Tune in tomorrow, Saturday October 29th, to Faction Talk, channel 103, at 4 PM East, 1 PM West.

Phone #: 844-686-5863

Twitter: @lefsetz

If you miss the episode, you can hear it on demand on the SiriusXM app. Search: Lefsetz

Note: Take all the below with a grain of salt, as they say…DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH! HA!

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Wealthiest country in the world with this system of health care  ? Rubbish!

Chris Chapin

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Hey Bob, you’re right. Get a colonoscopy, Don’t put it off. After 20 plus years working in the music business (Geffen, UMVD, BMG, Sony-BMG, Warner Brothers), I left and began a new career in the medical field as a surgical tech. Hated working in the hospital, but found a great little GI medical center with weekends off.

No one likes prepping and getting a colonoscopy, but I can’t tell you how many times an older patient would come in for their first one, and boom, we find cancer. Had they come in sooner and had it done when they were supposed to, they may not be in the situation they find themselves in.

If cancer runs in the family, or someone adopted doesn’t know their family medical background, those folks should have one more often.

Sure the prep tastes like crap, and it sucks having to fast for a day or more, but it just might save your life.

Mike Verzi

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Three stories about health care:

1)  India, mid 1970’s:  My grandfather was a British-trained medical doctor in East Africa and India from the 1930’s through the 1970’s.

When I went to visit him in India, one of the neighborhood kids (a teenager) had wounded his hand. He went straight to my Grandfather’s clinic.  (His clinic was on the first floor of the apartment complex he lived in).  My grandfather cleaned the wound, applied a band-aid / dressing, sent him home with a handwritten note for his parents on how to care for the wound, and told him to be more careful.  He also didn’t charge – he said it was a simple thing and it was “the right thing to do”.  No forms to fill out, no worries about lawsuits, and everyone was happy.

2)  Japan – a few weeks ago: A friend of mine was travelling to Japan, and broke a bone, requiring hospitalization.  She was worried about the bill.  When the hospital staff presented her with the bill, and apologized profusely for presenting the bill.  Since she wasn’t a citizen of Japan, she ended having to pay the entire bill out of pocket.  The total fee was $21.

3)  US, California:  A few months ago, I dropped a pair of pointy scissors on my foot. No major injuries but I needed a tetanus shot . . . on a Sunday.  I have pretty decent insurance.   I drove to the nearest urgent care.  After waiting close to two hours, they finally saw me.  I ended up paying close to $100 out of pocket for the urgent care, plus extra $50 on top of that for the tetanus shot.

—Meghan Gohil

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You are so spot on as usual. Due to some lingering issues from long Covid I have a team of private doctors and specialists. After going the insurance route I realized that although many of them are competent doctors you get 15 minutes and you’re lucky if they remember what you told them the last time bc they have too many patients. Not to mention in an emergency it will take a few weeks to get in an appointment. It’s no way to live and I feel awful for those who have to. So I have been fortunate to build a team of exceptional drs that basically act as concierge medicine (have their cell phones, emails , can always get in day of etc). I also agree about research and talking to as many experts as possible  if you have something wrong you never know when and from who you may get a helpful nugget of information from. I keep insurance but that’s really just for the chance of catastrophe for myself or a family member. Instead of fighting with them for the Pennies they will reimburse me I’m better off using the tax deduction (most ppl aren’t aware of )for anything spent over 7.5 percent of income on health care . To me it’s all worth it as the cost of the right healthcare is priceless!! Feel well

Best ,
Jarred Arfa

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My mother was a 6 figure/year real estate agent in Scottsdale AZ, knocking heads.

She refused western medicine against all our advice and solely went to a homeopath for decades.

Then she had two heart attacks. The resulting blood loss to the brain brought on early dementia and Alzheimer’s.

Now at 84, she’s in assisted living, getting her diaper switched out 5 times a day. She gets me constantly confused with my uncle.

It’s no way to live…

Dave Streets

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I agree with you 100% — the only reason my husband & I stay in LA is healthcare. Until 2017, we had a second home in Sedona, AZ where you can’t see any specialist, even a GP for MONTHS – so our  choice was Flagstaff ( 6-month snow warning) or Phoenix, and even when you go the 2 hours, your care there is in the hands of PA’s, who were shockingly amateurish with no filter! We both wound up in the Sedona ER for chronic issues, and fortunately the Dr. was good, but it’s not a long-term plan. So grateful that all our Drs. at St John’s in Santa Monica : Rheumatologist, Internists, Urologist, Gastroenterologist, Pulminologist have been with us since 1996 and guided our care from a distance. Since SAG/AFTRA dumped coverage for Senior Performers during the height of Covid in 2020, it costs an extra $12-15,000/yr., Sadly, that now includes an Oncologist, but I prefer that to “wait & see,” in AZ. Wish you were still here for Bob’s Chicken Salad, I will always thank you for for the tip!

Denise Madden-Eckstein

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You’re so right. Don’t eat out. Drive an old car. It’s hard to impress people with the need to save for a rainy day in the middle of a drought. I would love to leave LA after 32 years here, but with my own medical issues to deal with, my first prerequisite is moving someplace else where there’s a top notch medical center, if not two or more. Unfortunately, any place with that amount of medical diversity is likely to be just as unaffordable as here.

Sorry you’ve got more to cope with. Hang in there.

Florie Brizel

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This is why I have to live within hours of NYC.   I’m never giving up access to Sloan Kettering.

