Norton styles are great sounding.

Mega gazillion dittos! I have a number of Bob's fake disks and can hardly wait for the one for the Gospel Fakebook.

Stan

Thanks all for the kind words. This is the online equivalent of the applause that we performers all appreciate after playing music for a live audience.

I'm so glad that so many people enjoy my work.

Stan, we are still working on the Gospel Fake Book/Disk and it should be ready by the end of the summer.

Trax, you are correct about the melodies. The copyright wanted to charge me up to $2.50 per song to include the melodies/lyrics on the disk. I told them I could buy a fake book for around 10 cents per song, and they said, "Then buy the fake book". So for most of my fake disks, I have an Amazon link to a corresponding fake book. You can load the song, open the fake book, and have an instant party!

I used to sell the Fake Books myself, but Amazon sells them for less than I was getting them wholesale, so instead of selling them myself, I just link to Amazon to save my customers money.

I'm also working on a couple of style disks - and hopefully another fake disk. It all comes down to available time.

I'll try to release them all at once. That simplifies everything and puts fewer promotional e-mails into my customers' in boxes.

Notes ♫

Notes, another fake book/disk I would be interested in is “This is the Ultimate Fake Book”, with over 1200 songs, fourth edition by Hal Leonard.

Your fake book/disks have saved me a ton of time as I used to type in the chords then search for a style. Your books have eliminated those two steps.

Keep up the great work - MarioD

Thanks Mario,

That's one giant fake book!!!

We'll add it to our list.

Notes ♫

I wonder if there is a Guinness Book of World Records category for Most Songs Played? With all the fakebook versions he has prepared, Bob would have to be in the running.

Quote:

I wonder if there is a Guinness Book of World Records category for Most Songs Played?

Don't know about played, but I think Steve Allen has the record for most composed. Wikipedia lists it as some-14,000 sounds

Quote:

Allen was an accomplished composer who wrote over 10,000 songs. He began his recording career in 1953 by signing with Decca Records's Brunswick Records sublabel.[8] In one famous stunt, he made a bet with singer-songwriter Frankie Laine that he could write 50 songs a day for a week. Composing on public display in the window of a Hollywood music store, Allen met the quota, winning $1,000 from Laine. One of the songs, Let's Go to Church Next Sunday, was recorded by both Perry Como and Margaret Whiting. Allen's best-known songs are "This Could Be the Start of Something Big" and "The Gravy Waltz," the latter having won a Grammy award in 1963 for Best Jazz Composition. He also wrote lyrics for the standards "Picnic" and "South Rampart Street Parade." Allen composed the score to the Paul Mantee imitation James Bond film A Man Called Dagger (1967), with the score orchestrated by Ronald Stein. --from Steve Allen's Wikipedia page

Quote:

I wonder if there is a Guinness Book of World Records category for Most Songs Played? With all the fakebook versions he has prepared, Bob would have to be in the running.

Leilani and I have played all the songs in all of our fakebooks, and many of them more than once!

Here is how I make a fake book:

Leilani enters all the chords in all the songs - on the songs we do not know, she has to go to YouTube or another source to listen to the song in order to know how to put in the chords and choose the preliminary style
Final style choices are contracted out to professional musicians with instructions to pick the most appropriate style for the song, and NOT to favor Norton Music styles (if I chose the styles myself, I'd pick mine more often, I'm biased, and that's why I contract this part of the process out to impartial musicians)
When the disk comes back from the sub-contractor, Leilani and I play and listen to every song in real time to <1> double check <2> in rare cases modify (usually simplify) any chord that simply doesn't work due to the limitations of BiaB <3> in rare cases take the pushed chords that sound bad (again due to BiaB's limitations) and put them on the beat <4> in rare cases override the style choice chosen by the contractor <5> listen again to make sure the song plays smoothly and sounds good <6> if it does not, make more modifications until the song works
Create table of contents and read_me.txt file
Create installation routine
Create web page with shopping cart info and modify all other pages with links to Fakebooks to show a link to this one as well

So with listening to all these songs, many of them multiple times, we just might take that world record. But we love listening to music, and listening to music that we ordinarily wouldn't be exposed to makes us better musicians in the long run.

It is very time consuming, but it is a labor of love. What we provide is something any one of you can do yourself, but it usually takes many hundreds of hours to complete an entire fake book so what we are 'selling' is a huge savings in time so you can start playing the music hundreds of hours sooner.

Since the thread was about styles ... style writing is just as time consuming. Again a labor of love. But writing a style depends on the style. There is no one single approach -- no "one size fits all" way of doing it. But all styles are played into a sequencer in real time before importing the snippets into BiaB. This makes the Norton styles sound like they are being played by live musicians -- because all the patterns were played by a live musician.

I am so happy and thankful that so many musicians express their appreciation for my work. Your kind comments warm my heart and keep the fire going for me to write more style and fake disks.

Thanks!!!

Notes ♫

Notes, I love the stuff and have 4 fake books/disks of yours, but I'd really love intros and endings and it would be way more fun. Charge me more.

