Acid Mix [ A1-Track from No Name Records 002 US 12” | 1989 ] 147 SPECIAL ED [SPECIAL ED & HOWIE TEE]: Club Scene _ Ed's Special Mix [ Profile 265 US Promo-12” | 1989 ] 148 SPIKE REBEL & I.C.E.: House Rap _ Rick's Clubhouse Mix [ A2-Track from House Jam Records 8908 US 12” | 1989 ] 149 STEVE “SILK” HURLEY pres. JAMIE PRINCIPLE: Cold World _ Mommy Can U Hear Me Mix [ Atlantic Records 08267 / Warner Communication US 12” | 1989 ] 150 STEVE MATHIS: True Love _ Insane Mix [ A2-Track from Sound Tech Records 8801 US Promo-12” | 1988 ] 151 STEVE POINDEXTER: Work That Mutha Fucka [ A1-Track from Muzique Records 001 US 12” | 1989 ] 152 SUBURBAN BOYZ [THMB]: Insane _ Crazy Mix [ Dance Mania Records 010 US 12” | 1988 ] 153 SUBURBAN KNIGHT: The Groove _ Pan Mix [ A-Side from Transmat 003 US 12” | 1987 ] 154 SUZIE & THE CUBANS: I Feel It _ Makumba Mix [ Champion 12-70 / Warlock UK 12” | 1989 ] 155 SWAN LAKE: In The Name Of Love _ Club Mix [ A1 from Bad Boy 703 / Jump Street US 12” | 1988 ] 156 TERRY BLADWIN pres. AWESOME L: 16 [ B4-Track from R&R Records 100 / Barney's US 12”/LP | 1989 ] 157 THE BREAK BOYS [FRANKIE BONES & TOMMY MUSTO]: And The Break Goes On _ Freestyle Club Mix [ B1-Track from Fourth Floor Records 1090 US 12” | 1988 ] 158 THE BROOKLYN FUNK ESSENTIALS [Lenny Dee l Victor Simonelli]: We Got To Come Together _ Track Attack Rough Mix [ B1-Track from Minimal Records 004 / Criminal Records US 12” | 1988 ] 159 THE BROOKLYN FUNK ESSENTIALS: Change The Track _ Micaliami HipHouse Mix [ A1-Track from Minimal Records 006 / Criminal Records US 12” | 1988 ] 160 THE FLAT EARTH [THE DETROIT UNDERGROUND]: Mutual Suspicion _ Dix Mix [ Rhythm Tech Records 0100 US 12” | 1989 ] 161 THE FUNKY GINGER [SIMON LAW]: Slaughterhouse _ Emergency Mix [ B-Side from Easy Street Records 7538 / Crash London US 12” | 1988 ] 162THE HARLEQUIN 4'S + THE BUNKER CREW: Set It Off _ Wish Mix [ B2-Track from Champion 12-64 UK 12” | 1989 ] 163 THE HOLY GHOST INC.: The Word ... The Dub [ B-Side from Holy Ghost Records 001 / Big Noise UK 12” | 1989 ] 164 THE HOUSEDOCTORS: Housedoctors Gotta Get Down _ Cut And Bandage Mix [ Big One Records 008 UK 12” | 1988 ] 165 THE IT [LARRY HEARD] feat. ROBERT OWENS, CHIP E & HARRI: Donnie _ Club Mix [ A1-Track from D.J. International Records 893 US 12” | 1986 ] 166 THE PARTY BOY [CHRIS WESTBROOK]: The Twilight Zone _ Bam Bam’s Corrosion Mix [ Urban 027 / Last Dance Music / Polydor UK 12” | 1988 ] 167 THE PRINCE OF DANCE MUSIC, L.B.BAD pres. ... : Body Mechanix _ Authentic Garage Groove [ A1-Track from “The True Story Of House Music” Nu Groove Records 033 US 12” | 1989 ] 168 THE SAMPLE SYNDICATE: Acid Bonus Beats [ B3-Cut from Ramshorn 3775 NL 12” | 1989 ] 169 THE UNKNOWN & DJ SLIP: X-Men [ A1-Track from Techno Kut 1202 / Macola Records US 12” | 1988 ] 170 THE UNKNOWN D.J.: Basstronic [ A1-Track from Techno Kut 1207 / Macola Records US 12” | 1988 ] 171 THOMPSON & LENOIR [LNR]: It's A Mystery To Me [ B-Side from House Jam Records 8803 US 12” | 1987 ] 172 TODD TERRY PROJECT: Bango ... To The Batmobile _ Club Bang [ A1 from Fresh 80117 / Sleeping Bag US 12” | 1988 ] 173 TONI SCOTT: That's How I'm Living _ Instrumental [ B2 from Next Plateau Records 50098 US 12” | 1989 ] 174 TOO NICE: I Git Minze _ Gayle “Sky” King Extended Dance Mix [ Arista ADI-9827 US 12” | 1989 ] 175 TRIPLE XXX [JUAN ATKINS]: The Bedroom Scene _ Rated X Mix [ B1-Track from Metroplex 009 US Promo-12” | 1987 ] 176 TRUE FAITH vs FINAL CUT: You Can't Deny The Bass _ Club Mix [ A1-Track from Techno City Records 8904 / Metro Records US 12” | 1989 ] 177 TURNTABLE ORCHESTRA [HIPPIE TORALES]: You're Gonna Miss Me _ A Guy Called Gerald Remix [ A_Side from Republic Records 012 / Music Village UK 12” | 1988 ] 178 TWIN HYPE: For Those Who Like To Groove _ Hollywood Sweat Mix [ Profile 7270 US 12” | 1989 ] 179 TYREE COOPER: Acid Over _ Tyree's Mix [ A1-Track from Underground 116 / D.J. International Records US 12” | 1987 ] 180 TYREE feat. CHIC: I Fear The Night [ Underground 103 / D.J. International Records US 12” | 1986 ] 181 TYREE feat. KOOL ROCK STEADY: Turn Up The Bass _ Julian Jumpin' Perez Jumpin' Mix [ B2 from D.J.International Records 970 US 12” | 1988 ] 182 VICTOR ROMEO and THE MOVE feat. REGGIE HALL: The Art Of Acid [ Dance Mania Records 013 US 12” | 1988 ] 183 VINCE LAWRENCE pres. TODD COLBURNE: WOW _ Bonus Sex [ B2-Track from Mad Dog Records 2040 US 12” | 1987 ] 184 VIRGO [VINCE LAWRENCE]: Go Wild Rhythm Trax [ B2-Cut from Other Side Records OST-485 Blue Label _ Marbled Pressing US 12” | 1985 ] 185 VOODOO DOLL [FRANKIE BONES]: Women Beat Their Men _ Voodoo Village Club Mix [ A-Side from Breaking BonesRecords 200 US 12” | 1989 ] 186 WEE PAPA GIRL RAPPERS: We Know It _ Kevin Saunderson Mix [ B1-Track from Jive Records 1185-1-JD US LP| 1989 ] 187 WHITE KNIGHT: Keep It Movin' Cause The Crowd Says Go _ Dope Acid Mix [ Jive 1244 US 12” | 1989 ] 188 WILLIE WONKA: What Is House! [ A-Side from Trax Records 122 US 12” | 1986 ] 189 X-RAY [JUAN ATKINS]: Let's Go _ Mayday Dub Mix [ B-Side from Transmat MS 001 US 12” | 1986 ] 190 YELLOW HOUSE: Jack My Body _ Farley's Body Mix #3 [ B2-Track from Dance Mania Records 005 US 12” | 1987 ] #pics by Claudio Kalex & Psycho Thrill Cologne #bookmarks #ClausBachor: WIKIPEDIA ll  FACEBOOK  ll  DISCOGS  ll  PSYCHO THRILL COLOGNE PSYCHO THRILL RECORDINGS ll  AUTHENTIC MUSIC ll  SKY'S ABLAZE DEGU TECHNIQUE  ll  BANDCAMP  ll  INSTAGRAM  ll  RA ll  MIXCLOUD WE CALL IT TECHNO  ll  HIGH TECH SOUL  ll  YOUTUBE  SPYINTHEHOUSE ll  SOUNDCLOUD I / SC II / SC III  INVASION FROM PLANET DETROIT 3.0 #bookmarks #RAVECLUBCologne: HISTORY   ll   MIXES   ll   GALLERY

What is arthritis?/ ¿Qué es la artritis?

