“Give back the key to my heart”

In the fall of 2023 my heart started skipping beats again. It was doing this back in 1988 or so, but medication stopped it. Medication was no longer stopping it. My Cardiologist at the VA had me wear a Heart Monitor for 2 weeks and at the end of those two weeks I was told that not only was my heart was skipping beats, it was also speeding up for no reason, and acting all kinds of weird and stupid when it shouldn’t have been. Dumbass heart. But it wasn’t doing enough of this weird shit for her to be concerned.

My cardiologist asked me about my family history and I told her “Well, those of us that don’t drink ourselves to death, we usually die of some type of horrible cancer or some heart thing. My biological father had 3 heart attacks and died of Congestive Heart Failure. My brother died of Congestive Heart failure too, and my aunt died from an aortic aneurysm. ”

”Well, your echo-cardiogram was pretty normal for an old, fat guy, as was your stress test. In fact there is nothing in any of your tests that indicates a necessity for this, but my gut would feel a whole lot better if you would let me give you a heart cath.”

”Well, If you tell me that i need to get one, then I guess I’m getting one”

So I got one.

When they woke me up following the procedure, they told me “There ain’t no point in you making any plans for the next few months. Your Left Anterior Descending Artery, the one we call the Widowmaker, that sumbitch is 99% occluded, or blocked . On top of that, all the rest of your coronary arteries are 70-90% blocked as well. At some time in the very near future, like within the next 30 days, you’re going to be getting bypass surgery, or you’re going to be getting buried.”

So I cancelled all of my gigs and on Nov 15th 2023, I was cut open asshole to elbow and received a quadruple bypass. I’ve since spent the last 4 months recovering from that, and am just now getting back to playing shows.

You have no idea how much I’ve missed playing shows.

I’m stronger than I ever was before, I’ve lost 30 or more lbs. I’m exercising regularly, I’m drinking more water, getting more sleep, and I’m much more careful about what I eat. I don’t run out of breath walking to the bathroom anymore. I don’t have any more crushing chest pains and I’m still above ground.

It’s a great day to be alive.

https://bigdumbhick.bandcamp.com

FREE DOWNLOAD, FREE DOWNLOAD, FREE DOWNLOAD

I wrote a book. You probably didn’t think I could even read a book.

This is a book containing the lyrics to 70 of my songs along with the story or stories that go with each song. There are 87 tracks here + an ePub version of the book Bigdumbhick - Songs and Stories.

So why are there 87 tracks? Because a live recording may sound a lot different than studio version, or there might be a couple of different demos where I was trying to nail down an arrangement, or it could be that I'm just a total self-absorbed narcissist.

You might say “BUT I WANT TO PAY FOR IT!”. I’m not going to turn down your money, all I ask is that you listen to the music and start reading the book PRIOR to making a purchase. I want to make sure that you get full value for your money.

https://bigdumbhick.bandcamp.com FREE DOWNLOAD