Happy flu year

It’s called “Covid-19” because that insidious virus was first recognized or discovered or whatever in … you guessed it … 2019. Which, for those keeping score at home, is three years ago. This idea that we are “done with” Covid and that Covid is “over” is pure silliness. Are we “done with” or “over” the common cold? Uh, no (well, maybe “done with” because, really, who likes the common cold?). Covid-19 is a coronavirus, and coronaviruses are stubborn little buggers that don’t magically disappear. OK, I’ll stop with the highbrow medical lessons, because in this realm I am most definitely not qualified. Anyway. As we enter 2023, another year, that persistent virus from 2019 is still with us and still part of our lives. We can deny that all we want, but people are still getting sick. You hear and read everywhere about this tripledemic – Covid, flu, RSV. It’s winter, and more people get sick more often in the winter. My friend Eric has all the Covid vaccines – five shots in total in his arm over the past few years – and he still got Covid a few weeks ago. This is not an anti-vax comment, far from it! At 65 years old, Eric needs all the protection he can get. His symptoms were mild. Like (dare I say it?), a cold. He’s fine. Hopefully, we’ll all be fine. But, that’s not how the world works. People are getting sick this winter, in some cases, more severe and more prevalent than others.

On Friday night (December 30), I was supposed to have gone to see my favorite band, Gov’t Mule, at NYC’s Beacon Theatre. One of our JTR bus drivers used to drive for rock bands back in the day and he still has “connections” and he had two eighth-row seats for the Mule on Friday night. He knows I’m a huge Mule and Warren Haynes guy, and he graciously offered to drive down with me to see the show. The Mule’s New Year’s Eve run features three shows – Dec. 29 in Philly, Dec. 30 and 31 at the Beacon. The shows are long, featuring special guests and themes. This year’s theme was to have been Black (Sabbath) and Blue (Oyster Cult). Black and Blue, cover songs from those two iconic bands. As you might be able to tell by these sentences, the shows were postponed at the last minute due to a “medical emergency.” I’ve been scouring the internet and social media to figure out why, and I think I uncovered the truth on a Facebook post by a fellow musician who collaborates often with Warren (the founder and leader of the Mule, and by far my favorite musician of all time). Apparently, according to this post, Uncle Warren (as some fans like to call him) has been laid low by a pretty severe case of the flu. Again, this is hearsay and given this blog’s low readership I’m not exactly “breaking news” here. But if that is the case and that is true, while it’s a bummer to have missed the show – and many other fans had invested far more time and energy into seeing the NYE run than we did – it’s a sigh of relief that it’s nothing more serious. Not that the flu is not serious, but I would hope that a full recovery is likely. Warren is not young (62 years old, to be exact) and he is one of the hardest-working musicians out there – touring constantly. So a severe case of the flu is enough to derail an iconic musician (and band) like this.

What’s the point of these ramblings? Not sure. I guess it’s that, as we enter a New Year, it’s a reminder that it is winter and that we’re going to get sick in the coming weeks and months. Take whatever precautions you are most comfortable with taking – whether it’s vaccines, flu shots, wearing a mask in public places, using hand sanitizer … all, some or none of these things, just putting it out there. See you in 2023!