Arthritis: (noun) friend, enemy, part of your body, the victim, bully, strong, weak, ally or oppressor?

We talked a lot about arthritis in this blog: about what it is, how it affected me and how you need to take of yourself if you have it. But we never really started how we should have, in the "Tutorial" section of the game. Which is why this post today will bring you your daily dose of facts and nerdiness to further explain a couple of key points:

   1. What arthritis is?    2. Who has arthritis?    3. How do you know you have arthritis?    4. Where does it come from?    5. How can you treat it?

Don't worry! Each of these will be short and simple, just like they should be. No medical terms or bad internet connection is going to stop me from delivering the truth to the masses!

And now, without further ado, here we go: What is arthritis?

What is arthritis?

"So.. What is it? What is it?!"I see you yell at your computer screen.

I understand that need for an answer. When I first got diagnosed, being told I had arthritis was relieving for 5 seconds, until I realized I had no clue what I was facing and what was causing this.

Well here is your answer, pal! Grab that popcorn!

Arthritisis a symptom of joint inflammation and stiffness that may develop from a completely separate illness or may be independent as a medical disorder. If it is a disorder, it means that there is a chemical disbalance in your body that chronically or temporarily causes pain in your joints.

See? Simple.

Arthritis is what is known as an autoimmunedisorder, in which your body- aka your white blood cells and antibodies- basically attacks itself in a specific region, in this case, your joints.

There are two types of arthritis: systemic, which affects all of your body, and localized, which may affect one or a few joints.

Now, there are more than 100 types of arthritis and arthritis-related conditions. Next up,  a speedy round of the most frequently found types of arthritis in the USA and the UK:

   1. Osteoarthritis:your bones and cartilage are compromised and damaged by breaking of the joint, caused by aging.

   2. Rheumatoid Arthritis (hi!):your immune system attacks itself, targeting your joints.

   3. Psoriatic Arthritis:similar to rheumatoid arthritis, with the addition of itchy red patches on your skin known as psoriasis.

   4. Gout:a very painful form of arthritis, which basically collects uric acid crystals in your joints.

   5. Juvenile arthritis:similar to rheumatoid arthritis, only that it specifically refers to those patients that are diagnosed before the age of 16 years old.

There are other autoimmune conditions like lupus and fibromyalgia, which are similar to arthritis. However, here we are generous and we share, so they will have their own informative posts soon :)

Who has arthritis?

In one of my first posts, we discussed how people with arthritis come from so many different walks of life and that, because it is an "invisible illness", it is very hard to tell if someone has arthritis just by looking at them.

We also noted that some types of arthritis (like osteoarthritis and lupus) tend to be more common in certain age groups (elders and young adults).

A study by the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) concluded the following after a two-year study of the American population from 2013 to 2015:

       ○ 49.6% of people with arthritis are elderly people        ○ 26% of people with arthritis are women        ○ 4.4 million with arthritis are Hispanic, followed closely by Caucasians        Basically, I fit into almost all the categories, thanks to life. At least I still consider myself young. For now.

This pattern repeats itself across specific types of arthritis. If you do fit these criteria, it's better to do a checkup and seek early treatments. Before it's too late, people!

How do you know you have arthritis?

You can't until it's too late! We're doomed! Bye!

Just kidding. The first step is seeking is, obviously, a doctor if you feel pain constantly, weaker than usual or just not well.

The doctor (seek a rheumatologist for joints specifically) will most likely begin with a normal checkup and an initial joint evaluation. They will examine your hand, knees and feet, and perhaps, arms and legs. They will look for clues such as visible swelling, stiffness or redness.

After that, they may or may not ask for a blood test or an X-ray, depending if they suspect the presence of arthritis in your body. Normal blood test indicators for arthritis are Sed rate (or erythrocyte sedimentation rate or ESR), C-reactive protein or elevated antibodies. If these three are elevated, then there is a fat chance that you have arthritis and it is inflaming your joints right now.

X- rays are mostly to visualize joint damage. Ultrasounds or MRI may show the loss of tissue, fluid accumulation in the joints, etc.

Warning:Doctors will begin treatment rather quickly when arthritis is detected in the slightest. This is because arthritis doesn't play: it gets worse and worse unless you apply anti-inflammatories asap. This is not harmful to you or your health at all, the doctor is only trying to avoid further damage from happening. Of course, further checkups and tests will give you plenty of time to discuss alternative treatments with your specialist.

Where does it come from?

Nobody knows. That is the right answer this time.

Some medical professionals believe that arthritis is caused by genetic mutations that may or may not hereditary. It has been proven by research that arthritis, in comparison to other autoimmune disorders like Type 1 diabetes, is not as hereditarily transmissible as it once was believed to be.

The class II genes, HLA–DR1 and HLA–DR4, are the ones now being investigated and partially blamed to be primary suspects.

However, many believe that lifestyle and environmental conditions can increase the chances of having arthritis. After all, stress, long work hours, pollution, low, and mental illnesses tend to go hand in hand with arthritis patients.

So do not worry that much yet. But always stay ready!

How can you treat it?

I have talked about these two already:Ibuprofenand Paracetamol, queens of the universe, saviors of today and tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow….

You get the point. Normally, if a doctor detects arthritis, they will right away prescribe paracetamol. This is because ibuprofen and other NSAIDs are very common allergens that may be risky to give to a new patient right away, especially when they do not have a complete medical record.

So, if your doctor gets suspicious and gives you a high brow, just take the paracetamol as instructed, inform them of your progress and come back later if you need to. Don't go through the pain without any help! It will only get worse! Trust me!

Aaand there you have it, folks! I hope you learned something today and hopefully will not forget your weekly dose of facts featuring me, the voice of reason. Take care of yourself, go to your checkups and don't worry too much!

Love you! Bye!

References

(1) Sed rate (erythrocyte sedimentation rate). Available from:

https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/sed-rate/about/pac-20384797

.(2) Robert F. Meenan, Paul M. Gertman and John H. Mason. Measuring Health status in arthritis. Arthritis & Rheumtology. 1980; 23 (2): 146-152. Available from:

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/art.1780230203

.(3) David N. Glass, Edward H. Giannini. Arthritis & Rheumatism. Official Journal of the American College of Rheumatology. 1999; 42 (11): 2261-2268. Available from:

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/1529-0131%28199911%2942%3A11%3C2261%3A%3AAID-ANR1%3E3.0.CO%3B2-P

.(4) Joseph Lee Hollander. Arthritis and Allied Conditions: A Textbook  of Rheumatology. ; 1960.(5) DrAngeloRavelliMD, ProfAlbertoMartiniMDa. Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis. The Lancet. 2007; 369 (9563): 767-778. Available from:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140673607603638

.(6) Sources of Arthritis Pain  Available from:

https://www.arthritis.org/living-with-arthritis/pain-management/understanding/types-of-pain.php

.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Artritis: (sustantivo) amigo, enemigo; parte del cuerpo; víctima, abusador; fuerte, débil; camarada o opresor?

Ya hemos conversado mucho a cerca la artritis en este blog: qué es, cómo me afectó y cómo necesitas cuidarte si la tienes. Pero nunca iniciamos donde debimos haberlo hecho, en el nivel "Tutorial" de este videojuego. Por eso, en este post les traigo su dosis diaria de ciencia y verdades para explicar unos puntos clave:

¿Qué es la artritis?

¿Quién tiene artritis?

¿Cómo sabes si tienes artritis?

¿De dónde viene la artritis?

¿Cómo la puedes tratar?