The early Rock and Roll book has been a great joy. I barely made it through last July, but when I could I sat and played for hours and perhaps that was one of the best purchases I ever made, for I know almost all the songs in it by heart (as for lyrics, geez, me memorize music?)

If I wasn't so 'wait there's another nice one' and off to the next song type of guy I'd learn more than Mack the Knife and Bobby Mcgee by heart. Well not to mention drilled into me gospel stuff.

Bob,
I too would be interested in the Gospel Fake book, but specifically from the Praise & Worship I, II, III, IV, and V series. I play Bass in a Church Band and we get our music primarily from these types of contemporary music books. I sure a lot of other people would be interested as well. Keep up the good work and please put these on your list because it's on my wish list.

Thanks for the kind words and the suggestion John.

I enjoyed the Early Rock And Roll book myself.

I'm doing a gospel book right now, and I wasn't that familiar with gospel music before we started with it, but I've always enjoyed what I've heard. Now I'm more familiar with the genre and have discovered some great artists. That's the nice thing about doing one of these fake disks, either it's fun doing songs I already know, or it's fun discovering new music that I wouldn't have known about before.

Notes ♫

David,

There are a couple of Biab style folders geared toward P & W in Biab. There are also a couple of P & W Real Tracks and Styles. I have several of the Integrity Music books here and I enjoy making backing tracks with Biab for those songs.

Sometimes I will use parts of a midi file and Biab together to make the song sound closer to the original P & W artist. I have done that with quite a few of Hillsong's music. Works a treat, as they say.

Trax

Whether you use Norton or PG styles, the output of BiaB is rather generic. And it should be. I once wrote a style for Elvis Presley's "Don't Be Cruel" song, and it worked great for that song, but because of the song-specific lick, it really wasn't good for much else. But the more generic styles work for many songs.

That's why I export to a sequencer and add song specific parts there.

Here is a more detailed description on how I create and use backing tracks http://www.nortonmusic.com/backing_tracks.html

BTW, we are proofreading the Gospel book now. It takes time as we have to play each song in real time to make sure it works in BiaB and then make any adjustments necessary. Many of the styles the contractor chose fit the songs to a "T". We're very happy with it so far!!! We'll make an announcement when it is done and send out an e-mail to all my current customers.

Notes ♫

Quote:

We'll make an announcement when it is done and send out an e-mail to all my current customers.

Hi, Bob -

I'm looking forward to the announcement; I'll be close to the front of the line to buy it when it comes out. Could you let us know specifically which fake book it is (I'd like to know if I already have it, as I have tons of fake books)?

Bob,

I have the same request as John....I'll look forward to getting the info.

Thanks,
Cecil

This one:

http://www.amazon.com/Gospels-Greatest-B...8582&sr=1-1

It's the one that was requested most frequently by my customers who asked for a specific gospel title.

Notes ♫

Thanks Bob. I've got an old copy of "Gospel's Best" fake book; I wasn't aware of this one, so I'm definitely looking forward to your fake disk for it.

I think it has a nice mix of traditional and contemporary songs. Compiling the book is fun, it has turned me on to a lot of great music, musicians and vocalists that I wouldn't have been exposed to otherwise.

Notes

Woohoo! Thanks, Bob, that's the one we bought hoping it would be the one you chose. We couldn't wait though and did "Come Holy Spirit" by the Gaithers for Pentecost Sunday at our church. Like John, I'm glad we already have the FB. Glad to know that we can get your disk soon. Thanks!

Stan

Bob,

What's the earliest you think your gospel songs will be ready....one week, two weeks, any "guesstimate" available? I guess I'm a little over anxious!!

Thanks,
Cecil

One could get a healthy jump on that by purchasing the fake book which you need anyway, for there are no melodies. If you have nought bought from Bob before you ought to go that route and order your book from Amazon.

I'm projecting late September. Of course that depends on time and/or unforeseen circumstances, as we have to:

Listen to the song on YouTube or anywhere else we can find it
Listen to the song as it came back from the style-picking sub-contractor to see if it meets our expectations (it almost always does, but in very rare cases we will override his stye choice - nobody's perfect - not even us)
Listen to the BiaB song following along in the book checking for chord typos (again - sometimes they get by the first or second check)
Analyze the way it sounds and if necessary simplify the chord ONLY if the extensions sound bad due to the way BiaB harmonizes a particular chord with a particular style in a particular musical situation
Do the same for pushed chords, sometimes they sound MUCH better on the beat and don't destroy the song by being on the beat
Create an installation routine for PC and Mac
Create a web page and shopping cart cgi code
Modify all the other pages that link to fake books(add a link) including all 29 other Norton Fake 'Disks", David Bailey's Fake "Disks", Roy Hawkesford Arrangement "Disks", Jim Wedd's chord substitution "Disks" and Sherry Mayrent's Klezmer-in-a-Box "Disk"

It's time consuming, plus I also have to manage the day-to-day operations of Norton Music, and have a life as a gigging musician.

It's all good.