Michael Alex

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My wife and I are lucky to have great docs … and a bunch of them.  For the same reason you won’t move away from LA, we will never move away from the DC area.

Alas, Father Time is undefeated.

John Hyman

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I couldn’t agree with you more on the pitfalls of our healthcare system and seeing physicians regularly. I live in the SF Bay Area, blessed with the same level of healthcare you have in LA.

I now receive all my healthcare from the Veterans’ Administrations system in San Francisco. Without a doubt, the best healthcare system I have ever used and a good model for non VA systems. I receive, dental, vision, hearing, psychiatric, pharmacy, all medical services and hospitalization at no additional cost to me. The price of admission, unfortunately, was high; a helicopter pilot in Vietnam, two Purple Hearts and shot down 6 times with permanent disabilities.

It is quality care, residents are from UCSF, one of the top medical centers in the country. The physicians do not watch the clock during appointments, and will actually follow up on the phone with me. I am always treated respectfully and receive a level of care I never received before in civilian healthcare.

Steve Greene

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Oh hell yes (to most of what you said).

I had two women friends who died from breast cancer; one was 32, the other 48.  Both resisted and put off going to an actual oncologist, preferring their

naturalist healers until it was too late.

I have to say though, I disagree with you that doctors who won’t take insurance and/or are “concierge” doctors are somehow better/more attentive than others who do take insurance.  ALL of my physicians take Medicare and supplemental (yeah, you gotta have supplemental insurance).  And they make plenty of money, believe me.  AND they are top doctors at UCLA and Cedars.

With one’s PCP, it’s a bit more difficult.  One only gets a max of 15 minutes with them, as you indicated.  Which is a drag.  But that’s a result of the corporatization of medicine that we are now burdened with.  It sucks.  And the supplemental and Medicare are not cheap; we’re paying five figures for two people. So no, I won’t pay another $10-20K for someone who considers themselves above the fray as a concierge or who thinks it’s too much trouble to bill Medicare.

Yes, I know that upkeep on that 50 ft sloop in the Marina is expensive but I only have one thing to say:

Concierge THIS…

Gregory Prestopino

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The labs and hospitals are trying to get me to pay my deductible upfront.  They’ll ask you for it.  My deductible out of pocket yearly is $500 for a procedure/hospital visit.  I have employee health insurance from my employer.

Had my prostate biopsied it was negative for cancer.  I was told I’d get a 10% discount if I prepaid my deductible to the hospital prior to the procedure.  Okay here’s my $500.  Turns out after insurance I had to pay $230 out of pocket.  I tried to get my $270 back and it took forever.  It took five phone calls with the hospital system to get my money back.

Had another trip to the hospital nothing was wrong ultimately, but they asked me to prepay my deductible again and I told them no.  What a scam!

Back to the prostate biopsy it cost about $19k.  I had to pay ultimately $890 out of pocket which included the $230 listed above. If you don’t have health insurance I don’t see how people can afford getting sick!  The $890 was the best money I ever spent.

Cheers!

Tim Pringle

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I live in Stockholm and I´m 66.

Here we have an insurance that comes with your citizenship that says that you when you have paid 100 dollars for meetings with your assigned doctor (and resulting operations/ meetings with specialists arranged by your doctor for your specific your health problems/worries) within a 12 month period (starting on the date of your first consultancy) the rest of the twelve months are free of charge.

So yesterday I got an X-ray of my lungs (since I’m a long time smoker). It cost me 0 dollars. It was free of charge!

I’ll be busy doing some other smoking tests (like a KOL-test) before my 12 month period runs out.  Not only because it doesn’t cost me anything, but that sure helps!

MÃ¥ns Ivarsson

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Bob, Canadians read your latest email and can’t believe that a civilized country like the USA still allows their population to live in fear of going to the doctor or the hospital due to the costs. I’m 69 years old. You know how much I’ve spent directly on doctor’s appointments, tests or hospital stays in my lifetime? Exactly zero dollars.Yes, we pay higher income taxes up here than south of the border, but it’s not like it’s double the taxes Americans pay. The health care is high quality. And we are now benefiting from doctors and health care professionals from overseas choosing to immigrate to Canada rather than the USA because they feel more welcome and safer (due to the fact that very, very few private citizens own guns).The most expensive part of a doctor’s visit or medical test for a Canadian citizen is the cost of parking. Today I read that over 25% of Canada’s population was born outside Canada.

The insurance and medical lobbies are LYING to your citizens, to maintain their inflated incomes. (much like the Russian people have been lied to about the power of their military). Nobody should have to worry about losing their house because they need a critical operation. Having your taxes go to government-supported health care is not communism. Not every home has a fireman or a policeman. We pool our tax money to pay for those services so that they are there the few times in our lives when we need them. Health care should be no different.And the reduction nation-wide in overall stress and unhappiness is one of the reason Americans find Canadians so easy-going. Once you’ve lived somewhere with national health care, you would never go back.I know some of your readers will quote some exceptions of stories of Canadians waiting longer times for treatment, but keep in mind those are dug out by insurance and medical companies to support their positions, and are a very tiny percentage.There are always exceptions, and cases of people abusing the system, but most Canadians would maintain that our health care system is one of the main reasons they like living here. So many actors, musicians, and technical folks are moving back to Canada from L.A, NYC and Nashville because as they get past retirement age, the lure of government-subsidized (note, I’m not saying free) medical care makes so much sense. As Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. once said, “Taxes are the price you pay for civilization”.

