BARRY LEVINE: Old Rocker finds parallel between history, current events

Editor’s Note: After a year’s absence, Barry Levine’s “Old Rocker” column is returning to The Albany Herald.

I’m baaaack — and it feels great. It’s funny how you don’t realize how important things are to you until you don’t have them.

I admit it. I REEEEALLY missed writing this music column, knowing that it might have brought a smile to a reader’s face or struck a memory. The column was not so much for me, but for the reader.

On June 24, 2018, I fell in my home in Albany and broke my upper arm, forcing me to take an ambulance to Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital for treatment. X-rays revealed the break, and that precipitated 12 months of rehab and visits to local hospitals and five rehab facilities. I currently am trying to recover at the Lillian Carter Health & Rehabilitation Center in Plains.

The task is difficult for me; it seems that I often take one step forward and two steps back.

Because of these recent events, some people would think I have had a bad break. Actually, the opposite is true.

Seventy years ago, on July 4, 1939, New York Yankee first baseman Lou Gehrig delivered sports’ version of “The Gettysburg Address” at his special day at Yankee Stadium. During his speech, Gehrig, who was dying from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) said, “Some people say I’ve had a bad break, but today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth.”

It would be sacrilegious for me to compare myself to this Hall of Famer, but I, too, consider myself to be very lucky.

During one of my many hospital stays, doctors unexpectedly discovered that I have two cancers, a fact which may have otherwise gone unnoticed until it was too late for treatment to be effective.

I have been fortunate to be under the care of Dr. Chirag Jani, who many medical experts consider the premiere oncologist in the area. He has treated both cancers effectively, and they currently appear to be under control.

I would especially like to thank my family members and several people who remained in contact with me during the past year.

The real purpose of this column has always been to give readers a throwback to a gentler, calmer time. This past year has given me much time to reflect on my beloved songs from the start of the modern Rock ‘n’ Roll era in 1955 through the pre-Beatles era. Throughout history, music has often been a comfort to individuals during turbulent times, and this is true for me as well.

To celebrate my return to the pages of The Albany Herald, the first Old Rocker music column, which will appear on Aug. 11, will contain a list of 12 groups and/or solo artists that I would have liked to have had with me during this past year.

It’s great to be back and I’m looking forward to striking a chord with readers’ music memories.