My life is very busy, I have only watched two TV shows since 1985 (1) Johnny Carson's last "Tonight" show and (2) a Jay Leno "Tonight" show for comparison. (I've seen snippets of TV shows when I visit my mother-in-law but she will turn it off in a few minutes when we come to visit.) I'm definitely not complaining. I'd rather spend my life actually doing things that live my life vicariously by watching actors pretend to do things.

Full disclosure: If you use the link in my previous thread to buy the fake book, or if you go here http://www.nortonmusic.com/amazon.html and click the Amazon link I will make about 2.5% of the price of the book in commission.

I used to sell the books myself but since I don't buy in huge quantities and by the time I pay shipping from the wholesaler in Fort Lauderdale to my home in Fort Pierce, the book costs me a bit more than Amazon sells it for, and you can get free shipping from Amazon where I would have to charge you shipping and/or raise the price of the book in order not to lose money. So in order to save you money, I just send the business to Amazon.

Some great music, and some great singers are being exposed to me. David Phelps in the Gaithers is one incredible singer, and although I don't remember the names, some of the African-American gospel singers make the hair stand up on the back of my neck (in a good way). I'm glad we are doing this book. Thanks Stan for suggesting it.

Notes

well, y'all got my attention

Bob,
do your fake books require your styles? Or do the styles come with the fakebook?

Pat I've bought 5 'sets'.

Yes sometimes you need to hunt for a style, or you don't like the one that is there.

The early Rock and Roll one I bought recently just needs intros, some changes to endings etc.

Try and buy books with good binding that you can turn. I just bought (Nothing to do With Notes Norton) a 'Dummies' fakebook. Wow, they had to really stretch songs so there was just one bar on page 4 and then a repeat to page 1 then Signo etc. I swear it's just so you can't photocopy the thing or play it right. I got so frustrated.. but that's sort of off topic.

Go to the website, pick a fake book.
Check it on Amazon (as Bob tells you to).

Order book, download chords, open book, play, change the style a bit, and Bob's yer proverbial uncle. It doesn't hurt, trust me.

Pat. You buy the fake books (preferably via Bob's Amazon link). Bob makes and sells the BIAB fake disks that go with the book. I always add my own intros since there are none on the fake disks. I usually just cut and paste the last few bars being too lazy to do my own but that's okay for our type gigs and helps to get the audience ready to sing along.

The fake books that go with Note's disks, that we have bought, all have comb bindings. These bindings may not be the strongest. We took all of our fake books into Office Depot and had them 3-hole punched and put in binders. Now, we can copy the songs we need to take on gigs or just take the songs we will play. I like to copy a page to work with and tape it up next to the computer screen. Some of the fake books, i.e. Broadway, are quite big and could be a little precarious on a flimsy stand.

Notes' fake disks are worth every penny. Yes, the songs only cost pennies. Sometimes we may download songs from Amazon digital, like karaoke, if it's a song we want but don't have it on the fake disk or can't find it for free somewhere on the web. Those songs are .89 to .99 each. We also bought some karaoke songs on cds and sd cards. Those are around $50 for 100 tunes. We've used those, but they are a lot more work since they are audio files with the usual limitations of audio. Note's product truly gives the best bang for the buck (to coin a phrase);)

Stan

Bob,
Just received Fake Book disk # 2. I had my daughter buy it for my because you do not accept Discover credit cards. All 704 song were downloaded just fine. Thanks, however, I don't know if there is a problem with this down-load or not. When I open the songs in BB, most of the styles used in the songs were of a jazz flavor where they should have been some sort of rock style. Is this because I don't have your styles and BB defaults to jazz or what? About a year ago I ordered Fake book 28 from you and the styles turned out the same. Your add said that you would reccommend a BB style for each song but all I see in the memo part of BB is the style which is playing and it's usually wrong. Is this the way they are suppose to be. For example, most of your Elvis Presley songs came in using a jazz style and I had to change the style to a BB Elvis style in order for them to sound close to what they were suppose to. Any suggestions?

By the way, thanks for the music. No matter what your answer, I still will be able to use them. Just have to do a little editing.

Hi, David Walker -

Try this. Open up SongPicker and change to the folder where you have the fake disk located. Create a songlist there. Once the list completes, look in the column labeled "-". This tells you if the style the song wants was found or not. If there is a "-" in the cell for the song, then BIAB couldn't find the style on your computer (either you didn't buy it or don't have it there for whatever reason). In that case, BIAB will substitute styles based on the settings in Preferences.

That column may also have a "d" or a "t", in addition to the "-" (hyphen/minus sign). "-" means the style wasn't found; "d" means the RealDrum the style wants to use wasn't found; "t" means one or more RealTracks the style wants to use wasn't found.

Hope the helps.

Thanks John, I will try that when I get home tonight. I have all the styles up to BB 2011. I have the eveything pack. That may be the problem.

If you got a message saying, "________ style not found", that means you do not have that particular style in your Band-in-a-Box collection. If you want, click "OK" then simply choose a style from your collection (it will probably default to the zzjazz style). When you are happy with the style you chose, click "save" and you will not be bothered by that dialog box again for that particular song.

Some versions of BiaB do not give you that message, but instead default to the zzjazz.sty if the assigned style is not found. To find which style was assigned to that song, open the song picker window.