To end on a happy note, I was at a Toronto Blue Jays baseball game a few years ago, when Montreal-born Russ Martin was catching for the Jays. He was at bat in a tie game, and the bases were loaded.   A fan behind me shouted  “Lean in, Russ, take one for the team!!   You’re Canadian, you’ve got free health care!!”

Regards,
Doug McClement

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Your newsletter is very timely.  I live in Toronto Canada.  Our much vaunted universal payer system in terrible crisis across our great country.  At least 20% of Canadians have no GP.  Primary care physicians are retiring at an alarming rate as the pressure of excessive patient loads, the aftermath of Covid, grinding amounts of paperwork and hard to serve aging patients makes family life impossible.

No Canadian politician will stick out his/her neck and advocate private insurance.  “Universal healthcare” is a sacred cow.  The activists won’t allow even the mention of an orthopedic hospital for those who are willing to pay for a prosthetic hip or knee.  Meanwhile you might wait a year just to see an orthopedic surgeon to get an assessment and then another year for surgery while you are suffer in extreme pain.

Emergency room waits are 16 + hours as the public goes to hospital for treatment of flu, migraines etc that could/should be done in clinics or urgent care centres.

A friend of ours recently fell and hit her head while at the mall.  Security staff insisted that they call EMS.  Paramedics took her to Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto.  She waited 13 hours to see a GP who told her that if she had no symptoms yet she is probably okay and sent her home.  Meanwhile patients were arriving in pain and needing immediate care. It was so busy that they ran out of gurneys and some patients were laid out on towels on the floor.

Our system has collapsed! Those that are financially able are getting treatment out of country.

Sad. Sad. Sad.

Harvey Glasner

Toronto

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sorry bob you way off on this one. To date there is no evidence health checks do anything other than perpetuate health anxiety and line the pockets of salesmen masquerading as doctors. There will always be the anecdote of the missed rare (or even not rare!) diagnosis which features heavily on our mental because of cognitive bias but overall, physicals and poorly thought about screening are actually harmful. The truth is medicine is not the all powerful determinant on health the industry wants you to believe. Lifestyle and environment have far more impact (clean water, sewage, pollution,vaccines, diet, exercise, mental well being (the absence of neurosis and anxiety). The situation is far more complex than your recent newsletter suggests. I feel for the Americans forced to spend considerable sums of money and falling victim to the industry sales tactics. Even the question of which cancer will kill you vs which cancer you will die with is still not entirely clear. No one lives forever.

DECLARED INTERESTS – NHS FAMILY DOCTOR.

Robert Dylan

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I used to live in America.But I was young and very fit.I left California when I was 40 years old. My home base is Stockholm,Sweden now.My daughter lives in Temecula,Cal ,she is a nurse.She tells me all about insurance companies and doctor operations. All I want to say is.”Stupidity doesn’t run in America.It gallops”

Best of health.

Tom Riviere

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I’m a software developer 20 years into my career — worked in small and medium shops, one of which got acquired by IBM five years ago, and I quit to go independent because corporate isn’t for me. I always had some kind of health insurance through my 20’s and early 30’s, used it occasionally (a broken bone, my wife giving birth to our son) but generally paid through the nose for TERRIBLE coverage and high deductible/copay. As a result of a freak, still-unexplained incident while we still had it, my wife had a spontaneous cerebrospinal fluid leak that left her laying in a hospital bed for 10 days where she received NO HELP and NO relief — after being met with confusion from a variety of specialists and surgeons, a plucky, motivated intern identified the condition early on day 2. The solution was a simple mechanical procedure that we were actively denied, day after day after day, until I literally told Riverside Methodist Hospital to go f… itself, pushed my wife out in a wheelchair, went to OSU, and they fixed her immediately.

Wanna know what more than a week of Maury Povich on a CRT TV and steamed eggs cost? $55,000.

I ended up paying like 6 grand out of pocket after insurance chose at random what they were willing to cover. A bag of saline was like $100; the cost of a fruit cup would’ve bought me a Maserati.

I’ve had conversations with supremely coked-up dudes in the club toilet that were less arrogant and less aggressive than what we got from that bald-headed, know-it-all, prick of a neurosurgeon who told me “I’ve never seen this before so I have no idea, but I’m certain that you’re wrong.” when I explained what she needed done.

I was right.

Anyways, after I refused to be absorbed into the corporate machine, I was offered “affordable” COBRA coverage for however many months and it was like $4000 a month, completely insane. I never signed up.

Open enrollment comes around, I check out healthcare.gov — to cover two adults and a child for the s…tiest plan available was still like $2500 a month — no thanks!

It turns out that paying out of pocket for dental, (minimal, common) prescriptions and routine visits is orders of magnitude cheaper than carrying worthless, overpriced health insurance. If I get hit by a truck, I’m throwing my wallet into the sewer and telling the hospital that my name is Ricardo Montalbán, unhoused — let ’em write it off, who gives a s… I paid $6,000 for eggs!

-Kevin Kaiser

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I’ve been a Kaiser member for over 50 years.  It is a health maintenance olus health care organization, not a sickness treatment organization like most US health providers and doctors.

Preventive medicine, regular checkups ($35) are extensive and required. Labs $20.  They’ve saved my life three times. Heart operation? Pacemaker? Brilliantly done. 2-3 k for the operations, 250 for the pmaker. And if they don’t provide a service, they send you elsewhere and pay.