No se preocupen! Cada una de estos puntos serán rápidos y sencillos de enter, justo como deberían ser. Ningún término médico o mala conexión al wifi me detendrá de exponer la verdad a las masas!

Y ahora, sin más preámbulos, aquí vamos! ¿Qué es la artritis?

¿Qué es la artritis?

"Así que… dinos ya, qué es? Qué es?!"Te veo gritarle al monitor.

Entiendo tu necesidad de una respuesta. Cuando a mi me diagnosticaron, el diagnóstico definitivo de artritis me dio tranquilidad por 5 segundos, hasta que me di cuenta que no tenía ni idea de qué estaba enfrentando y qué lo causaba.

Bueno aquí están esas respuestas también! Agarra tu canchita!

La artritis esun síntoma de inflamación articular y rigidez que puede desarrollarse por una enfermedad totalmente diferente o puede presentarse de manera independiente como una condición médica. Si es una condición, significa que tu cuerpo tiene dolor crónico o temporal articular.

Ves? Eso fue fácil!

La artritis es una condición autoinmune, lo que significa que tu cuerpo- tus células blancas y anticuerpos-  básicamente se ataca a sí mismo en una región específica, en este caso tus articulaciones.

Hay dos tipos de artritis: sistémica, que afecta todo tu cuerpo, y localizada, que puede afectar una o más articulaciones.

Ahora, hay más de 100 tipos de artritis y condiciones relacionadas. Proseguiremos con una ronda rápida de los tipos de artritis más frecuentes en los Estados Unidos y en Gran Bretaña:

Osteoartritis:tus huesos y el cartílago están comprometidos y dañados porque la articulación se está deteriorando, es causado por el envejecimiento.

Artritis reumatoide (hola!):tu sistema inmune se ataca a sí mismo, atacando tus articulaciones.

Artritis psoriásica: similar a la artritis reumatoide, pero también incluye ronchas rojas y picazón en la piel, una condición mejor conocida como psoriasis.

Gota:artritis altamente dolorosa, que acumula cristales de ácido úrico en tus articulaciones.

Artritis juvenil:similar a la artritis reumatoide, solo que es específicamente diagnosticada antes de los 16 años de edad.

Condiciones autoinmunes como el lupus y la fibromialgia son otros diagnósticos similares a la artritis, pero que aquí los trataremos con cariño y les haremos sus propios posts informativos :)

¿Quién tiene artritis?

En uno de mis primeros posts, discutimos cómo las personas con artritis tienen vidas totalmente diversas y, por ello, es muy difícil distinguir la artritis solo con mirar a una persona.

También vimos que hay tipos de artritis (como la osteoartritis) tiende a ser más comunes en ciertos grupos de edad (como los viejitos).

Un estudio por el Centre of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) concluyó lo siguiente después dedos años de examinar a la población estadounidense del 2013 al 2015:

49.6%  de personas con artritis son ancianos

26% de personas con artritis son mujeres

4.4 millones de personas con artritis son hispanas, seguidas de los caucásicos

En pocas palabras, yo califico para casi todas estas estadísticas, yupi. Al menos todavía me considero joven. Por ahora.

Este patrón se repite a lo largo de todos los tipos de artritis. Si crees que tu perfil es parecido a lo descrito, es mejor hacerte chequear y buscar un tratamiento temprano. Antes que sea demasiado tarde!

¿Cómo sabes si tienes artritis?

No puedes! Es demasiado tarde! Estamos condenados! Adios mundo cruel!Solo bromeo. El primer paso es, obviamente, ir al doctor si sientes dolor constante, debilidad o simplemente no te sientes bien.

El doctor (un reumatólogo es un doctor para enfermedades articulares) iniciará con un chequeo regular y una evaluación inicial de las articulaciones. Examinará tus manos, rodillas, pies y quizá, brazos y piernas. Se encontrarán pistas como inflamación visible, rigidez o manchas rojas.

Después de eso, te pedirán o no que completes un análisis de sangre o una prueba de rayos X, dependiendo si hay sospecha de artritis.

Los indicadores de sangre más comunes para la artritis son la velocidad de sedimentación or ESR, la proteína C reactiva o anticuerpos elevados. Si estos tres indicadores salen elevados, hay una buena chance de que tengas artritis y esté causando un proceso inflamatorio en tu cuerpo justo ahora.

Los rayos X se utilizan para visualizar algún daño articular. Ultrasonidos o MRI pueden mostrar pérdida de tejido, acumulación de fluidos en las articulaciones, etc.

Advertencia:Los doctores inician rápidamente el tratamiento para la artritis cuando esta es detectada, incluso de manera mínima. Esto es porque la artritis no es broma: solo se pone peor y peor si no aplicas anti inflamatorios de inmediato. Este tratamiento inicial no debería comprometer tu salud en absoluto, pues el especialista solo esta tratando es disminuir el daño lo más rápido posible. Claro que, después de futuras consultas y pruebas, deberías pensar y discutir con tus padres y doctor acerca de la posibilidad de tratar la artritis de otros modos.

¿De donde viene la artritis?

Nadie sabe. Esta vez si es la respuesta correcta.

Profesionales de la medicina creen que la artritis es causada por mutaciones genéticas que podrían o no ser hereditarias. Fue probado en múltiples ocasiones que la artritis, en comparación a otros desórdenes como la diabetes Tipo 1, no es tan transmisible por herencia como se pensaba.

Los genes de clase II, HLA–DR1 y  HLA–DR4, son los que ahoran están siendo investigados y parcialmente puestos como sospechosos principales.

No obstante, muchos creen que el estilo de vida y las condiciones medio ambientales incrementas las posibilidades de tener artritis. Esto es parcialmente cierto, pues el estrés, las largas horas de trabajo, la polución, la baja estima y las enfermedades mentales van de la mano con los pacientes de artritis.

Así que no te preocupes mucho de eso todavía. Pero siempre mantente alerta!

¿Cómo tratar la artritis?

Ya hablé de estas dos: Ibuprofenoy Paracetamol, reinas del universo, heroes del hoy y del mañana, y mañana, y mañana….

Creo que ya lo entendiste. Normalmente, si un doctor detecta artritis, prescribirá panadol de inmediato. Esto es debido a que el ibuprofeno y otros medicamentos no esteroideos (AINES) pueden causar alergias, por lo cual es riesgoso en un paciente nuevo sin un historial médico completo.

Así que, si tu doctor se pone sospechoso, solo toma el panadol como indicado en tu receta, informa al doctor de tu progreso y regresa más adelante si lo necesitas No vayas por el dolor sin ayuda! Toma el panadol por ahora! Confía en mí!

Yyy eso es todo lo que tengo para ustedes hoy, amigos! Espero que hayan aprendido algo hoy y no olviden su dosis semanal de información conmigo, la voz de la razón. Cuídense, vayan a sus chequeos y no se preocupen mucho!

Los amo! Chau!

References

(1) Sed rate (erythrocyte sedimentation rate). Available from:

https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/sed-rate/about/pac-20384797

.(2) Robert F. Meenan, Paul M. Gertman and John H. Mason. Measuring Health status in arthritis. Arthritis & Rheumtology. 1980; 23 (2): 146-152. Available from:

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/art.1780230203

.(3) David N. Glass, Edward H. Giannini. Arthritis & Rheumatism. Official Journal of the American College of Rheumatology. 1999; 42 (11): 2261-2268. Available from:

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/1529-0131%28199911%2942%3A11%3C2261%3A%3AAID-ANR1%3E3.0.CO%3B2-P

.(4) Joseph Lee Hollander. Arthritis and Allied Conditions: A Textbook  of Rheumatology. ; 1960.(5) DrAngeloRavelliMD, ProfAlbertoMartiniMDa. Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis. The Lancet. 2007; 369 (9563): 767-778. Available from:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140673607603638

.(6) Sources of Arthritis Pain  Available from:

https://www.arthritis.org/living-with-arthritis/pain-management/understanding/types-of-pain.php

.