Here is a detailed explanation of what I did and why I did it that way.

When I wrote my first fake disk, I used only the built-in styles that came with Band-in-a-Box Pro (the entry level Band-in-a-Box edition). I immediately got requests from many customers to choose the best style from all the styles available for Band-in-a-Box.

I asked them, "What if you don't have that particular style?"

They answered, "We will just substitute one of our own. We have nothing to lose and something to gain if you tell us which style you like best."

Here is how I did it.

When I compiled my fake disks, I asked experienced, professional musicians to assign the styles to the songs. I asked them choose (suggest) the best style for the song from all the PG and Norton music styles available. I also asked them not to play favorites to either my styles or PG Music's.

When they were done, Leilani and I sat down, listened to all the songs, triple checked for any errors, made adjustments to chords that we thought didn't sound right due to the limitations of Band-in-a-Box, and in rare cases overruled the style choice of the person who assigned the styles for the disk.

Some songs have been done in so many ways over the years, that many different styles fit equally well. In those cases, only one style had to be picked. You might find others that work better for your taste in music.

Since the styles were chosen from the available styles at the time we compiled the disk, a more appropriate style may have been written since then -- also, you may not agree with our choice. In either case, you can simply change the style.

If the style that you are missing starts with the # symbol (like #kc_shuf.sty, #70Disc0.sty, #boogie6.sty, #ltnpop2.sty, etc.), it is one of mine. You can audition them on this page:
http://www.nortonmusic.com/styledemo.html

You can listen to the demo, hear how the style is supposed to sound, and pick a similar style from your Band-in-a-Box collection. And if you like them, you can purchase the disk(s) or the individual style(s). The Demo files are in Real Audio and/or MP3 format. They are in a low fidelity format for quick playing in your Internet browser. Not one note was changed after exporting these files from BiaB, so "What You Hear Is What You Get."

There are no styles included in my fake disks. You can use either MIDI or RealTrack styles with my fake disks.

I hope this answers your questions Pat and David.

Notes

Quote:

Hi, David Walker -

Try this. Open up SongPicker and change to the folder where you have the fake disk located. Create a songlist there. Once the list completes, look in the column labeled "-". This tells you if the style the song wants was found or not. If there is a "-" in the cell for the song, then BIAB couldn't find the style on your computer (either you didn't buy it or don't have it there for whatever reason). In that case, BIAB will substitute styles based on the settings in Preferences.

That column may also have a "d" or a "t", in addition to the "-" (hyphen/minus sign). "-" means the style wasn't found; "d" means the RealDrum the style wants to use wasn't found; "t" means one or more RealTracks the style wants to use wasn't found.

Hope the helps.

Thanks John. That is a big help to me and even after my many purchases, your response cleared up some confusion that I had. Bob says this also in a post:

"If the style that you are missing starts with the # symbol (like #kc_shuf.sty, #70Disc0.sty, #boogie6.sty, #ltnpop2.sty, etc.), it is one of mine. You can audition them on this page:...."

In the song list there are some songs preceded by the # sign as Bob explains. Also, it does detault to zzjazy and I'm using 2011.5 Everything Pak. I appreciate having this "heads up" knowing that I will have to choose a style or buy one of Bob's. Ya know, I really hate getting old because I had forgotten that I could buy individual styles rather than a whole disk. Just thinking back now about all the hours I spent searching for styles. Duh!

Stan

Bob and John,
John, I tried your suggestions and it worked on the most part. I had to uncheck something, I forgot what it was and am not at my computer at home to tell you what it was, in preference dialogue box like you suggested. Most of the styles Bob suggested play now, however some don't but still default to the zzjazz.sty. Good enough. Thanks.
BOB, as I told John above, I have all the BB style up to version 2011, the everything pack. Thank you for your suggestions and as I said above, most of them now work fine, thanks to you and John. Great product. Keep em' coming. Look forward to the Praise and Gospel Fake Book you were talking about. Your songs bring back a lot of old, good, memories from High School through College. My brother and I sat down and sung along with a lot of these selections you sent me. Thinkin' about the good-old days. Thanks again.

You can change the preferences on what style to load.

I'd like to see this expanded, there are several things for housekeeping that should be done in my opinion.

1. Genre. Allow substitution based on genre, this does work with realtracks, however, it would be a better system to load the 'other' style, ie. zzjazz for jazz, zzrock or whatever, then country, the P/W etc. I think that has merit.

So does the idea to generate the intro in a more intelligent manner based on genre. Thus instead of having just the option for rock or jazz intros, the generate intro would recognize the genre and make the adaptation.

As for learning curves I think this demonstrates the desirability of having a memo box pop up and inform the user that the substitution is taking place, perhaps with radio buttons to change the parameters.

Quote:

<...>Great product. Keep em' coming. Look forward to the Praise and Gospel Fake Book you were talking about. Your songs bring back a lot of old, good, memories from High School through College. <...>

Thank you very much. I'm glad you are happy with the product (after all, my name is on it)

Quote:

You can change the preferences on what style to load.