You are a victim of capitalist private medicine.

Call kaiser. You can join. No pre existing conditions problems.

This is the model for universal single payer health care.

David Rubinson

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Agreed. I just had surgery a couple of weeks ago. Nothing life threatening but serious enough. Without California health care I would have been in a bad way. I tell people all the time, it might be expensive out here but they care about things that need to be cared about like healthcare!

Mazi Ray
Los Angeles

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This is all excellent advice.

Since not everyone has access to, or can afford the “concierge medicine” that you have, I will add one thing: If you are fortunate enough to live where there is a teaching hospital, join their system over other available options. They will have the newest information and the most highly educated docs. They are usually profs at the attached medical school, for whom staying current isn’t a luxury—it’s a necessity. To be clear, there is a difference in standards of care from the consolidators that are cutting costs and the not for profit teaching hospitals that are not. Teaching hospitals associated with major universities are also hubs for research and clinical trials. That means the newest treatments are available to those with acute or chronic illness.

I offer this advice as a Survivor-to-Survivor counsellor for the Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network who has seen both the commercial and teaching systems up close. There is no comparison. It is why I also live near good facilities. I can’t take the risk that my brother-in-law, who lives in a small resort town, took. He found out about the difference the hard way, nearly dying of a misdiagnosed cardiac issue that likely would not have happened at a better institution.

One last thing, if you don’t have access to a major teaching facility and are diagnosed with a tricky problem, find a way to get care from providers who see your issue every day. Avoid general surgeons for anything more complicated than a tonsillectomy or hernia repair. Use a specialist who has 10,000 hours and a large number of reps with your procedure.

Jon Sinton

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Can’t begin to tell you how timely your article is.

I used to say that it should be illegal to show prescription drug commercials on tv.  After all, you need a doctor to prescribe them and the doctor should be telling you what you need, not the other way around.  But we live in a very different world today.  We have to take our healthcare in our own hands and be proactive.

Health insurance companies only care about denying coverage so that they can add to their bottom line. They don’t care about you and me.  When my wife gave birth to our third child, the doctor told her she had to stay in the hospital another day, but the insurance company denied the request and sent her home against doctors orders.  Do the pencil pushers really think they know better than your doctor, or is it more about the bottom line than what’s good for your health?

A number of years ago, I changed from my long-time doctor to a nurse practitioner (due to a change in my insurance).  At my physical, I mentioned an issue I’d had for over a decade that caused flair-ups of pain. My prior doctor had treated the symptoms with pain killers. The nurse practitioner asked if I wouldn’t rather solve the underlying problem, rather just treat the flair-ups.  I looked at her in disbelief as she told me how to avoid the issue.  I haven’t had those pains since.

Years ago, my son had pain and went to an ER at a local hospital.  They told him he had indigestion and sent him home with Tums.  The next night he had emergency gallbladder surgery at a different hospital.  When the first hospital sent him a bill, he told them where they could put it since they had misdiagnosed him.

Another son has recently had a health issue that he’s been trying to address.  He’s been to numerous doctors.  Lots of conflicting opinions on a diagnosis.  He was in pain, so he went to a hospital ER . . . and then another, and another.  3 ER visits at 3 different hospitals in various parts of the city. He told me that all 3 were overflowing with people in the waiting rooms, hallways, outdoors, etc.  Minimum of a 3 hour wait at any of them. And he said that COVID wasn’t the problem. There just aren’t enough staff and not enough space. And he got 3 different diagnosis and no real help. One doctor says that the prior doctor’s diagnosis is ridiculous. Doctor needs a CT scan, but the insurance denies it.  Doctor says, “he really needs it” and the insurance company says, “we’ll get back to you in a few weeks.”

My son’s daughter (age 4) has been sick.  He took her to the pediatrician.  The doctor said it’s a flu bug and it will go away.  But she’s had it for 3 weeks. My son suggests that she might have C. diff, but the doctor says that’s impossible.  So my son gathers a stool sample from his daughter and takes it in for analysis at a diagnostic lab.  Turns out that my granddaughter has C. diff and they are seeing a gastro specialist tomorrow.

Yes, being proactive with your healthcare is more important than ever.  Our current system is broken.

Russ Paris

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Americans will never truly be able to comprehend how truly disgraceful the rest of the world thinks it is that they don’t have universal healthcare.

When I saw your email’s headline I hoped maybe it would be a long screed advocating for it. But instead it’s about getting good insurance, and how you should still pay to get checked up even though it’s expensive.

It’s like a trapped animals at the zoo.

Thanks

Michael Griffin

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Thanks for writing this and urging people to get checked as often as they can, but at least yearly.

 

I have just undergone my second cancer scare which started with a mole on my back that my wife urged me to get checked. I finally did and it was malignant melanoma. From there they ended up ripping out 4 lymph nodes because that’s where melanoma likes to go., thankfully I was clean but it was a major operation which I will now recover from. Although it hurst and it all sucks, I am glad to go thru it rather than find out too late this spot on my back killed me.

 

Previously, on this day in 2003 I had a colon tumor removed that I discovered by paying attention to discomfort that I felt and going in to use my insurance I bitch about paying. Low and behold, stage 3. Cut it out, then 6 months of chemo. The chemo was worse than the cancer itself.

 

But here I am.

