I haven’t blogged in a while because I’ve been seriously otherwise engaged.....a freak accident at Lime Street Station, Liverpool in January ‘07, resulted in an extremely smashed left forearm, which put me under the knife, and under the gun, under the National Health ! which left me on the musical sidelines for most of the year, although I buckled down to writing a memoir about my adventures in Swinging Sixties London, as idleness is frowned upon in this household, especially by my dear wife.

It was a great experience to decide to write a book, and then actually do it....the memories seemed to bring more along with them... and the fact that there have been so many re-issues on C.D. and D.V.D of things I was part of has just made this retrospective period pretty meaningful.

The surgical saga continued in October ‘07, when I underwent a bone -graft to fix one bone that wouldn’t heal, but I gradually have gotten the physical skills back on the various instruments.

But, hell, that was ‘07! Now,’08.

Started well, with a very fulfilling appearance in March at Liverpool’s Royal Philharmonic Hall as part of a charity concert for the British Cancer Society, to commemorate Buddy Holly’s seminal appearance there with The Crickets in 1958, a show I actually attended as a sprog rocker!

Did a solo piano/voice take on ‘ Valley Of Tears’...took it back to New Orleans!  I hear there’s a C.D and DVD of the show in the works.
< buddyliverpool.com>.  for info and updates.

But then, in a kind of slow-motion, but actually fast-moving spring and summer, I found I was going to need open-heart surgery before the end of the year to replace a congenitally defective aortal valve. Not a total surprise, as the medics had been following the situation for several years, but when they actually tell you the time has come, it changes a whole lot.

My priority was to get my 92-year old mother, who was still living alone in England, situated in a retirement home, and the reality of my medical condition helped persuade her to do so, which led me to spend the entire month of July in the U.K., taking care of her move, and putting her house on the market, as she saw no need to keep the place.

The intention was to have the surgery in early September, but mother passed suddenly ( if one can use that word for someone who’s 92 ) on August 20th. , which put me right on the plane back to England, postponing the chop.

When I returned to the States, a series of further delays, partly due to events that effected the surgeon, led to the actual event taking place on December 8th. ( I was willing to wait, as this particular scalpel wielder is reputed to be one of the best in the business ).

So, I now recuperate, and hope to be back in fighting trim by late spring, or so. In the meantime, there are now over 100 of my songs posted on < americansongspace.com >, the largest selection of my work in one place, so check it out.