I'd like to see this expanded, there are several things for housekeeping that should be done in my opinion.<...>

Great suggestions, have you added them to the "wish list"?

Quote:

<...>In the song list there are some songs preceded by the # sign as Bob explains. Also, it does detault to zzjazy and I'm using 2011.5 Everything Pak. I appreciate having this "heads up" knowing that I will have to choose a style or buy one of Bob's. Ya know, I really hate getting old because I had forgotten that I could buy individual styles rather than a whole disk. <...>

Stan

Buying single styles is definitely an option. However, they are more expensive than if you buy them in disk form. The reason is that so many people take a piece of each transaction (authorization company, merchant's account, business bank, etc.). If you end up wanting 5 or 6 styles that happen to be on the same disk, you would be better off buying the disk and getting between 20 and 30 styles for about the same price.

And as I pointed out, you can just audition the style at http://www.nortonmusic.com/styledemo.html and then choose a similar style from your collection. So many songs have been done in so many ways that often more than one style can fit. Especially in songs that have a well developed chord progression. In all the bands I've been in over the years, I've done Erroll Garner's "Misty" as a ballad, up-tempo swing song, funk, generic Latin, and even a jazz waltz -- I've even done it as a jazz waltz in the A section and up-tempo swing for the B section (that was a lot of fun). Of course, this doesn't work with all songs.

Almost all the people who buy my styles come back for more. I'm proud of them, I think they fill spaces that PG Music doesn't address, and I think they are as good or better in quality than PG Music's styles, and being 100% MIDI, they are 100% editable so you can play with them. And isn't that what BiaB and sequencers are all about?

Thanks again for all the kind words. I'll always do my best to meet or exceed your future expectations. After all, my name is on my products.

Besides for the new fake disk, I'll have a new style disk coming out. It is the next in the series of styles inspired by the Technics KN7000. Volume 1 got great responses. After that I intend to continue the Korg series.

Stay tuned!

Notes

Ran into a slight problem. Mother-in-law needs rides for therapy 2 hours away (each way) and another hour if they are on time. 3 days a week for a couple of weeks. She's in her 80s, has Parkinson's just had a minor stroke and needs the treatment. She is a sweet lady.

This may delay the launch of the new style disk and new fake disk a couple of weeks. I'll try very hard to catch up during every spare hour I have.

Notes

Quote:

Ran into a slight problem. Mother-in-law needs rides for therapy 2 hours away (each way) and another hour if they are on time. 3 days a week for a couple of weeks. She's in her 80s, has Parkinson's just had a minor stroke and needs the treatment. She is a sweet lady.

This may delay the launch of the new style disk and new fake disk a couple of weeks. I'll try very hard to catch up during every spare hour I have.

Notes

Your mother-in-law is in our prayers.

Our thoughts and prayers are with you all and your Mother-in-Law.

Cecil

You've got your priorities right, Bob. My prayers are with you and your family.

Thanks for the prayers.

I'll pass the wishes on to my mother-in-law.

Bob

ditto,

You know there are rewards for the man who does the right thing.

--Mac

I just wanted to add my voice to the list of people that have been very happy with the styles the Notes Norton sells.

Enjoy!

Thank you so much. I'm glad you are enjoying my styles Donsta.

And thanks also for the kind words Mac. There was no choice, she needed help, I'm the only person in the family that doesn't punch a time clock, so I'm the obvious one to be the designated driver. I wouldn't have it any other way.

I'm off to therapy in about 20 minutes. Fortunately the hurricane is off shore and all we will get is rain and 20-40mph winds. That should make the 2 hr drive difficult, but much better than it might have been.

Bob

Last therapy today. Wow, between the drive and the therapy, 6 or more hours are shot. But it was worth it. I'm relieved not to have to spend 3 days a week in the car anymore.

Mother-in-law is doing somewhat better, but not as good as we had hoped -- of course we were hoping for an instant miracle. It's going to take time.

I'm off to a gig in a few minutes, and next week Leilani and I will start intensive work on the fake and style disk.

Stay tuned...................

Notes

Mother-in-law update (prayers please). It wasn't a stroke, and we are going to be taking her to Fort Lauderdale to a famous clinic (2 hours each way) for more tests and a second opinion. She does have Parkinson's but the symptoms fit neither classic Parkinson's nor a stroke.

Her health is of utmost importance right now. So the release of my new disks will have a bit of a delay. Right now the projected date is mid October. Thanks for your prayers and your patience.

Notes

Prayers and Blessings to your family, Bob.

Stan

Thanks, Stan.

Bob

Quote:

Prayers and Blessings to your family, Bob.

Stan

likewise, Bob.

Bob,
Best wishes to your mother-in-law for a full recovery.

Peter

Yes best wishes to your mother-in-law.

We are praying for a full recovery.

Ditto from here, Bob.

--Mac

Thank you all. Tomorrow we MRI and then in a few days down to Fort Lauderdale.

She's a nice lady, and I appreciate all well wishes and prayers for her. I'll let her know you are pulling for her.

Bob

Bob,

You are on our list.

Thanks!