 

GET YOURSELF CHECKED. TODAY.

Danny Zelisko

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Great email Bob – totally rings true and may save a life or two.

My internist is an “MDVIP” concierge doctor, which means I pay for the privilege of being his patient. It sounds almost unfathomable, but it’s worth every penny. He answers texts and emails almost immediately, and I can actually get him on the phone! Not sure if he takes Medicare; guess

I’ll find out next year.

Anyway, thanks for encouraging people to take care of their health. I’m thankful for mine every single day. If you ever need to visit Hopkins Hospital (which I hope you don’t), let me know – it’s not far from my house and I can hook you up with a room in my building…..

Rich Madow

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Insurance is unaffordable until you need it  –

Terry Anzaldo

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Ha — 46 years I’ve been singing to myself “Doctor say’s he’s comin’, but you got a permanent rash”

Andy Rosenzweig

Hitch a Ride is the best song on the “Boston” record.  One of the best guitar solos ever imo.

Hal Cohen

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Thanks for calling out Boston. One of the first two albums I ever bought with my own allowance money was their debut, along with Al Stewart’s ‘Year of the Cat’. Top to bottom that Boston album is a gem. “More Than a Feeling” was not my favorite, despite its undeniability. “Rock and Roll Band” was a young, music-loving daydreamer’s paradise. If you were in, and a fan, this was their creation story, the rock and roll dream painted in technicolor sound that you could sing right along to (or try to anyway) and feel like it could be your own story. Scholz is underrated as a pure musical master, and I would go to bat for Brad Delp as one of the best singers of that, or any era. Sad he’s no longer with us.

“Smokin” still passes the volume knob test and is a pure burner of a track. “Hitch a Ride” is just a gorgeous and moving melody. Still get chills when that guitar solo kicks in. And yes, “Foreplay/ Long Time” is a classic. When the snare hits twice to segue into the main song it sparks a kind of euphoria that only great music can bring.

Call it Classic, call it corporate, call it what you will, but mostly call it timeless. Just plain great music.

-Chris Horvath

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Bob-Wow. You brought back waves of feelings with this piece. When “More Than A Feeling” came out, we were amazed at the clean, new sound of it—like nothing we’d heard before. It was an anthem of our High school Senior year, and we played that first Boston eight track in our cars incessantly as we cruised our little Kansas town. Life was good!  Thanks for bringing back those memories.

Bruce Dyson

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Amen.  I was music director of BCN when the demo (the original) was brought into the station by Paul Ahern, their manager.  It was reel to reel and we put it on a cart which were used mostly for station I.Ds and spots.

There were a couple of us in the studio and it took maybe 30 seconds to say ‘holy s..t’.  We played that song every hour the first few days, which we never ever did.  The rule was no song could be played more than once every other shift.

It is one of the best rock songs ever, if we are being honest.

John Brodey

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Trivia:

When I was a teenage recording artist signed to Epic Records, my Jimmy Ienner production company produced single “Rock & Roll President” was released on the same day in 1976 as 2 other singles by new, unknown Epic artists: “More Than a Feeling” (Boston) and “Play That Funky Music White Boy” (Wild Cherry”) – so I was in good company!

🙂

Wallace Collins

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I loved reading this about Boston. It was definitely a “guilty” pleasure back then. My favorite story was while living in LA (for the third time), I remember listening to Jones’ Jukebox one afternoon in the mid-2000’s and hearing mention how much he loved Boston when they came out but couldn’t tell anyone because he was “punk” rock and anti-corporate! But he was jealous of those guitar tones that he knew he could never get!

Weirdly my two favorite Boston tunes were/are “Hitch A Ride” and “Let Me Take You Home Tonight!”

Cheers

David George

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I still shamefacedly have that Boston album, it belonged to Steve Jones, Sex Pistols guitarist and Jonesys Jukebox host;  he absolutely loved it.   Like you said Boston were uncool so Steve’s adoration seemed strange.    But, his post Pistols group, The Professionals, with drummer Paul Cook, put out some great tracks with his power guitar chords overdubbed maybe 10 times, paying symphonic homage to Boston and, probably, Phil Spector.   The vocals were, sadly, not on a par but the sound…..wow!    Just Another Dream and 1-2-3 are on YouTube – the proof is in the pudding.

Its almost the end of October and its sunny and 14 degrees on this side of the ocean;  something’s definitely not right.

Muchos

Fachtna O Ceallaigh.

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Everybody, and I mean EVERYBODY in my high school had this on 8-track in their Chevelle, their GTO, their Olds Cutlass 442. EVERYBODY. Many, many joints smoked on lunch hour in those cars (nearly every day) to Boston’s first album. To call it ubiquitous, doesn’t come close to describing the unbelievable impact it had on anybody who was alive then. I’d bet the farm that every single one of my classmates can sing every f…ing word of every song on that record. Me too. And THAT, my friend, will never happen again. Ever.

Sad. We were lucky, Bob.
Really, really lucky.
Counting my blessings.

Pete Kehoe
Journeyman musician (still)
Northern Michigan
(Currently in Amsterdam)

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Didn’t know about Scholz’s affinity for the James Gang.

Now that you mention it…

The endings of “More Than A Feeling” and “Tend My Garden” do kinda take similar musical paths.

Marty Bender

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“More Than A Feeling” is pure genius.  I owned it within 12 hours of first hearing it on the radio in September of ’76.  Skipped school to buy it.

