JuanCarlosVejar Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 Folks , The great Bono was in a biking accident and had to have a titanium elbow inserted . He is fearful that he may never strum a guit again : http://m.bbc.com/news/world-europe-30654731 I feel for the man and I can't imagine my guitar life being cut short at 54 JC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 Reminds me of the motorcycle accident I had at 21, when I looked down at the dangling pinkie and ring fingers on my left hand and sais "there goes my career as a guitar player". Frankly, the rest of the world is no worse off for my accident. Bono will be back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 Bono will be back. Lucky us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wee Davy Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 Oh dear, how sad, never mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 Lucky us. Cynic. (I ain't a U2 fan, either.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayyj Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 One of my heroes as a teenager was Edwyn Collins: a great, underrated guitar player and vintage guitar fanatic who suffered two brain haemorrhages in 2005, losing the use of his right hand amongst other things. There's a BBC documentary on his recovery with a heartbreaking scene that shows a close up of him singing and playing before panning out to show his wife strumming the chords for him - really choked me up seeing that. There's actually a film just out that explores his life after the haemorrhage in more depth, but in the meantime the documentary is well worth watching regardless of whether his music is your cup of tea: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tbPSaHCDIpY Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DRC Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 And then there was Django Reinhardt. It's only over when it's over. We'll see. Bono/U2 fan or not, I wish him well and a quick recovery. DC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milod Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 To me the point isn't whether a musician is famous or not... my preference in styles or not - even by any criteria "good" or not. When something is lost that you've done as a significant part of your life that's not retrievable... it's sad. Unfortunately the older one's set of friends gets, the more one recognizes it's part of life. Old cowboys and cowgirls - heck, any old horsemen or women, are another example. m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lars68 Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 At least, the man has a sense of humor... From the linked article: "Recovery has been more difficult than I thought. As I write this, it is not clear that I will ever play guitar again. The band have reminded me that neither they nor western civilization are depending on this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milod Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 Yeah, I think "we" know after a certain point in age and degree of what we might consider our own success in life, that we're gonna be gone at some point and frankly, mostly forgotten, regardless. So credit be to this young guy. On the other hand, I personally know what such as guitar playing can mean to an individual whether he or she admits it to self or others regardless. Whether Bono were just an friend of mine who works making cat litter from local bentonite or the "star" he is, I feel something personal if the guy can't keep pickin'. Can he still sing and write songs? Of course. That's even if there's no earthly way to keep playing guitar at any level. But... m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JuanCarlosVejar Posted January 2, 2015 Author Share Posted January 2, 2015 m , I agree with you 100 percent . Whether a friend or a rock star one can't help but sympathize with his situation . He may not be Jimmy Page but it still is hard on a man when he can no longer strum a few chords. It's not about being a great player it's about feeling alive . JC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluesKing777 Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 I feel for him, when I saw the news item recently it brought back a few nasty memories of my own bike prang 8 or so years back. I came down an embankment fast, turned right and there was a heavy chain low across the road to stop cars. Well, it stopped me alright. Next I was lying in a heap under my broken bike with broken hand, broken left rib and internal pain. There was nobody around, so I limped home dragging the bike somehow - should have called an ambulance. Long story short - after the usual medico stuff over the next week, I was meeting with the hand surgeon who said it was better to let it set as is - index finger about 20% off axis. I explained that I played guitar and he just shrugged...... I wasn't too impressed with his response but he was incredibly busy. A few days later, I was thinking of getting other opinions etc, but decided to go ahead with their treatment. I was lined up in this clinic waiting room with a crowd of people with 'broken wings', some lightly injured, some awful. I was the only one without wire all over my hand, and some....through the bones! The woman next to me explained that the wire through her broken bones had caused bone infection and they needed to amputate her hand..... Yikes, I'll take the crooked finger as it is and run! A few days later, and all around me were concerned about my guitar playing and how I would go in to some kind of a decline, I looked down at my cast and saw my thumb sticking out.....AHA! Thumbpick will fit on that! And away we go. Later the physiotherapist mentioned that my recovery was the quickest she had seen, and I say without a word of doubt that is was because I was ...sort of...playing guitar and moving my hand and arm..... BluesKing777. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milod Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 BK... Yup. m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 I feel for him, when I saw the news item recently it brought back a few nasty memories of my own bike prang 8 or so years back. I came down an embankment fast, turned right and there was a heavy chain low across the road to stop cars. Well, it stopped me alright. Next I was lying in a heap under my broken bike with broken hand, broken left rib and internal pain. There was nobody around, so I limped home dragging the bike somehow - should have called an ambulance. Long story short - after the usual medico stuff over the next week, I was meeting with the hand surgeon who said it was better to let it set as is - index finger about 20% off axis. I explained that I played guitar and he just shrugged...... I wasn't too impressed with his response but he was incredibly busy. BluesKing777. Painfully similar to my story, except that I lost control when I hit a curb in a turn and ended up bouncing off a brick wall, with my left hand (still on the grips and not slowing down) as the point of contact. The doc who worked on me showed up in his tennis togs--it was a Sunday--and was clearly pissed off that a long-haired hippie student had interrupted his game. He couldn't have cared less that I played guitar, and made it clear that he didn't think much of people who rode bikes, either. Fair enough, since he was an orthopedic surgeon, and they all call motorcycles "donor cycles", as in organ donors. I feel bad for Bono, and didn't intend to make light of his accident. Everything you love can be taken away from you in an instant, and the difference between a functional inconvenience, major trauma, and death is often no more than the luck of the draw. Hope he can play again, even if I don't particularly care for his music. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retrorod Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 Lucky us. [lol] I didn't know he played guitar. What is one of his 'memorable licks'.....somebody please refresh my memory.... Sorry about his accident. I'm sure a lot of little girls will be heartbroken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MR GIBS Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 In september 2013 I had a serious trauma of the left shoulder. I was operated. Had no fractures but heavy distortions. I have now two titanium bolts in the left shoulder, pain in the shoulder and my left hand tingles, but I play guitar better than before I tell you. I hope Bono will recover and will play again. It depends of his volition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duluthdan Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 In september 2013 I had a serious trauma of the left shoulder. I was operated. Had no fractures but heavy distortions. I have now two titanium bolts in the left shoulder, pain in the shoulder and my left hand tingles, but I play guitar better than before I tell you. I hope Bono will recover and will play again. It depends of his volition. Things change, but where there's a will, there is a way. well said Mr Gibbs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milod Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 I know some friends thought I was nuts back in the '70s when I was obviously practicing for potential of losing all or parts of both hands. I guess I figured at the time I'd keep the arms. I dunno. But in my line of work, having seen so many folks with loss of fingers as easily as teeth... I guess I figured it was simply a matter of the odds that I might lose some or all myself. And that ain't just "accidents" per se, but also from freezing 'em off. Still, with a lotta losses you're lucky if your "volition" lets you do as Django and figure something out. Or... if you lose far more and yet are lucky enough to play open chord slide... m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mountainpicker Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 Living in a ski town for 40 years I've seen a lot of bodies go through a lot of trauma. In particular, of late, I see a lot of guys that put off enjoying an outdoor lifestyle in their youth, in favor of a career, showing up to pound it like my friends and I did in our twenties and thirties. My observations are that fifty year old, and older, bodies can't handle the rigors that a younger body can. Seems common sense but common sense ain't so common. Cycling accidents in particular are really common where I live and falling when you are older (be extremely leery of ladders!)is way more hazardous than most people consider when they mount up. If you are a younger man reading this and you aspire to doing something really physical my advice is that you had best get to it and do it while your faculties are up to it and your body and reaction time is peaking rather than declining. Ski runs and mountain bike trails look almost exactly the same to me as they did forty years ago but I am not the same athlete by a long shot. I took up the guitar when I gave up telemark skiing, mountain biking and fly fishing. Each thing has its time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluesKing777 Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 The doc who worked on me showed up in his tennis togs--it was a Sunday--and was clearly pissed off that a long-haired hippie student had interrupted his game. He couldn't have cared less that I played guitar, and made it clear that he didn't think much of people who rode bikes, either. Fair enough, since he was an orthopedic surgeon, and they all call motorcycles "donor cycles", as in organ donors. An element of "Next!" like I received from the doc..... I'm sure Bono got the exact same treatment.... I remember, the boss and I had waited in line so long and had watched so many emergencies go past our (my?) place in the line. The others lining up were showing rumblings of discontent and there might have been a 'Boooooo' when someone 'pushed in'.........and then this guy came in with blood all over him and apparently he had given lip to the bouncers at a local club and they turned his face to mince meat with an iron bar...... [mellow] The grumbling stopped from the line.... BluesKing777. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluesKing777 Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 Living in a ski town for 40 years I've seen a lot of bodies go through a lot of trauma. In particular, of late, I see a lot of guys that put off enjoying an outdoor lifestyle in their youth, in favor of a career, showing up to pound it like my friends and I did in our twenties and thirties. My observations are that fifty year old, and older, bodies can't handle the rigors that a younger body can. Seems common sense but common sense ain't so common. Cycling accidents in particular are really common where I live and falling when you are older (be extremely leery of ladders!)is way more hazardous than most people consider when they mount up. If you are a younger man reading this and you aspire to doing something really physical my advice is that you had best get to it and do it while your faculties are up to it and your body and reaction time is peaking rather than declining. Ski runs and mountain bike trails look almost exactly the same to me as they did forty years ago but I am not the same athlete by a long shot. I took up the guitar when I gave up telemark skiing, mountain biking and fly fishing. Each thing has its time. Ha! Definitely more longevity in sangin' and strummin'!!!!! I was watching this famous footballer here, retiring at 34!!!!!!!!... And he was truly FINISHED! Or even FINISHED OFF! BluesKing777. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lars68 Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 This is a great song: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rambler Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 Brings to mind when Tom Petty broke his left hand punching a wall. Although in his case not an accident but a rendevous with Karma. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChordMasher Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 This is like saying that Picasso will never write another opera. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 This is like saying that Picasso will never write another opera. Now that's just plain cruel...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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