Bob

Finally got a definitive diagnosis on mother-in-law's problem. The myelin sheath that protects her spinal cord in her neck is non-existent on one of her vertebra. So the spinal cord is being pinched against the bone, and that is why her hands, feet and face are going numb.

The most recent set MRIs taken here and the second opinion in Fort Lauderdale's "Cleveland Clinic" confirmed this.

Surgery is required. There is a 60-70% chance that when it is done, she will get her feeling back.

The surgery is risky, but not having the surgery is even more risky. Without the sheath, if she falls she could be paralyzed from the neck down. And Parkinson's patients often fall, it's a complication from the disease.

We need all the luck and prayers we can get.

Thanks,

Bob

Bob, you can count on our prayers.

Good luck and God bless.

We'll certainly pray for her, Bob. I've had 2 neck surgeries myself due to degenerative disk disease so I can relate. Sometimes you just have to do it since a rear end collision could make you into a paraplegic in the blink of an eye. Recovery time is no fun either. Just letting you know in advance. I had to wear a halo. No fun.

Stan

Thanks, the prayers are appreciated.

She had one neck surgery years ago for a different problem, and reading up on the Internet, it is not uncommon for the vertebra next to the place where the initial operation was made to get this very problem. It's comforting that they know how to deal with this and it isn't some rare condition that they have no experience with.

But we found out today, they can't do surgery for a month. She has to be very careful. Parkinson's patients fall a lot, and one fall can render her paralyzed from the neck down. She's also on pain pills and with numb hands and feet that increases the risk of falling.

We will be spending some time taking care of her and doing things for her that might be risky.

The surgery itself is risky, but not having it is even riskier.

Thanks again for the support.

Bob

Well, the new fake books are coming along, one gospel and one rock-and-roll (Real Rock Book) http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?f...rock++real+book (This book has some really great songs in it).

Unfortunately the mother-in-law problems are taking up about 3 days per week. Monday all day for tests, today blood work and who knows what else, Friday therapy and more tests. They want her to be strong enough to be able to withstand major surgery without any additional complications.

Fortunately she seems to be doing well and if she doesn't fall between now and Oct 27 (subject to change) she should be OK. They are giving her a 60-70% chance of full recovery.

Sorry to hijack the thread.

Thanks for your patience. We will release the two new style disks, two new intro/ending disks, and two new fake disks as soon as we get all the work done.

Gotta go, leaving time is approaching.

Thanks again for your prayers for my mother-in-law

Bob

Pre-check-in to the hospital went well. Surgery is Thursday. Prayers and/or well wishes are appreciated. Still working on the new disks.

I'll keep you posted.

Notes

Mother-in-law went into surgery at 11:00 AM and just got out at about 7:00 PM. It went well, she is in recovery and in a lot of pain but the report from the doctors is good. Hopefully she will regain the feeling in her hands and feet but it's too early to tell.

Thanks for all the prayers and well wishes.

A few days of visiting and it's back to the new style and fake disks.

Stay tuned.

Notes

Mother-in-law finally released from the hospital and into a rehab center yesterday. She still has absolutely no feeling in her hands and feet, the spinal cord was damaged, and they don't know if the nerves will heal or not.

It could have been worse. They said if she fell (and Parkinson's patients often fall) she would have been paralyzed from the neck down. It was also a risk of the operation. Fortunately that didn't happen.

Thanks for the prayers and positive vibes. She is not over the hump yet, but is no longer critical.

Spending lots of time at the hospital and now the rehab, so the work on the new disks is progressing but slowly. We'll get there. Thanks for your patience.

Bob

Before the operation my mother-in-law couldn't feel if her tea cup in the microwave was hot or not (had to be careful not to burn herself because she couldn't feel hot or cold), couldn't feel to zip up a zipper, as she had absolutely no sensation in either hand.

Progress report...

Due to the surgery, she has this neck collar on so she cannot look down. Until yesterday she could not feel anything with either hand. If she put her hand in a bag full of jellybeans she couldn't pick one up because she had absolutely no sensation in her hands.

Good news!! Yesterday she dropped her straw and in enough time found it with her hand. A little of the feeling has returned.

Keeping it on topic:

Today we are taking a day off from going to the rehab center so the entire day will be spent on the new fake/style disks. (Mother-in-law encourages this.)

That's great news.

Will keep the prayers goin' for her.

--Mac

Quote:

That's great news.

Will keep the prayers goin' for her.

--Mac

ditto

Thanks, they are so appreciated.

Good news, Mother-in-law is being released from the surgical recovery center on next Thursday (barring any complications) and will probably go to an assisted care facility for a few weeks.

Thanks again for all your support and prayers.

Work on the new disks is progressing at a slow but sure pace. Stay tuned for details.

Notes

That’s fantastic!

Don’t worry about the new disks. Taking care of your family always comes first, as least in my world.

Notes,

It's great to hear of your Mother-in-Law's positive progress....this is praying for continued improvements.

I'm also definitely looking forward to the new disks!!!

Thanks for the update,
Cecil

Thanks Mario and Cecil. It's visiting day today, gig day tomorrow, take her either home or to the assisted care facility (it's a money thing), and then weekend gigs.

