Ode To The Hawk
Rock and roll lost a legend recently. Really. Just ask Mick Jagger or Pete Townsend.
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| Ronnie Hawkins |
The Act (the band in which I was a song writer and keyboardist, not to be confused with the Norwegian band of the same name), gigged with Ronnie Hawkins at Rock And Roll Heaven when he was 54 (my current age now). Ronnie was one of the greatest forces in Canadian music, inspiring countless musicians (like K.D. Lang whose song Constant Craving is amongst my favourite songs). Ronnie helped many musicians get their start in the music business and that is perhaps the biggest part of his legacy and contribution to music.
Not to mention, he was good friends with Jack Richardson, one of the old school music producers who worked with my own parents. He actually produced my mother's single: She's In Love (with her radio), which was later recorded by Sheena Easton.
Stuart Morgan Sensei, one of the martial artists who inspired The Butterfly Dragon, was the drummer and backup singer on that song and many of my parents' recordings. All of this is connected back to those early days in my life, through a series of seemingly meaningless coincidences, that in the overall picture, become important and ultimately meaningful. Like my memories of that gig with the Hawk, and my fellow band mates, Chris (lead singer), Tom (guitarist), Blaine (drummer) and Peter (bass player).
Stuart Morgan Sensei, one of the martial artists who inspired The Butterfly Dragon, was the drummer and backup singer on that song and many of my parents' recordings. All of this is connected back to those early days in my life, through a series of seemingly meaningless coincidences, that in the overall picture, become important and ultimately meaningful. Like my memories of that gig with the Hawk, and my fellow band mates, Chris (lead singer), Tom (guitarist), Blaine (drummer) and Peter (bass player).
Heroes of my own, you could even say, but more likely, and applicably so, just heroes.
Goodbye Hawk. We're going to miss you.
Music To Help My Readers Read
Getting back to Robin, here's one I often listen to when I'm writing, especially the parts involving Heylyn, Kori and Warai. Apparently he wrote this for those little miscreant midgets of mischief, wonder and joy that we call children.
Robin Guthrie: Songs To Help My Children Sleep
Updates
I'll be posting the second book of The Butterfly Dragon III: The Two Dragons soon as a work in progress. This second book in the three part finale to The Butterfly Dragon is going to be a long one, as is the third part. So I figured I've gotten this done far enough that I can post it where it stands now, and add to it as I write it. It should take most readers a while to catch up to me. Hopefully before that point, I'll have it done.
In the meantime, I'll also be working on some other material for my other story lines, including a completely new one that is unrelated to either the Butterfly Dragon or A Lady's Prerogative.
Sorry about the initial state of this post, as I was pleasantly half in the bag when I originally wrote it 🍷🥴.
Upon reading it this morning, I promptly corrected it with my morning coffee, after which I corrected the state of my throbbing head with acetominophen and a few liters of water.
The Ketosis Highway
I'm doing a ketogenic diet for the next little while in attempt to get some good habits in place as I get older. With less physical activity, your body tends to store more of what you eat as body fat. Despite the fact that I exercise fairly regularly, its better to get those good habits in place before it becomes a problem. I don't have a visible weight problem, but I'm getting older and I can already see that my body is storing more and more in places there used to be less and less. So I figure if I get to these habits now, within the next year I should be right around the 4% mark in terms of body fat ratio. Not to mention, I'd like to hit the washboard stomach I had when I was 25, by the time I'm 55.
When you're younger and more active, you can eat like a monster and your body won't store any of it, because you're using that energy right away. As you get older and are less active though, it catches up with you. Being aware of this and using it effectively is very helpful to your long term health goals, especially in the day and age where many of us are anchored to our computers, or for those of us working a job where you're not physically active (office or driving work are examples). Its good to be conscious of this as you'll tend towards habits that promote good health rather than deter it. Accumulating body fat can impact many other areas of your health, such as your heart and circulatory system.
The solution is to drop your net carbohydrate intake carefully, avoid sugary foods and anything that your body might be tempted to store in its reserves that it doesn't immediately require for energy. That way, when your body needs energy, it takes it from your body fat rather than your food intake. If you don't eat protein and fat though, it will actually take energy from your muscle first, so you need to eat protein and fatty foods, while eating few or no carbs (less than 25g to 35g of carbs per day). Drinking non-sugary alcoholic beverages slows the ketosis process, but doesn't stop it. By using this strategy, you can effectively get your body fat percentage down to the 4% mark, which is the lower extreme. You don't want to go lower than that.
If you do decide to try something like this, I'd suggest that you talk to your family Doctor first, just to make sure that its right for your state of bodily health. It's compatible with medication too if you take it, though if you are diabetic or have any health issues related to your insulin levels, you definitely want to talk to a Doctor first.
One of my favourite resources for ketosis is Doctor Eric Berg, whose YouTube channel is packed with great content about the ketogenic diet. A Google search is also a great source of information, though again, you want to check with your Doctor first.
The Future, Past And Friends
Please support independent authors like myself, one of whom is the prolific author and inspiration to much of my own work, Robert Tozer, Writer and incredible Genre Innovator of The Dead series of books.
Also, I'd like to tip my proverbial hat to my childhood friend Scott Maple, founder of Krop Serkel (and their YouTube presence).
Much the same to my friend James Stuart Ross, without whom there'd be no Barris Windsor, as Barris is a composite character. Take HRH Charles Philip Arthur George, James Stuart Ross III, Elliot Ingleby (the sarcastic wit to match that of Mishima Sato), William Shakespeare, Joel Hodgson, Douglas Adams and myself, and you have Barris Windsor. That and a little of bit of Neil Simon, but only James can tell you about that...
Hence, Mila Rendebelle, being the babe that she is, has great taste in men (shines finger nails with shirt). Nudge, nudge wink wink. Oh, and there's ever so slight a hint of Monty Python in there too.
Slight, I emphasize. Some of the most sturdy structures in existence are those the least stressed.
Good friends are priceless.
Lifelong friends however, are last to the finish line.
Like yourself, they're mutually as proud of being by your side as you are of being by theirs.
My friends are ahead by a century 😉, yet have no qualms with being by my side, at last place at the finish line of life and everything. I'm truly grateful for them and always will be.
See you soon, and we miss you Hawk!
https://www.shhhhdigital.ca
| Picture of Ronnie Hawkins by John Bauld from Toronto, Canada - TIFF 2019 Ronnie Hawkins, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=84549991 |