The Health Thing

As many have noticed I no longer play guitar live. The reason is that I suffer from neuropathy. In truth, it affects both my arms and my legs.

My feet are worse than my arms. To put it into perspective, imagine going to the arctic and putting your feet in the water for twenty minutes. That’s how my feet feel all day, every day. It makes moving around on stage difficult at times though I try and do my best.

My hands are not as extreme and I’ve been working on trying to play acoustically again. Hopefully I can overcome it.

Sarcoidosis

I was diagnosed with chronic sarcoidosis in 1999. It is an incurable lymphatic disease that causes significant internal inflammation and can also affect the skin. For those of you that knew who he was, Bernie Mack died from complications of sarcoid at the age of fifty.

While I’ve outlived Bernie by five years now, the reality remains that I’ve suffered from pneumonia thirteen times, the most public being when I collapsed mid show on stage in Edmonton.

Bipolarity

I was diagnosed as being bipolar in 2006. In learning of it the entirety of my life fell into place, explaining a multitude of behaviours.

I have since been a staunch representative of mental health, though mistrust those organizations that claim to represent it, the foremost being the Canadian Mental Health Association. Another would be Bell, who employ a single day to loft themselves - an absolute public relations stunt.

At Present

Despite my struggles I look to maintain a level of professionalism that fans can count on. I love making music and performing live and hope to do so for a long time. I’ve been dealt some bad cards, by nowhere at all near to what others have. Not even close.

So in certain instances I’d ask for your patience. I will continue to work and strive to provide the best performances and recordings possible.