I suppose either way Leilani and I will be baby sitting her in the week, and Leilani's other sisters (who have day jobs) in the evenings and weekends until she is 'out of the woods'.

It's good that she has family down here to help her until she recovers.

Still no feeling in her left hand, but she is getting some back in her right. We're hopeful her nerves will re-grow and we are feeding her some extra nutritional supplements that are reported to stimulate nerve growth. The doc says we have nothing to lose by trying them.

And the disk work goes on every chance we get.

Thanks again for your prayers and positive thoughts in her direction.

Notes

First day home, mother-in-law fell (it's common with Parkinson's patients). Her daughter and grand-daughter broke the fall, X-rays showed no damage (thank heavens because she still has the collar on from her spinal cord surgery), but today she has to check back in to a Intensive Nursing Care Facility. Hopefully the one only about 15 minutes away has an opening, if not, it's an hour drive.

In a way it's good, I didn't think she was ready for home, but she was so tired of being in the hospital, she talked them into releasing her.

That's the update. Thanks again for all your prayers and well-wishes. I pass them on to her, and I'm sure it helps.

Gig today and tomorrow back to the disks on Sunday. Thanks again for your patience on the new stuff.

Notes

Update: Arlene is getting some sensation in her right hand. She can actually feel enough to pick a jellybean out of a bag. This is a great improvement. Left hand still has absolutely no sensation of touch or temperature.

She is in a nursing facility now, only about a half hour away, and it is joined with an assisted living facility, so it feels less hospital-ish. When they feel she can get out of bed, she will be able to go to a nice dining room. Hopefully that will be soon.

Thanks again for the prayers and positive vibes.

Bob

Update:

The hospital people are going to take her home on Thursday (12/15) to test and evaluate her to see if she can live at her home. If she passes the test, she'll be home for Christmas.

This is great, because the nursing care facility is about a half hour away when the traffic is light, and her home only 10 minutes away. It will make our job of care-taking much easier (not to mention the savings on gasoline for the car).

Work on the disks is slow but steady, putting in every minute we can. Hopefully early next year.

Thank you for your patience and for all your prayers for Arlene.

Bob

Best wishes for success on Thursday, Bob. Step back from the disks, a bit, and enjoy the holidays to the extent that you can. Pauline and I are playing a gig everyday at some retirement home or school. The folks' enjoyment makes it fun for us. Merry Christmas to you and yours!!

Glad to hear everything is going well Bob and Happy Christmas to you. Looking forward to the new disks

Musiclover

Thanks. Complications, the doctor signed release forms but the 'intensive nursing care facility' is releasing her "against medical advice" - hopefully that's just a CYA phrase for lawsuit avoidance (Arlene wouldn't sue anyone anyway).

She has been in hospitals/recovery/nursing for 8 weeks now and is mentally more than ready to be home.

We went to her apartment yesterday, I installed 2 phone extensions so she will always be near one, we picked up scatter rugs and anything else she can trip on, cleaned it up, and stocked the refrigerator with easy to prepare foods.

I guess we'll be spending some time there until we feel confident she can manage by herself.

Spinal cord surgery is a 'pain in the neck'

(can't lose our sense of humor)

Bob

We spent a lot of time designing my 2 spots when I had the stage IV cancer thing.

An easy chair I could get out of, changed all the bedroom, bought those wireless phones. (I always said if you are too FREAKIN lazy to get up and walk to the phone I'm SORRY!) Old cranks can change their mind, but I tried that once and they took the phones to their bedrooms and we needed the Search and Rescue people to find them...

It's hard to predict things. We had to take up some rugs. I needed a pair of tables and a powerbar for my computer(s) by my chair and bed, I had a laptop both places, reading glasses, lamps. You don't think of that but I was alone except for the home nurse, and on a feeding tube and IV for a while. At one point the Nurses and home care people were dropping in, we gave them keys.

I had my touchstone items too.

I have 4 bird feeders outside my window. I'm sure my son was tired of me calling him to fill them, but it made him visit me!

I think the hardest part was going from a healthy 59 yr old outdoorsman to a 60 year old deaf guy who walks with a cane.

I know we have two different health care systems. Here they start with the homecare nurses and people quick, they want the hospital bed back if possible. No one is making a profit if you are there, at least directly. (Dr.s and nurses always get another patient)

I still kid people I had a full blown dispensary, after all was done I had 2 huge boxes of supplies I donated to one of the hospices. (Over 500 4" square pieces of gauze individually wrapped. Fancy tape.

I care for my parents now. A nursing aide baths my Mom and Monday and Thursday. That's 'free'. They assess her every 4 weeks, and my Mom wants them to STOP asking those stupid questions.

I hope you can figure out ways to make things easier for everyone. It's a very difficult thing when you see the mirror at the end, your life starts going by in slowmotion over your shoulder and you don't want to get so close so as to break the mirror. Because although no one admits it, the other side is just over there. And on most days one would rather stay. I had a lot of other days.

Quote:

Thanks. Complications, the doctor signed release forms but the 'intensive nursing care facility' is releasing her "against medical advice" - hopefully that's just a CYA phrase for lawsuit avoidance (Arlene wouldn't sue anyone anyway).