28. Jul ’21 Damn Right Show ~Wednesday Freestyle Funk Selection 2 Hours~

Many type of music I played today's show. Freestyle Funk selection 2 hours I did with no plan, thank you for comments I got some inspiration. I enjoyed very much with communicate today, that was flesh to me. I hope you enjoy all mix flavor Wednesday style. Anyway tomorrow is last show of the week, I'll play hit after hit style. Please access same time same address. See you tomorrow !

"They Won't Hang Around" LADY WRAY (Big Crown)

"Two Faces" LEE FIELDS (Big Crown)

"Cirandar" SEU JORGE AND ALMAZ (Now Again)

"No Te Hagas" ORCHESTRA OKOKAN (Daptone)

"Call My Name" JOE BATAAN (Vampi Soul)

"Evolution" MAGNUM (Phoenix)

"Do Something Free" FBI (Daisy)

"Rise Everybody" SOUL UNLIMITED (Atomic Power)

"Soul Revolution" DISCIPLES OF SOUL (G.V.)

"Nothing" TRANSFER (Greenback)

"The Price" THE SHERRELL BROTHERS (Currisson)

"You Better Stop It" BARBARA MASON (Arctic)

"Don't Fight The Feeling" MASTER FORCE (Rain Forest)

"Move Me" CERRONE feat BRENDON REILLEY (Malligator)

"Bee To The Flower" KING BEE FUNK (Tesla Groove)

"Reminiscin'" WILL SESSIONS & AMP FIDDLER (Sessions Sounds)

"Say You Love Me Girl" BREAKWATER (Arista)

"If A Man Ever Loved A Woman" JESSE JAMES (Soul Junction)

"One Way Ticket" FLAVOR (Ju-Par)

"Let Me Love You" KENYATA (Epsilon)

"If We Only Had" KENYATTA (Epsilon)

"The Electric Skunk" THE BLACK SUNSHINE (Kyles)

"It's A Trip" DYNAMIC CORVETTES (Ru Jac)

"There Was A Time" GENE CHANDLER (Brunswick)

"Too Late" LARRY WILLIAMS AND JOHNNY WATSON (Okeh)

"Love In Them There Hills" THE VIBRATIONS (Okeh)

"Ain't Gonna Run" THE ROYAL ESQUIRES (Prix)

"Mister Magic" KELLEE PATTERSON (Shady Brook)

"People Make The World Go 'Round" INNERZONE ORCHETRA (Mercury)

"We Like It" STR4TA (Brownswood)

"Dream Girl" CURTIS HARDING (Anti)

"North Carolina" THE POETS OF RHYTHM (Daptone)

"Fast Man" THE PC'S LTD (Fran)

[171222] Nell Official 2017 Photobook Fan Q&A (translation)

1. You are about to reach your 20th anniversary.. What do you think when you see fans maturing(!) together with you? Do you have any questions for the fans? Jongwan: Standing tickets or seated tickets, what’s better? Jaekyung: Though it’s intimate, since we only meet in concert halls, sometimes it feels a bit surreal^^  We can’t meet often but I’m always happy and grateful to see you… - A question for the fans / Why do you like Nell…?  Junghoon: I’m always thankful. And I feel a sense of kinship with you since we’re maturing together. And of course happy that we’ve been able to be together for this long through music.

2. What part of the chicken do you guys like the best?  Jongwan: Wings Jaekyung: Hahahaha / Wings vs tenderloin Junghoon: For chicken, wings are the way to go.

3. Please introduce your individual instruments! I want to organize Nell’s room. Please check any incorrect entries.  Jongwan: I think they’re too many to introduce; when we record we use about 13 different guitars and 12 different synthesizers.  Jaekyung: If I were to introduce the ones we use for concerts only.. Fender stratocaster (lemon) - Jeff beck signature Fender stratocaster (red) - Greg tessler masterbuilt PRS-custom24 Suhr - Scott Henderson signature Gibson 355 - Standard Gibson 355 - Historic Gibson Lespaul 59 - Historic Schecter Telecaster - Lee Jaekyung Custom model (a gift from Schecter Japan~^^) James Tyler Telecaster - Mongoose Retro Gene Baker B3 - Humburker Gene Baker B3 - P90 Morgan Acoustic Guitar - Jumbo orchestra  Taylor Guitar - 414CE Nylon Bogner Shiva amp 20th anniversary Nord stage2 88

4. What is ripped jeans to Jongwan wanja-nim? Jongwan: Clothes that would be okay even if they ripped even more.

5. Which instrument does Jongwan feel the coolest while playing? Wan is cute when playing the drums!  Jongwan: Guitar

6. How do each of you deal with stress? Jongwan: Alcohol, sleep Jaekyung: Deep sleep or heavy exercise Junghoon: Movies, games, music, travel Jaewon: Alcohol, friends, parties

7. I’ve just come back to Korea after studying in Russia for 6 years. I learned that Russian people all enjoy rock music (I often saw grandmothers with Nickelback songs for their ringtone and grandfathers with AC/DC for their ringtones. Seriously…!). Do you have any plans to advance into Russia?  Jongwan: Spasiba Jaekyung: We went with Seo Taiji to perform in Vladivostok in 2004, and I could feel how the country loves rock music. How much they like alcohol and how cold it is also suits Nell well k I’d like to try it if we get a chance.  Junghoon: Any place where people listen to our music and we can perform would be good, of course. Russia go go.

8. Is there a Korean musician who you want to be like or respect? Also, is there a person who you look at and think ‘let’s not become like them’? For the last question I’m more curious about whether you have someone like that or not, not who it is.  Jongwan: I respect Lee Seunghwan-nim / Way too many Junghoon: I respect all musicians who go forward playing their own music, whether they are seniors or juniors. As for the last question, we definitely do.

9. Do you have any plans on doing this (Q&A) regularly? Aren’t you curious about the fans’ thoughts? Jongwan: We have ‘plans’.  Jaekyung: I think it’d be fun to do this in some shape or form every once in a while!

10. What electronics or instruments are you interested in recently? Jongwan: UNFAIRCHILD 670 M II  Junghoon: Playstation VR / Rolan Gaia

11. What song would you like to play a cover of at least once? Jaekyung: Purple Rain - Prince (even though not doing it would be better) Jongwan: Hallelujah, Jeff Buckley version

12. Any songs you want to play as Jung Jaewon band? kk Jaekyung: Beat it - Michael Jackson (even though not doing it would be better) Junghoon: Celine Dion’s Power of Love Jongwan: Nessun Dorma

13. Can you recommend us a movie, exhibition, concert, book etc that you’ve enjoyed this year?  Jongwan: I, Daniel Blake Jaewon: The movie Maudie Junghoon: Manchester by the Sea, and for concerts Depeche Mode

14. If you could transcend time and space and meet one person in the whole world, who would it be?  Jongwan: It’s not a person, but I’d like to see a huge dinosaur in real life. Junghoon: Rather than a meeting, I’d like to go to a Nirvana concert.

15. If you could give the fans anything (with no regards to cost, and it doesn’t need to be an object) what would it be? Jaekyung: Our unreleased songs (minus the bad ones k)

16. Jaekyung oppa, when you record entire concerts the file size must be insane, so how many external hard drives do you have? Do you have more Kumamon plushies or more external hard drives?  Jaekyung: I have 5 hard drives. And I have 2 Kumamons that the fans gave to me k (the picture I uploaded on instagram was taken in a store hahaha)

17. Which out of your own songs are you the most pleased with? Jongwan: ‘What do you think’ Jaekyung: ‘Farewell’ Junghoon: ‘12 Seconds’ Jaewon: ‘12 Seconds’

18. If someone other than Jongwan hyung-nim were to take the role of vocalist in Nell, who would suit it the best? Jongwan: There’s no way.

19. Can you please show us the Selfish Love music video just one more time? Jongwan: No. Jaekyung: We can’t.  Junghoon: How could we ever?