Chris Herrmann

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The Boston debut was my first album I purchased, at the ripe age of 15.  I split the purchase with my younger brother, it still has the $2.98 price sticker from our local Kresge’s (Five & Dime store).

I retained possession and it hangs above our pool table, along with several other landmark albums shared by my wife and I.

I was never a huge Boston fan after that first, but the debut holds up quite well.  There’s no shame in that!

Al Jones

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I was 14, going on 15 and getting serious about practicing guitar when this came out and it nearly wiped out everything that I had been listening to up to then. It’s hard to overstate just how electrifying and inspiring this was at a time when most mainstream rock wasn’t anywhere near as well-crafted. Make no mistake: this song, and in fact the entire album are perfect.

And when Brad Delp sang “I dream of girl I used to know”, at 15 I had yet to have that as a personal experience. But now, of course, that line has me choked up pretty much every time.

Philbillie

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More Than A Feeling was the song that captured what my girlfriend at the time and I had when we first started out.  That Boston is  not in the Hall Of Fame when a whack of less significant acts are – I won’t name them – is criminal.  That Boston pretty much invented the ‘Power Hits’ radio format has never been chronicled.  That Boston was the hinge that opened the door to Van Halen etc has never been credited.  I was very fortunate to be assigned as the photographer at the Toronto daily I was working at – a year before I became ‘the critic with a camera’ – to capture the band at Maple Leaf Gardens.  Got some great shots of Delp and even went to the after party and hung with Tom and the opening act, one Rick Derringer.

Bottom line, we were young and about as carefree a demographic that ever existed.  And “those old songs” were no more than five or ten years old.  The “sound of infinite space” as I used to describe Boston’s production was the perfect match for an America that was moving forward from Vietnam with unlimited potential.  Like Boston, it wouldn’t last long.  But if you were there…wow.

Personally I think rock died with The Sex Pistols.  Shot the whole spectacle full of holes so to speak.

But, geez, Boston.   Sounded great in the car with my arm around my girl.

Thanks Bob

Jonathan Gross

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“Foreplay/Long Time” is the deathless Boston track. It’s that hint of prog that draws you in and Delp’s vocal on the final verse after that organ break is pure FM joy. Too bad about him, by the way.

I was thinking about this topic the other day while looking at the streaming numbers for “Midnights.” Will anyone be talking about or listening to that record 46 years from now? It’s so boring! Even my 18-year-old daughter who professes to love Taylor says, and I quote: “she just makes so much…and now it’s all the same.” Maybe I am just too old to get it and it is the “Satisfaction” of its day. But I don’t think so.

Best

David Vawter

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This was great and as always you are spot on.

 

I remember when the album was released in September of 1976. Our local rock station in my  hometown Columbus OH played just about every song on the record which is unheard of. I was starting college and yet I still love this album to this day.

 

That said, how many freshmen in college today will still listen and enjoy their present day music in 46 years….my answer is none!

Steve Gerardi

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I turned 17  August 29, 1976. Like every year, Mom took me to the “record store” – usually Wallich’s or Licorice Pizza – to pick out my birthday gifts.

Of course, the debut from Boston was on my list… along with the latest from Grand Funk, Al Stewart, REO Speedwagon, and Hall & Oates.

 

1976 was a transitional and/or landmark year for many established Rock icons. Many released one of their best (Aerosmith, Thin Lizzy, Steve Miller)… many not one of their best (Led Zeppelin, Alice Cooper, Eric Clapton).

 

“Boston” is as important as “RAMONES”.

 

I’ve played (blasted) the song at least a few times in each of the last 46 years…

 

Thanks for a great read, Bob.

Bruce R. Kilgour

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Boston was a gateway into hard rock for me.  The guitar sounds are heavy yet smooth and melodic.  What many took for corporate,  I took for a style.  It was the soundtrack of my childhood.

I remember riding with my dads 4H group on a rented coach bus in 76 from cedar rapids Iowa to Washington DC.

We had two 8 track tapes for the whole ride, John Denver back home again and the 1st Boston album. The Boston tape got played until the bus could sing along. It ended up getting stretched and unplayable from the use during the return trip.

I’m fine with John Denver but I still adore that 1st album.  Peace of Mind was the song that got me.

David Fink

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Ah Bob , what a spot-on analysis! Here I am driving in urban Johannesburg blasting ” All Right Now” and I’m sixteen again. Music is more than a feeling, it`s life.

Benjy Mudie
South Africa

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Hey man, great piece of writing. 14 year old me bought this album when it came out and wore it out, probably the second or third LP I’d bought with dough from my paper route and mowing. Today, my 16 year old is a big fan of “Peace of Mind” along with a pile of old and new tracks from all over.

Tom Grueskin

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Prompted by your email, I listened to Boston this morning driving down the Autobahn to work today.  A few thoughts crossed my mind:

1) Memories very similar to yours from 1976 came rushing back.  The feeling of community that came from knowing that there were millions of kids in high schools across the country simultaneously discovering and enjoying the same soundtrack was, well, more than a feeling.

2) Years ago in New York, I noticed there were hipster parents who’d dress their kids up in little Ramones t-shirts.  Can you imagine our parents dressing us up in Benny Goodman or Percy Faith t-shirts?  The music on the radio in 1976 was *ours* … with no meddlesome parental involvement.  That was nice.

