I apologize for being negligent in not participating on this e lustrous forum of such fine and distinguished gentlemen and musicians.....I want to say thank you to Tony Mads for initiating the thread and to Joe and Cass and Scotty who calls and touches base now and again...for asking about me...maybe you do miss me after all...haha...Cass, kiss the bride for me....
Well, to bring you all up to date, I have been extremely busy with my new son of 8 months his name is Alan and i think he will be a keyboard player....big hands and long fingers....haha....I also suffered a second stroke about 2 months before he was born, the first was 2 1/2 years ago and I didn't know it...just thought it was heat exhaustion and am limited to what I can do...however, Thank God things are not as bad for me physically as others I know...I just spent my 69th birthday in Feb.and counting my blessing with my family....the voice is going because of all the screaming I do at the employees....haha....
Business has been in the dumpster down here again....it seems that we can't catch a brake after hurricane Wilma....now with all this crap about this SWINE FLU....I tell ya, I think this is all BS..just the political leaders of the world trying to keep your minds off of the fact that they are all stealing your money...keep you busy thinking in the other direction and keep spending your money as fast as they can print it.. the normal everyday flu kills many people every year...we don't even have that type flu down here..again, THANK GOD....in the whole state of QUINTANA ROO were we have CANCUN and COZUMEL there is no...0... flu...
myself and my family are all well...again, THANK GOD...I hope HE keps it that way....
Thank all of you wonderful people for your concern and well wishes....I may not be able to play and sing much music, however, I still enjoy listening to it...good luck and may GOD BLESS all of you...I'll still be around as long as possible...
Tony

Tony ...so sorry to hear about your health problems, but glad you are 'still around' ...
I hope you progress well and get back to playing and singing ... I have your CD in my iPOD

I tend to agree with you that this 'swine flu' thing has been 'over-hyped' by the media ... I heard that 36,000 people die each year in the US of A from 'normal' flu but you don't hear about it ... I think one of the reasons the swine flu got so much attention is that it affected so many people in Mexico, where you don't normally have ANY flu ...

Our son returned tonight from 4 days in Cancun for a friend's wedding ... we weren't thrilled that he was going, but he is a fully grown adult (43 yrs young ) capable of making his own decisions ... as he said to us - "there was no evidence of the flu in Cancun, and if there were a lot of cases of swine flu in Chicago, and we had to go to New Orleans for what ever reason, would we not go???" ... fact is, there were more cases closer to his home in NY than there were in Cancun ...
If he had more time to spend down there I would have told him to drop in on you ...


Be well my friend, and it was great to hear from you ...

t.

Everybody bitches about the hype over flu epidemics, until one day there IS a pandemic, then it's "why oh why didn't we act sooner?" (Anyone remember AIDS? That might have been eradicated if we hadn't been pretending it was God's wrath on gays. Now we have 33 million living with AIDS and 2 million deaths a year)

I'm sorry, but with a world population so interconnected, mobile and transient, greater vigilance is needed. If you think the inconvenience of the caution just shown is too much, wait and see what tens (possibly hundreds ) of millions of people dying around the world does to your business. More people died of the 'flu in 1918 than were killed by the Great War.

There, but for the grace of God and some understandable caution by the WHO go us all, now.

But all that aside, I am glad you are back with us, Tony. Stay healthy...

[This message has been edited by Diki (edited 05-04-2009).]

Tony, I'm so glad to hear you are feeling better, and congratulations on your new son. Although our meeting was brief, you have left a lasting impression on my wife and me. I, too, had a brush with death last September - ventricular fibrillation - and had to be paddled back to life. If you don't believe in the Almighty One, that'll change your mind, real quick. Take care and God bless.

BTW, when are you throwing that SZ Arranger Cazumel Jam? The wife and I are planning a 2012 40th anniversary cruise (hint, hint)...

Originally posted by Tony Rome:

Hmm.. If you're 69 and you just had a kid and you had a stroke prior to conceiving your child and then had another stroke two months prior to his birth, I just want to say congratulations!! - on what I consider a true and verifiable miracle Tony! Not only is God good, he's definitely still in the business of doing miracles, as evidenced by yours. Not to mention your wife who must be MUCH younger than yourself to be able to conceive a child at all. >> Some guys get all the breaks...

Say Hi to your MUCH younger wife for me and the gang okay Tony? Oh, and do everything in your power to stay well and healthy for that new son of yours too. And try to check in at SZ more often if you can, even though I realize your days are probably mainly consumed with sipping mint juleps on the beaches of Cozumel with your MUCH younger wife instead of playing arranger keyboards anymore. MUCH younger wives have a way of doing that I would suspect.

Hey, and since your wife is still in her child bearing years (in other words still in her thirties ) you might want to start planning for 'another' addition around the house again soon too.

I would say God bless you but it is very evident he already has.

All the best,
Mike


[This message has been edited by keybplayer (edited 05-04-2009).]

Be well, Tony. Having physical problems/limitations is a pain...

R.

Great to hear from you Tony and hope everything looks up for you from here on.


[This message has been edited by Nigel (edited 05-06-2009).]