20. Jaekyung-nim, you know you’re good-looking, right? Jaekyung: Of course^^

21. I’m curious about your individual ways of overcoming painful experiences (alcohol and cigarettes, that’s no no, minus those two!)  Jongwan: The thought that I would still have a hard time even if this didn’t happen. Jaekyung: If I can solve it then I do, and if I can’t then I do as much as I can, accept it and let time heal. Junghoon: I just keep thinking about it. Immerse myself in it. Then it will slowly start to get better.

22. If you only had one day left to live, how would you spend it? Jongwan: First I’d say goodbye to my family, then spend 8 hours in the studio before putting on a concert and finishing off with an afterparty with people I love.  Jaekyung: I don’t know if there’s anything specific I’d want to do -- I think I’d listen to the songs we were unable to finish and then say my goodbyes.  Junghoon: I’d be with my family. Jaewon: I’d watch the sunset by the ocean.

23. How come Junghoon has never once shown us a bass solo? And as you always use a pick instead of fingering (of course using a pick will sound better on some songs but), is there a reason for that?  Junghoon: I will work hard.

24. How do you release everyday stress?  Jongwan: Travel

25. What pictures do you use as your kakaotalk profile pictures and cover photos.. k (Jaekyung uses a cover photo of a street full of fallen leaves and no profile photo, Jaewon uses a picture from the movie Maudie)

26. I’m curious about the members’ favorite movies. Also, is there a movie that has influenced your music, like how you got your name from the movie Nell? Jongwan: Stay, Never let me go Junghoon: I like too many movies so it’s hard to choose, but Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind comes to mind.  Jaewon: Lords of Dogtown, Stand By Me, Gilbert Grape

27. If you were a color, what would it be? And please tell us the reason as well. Jongwan: Grey Jaekyung: (picture of… the moon..?)

I love you. Junghoon: Me too.

28. Who cries the most out of the members? Jongwan: Me and Jaewon. Junghoon: Could be me. Jaewon: I don’t know who does the most, but Jaekyung cries the least.

29. Who do you think will get married next? Jongwan: Don’t

30. I’m sad because I can’t go to this year’s christmas concert, and I’m a 13-year fan who wishes to receive a signed CD at some point. I like you so much that I want to ask a question this badly. I love how pretty the album art is; do you decide on the design yourselves? Jongwan: We decide on the concept, the designer makes the art.

31. To. Jung Jaewon / Do you have other hobbies aside from surfing and skateboarding?  Jaewon: Drawing, hiking.

32. To. NELL & SPACE BOHEMIAN / Who first coined the phrase ‘seubo-in’?? Do you like it? Jongwan: I like it. Junghoon: Was it Jongwan who used it first? I don’t know too well, but I like it.

33. Is there a singer you’d like to work with?  Jaewon: The late Shin Haecheol-nim.

34. Chicken vs Pizza Jaekyung: Pizza Junghoon: Chicken Jongwan: Complete victory by the pizza

35. Jongwan oppa, I remember hearing you say on Nell’s Cruel Radio that you like to read. Please recommend me a good book. Jongwan: Blindness (José Saramago)

36. What’s the most memorable performance you’ve seen? Jaekyung: I’ve seen too many, but the ones that come to mind now are Black Sabbath in Korea, 1995 / Steve Vai in Korea, 1997 / Metallica in Korea, 1998 / Roger Waters in Korea, 2002 / Marilyn Manson in Korea, 2003 / Nine Inch Nails in Korea, 2007 / Björk in New York, 2012 / Paul McCartney in Korea, 2015 / Among those, Roger Waters’ (Pink Floyd) concert was the most memorable to me. / As for Nell, it’ll be this year’s December concert. ^^  Junghoon: That’s a difficult question. Off the top of my head, The Verve live in Japan. Their charisma was astounding.

37. Do you have any thoughts of letting us know the lyrics in the backmasked parts of your songs? Jongwan: No. Junghoon: I don’t think so.

38. Can you reveal the playlists you’ve been listening to recently? Jongwan: Currently listening to this year’s Christmas concert setlist. Jaewon: Elbow, Death Cab for Cutie.

39. What are each of your favorite foods?! Jaekyung: Galbi, lobster, soy marinated crab, (bigmac)  Junghoon: Braised spicy chicken Jongwan: There’s too many. Beijing-style duck, steak, pasta, Pyongyang style cold noodles etc.

40. When will Jongwan oppa do a V app live in your house like you said you would? Junghoon: Did he say that? Jongwan: Soon.

41. Junghoon oppa, at some point you started recording the fans with your camcorder -- do you…watch those back..?? Also, you’re taking a lot of pictures with your film camera recently. Have you been influenced by Simz oppa to do that, or is there another reason? Please reveal a few cuts that you’re pleased with! Junghoon: I’ve seen all of them at least once. I edited some (of the videos) and posted them on social media. I was taking pictures with a digital camera using a filter to make the pictures look like they were taken with a film camera, and so I thought ‘if this is how it’ll turn out, I should buy an actual film camera’, so I did. I don’t know anything about photography so I’m just taking pictures with my P&S.

42. Please tell us a song you’re disappointed with from each album, or a song you don’t like, and the reason for your choices, please. Or an album you’re displeased with. Jongwan: Walk Through Me. I think we could give each song a more fitting sound if we were to record that album now.  Junghoon: ‘Reflection of’, ‘Speechless’. At the end of the day, it’s a pity how they turned out. If we had been a bit more skilled at recording and writing, I think they could have turned into a little bit, or a lot better albums.

43. If you were to be reincarnated, what would you like to be born as? Jongwan: A dolphin living in a place no human has ever touched. Junghoon: Wonbin.

44. What do you think when you see your increasing amount of male fans? I’m a fanboy too, haha!  Jongwan: It feels good. Jaekyung: It’s good to see. The sceaming (of the crowd) became thicker! I understand now!!  Junghoon: It’s great.

45. When do you recruit workers for Space Bohemian? (My ultimate goal is to become an employee there… just wait…)  Jongwan: 11AM~8PM

46. Do you use Logic (music editing software) or Pro Tools more? If you use both, which is better?  Jongwan: We don’t use Logic, we use Cubase and Pro Tools. We use Cubase up until the recording, then change to Pro Tools for the final phase.

47. Junghoon-nim, please let us know what brand of sunglasses you wear!  Junghoon: I wear several different ones, but my favorite is Karl Lagerfeldt.

48. I’m curious as to what you’re thinking about! Jongwan: It changes a lot. Jaekyung: I think most of what’s in my head goes into our albums!  Junghoon: All kinds of tremendous desires.

49. What is Bori’s gender?! Junghoon: She’s a girl

50. Is Junghoon-nim’s Bori doing well? Do you have any plans to open a separate instagram account with just pictures of her? Junghoon: Yes, she’s doing well. I don’t think I’ll make another instagram account.

51. I’ll give you a multiple choice question. How long will you continue making music? A. Until I die / B. Until all I have left is the strength to hold a spoon / C. For 50 more years / D. Until our 70th debut anniversary Jaekyung: A Junghoon: A Jongwan: If possible, A.

52. Is it okay to ask for a signature if I see you on the street? It is okay to let you know I know who you are? I love you.  Jaekyung: Yes.  Junghoon: Please be our friend. Jongwan: We don’t go out a lot, so.

53. What are your favorite Coldplay / Muse songs? Any songs you intend to play live sometime? Jaekyung: Coldplay: Gravity / Muse: Exogenesis: Symphony part 3 Junghoon: Coldplay: True Love / Muse: Stockholm Syndrome

54. What’s your most used apps?  Jongwan: Lotte cinema Jaekyung: Hi-Q recorder / Soundhound / Producer tools / Metronome / Boss tuner  Junghoon: Naver cloud. Coupang. Jaewon: Navigation.

55. Tell us about a movie you’ve seen within the last 3 months that left a deep impression, whether it was good or bad. Junghoon: The Outlaws. “Do you know who I am?”

56. What’s your favorite time of day?  Jongwan: 9PM~5AM. Jaekyung: One hour before the sun sets. Junghoon: The space between midnight and 4am. Jaewon: Just because the sun rises.