3) Can you imagine a hit song (or whatever passes for one these days) with an organ as a lead instrument?  An *organ*!

Sincerely,
Gunnar Miller
Frankfurt Germany

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Wow!  Keen insights on the Fall of ‘76, Bob. En point, as usual.

I was a wanna-be teenager, 12 years old, living in the west San Fernando Valley, Canoga Park. I lived and breathed rock ‘n roll, particularly what was coming across the airwaves from KLOS and KMET (“The Mighty Met!”).  I thought it was great that Paul Thomas Anderson put those billboards of KMET into “Licorice Pizza”, his retro movie from last year. Those billboards were everywhere in LA at that time and rock ‘n roll radio was the king of the airwaves.  KMET had that clever gimmick of the call letters being upside down on the billboard ads and on their T-shirts…who’d ever done that before??

And speaking of Licorice Pizza, that was the closest record store for me, in Canoga Park, on Topanga Canyon Blvd.  It was like Mecca for me and my friends.
It’s funny to remember, because now they’re synonymous with “hopelessly obsolete”, but 8 track tapes at that time were as prestigious as LPs and were actually more expensive than LPs.  For those of us who didn’t have quality home stereo systems, 8 track tapes were the logical choice because you could do what my brother did which was to rig up a used car stereo 8 track player in our bedrooms and of course they were, in our part of the world, what we were playing as we sped around the Valley in his car.

There was no way in hell our parents were going to buy us an actual quality stereo system like you describe, but nonetheless, my friends and I could all mimic the rapid-fire descriptions of Pioneer, Kenwood and Marantz systems from the ubiquitous radio ads for Cal Stereo…a boy could dream.

The discussions on the playground would be about what songs we heard on the radio the night before and the concerts that had been announced that were coming to LA that we had zero chance of going to (triple bill of Aerosmith, Lynyrd Skynard and Rick Derringer at Angels Stadium!!)

You’re right:  terrestrial radio is a mere shadow of it’s gloried past:  another jock in the same caliber as Mary Turner was Jim Ladd, on KMET.

Other albums that were getting heavy play in my brother’s ‘69 Plymouth Fury’s 8 track tape player that Summer and Fall along with Boston’s first album were Blue Oyster Cult’s Agents of Fortune, Led Zeppelin’s The Song Remains The Same, Wings At The Speed Of Sound and…um…Kiss Destroyer 🙂
Thanks again, Bob!

Darriel Arnott

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From: Mike McLeish and many more

Greetings from down under.

I loved your piece on More Than A Feeling. The timing was personally fortuitous because I’d just the other day watched Rick Beato deconstruct the song in one of his ‘What Makes This Song Great?’ episodes.

You may well have seen it. Hell, you may well know Rick.

But just in case…

https://bit.ly/3ziTTOR

Mike

Melbourne, Australia

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Boston?  Unique solitary game-changer.  Gathered up everything every other hard rock pop band had done in a studio up to that point, and took it a step farther.  Moved the goal posts.  One and done.   Paul Lanning

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Thank you for the reminder.

Graduating class of ‘76, Queens, NY.

So, as you can see, we need all the help we can get.

I think Scholz must have also liked Tommy James and the Shondells.

And in return, Tommy liked Tom.

And everyone envied The Who.

Who wouldn’t?

Brad Delp *sigh*, if ever there was a voice so alive, it was his.

In closing, I bought an Electro Harmonix Rock Man from the source the first year it came out.

I’m sure you’re not surprised to learn that  I lost it years ago.

Jon Weiss

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Nice article on Boston.  I still remember, when I was a music dealer in the ’70s, cracking the shrink-wrap on that first album and playing it in the store.  People would walk in and immediately be going, “Who is THIS?!”  That was all it took, that thing sold like hotcakes.  We sold the album for $4.79 back in those days. $6.99 for the 8-track, but by this time, LPs were the thing — if you were serious about the music, you had a turntable.  If you were REALLY serious you had a Technics turntable.

I saw Boston in concert twice.  The first time I went with friends, and the driver of the car was one of those guys who only went to concerts to chase girls, he wasn’t really into the music, so we wound up being late and having to sit far back from the stage.  I vowed then and there that I wouldn’t go to a concert again unless I was in control of the transportation, so I could make sure to be there on time, and I’ve stuck to that to this day.

The second time was at Red Rocks in Colorado, which is the best concert venue in the western US, this was the tour in which they brought in a ringer to hit the high notes that Brad Delp could no longer reach.  Hearing “More than a Feeling” in that place was pretty magical, let me tell you.

After that stellar debut album, the second album did almost as well but wasn’t quite as good, and from then on they went slowly into the toilet, with mostly dreck-filled albums dribbling out every eight years or so.  I never saw a group hit such heights so fast, only to keep releasing albums that took years and years to make but weren’t very good.

Mike Blakesley

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Hi Bob — that Boston album was a wild ride for everyone involved.

Tom Scholz was an engineer working at Polaroid up in Boston area when he recorded his demos.  Lennie Petze, I recall, played a big part in signing the band.  John Boylan, at the time an Epic staff producer, served as producer, but has written that he did not do much as Scholz turned his demos into the first Boston album.

The wonderful Paula Scher wrote about the process of design of that starship guitar album cover in her book, “Make It Bigger.”  I was in those meetings as the band’s product manager at Epic in New York.

