Lively Dead Phish

Reliving something I was doing 50 years ago, I’ve been listening to The Grateful Dead’s live album, Europe ’72. In high school I bought the 3-LP set on the recommendation of my friend Tom, who was a student at the Groton School.

Tom was really into the Grateful Dead and the Jefferson Airplane. He’s now a Harvard-educated attorney who advises world leaders and is certified to present cases before the World Court at the Hauge, Netherlands. I should have listened to more Dead and Airplane!

After listening to Europe ’72 for a couple of years, needing some fast cash in college I sold it along with some other records. Feeling nostalgic, as I often am, I bought the 50th anniversary 2-CD set. If I’d waited a couple of weeks, it would have cost ten bucks less, but such is the way of Amazon.

That’s my long introduction to this new Phish video. The band is currently on tour, keeping the spirit of the Dead alive.

I’ve never seen confirmation the band’s name is a contraction of Phil Lesh’s name, but that’s always been my assumption. Thanks to my pal Scott Murawski, of the legendary New England band Max Creek, I’ve met Phish bassist Mike Gordon. I didn’t ask him about the name, because another assumption of mine is that anybody who knows anything should know the answer.

A collection of Max Creek live shows, going waaaaay back, is on the Internet Archive.

https://archive.org/details/MaxCreek

DO vs MD in WV

The PBS News Hour wraps up its series on the crisis in rural healthcare. The problem is two-fold, with both of them resulting from a lack of funding.

First, many hospitals have closed and, second, with a nationwide shortage of primary care physicians, very few are working at the remaining rural facilities. You will note the report is mostly about Doctors of Osteopathy stepping in where there aren’t enough Medical Doctors.

Chiropractic and Acupuncture have no scientific basis. People who use those services are, in my opinion, wasting their money and/or the money of insurance carriers that have been pressured into covering the treatments.

The holistic approach of Osteopathy includes chiropractic treatment. Which, in my view, has all the validity of astrology compared to astronomy. The “treating the person not the disease” concept is, in my opinion, junk science. Focusing on the importance of diet, exercise, and sleep is my idea of holistic medicine.

Making a person feel they’re being heard works when their problem is emotional, not medical. Without getting into any detail, I saw this for myself with my late father when taking him to an appointment with a DO at a pain clinic.

Despite my unshakable doubts about Osteopathic medicine, DO’s deserve credit and support for providing services in regions where there aren’t enough MD’s. I also think the role of nurse practitioners — RN’s who become NP’s — as primary care providers should be encouraged.

The Official Massachusetts Dessert

Chocolate isn’t at the top of my list of favorite desserts. I prefer other treats over chocolate, including vanilla ice cream, carrot cake, and key lime pie.

My favorite dessert only happens to have chocolate on top, and it’s a pie that’s actually cake. For me, it’s the pudding that makes Boston cream pie the best.

Follow-up: Uh, oh. I shouldn’t have published this post. Look what’s on sale at the grocery store.