57. To Junghoon and Jaekyung: Who’s your Twice bias? Jaewon: Tzuyu.

58. To all: What’s your favorite cover of one of your songs? Jaekyung: Taeyeon’s Time Spent Walking Through Memories Jongwan: Kim Feel’s Time Spent Walking Through Memories. Jaewon: Time Spent Walking Through Memories.

Berberine is a chemical compound that has been discovered in multiple medicinal plants. Notably, it's found in the gorgeous berberis vulgaris shrub, commonly known as "barberry." Berberine has been used for thousands of years in Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine. And it has even been used, in areas like India, to dye wool and similar products.

It was not until 1917, in North America, that berberine was first isolated from plants. Today, the extract is a popular dietary supplement with many potential health benefits [1, 2]. And, more importantly, accumulating research supports the idea that berberine is a geroprotector [3], which may even extend maximum lifespan.

Before reading on, let me be clear. I'm not a medical doctor. Berberine is considered a dietary supplement. Although I'll mention some research related to disease, I don't recommend berberine as a treatment for any disease. And you should always get the advice of your primary care physician before taking supplements.

Also, after you read this article, go to the online Thrivous store to pick up your geroprotectors. Vitality Geroprotector combines berberine with two other promising life extension molecules: coenzyme Q10, and blueberry anthocyanin [32-34]. I'm proud of Thrivous for taking this initiative.

Metabolic Pathways

Intracellularly, berberine binds to many molecular targets. So there's still a lot more research to do, if we want to figure out all of the actions of berberine in our bodies [4].

Berberine is most well known for activating AMPK (AMP-activated protein kinase) [5]. This is a well-studied enzyme that likely plays a role in metabolic pathways related to longevity.

AMPK is also activated by metformin [6], a pharmaceutical drug. Berberine has been compared to and combined with metformin. And the results are impressive [7].

Berberine also influences PCSK9 (Proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9) [8]. This is an enzyme that influences cholesterol levels.

Promising Systemic Health Effects

One method to determine if a treatment has life extension potential, is to observe its effects in context of multiple body systems and functions. If treatments are helpful across contexts, it's possible that the treatment promotes systemic regeneration. And if enough systemic regeneration occurs, life extension will likely occur.

Aging is a systemic problem, which makes it particularly difficult to combat [9]. Using one treatment for a localized effect isn't enough. Maintaining the healthy function of one body system or function just means that thousands of others are ignored. So a system approach is essential to achieving life extension goals.

Geroprotectors are treatments that are well known for having system-wide effects. They are associated with impressive lists of animal and human trials that evidence beneficial effects on multiple body systems and functions.

For example, quickly type "berberine" into WebMD. They provide you with information about berberine's multifaceted health effects. They also notify you that there still needs to be more research. And that makes sense because preventing aging and extending lifespan will require a systemic approach.

Reputable articles published at places like PubMed, HealthLine, and others, provide a greater breadth of research. And they reveal the potential that geroprotectors like berberine have for systemic regeneration.

To get a quick appreciation for this, type "berberine" into clinicaltrials.gov. You will see 64 studies in total and 32 completed studies. Now look at the indications. You will see that they're related to many different body systems and functions.

Literature is accumulating in relation to berberine's ability to support healthy cholesterol and heart function, and decrease high blood pressure. A review [12], meta-analysis [13], and study [14] show that berberine is associated with multiple cardiovascular health benefits across both non-human animals and humans. 

One review of about a dozen clinical studies indicates that berberine could lower total cholesterol 0.61 mmol, lower LDL cholesterol by 0.65 mmol, lower blood triglycerides by 0.50 mmol/L, and raise HDL cholesterol by 0.05 mmol/L. Impressively, it could also lower apolipoprotein B by 13 to 15 percent [11, 15]. More research is needed to determine how berberine affects heart disease.

Cautiously, I'll mention that there are in vitro and animal studies indicating that berberine may have reduced the spread of cancer in some cases [19, 20]. One review notes that berberine has “clear inhibitory effects” on colorectal cancer, lung cancer, ovarian cancer, prostate cancer, liver cancer, and cervical cancer [21]. More research is needed to determine how berberine affects cancer.

Diabetes is a highly systemic disease. Exploring anti-diabetic potential, double-blind studies of berberine have shown that it may improve insulin sensitivity and support healthy blood sugar levels. A meta-analysis observes that berberine has lowered blood sugar more than placebo [22]. For example, in a study of 116 diabetic patients, their fasting blood sugar decreased by 20%, and their hemoglobin A1c decreased by 12% [23].

Studies related to diabetes and berberine have also shown that berberine may promote weight loss. A clinical study review observed that berberine reduces weight in human subjects over a 3-month period [24]. More research is needed to determine how berberine affects type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Our nervous system is an unparalleled complex system, capable of the most beautiful and awesome functions. Berberine seems to be a promising candidate to support healthy nerve function. There are many rat and human studies that associate enhanced mood with berberine [25-28]. And berberine seems to have multiple protective effects related to the brain [25].

There's research indicating that berberine has anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory effects [16-18]. And its systemic benefits may also reach the liver [30], ovaries [29], the immune system [31], and many other body organs and functions.

Evidence that Berberine Extends Life

Berberine has extended the lifespan of many different model organisms [34, 33]. In one study, berberine was fed to mice every day. And it extended their lifespan on average by 16%.

A 16% increase in lifespan for humans would mean that we would live a little longer than 90 years, as easily as we live up to 80 years today. But we’d probably be in better health than today’s 80-year-olds because many aspects of the aging process may also be significantly slowed or reversed.

What next? We observe life extension in model organisms. And we observe potential for systemic regeneration in humans and animals. The next step should be a direct test of how berberine affects aging in humans, perhaps replicating the TAME study [10].

Side Effects and Safe Dosage

While researching berberine, you may notice that popular articles have conflicting views of its potential side effects. The primary scientific literature, on the other hand, does not seem to be as controversial. Common side effects include cramping, diarrhea, flatulence, constipation, and stomach pain. Other than that, berberine appears to have an excellent safety profile [7].

Most human studies administer berberine to subjects at a high dose between 1000 and 1500 mg/day. Because our understanding of berberine is still improving, a good approach may be to talk to your doctor about a low dose of berberine.

That's another reason why it's good to purchase your berberine supplement from Thrivous. Each capsule of Vitality Geroprotector contains 125 mg berberine. And there's 500 mg berberine in each serving of four capsules. Other supplement brands tend to sell berberine at a much higher dose per capsule.

I also recommend that you test for and collect baseline biomarkers (cholesterol, blood pressure, etc.) before taking berberine. Then you can compare with future tests. This will help you recognize anything that gets better or worse.

Conclusion

Taking geroprotectors and having your biomarkers analyzed are excellent steps you can take right now to increase your chance of life extension. Being proactive and preventative is a new approach to health. And the sooner we get started, the better.

Remember, supplements are just one genre of promising life extension treatments! There are also life extension gene therapies [35, 36] that have extended mouse lifespan by between 30% and 50%. There are cell therapies [37, 38] that have extended mouse lifespan by up to 30%. And there are organ transplants[39, 40], drugs [41, 42], diets [43, 44], and other interesting methods [45].

We should start combing these treatments! If we combine them in the right way, there may be synergistic effects. And that may help us all live for 150 years, or even much longer.

Thrivous is great because they want to see everyone around them get healthier and live longer. Please support Thrivous. And consider donating your biomarkers to scientists who analyze the effects of geroprotectors. These are real steps that you can take to help extend our species' maximum lifespan.

I look forward to living a lot longer with you.

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2013 definition of aging

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McMurphy T. et al. (2018). Implementation of environmental enrichment after middle age promotes healthy aging. Aging. 10(7):1698-1721.

Originally published at thrivous.com on June 25, 2020 at 05:13PM.

Years ago I was asked to interview one of the most unique and talented musicians around- The Reverend Horton Heat. Unfortunately the interview got lost in the editorial shuffle and never saw the light of day. Below is that lost interview.

