Today’s Topic is Falling and Fall Prevention

My lifelong friend, Milt Strader, said as we got older, “We’re only one fall away from a nursing home.”

Only a few years ago, a fall and a broken hip pretty much signaled the end of your life. Now with advances in surgery techniques and smaller surgical instruments and implants, doctors can often repair a broken hip; however, as we age, falls are one of our worst enemies.

Here are a few thoughts on falling.

Make sure your medications don’t have side effects such as drowsiness, dizziness, or disorientation that might contribute to a fall.

Assess your walking ability. If your feet are often numb or if you’re short of breath, be sure to take care with every step to avoid falling. If you can, keep moving with walking or cycling or any moving activity to keep you as strong and flexible as possible.

Keep chairs, electrical cords, and anything else that could cause you to fall as you walk around your house or apartment.

Below is a link to the Mayo Clinic website page with tips and information on falling and fall prevention.

Fall prevention: Simple tips to prevent falls – Mayo Clinic

Which Song Was The First Rock and Roll Song?

Many writers and scholars believe the first rock and roll song was Rocket 88 by Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats. (Of course, it’s about a car. See a 1950 Oldsmobile Rocket 88 below.)

“Rocket 88” was recorded in Memphis in March 1951. The recording was credited to Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats, who were actually Ike Turner and his Kings of Rhythm. The single made it to #1 on the Billboard R&B charts.

The identity of the original songwriter has always been in dispute, some folk claiming it was Jackie Brenston, who played saxophone in the Kings of Rhythm, while others believe Ike Turner wrote the song. Another legend, possible apocryphal, that the unique sound was the result of a dropped bass amplifier that broke the woofer and cone. Ike Turner then stuffed newspapers and paper sacks into the amplifier, thereby creating a very different sound

Interestingly, the Kings of Rhythm rehearsed in a hotel in Clarksdale, Mississippi, the very city where Robert Johnson “went down to the crossroads” and sold his soul to the devil in exchange for skills and talent playing the guitar.

Below is the original recording of Rocket 88.

Postscript: Years ago, I worked with a Black guy from the swamps of Louisiana who lived his whole life in a small rural town deep in the canebrake. He never wore shoes, except for church, and saw only a few White people until he was 18 and was drafted into the Army. He told me he always listened to radio stations late at night when he could get a signal, and the stations were rhythm and blues and soul. When he went into the Army, he said how difficult it was to adjust to being around White folks, especially so many White guys around his age. He said, “Terry, we be listening to songs about women and sex, and you White boys be singing about your CARS!”