Against Medical Advice (AMA) is not just a "CYA" thing. It means that in the best judgment of the providers there are legitimate medical reasons for someone's continuing to be under inpatient care. There is a lot to be said for being in one's own environment. There is also much to be gained by doing what the nice people in the white coats tell you.

I hope this works out, but please be sensitive to anything that would indicate a return to inpatient care. If she was being released from subacute care, that would be one thing. Anything medical with the modifier "intensive" deserves special attention, IMO.

Richard

What confuses me is that the doctors released her, but the nursing care facility released her AMA (Against Medical Advice). Didn't they confer first? Who shall we believe?

She seems to be doing OK so far. She still has that huge neck brace on, and probably will have it on for months. She has a walker and uses it to move around her apartment "just in case". We've stocked her kitchen with easy to prepare and ready to eat food, and we spend as much time with her as we can.

Fortunately she has good medical insurance. Besides for Medicare her husband retired from the U.S. Military so she has the widows benefits.

Personally, I'd like to see the US go to nationalized medicine with a system similar to France and Taiwan -- they seem to have made the best judgments. But that's a political hot potato so this is not the forum for that debate. Fortunately, she's covered and can make the co-pays.

Arlene is the only parent left that Leilani and I have. Mine are both gone. It's sometimes a little sad knowing our generation is next in line. But there is nothing we can do about that except to try to enjoy every day to it's fullest.

Giving of ourselves to help Arlene is sometimes wearying, but it is also joyful to be able to help someone you love.

I have some empathy about parent loss since Pauline lost her mom (the last of both of our parents) a couple of years ago. When we lose a parent, it makes us admit to our own mortality---something none of us like to do.

Stan

True. We spend most of our life blissfully ignoring our mortality. Then something happens like the loss of your parents to temporarily jolt most of us into reality again.

When I lost my mother, I was talking about it with a patron at a Yacht club where we often perform, and she agreed about the shock but remarked that if I thought that was difficult, just wait until you lose a sibling.

Life on earth is fragile. Although we would all like to believe in some afterlife, there is no proof. So for me the secret is to live each day to the fullest and enjoy it as much as you can while living a life that will get you to the 'good place' if there is indeed an afterlife like the clergy have all promised us.

So far - so good with Arlene at home. She spends a lot of time in an easy chair watching TV, but then if I had her challenges, I'd probably do the same. With the neck brace, she can't look down to read and car rides are risky. She of course can't drive yet, but an accident, (even something like being rear-ended at a stop light), with her still healing vertebrae could leave her paralyzed from the neck down.

Good news, she has gotten enough sensation back in her left hand to be able to pick moderate sized things up without looking.

Thanks again for all your prayers of support and your patience for the new disk release.

Bob

Glad to hear of the continued progress of your mother in law Notes.

Did it ever cross your mind to have a big sale as regards your midi disks?
Even selling the lot for $100 to each customer would I'm sure take in $30k or $40k for you, would only need 300-400 customers.

musiclover

Quote:

Glad to hear of the continued progress of your mother in law Notes.

Thanks. All the prayers and well-wishes are greatly appreciated.

On the question about running a sale:

I run a constant sale on my disks. See http://www.nortonmusic.com/e-delivery.html for details.

You can save hundreds of dollars if you purchase enough disks.

This allows you to 'roll your own mega pack'. You only get the disks you want.

Actually, as a small business owner, I don't make that much per disk. I have flat-rate monthly costs like magazine ads, web hosting, shopping cart, insurance, and so on plus every sale I make both a flat fee and percentage of the sale goes out to the Visa/MC authorization company, the Visa/MC merchant's account, and a flat rate to my subcontractors. In addition, I have business licenses and by living in the USA self-employment tax on every dollar I make.

But I'm not complaining. I really enjoy doing this, along with my other 'main' job, being a performing musician. Although it is very time consuming (I haven't watched one single TV show since the 1980s) it doesn't seem like work. It's just what I do. And I'd rather do music than watch TV anyway.

So if you want a sale, go shopping. My shopping cart will automatically give you the discount price when you add the second item to the cart.

Notes

One big illness, and you'd better learn to like tv. I got sore fingers from playing keys, and I still can't blow very well, my neck is like a petrified tree trunk from radiation, and many days I have to write down a score and decide if I should be behind the wheel of the car. But TV has become a refuge. We talked about ditching the cable, and there are only 4 HDTV over air things here, but I just am not ready for that.

I'm not a huge fan of a lot of tv. But with a good sense of humour and lots of channels heck, even the Discovery Channel and the Nature stuff is great.

Documentary channels, Swamp people, direct from the bayou, American loggers what a laugh.

I have books, music, CD's Dvd's music gear, and I still end up doing 3 hours a day of TV.

And to think the only thing I saw for decades was hockey night in Canada, some Canuck football games and the odd Jays game.

I think I missed the pawn shop shows in the 60's. LOL

I sat in the same chair, all day, 8 hours a day, hooked to a feeding machine, at home. What else was there to do?