Setting The Record Straight With The Reverend Horton Heat

Interviewed by D.A. Sebasstian

Jim “Reverend Horton Heat “ Heath has been tearin’ it up for over two decades now, with eleven albums, dozens of compilation appearances, songs in major motion pictures and even video games and cartoons! You might expect a man with that kind of success to slow down...just a little. Well sir- not on your life! The latest incarnation of Jim Heath’s band including The Reverend on guitar and vocals, Jimbo Wallace on upright bass and Paul Simmons on drums, is arguably one of the tightest and hardest working bands on the road today. I got the chance to talk with the Reverend by phone while they were in the midst of their 2009 tour...somewhere in the beautiful state of Colorado.

From what I’ve read on the internet you had it pretty rough as a teen growing up hustling the pool halls for cash- 

You read the wrong bio (laughs). Lemme tell you what happened. We had just signed to Sub Pop Records back in the ‘90’s and I get this call waking me up early in the morning. It was some girl from Sub Pop wanting to ask me all these questions. She had this monotone voice with questions like (speaking like a robot )  “Where did you grown up?” “What do you like to do?”  “What cigarettes do you smoke?” etc. So I told her that I was adopted, like to play pool and I smoke Merit Cigarettes. Later on Sub Pop gets this information and turns it into, “Reverend Horton Heat was an orphan who became a pool shark and smokes Lucky Strike Cigarettes.” (laughs). Complete B.S. I have hung out in pool halls, but growing up,I had a wonderful middle class family, a great extended family with cousins, aunts and uncles. You know Sub Pop had a history of that kind of thing. 

Does personal experience fuel your song writing? 

Yeah- personal experience definitely fuels my song writing...but then again sometimes you gotta stretch out beyond personal experience and use your imagination. You know, get a little phantasmagorical. 

Besides Jerry Lee Lewis, who are your biggest musical influences? 

I really love the Sun Records stuff like early Elvis and Carl Perkins. Non-Sun bands like Johnny Burnette and the Rock & Roll Trio, Gene Vincent and the Blue Cats, but ya know man...I really like music from the mid-twentieth century era. I really love Henry Mancini as well as the Blues, a lot of the Chess records stuff like Howlin’ Wolf, Buddy Guy and Muddy Waters. Its had a big influence on me. Then of course the Country Music of that era was just great too. 

As a band you guys are extremely tight live do you guys rehearse or just set and play out?

The only time we rehearse is during sound check. The way we really keep it going is that we play so much...we play so many gigs. We’ve cut it back from what we used to do- but we’re still one of the hardest working bands out there as far as our  tour schedule. I wish we could rehearse more but our new Drummer Paul lives in Nashville, so to schedule a rehearsal involves airline flights and motel rooms (laughs). It’s kinda crazy now. We got the new songs for the new album and we’re going to be getting together to actually rehearse it in Dallas in March. That’s really the only reason we need to rehearse, if we’re working up some new songs or going to rehash some older ones that fell by the wayside. 

I love your song Galaxie 500. Are you a Ford guy?

Well I like the design of Fords, I mean I think Fords design, you know alot of people get mad at me for this, but a I just think the way their cars look have always had something just a little bit better. I think Chevy came back into the picture with the ‘55 Chevy- and honestly I have a great appreciation for all American cars. A long time ago people were like “Ford Sucks” and “Chevy Sucks” but what's funny now is like- “What abut Toyota?”  “What about Hyundai?” All the sudden all that snobbery between Ford and Chevy people is out the window. It has to be or else we’re all gonna be driving Toyotas. We need to all stick together on this 

You are considered by many to be the King of Psychobilly is that a crown you would wanna wear?

No no man...the Kings of Psychobilly are European bands man. The Meteors, Guana Batz, Demented Are Go, Necromantix...those types of bands  We have a song called Psychobilly Freakout and when it came out alot of writers in the States didn’t really know what rockabilly was all about. So they heard the song title and were all “What is Psychobilly?” So that label got put on me. But in all honesty we do things that “Psychobilly Bands” don’t do. We’ll do a slow country song, we’ll do a slow blues song...ya know? Some of our stuff definitely fits in the Psychobilly mold but alot of it  really doesn’t.

How long have you been playing Gretch and what is your guitar rig live and in the studio?

Well I really haven’t played Gretch my whole career. I had an old Guild back in the mid-80’s with a Bigsby Tremolo that eventually led me to a Gibson  ES-175 with the 1954 P90 pickups. But with all the modern lights, dimmer packs and crazy electrical stuff they put in buildings for these light shows, those P90 pick ups would buzz so loud, almost as loud as the tone coming out of my amplifier. I dealt with it, I made it work, but once when I was on tour the 1/4 inch jake just broke into the guitar and at that time we were really at it- doing 275 shows a year. It was around the same time Gretch started doing their reissues.  I went into a Guitar Center, saw the Gretch and noticed it was about the same thickness as  the Gibson and had the Bigsby Tremolo. To me it had less of the older Gretch “nasal “ sound and more of a  Telecaster vibe. That was something that i really liked and that the Gibson definitely couldn’t get. Gibson's are great for Jazz and some Rockabilly, but they just don’t have that Tele Twang . The Gretch had all that plus the Telecaster  vibe, so I said, “That ‘s cool man.”  Not to mention it was functional (laughs), so I ran with it. Since then I’ve acquired a lot of nice old Gretch guitars, but I don’t take ‘em on the road with me. I do sometimes play  them in the studio along with my old Gibson 175 . Gretch started making the “Reverb Horton Heat”  model so I play that as well. 

What about Amplifiers?

I like the Silver Face Fender Super Reverb, I’ve got several mid seventies Silver Faces, but I have this one in particular that is unreal...it’s just the perfect amplifier. And so I’ve used that on every album I’ve ever done and in fact I’m gonna use it tonight. I spent more money keeping that amp in good repair...I mean it’s the most expensive amp in the world (laughs). We put one mic on that Silver Face and we’re good to go. It’s kinda funny I’m into my amps almost more than my guitars. 

Your last album was the brilliant Christmas record Three Kings? Why a Christmas album?

Well for one thing our record label wanted it and for the other alot of my heroes did Christmas albums. They all did them. It was almost like part of their contract. Three Kings was a fun project.  What was really interesting is I’ve got alot of record collector friends and as soon s they found out  I was doing a Christmas album they all started mailing me their favorite CDs of the weirdest, craziest, most obscure and obscene  Christmas Songs... like who put the Dick On Snowman. All this nasty, over the top, blue Christmas music. So at that point I was thinking, I am going to do a Christmas album and all the kids in my family...ya know I started thinking Christmas is for kids. Maybe I’ll do a Christmas album like that someday but in the mean time I’m just gonna do a straight up Frosty and Rudolph traditional album. 

I’m a big rivet head so I gotta ask- what was it like working with Al Jourgenson of Ministry on the Liquor in the Front album?

Well..that was a crazy trip into an area  I’d never really gone before. It was scary as hell. I mean I would leave the studio after being in there for eleven hours,  working on one song,  just bleary eyed and tired of working and I’d look over there and Al was about to die, the guy almost killed himself...several times. Not purposefully but  you know what I mean? Al's a trip man...Al's a real trip. I mean Al and I got a little cross ways on that album but he brought a lot of good stuff to the table and alot of interesting ideas. You know that album sold more than any of our other albums so I really can’t knock him too much...but man he’s pretty out there. It’s funny though one thing about him is he knows alot about country music and obscure rockabilly stuff . He’s not just an industrial guy.

How about working with Gibby Haynes of The Butthole Surfers?

Now doin’ the sessions with Gibby, we ate so much Barbecue it was crazy...I mean every night it was BBQ. In fact  we were going to this really famous place called Jim Neely's Interstate Bar-B-Que. We were buying so much every day...they had  this shopping cart that they used when they would cater events and they just let us have the shopping cart full of Barbecue to use. We’d just take it to the studio, lift it out of the back of the van and roll it inside. Everyday we were buying a gallon of Barbecue Sauce...it was crazy! Gibby made his own drinks and was mixing Vodka and BBQ Sauce ...it was really nasty (laughs).

