Hearing Aids

Recently we caught AC/DC on what will probably be their last tour.   A concert originally scheduled for March 2016 was postponed six months to September, and longtime vocalist Brian Johnson was replaced – for this tour – with infamous Guns N’Roses singer Axl Rose.  It turns out that Johnson, who had weathered 36 years of touring with AC/DC, lost his hearing not from touring, but from his side hobby racing cars.  D’oh!   Contrast that with Pete Townshend, whose hearing loss is directly related to those full power Marshall stacks behind him.

My hearing has always been subpar, even before we moved to Paris in 1979, and well before we started going to concerts (1984).   I’ve never seen The Who in concert – was never that much of a fan.   I’ve seen Motorhead a few times, but the loudest concert was actually Y&T at Jaxx in 2002 – that was actually painfully loud. 

Originally my ambition was to attend the US Military Academy, aka West Point, and become an Army officer.  Life had other plans:  my hearing was below military specifications.   This also disqualified me from ROTC, the National Guard – as a private – and even JAG (military lawyers) as the JAG recruiters refused to waive the hearing requirement even for a non-combat role.  

Eventually I wound up getting hearing aids, the newest set of which I finally got today.   This pair can be calibrated and tweaked by – guess what? – an app.  We’ll see how they work.  The prior set, also purchased from Costco, lasted about five years before the left one crapped out.

I recall one set which fit in the ear itself, filling up the entire space.   The next set went down inside, with a small antenna to pull them out.  The current format is behind the ear with a bud going into the ear canal, plus a small rubber earpiece. 

With eyesight, glasses or contact lenses will bring you back up to 20/20 vision.  Unfortunately, hearing aids are not the same.  They take  you from abysmal hearing just up to marginally less than bad.  However, they do make a big difference.   Listening to music, for one, is a remarkably more pleasant experience with them, as they pick up the higher frequencies I’d otherwise miss.  Without them, music is muddy and dull.    Plus hearing all the awful noises my car makes as it gets older is another benefit.  And of course, hearing people talk, especially if they’re not standing right in front of me. 

 

The other major necessity is being able to hear in court:  the judge, the witnesses and/or parties, and opposing counsel.  Lately more courts have hearing assisted devices (e.g. Fairfax and Loudoun), but unfortunately this is more the exception than the rule.  I had a trial in Loudoun County a few years ago and the device worked perfectly in a huge courtroom: I could hear the Judge, the witnesses, the attorneys, everyone.  Hopefully the new ones will help for those courts, the majority, which don’t.   We’ll have to see.

Y & T

Recently I watched the Band Together show on Metallica’s YouTube channel.  It featured Dead & Co. (the Grateful Dead’s current incarnation) and Metallica (Metallica’s current incarnation) playing live somewhere in Northern California to benefit all the people who were screwed by the recent wildfires going around up there.  Although that place is a bit far off for me to attend in person, fortunately Metallica made the show available live and free on its YouTube channel.  Thank you!   I ignored the bands up to Dead (last one being Dave Matthews…ZZZ) and focused my attention on the last two. 

By now both could be considered the biggest San Francisco bands – rightfully so.   Dead & Company currently feature three original members:  Bobby Weir (rhythm guitar and vocals), Bill Kreutzmann (normal drummer), and Mickey Hart (“world” drummer & percussionist).  John Mayer has taken over Jerry Garcia’s role.  Some unimportant but competent people are on bass & keyboards.   Phil Lesh still tours with Phil Lesh & Friends (apparently Weir, Kreutzmann and Hart aren’t his friends anymore).  Their last keyboardist, Brent whats-his-name, died ages ago, after Pigpen-whats-his-name and Keith whats-his-name.  Anyow.   Metallica are still James, Kirk and Lars, with Robert Trujillo taking Jason Newsted’s place on bass, who in turn replaced the unreplaceable Cliff Burton (RIP).

Anyhow.   When we think of San Francisco bands, the late 60s come to mind.  Of that original crop, only the Dead are still around.  Big Brother lost Janis Joplin, and Jefferson Airplane seems permanently grounded:  Paul Kantner is dead, but Grace Slick and Marty Balin are still alive.

However, there are more bands.  Blue Cheer could be considered a SF psychedelic band, though they were the heaviest.  Dickie Peterson resurrected the band in the mid-80s as a more traditional hard rock band and kept it going until his recent death.  Since there’s really no Blue Cheer without Dickie, the band died with him.  I suppose Duck McDonald (guitarist) and Paul Whaley (drums) have to do something else.  Prior guitarists Leigh Stephens and Randy Holden are still alive, but mostly retired.  In any case I’ve blogged about them already.

The final band, and which I’ve never blogged about yet, is Y&T.   Originally called Yesterday and Today, this is a hard rock band started in 1974, centered around lead guitarist-lead singer (!) Dave Meniketti.  We first learned of this band in 1984, when we picked up Black Tiger and Mean Streak on vinyl at our school fair.  Many decades later we finally got to see them in concert.  Meniketti is the only original member left and still tours.   

  

Classic Lineup.  Dave Meniketti (vocals & lead guitar); Phil Kennemore (bass); Joey Alves (rhythm guitar); Leonard Haze (drums). 

Discography:  Yesterday And Today (1976); Struck Down (1978); Earthshaker (1981) [band changed its name to Y&T]; Black Tiger (1982); Mean Streak (1983); In Rock We Trust (1984); Down For the Count (1985); Contagious (1987); Ten (1990); [brief disbandment from 1991 to 1995]; Musically Incorrect (1995); Endangered Species (1997); [longer disbandment from 1997 to 2009]; Facemelter (2010).  

As noted, the band is still active.  Phil Kennemore died recently, but Dave Meniketti still keeps the band going.  Arguably they were at their peak in the early 1980s.  They even played at Donington – 1984, the year before we went. 

Incidentally, we saw them a few years back (2009) at a local club, Jaxx.  Meniketti and the other band members stayed around to sign autographs and speak with fans.  They did not charge for this.  Meniketti recently went on record as saying that as a matter of principle, he does not charge for these meet & greets and holds in contempt any musician who does.

In terms of sound, they are essentially a regular hard rock band.  Meniketti plays a Les Paul through Marshall cabinets.  Their show at Jaxx was actually painfully loud – more so than Motorhead.  Their later albums are more commercially oriented, and their only hit song, “Summertime Girls”, comes from Down For The Count.  My favorites remain Black Tiger and Mean Streak, not merely for sentimental reasons but also because they seem like High’n’Dry (Def Leppard):  the optimal mix of balls & polish.  The earlier albums aren’t as well crafted (Earthshaker being the first truly competitive album) while the later ones sound a bit too commercial.   I can’t say I’m well acquainted with the albums after Down For the Count, though.