Boston was adamant about having a guitar on their cover.  They even brought in their own sketch, which Paula and I both determined, pretty immediately, would have been completely inappropriate.  That put us on the spot, we had to come up with an alternative fast.  Paula bought some time with her wicked sense of humor suggesting a pot of beans or Boston Creme Pie on the cover.  The idea that won the day — addressed the band’s desire for a guitar (and came from a combination of inspiration and desperation) — was the huge spaceship which is really a Les Paul guitar but because of the elongated perspective, is not obvious.  Roger Huyssen brilliantly painted that cover.

The record took off like a rocket at radio, thanks to the strength of the music and the dedication of the Epic promotion staff.  Boston needed a lot of help to get them ready for live performances.  Al DeMarino of Epic artist development played a large role there.  All the guys were willing, but not experienced beyond the bar band scene.  In the end, they were good students, Brad Delp had a great voice to compliment Scholz’s vision, and the record was on its way.

All-in-all, it was a great example of a label getting behind a great piece of music, each department doing its job.  We had great leadership at Epic under Ron Alexenburg.  At least up to then, Boston was the fastest selling first release by a new band in the history of the industry.

It is an achievement of which we are all proud.

Jim Charne

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I was never a Boston fan… but I can’t help thinking that they altered the course of my life.

I’m from NH. I was born in 1972. I was a kid in the 80’s when I truly was turned on to music. My town was small, about 19,000 people, and we had a s..tty local top 40 radio station.

My beacon for music was WBCN out of Boston.  We could get the signal in my town. It wasn’t always strong, but by dial was always pegged to 104.1. We got a lot of “local” music on ‘BCN, including Boston.

In 1986 I was a freshman in high school. There was a girl I was crazy over. She was a freshman too.  She went to a junior high in a nearby (smaller) town and I had never seen her before. I can still recall the day I first laid eyes on her. That was it. I was long gone.

Throughout the entire school year, I tried to get to know her. I finally started to make headway and knew I had a chance. Then one weekend, I went to a party at “the cliffs,” a teenage hangout spot in the woods that overlooked the town.

I met a girl, a junior, that was interested in me. When we met, Boston was playing on the boom box. She was a Boston freak. She wouldn’t stop talking about them, let alone singing every word.

Long story short, we connected and then started dating.

I was completely caught up in the fact that I was a freshman, she was a junior, and she chose me. Like a fool, I abandoned the pursuit of the freshman girl I was nuts for.  I blew it!

F..king Boston. Every time I got in her car Boston was playing. I tried to change the cassette, she’d pop it back in. Boston all the damn time!

I couldn’t take it anymore. I had to dump her.

All the while the freshman I was interested in started dating a senior and did for the next three years. Destiny was put on hold for me.

To this day I can’t listen to Boston without thinking of the one I let get away.

I threw it all away… for Boston!

Judd Maracello

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Warner Brothers passed on Boston. My late friend and WB promo guy Charlie McKenzie heard the cassette playing in an A&R man’s cubicle and when he found out the label had passed on it, took the cassette to friends at Epic …. Or so the story goes I was told back then……..

Michael Fremer

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Rolling Stones, led zeppelin, CSNY, Neil Young, the Pretenders, Rockpile, Clash, the Doors, Foghat, The Grateful Dead, George Harrison, Steely Dan, Pink Floyd, David Bowie, Television, Kraftwork, Elvis Costello, Sex Pistols, Ramones, Iggy Pop, Jackson Brown, Kiss, Talking Heads, Jethro Tull, Isley Brothers , Supertramp, Ted Nugent,

The 70’s Baby, they call it Rock for a reason

Alan Fenton

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I was in college in the early 90’s when my roommate got a CD player in his car. First CD player either of us owned so we had to go to the local Walmart to get a CD to play while we drove around. It had to be something where we wouldn’t get annoyed with a bunch of filler, so we went with Boston. Such a great soundtrack for driving around, looking for trouble.

Jeff Neely

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After reading that I made it 602,878,three hundred and 28.  Thanks for the warm and fuzzy email on a dark and rainy Vancouver day

Rob Severyn

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Brilliant post and good to know I’m not the only one looking in the rear-view mirror wondering about people I know I’ll most likely never see again but their faces, their unique voices and their laughter still resonates in my head, often as it hits the pillow some memory will whoosh into my thoughts and I’ll think, yes I’ll revisit them again tonight in my dreams. It’s a miracle we are on this planet, it’s a miracle ‘our’ sperm hit our Mother’s egg and it’s a miracle that we lived these last bunch of incredible decades with it’s collective artistry in songs, acts and even movies. The golden years, in that LA sun too.   Bless you for your words Bob.

Eddie Gordon

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Funny enough I was driving in Boston today and on came “More than a Feeling” from Boston and I had many of the same feelings you express here.

Ronald C. Pruett, Jr.

David Paich is the primary songwriter, keyboardist and a vocalist in Toto. He also co-wrote Boz Scaggs’s “Lowdown” and “Lido Shuffle,” and worked on Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” and too many other records to count. David talks about what it was like growing up the son of legendary Hollywood arranger Marty Paich, what it’s like working your way up in the business, on the road with Sonny & Cher and in the studio, and the success of Toto. Paich has just released his first solo album, “Forgotten Toys,” we talk about the record and so much more!

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/david-paich/id1316200737?i=1000584057882

https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/e1624485-51e7-4f13-ad83-7e42fbf61f04/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-david-paich

https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast/episode/david-paich-207979571