What bands do you like touring with?

Well we like touring with Nashville Pussy they’re alot of fun, then there's the Legendary Sack Shakers and Throw Rag...we’ve done alot of great tours with them. Some of my favorite tours were goin’ out with great guitar players that were so over the top good it’s kinda scary you know.  Like Jr. Brown.  I didn’t get to talk to him much on tour, he keeps to himself,  but man what a great guitar player. I got to see him play every night. Deke Dickerson who's a monster player and Big Sandy and the Flyright Boys were always super inspiring because they are such great players and have such a great style.

Any new albums in the works?

Yeah it’s gonna be with Yep Roc, were gonna try to bang it out here as quickly as possible. Kinda on the cheap. We’re not gonna make too big a deal about it. Probably get Tim Alexander  to help us do a little production and musical arrangement as well as some piano and accordion on a coupla things. The plan is were gonna go in a   really old little studio in Dallas where Willie Nelson recorded “Red Headed Stranger” and “Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain.”  I’ll give you a scoop- though I haven’t talked about too much, our new album is gonna be country...

Really?

And its not like “Well we’re goin’ country now,” because I actually have a lotta great rockin songs in the works too, but this upcoming album is just leaning heavily on country stuff. A lot of our fans that like us and are not Country fans seem to really enjoy our country type songs. We’re one of the only bands that they listen to that do anything like country music. So the guys who might normally hate country might still might like our country stuff. Many of my country songs and most of this new album have a humorous thing goin’ on with it.  

I’ve always thought of your music reaching across genre borders- I have friends with record collections full of punk or metal or lounge music but they also have some Reverend Horton Heat CD’s in there too.

That was kinda the intention from the very beginning. At the time it was almost like shooting apples in a barrel. Back when we first started  there really we not that many Rockabilly bands in existence. You had the Stray Cats, Rockats and Paladins playin’ upright bass and then The Blasters. Without getting into listing all the bands that were around at the time, it was pretty weird. There just wasn’t that big of a Rockabilly scene. So here we come in, doin’ original music that was Rockabilly, but a little more amped up. It really was like shooting apples in a barrel. People were like- “Whoa this band is really different!”  “We never heard anything like this before!” (laughs) 

Yeah but you have to be good too- I mean you could be different but if your not good your not gonna get the fans. There's a real power with what you guys do.

Well thank you. Anything you do at some point it’s gotta be entertaining 

So you guys are writing the new album on the road? Yeah I’m writing as I go- yeah I’m gonna go in there and work on a new song today. So we're trying to get songs ready as we play on this tour,  because we aren’t together. You know? When we’re off tour Paul goes back to Nashville. This is our time together so we get to annoy all the opening bands and crew people by turning our sound check into a rehearsal (laughs) 

Do you believe in UFOs?

That's a cool question...and the answer is...no (laughter).  I love to watch the shows about UFOs on TV. Its very entertaining to think about but I don't believe in UFOs. I’m one of these very skeptical persons- so until I see it myself I won’t believe it. I’ve got this thing about  Government- I mean people get all bent out of shape that our Government keeps secrets from us. The simple fact of the matter is that they have too keep secrets from us or we would all die. I don’t think their keeping UFOs a secret.  I think what they keep secret is the military stuff that if it came out that we had it then eventually  our enemies would use it against us. 

 If you could rewrite the soundtrack to any older movie (say pre 1977) what film would it be?

Probably Thunder Road with Robert Mitchim. I’d keep the title song, “Thunder Road,” but that’d be a fun movie to do. When I was a kid, my Dad would take me to the car shows and the drag races and  then he’d set me down and say, “You got to watch this movie Thunder Road.”  After I saw it I was like, “Hey Dad what does that mean- all hopped up?” (laughs).

Outliers

Ironically, Christmas is a bad time to be born. Your birthday gets subsumed by the general seasonal celebrations. Either no one remembers your birthday, or any gifts or greetings that you get are 'combined ones'.

It turns out it is particularly bad for would-be Canadian hockey stars to be born at Christmas. The eligibility cut-off for age-class hockey in Canada is January. So if you are born at Christmas you will be one of the youngest in the group. This means you are likely to be one of the smallest and up to a year behind in general development.

Conversely, those born in January will be the oldest in the group and so tend to be bigger and smarter. This advantage then gets magnified as the slightly better players get moved on to the top teams and get more training and coaching. The result is that the birth months of elite Canadian hockey players are heavily skewed towards January.

In Malcolm Gladwell's 2008 book "Outliers" this is called the "Matthew Effect":

"For to every one who has will more be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away." — Matthew 25:29, Bible (Revised Standard Version).

Other sports and even whole school systems suffer from the same issue albeit with different cut-off dates. Gladwell uses these examples to show that top performers or "outliers" need not be considered either miraculous or solely the result of very personal efforts. Talent and dedication are prerequisites but you also have to be in the right place at the right time.

Gladwell looks at many other kinds of outlier (both successes and failures) including:

the town of Rosetto - a place with a lower than average death rate due to the immigrants bringing with them a sense of community involvement (not genes or diet)

the personal computing founders like Bill Gates (Microsoft), Steve Jobs (Apple), and Bill Joy (Sun) - people all born in the mid-1950s so that they were young adults when the first personal computers arrived in the mid-1970s. Since the examples were American I went to the trouble of looking up Tim Berners-Lee: born in 1955. At work a colleague and I hypothesized that significant software industry founders would be born 20 years before the World Wide Web. Enter Larry Page and Sergey Brin (Google) who were born in 1973, 20 years before the WWW was made free by CERN.

young talent like the Beatles or Bill Gates - people who had special opportunities to put in 10,000 hours of practice very early in their careers. The Beatles played more hours together in Hamburg before they were famous than most bands manage in their lifetimes. Gates and Joy both had unlimited access to early time-sharing computer systems at a time when that was a scarce resource.

New York Jewish lawyers - an ostracised social group who were given cast-off law work to do until those areas (M&A, litigation) happened to become the big money spinners. Then they became the dominant players.

Asian mathematical geniuses - who get a head start because their number systems are more logical. So mathematics doesn't seem so impenetrable in the early years and more students carry it on further.

high IQ individuals - a long-term study showed they had little measurable advantage in terms of career development and were instead more affected by their family environment.

air travel - where cultural reticence about questioning authority and using mitigated speech has led to numerous plane crashes.

The book was a very entertaining read and I'd recommend it. Gladwell finishes with an autobiographical piece and shows that his own family benefited from being in the right time and place. His mother came from Jamaica - a possible disadvantage - but was of mixed race and so enjoyed a privileged education and social position. She also got lucky with a scholarship that was handed on when another person received two.

In my own way I was also the beneficiary of time and place. After finishing my mathematics degree and a conversion course to computer science I applied for a PhD. At the time Japan was investing heavily in their Fifth Generation Computing Program. In response the UK government created the Alvey Program which increased investment in things like software engineering and artificial intelligence. Alvey ran from 1984 to 1990, which (completely coincidentally) was exactly when I needed grant money.

I'll leave the last word to Tim Minchin whose song "White Wine in the Sun" pervades the house at Christmas.

"I'm not a good philanthropist yet; I'm not as good as I'd like to be... I believe very hard in luck. It's all chance; therefore, any privilege you have is chaos." -- Tim Minchin

‪The Song of the Day is: Jerry Lee Lewis - “What’s Made Milwaukee Famous (Has Made a Loser Out of Me)”(1968)‬ ‪#SongoftheDay #musicblog #parenting #journal #jerryleelewis @jerryleelewis #countrymusic #beer #HearTodayGrownTomorrow Support the Blog - Click Below‬ The Song of the Day is: Jerry Lee Lewis - “What's Made Milwaukee Famous (Has Made A Loser Out of Me)”

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