I would appreciate some of DU's good vibes or

[highplainsdem]

34. Thanks, Skittles!

It is a horribly cruel disease.

Life had been pretty kind to George for most of the last 74 years, though he should probably get most of the credit for that, since it wasn't just luck. He went from childhood dreams of being a rock star to being a rock star in his teens. Kept a band together for 60 years (and though the band did some experimenting with drugs at a time when drugs were killing a lot of musicians, they managed the avoid the sorts of disasters that destroyed other careers and lives). Married his childhood sweetheart and they're still married -- another successful 60-year relationship. Two kids, now around 40, whom I haven't heard much about (so no scandals there) who have some musical talent (his son's a musician, his daughter sings) though I don't know if they've made a living from their music. Enough talent as a songwriter and producer to not only do most of the songwriting/producing for Golden Earring, but to have launched the careers of other Dutch artists starting when he was still a teenager, and later salvage the career of a Dutch rocker who hadn't had a hit for years. And besides his work with American guitarist Frank Carillo, he'd been performing and recording with two other famous Dutch singers -- one who's been a star as a folksinger starting in the '60s (maybe the closest Dutch equivalent to Bob Dylan) and another who'd been with a very popular '80s band, so this new trio was a Dutch supergroup -- and they'd still been doing concerts when Covid hit in 2020 and everything shut down.

And then several months later George noticed the first symptoms of ALS, and the diagnosis was confirmed in November of 2020. And after 60 years it was all over for Golden Earring.

George said in yesterday's interview, talking about his declining health, that he's "waiting" -- there is of course no way to know what will happen next -- but he also said he's seizing every day. (The translations I ran across mangled that part of what he said. He'd used the Dutch verb pakken, which can mean pack, but can also mean grab or seize, so I saw translations saying he was packing every day, packing his bags every day, etc., and I wondered what he'd meant till I found that pakken can also mean grab or seize -- and that made sense and finally cleared it up.)

He's doing the best he can under horrible circumstances.