Fell and jacked my knee loading out of a dive bar gig last night

[HSS]

My QSC K12 I was a carrying is OK but my right knee is not.  Now both knees are toast. I'm too old for this crap.  I need to rethink what I have left of my musical life. I have a rehearsal with another band in about an hour.  Lesson learned... I'm taking a little 15lb Behringer 208d and a 15lb Numa Compact 2x to it. 

 

Sorry for my girlyman whining.

[timwat]

The one victor who never loses - Father Time.

 

Sorry to hear, man. 

 

Because this forum skews old and male, there's a lot of us living in our daily morning arena facing down inevitable decay. Back, knees, hips, blood pressure, hair line, waist line, blood sugar line. Back when we were young, we never listened when our elders tried to remind us youth was precious and fleeting.

 

Way of all things. The days are precious - eventually all of our gig lives change and we feel the lesser for the loss. Sometimes I make the mistake of looking back with rose colored: If I could only get that gig opportunity from 20 years ago, look at how much better I'm now able to fill those shoes (with experience and practice). But then I look in the mirror after pulling up my JPEG from the early 2000's, and realize it's folly to waste time over what might have beens and embrace whatever new journeys I might start on.

 

Sailing off to the western lands is always a bit of a bitter farewell. But what awaits us, while we have the vertical days, can still be a rich and fertile land if we pursue it with the right heart.

 

 

[Reezekeys]

Sorry to hear of your accident and hope you heal quickly. It's definitely a trend here... the old folks complaining about and wanting to lighten the schlep! As much as we may enjoy making music, it's the ancillary stuff that gets to us, in my case decades of humping gear in & out of car trunks and maneuvering through service entrances, freight elevators, kitchens, then hoisting keyboards onto stands, etc. This is the stuff that gets old faster than we do, for me at least. I know my Alto TX308s aren't as good as my QSC K8s, and I don't care; they're good enough for the gigs I do now and they're an order of magnitude easier to schlep. Same with the iPad that just retired my MacBook Pro for live work.

[ProfD]

2 minutes ago, timwat said:

The one victor who never loses - Father Time.

 

Back when we were young, we never listened when our elders tried to remind us youth was precious and fleeting.

That's gospel right there.

20 minutes ago, HSS said:

My QSC K12 I was a carrying is OK but my right knee is not.  Now both knees are toast. I'm too old for this crap.  I need to rethink what I have left of my musical life. for 

Let's hope that your knees heal up that you're able to continue pursuing your musical life with preferred gear.

 

I hope that it does not mean carrying a Casio CT-S500 and a Galaxy Hot Spot to rehearsals/gigs.🤣

 

That might be when it's either time to hire a roadie and/or only take gigs where gear is provided.😁

 

Get better soon mayne.😎

[CowboyNQ]

Wishing you and your knee a speedy recovery.

[nadroj]

Sorry to hear this HSS, that sucks and I hope you’re okay.
 

Tim’s comments are making me think I should enjoy being able to put 100% into gigs while I still can. It’s easy for us all to take a lot for granted. 

 

HHS, I’m sure you’ll be able to rock whatever rig you take out. Wishing you a speedy recovery. 

[jeffincltnc]

Get well soon!  You'll be back at it before you know it.

[ElmerJFudd]

58 minutes ago, HSS said:

My QSC K12 I was a carrying is OK but my right knee is not.  Now both knees are toast. I'm too old for this crap.  I need to rethink what I have left of my musical life. I have a rehearsal with another band in about an hour.  Lesson learned... I'm taking a little 15lb Behringer 208d and a 15lb Numa Compact 2x to it. 

 

Sorry for my girlyman whining.

That sucketh, friend in music.   We had sleet the other day.  I learned my lesson on that situation with gear in tow. Tread carefully!  

[CyberGene]

I feel for you. I consider myself still young at 44 but I already have a herniated disc and recurring sciatica problems due to it. I had serious back pain two weeks ago that lasted for two days after I moved my CP88 from my car to a rehearsal room and back. I am not hurting my back again with that CP88 and it's for sale... Health is more important.

[Docbop]

I feel for you get heal fast.    

 

For me the pandemic I never got covid, but with the closing of gyms forcing me to walk instead I've blown out both my knees, once walking on concrete and asphalt.   First time was just stepping off a curb, heard a pop and ended up in UC.   I got used to those neoprene knee braces,  ice packs, and a walker then a cane.  Other knee went out from a fall.  Now pretty much back, but walk with a cane handy as my safety net.   If you can get your insurance to pay for it I had a physical therapist for awhile via Zoom during covid but learned some basic exercises that helped.    So take it easy for a bit maybe get a knee brace and you should be fine.

 

 

[Reezekeys]

37 minutes ago, ElmerJFudd said:

https://youtu.be/KvYfsbtExoU

That sucketh, friend in music.   We had sleet the other day.  I learned my lesson on that situation with gear in tow. Tread carefully!  

 

Hadn't seen that clip. Wow, Dino, Red Norvo and Emilio Barzini in the same video!

 

Back on topic - you haven't lived until you've humped your gear up the outside iron steps of Brooklyn's Water Club on a day of freezing sleet. Ahh, the good old days...seriously HSS, take it slow and get better quick! Those Behringers are starting to sound a little better, right?!

[stillearning]

An ex’s grandmother had a handwritten note on her fridge which read:

 

“Too soon old, too late smart.”  Story of my life, at 68, and it’s an ongoing story line.
 

Hope you heal up quickly. As someone above said, rest, ibuprofen, and ice. 

[Stokely]

Sucks.  I've tried to reduce the size and weight of my rig even though that involves compromises.  IEMs instead of speakers (though first and foremost for volume reasons), plastic keyboards etc.

We have some challenges here in FL (rain and heat) but tough load-ins aren't typical for me.  When I have visited places in NYC I always think how tough it must be to gig there.
 

[David Emm]

"YOWTCH!," he yelped in sympathy. This is why I keep suggesting wheeled gear cases. It can keep you out of the chiropractor's office. (Some still decry chiros, but mine got me walking upright again. I'm not a doctor, just a KC knob, but it worked for me.) 

 

I hope you recover steadily, but you brought to mind a wonderful/awful moment on a "Robot Chicken" Xmas special. Santa comes down the chimney wrong, does a header into the room and yells "OW! MY MUTHAF**** KNEE!!" I laughed as I cringed. 🎄😬 Good luck, HSS.

[HSS]

Thanks for the well wishes guys. 

 

Yeah, I'm 65 and getting old is not fun and compromises will need to be made.  I've been using my 40 lb. QSC K12 for 6 - 8 years to cut through loud band mixes when I can't play through FOH.  Moving forward, I may only play loud gigs if I can play through FOH and just use small stage monitors, like my Alto TS310's or Yamaha DBR10, or even my B208d's.  I may start looking into IEM's as well.  

 

FWIW... My left knee was messed up in 1998 in Texas, when I was loading a beastly 60 lb. Roland KC500. I promptly sold it and went with lighter more portable powered speakers after that.  25 years later, it looks like a 40 lb. K12 did a number on my other knee.  

 

Anyway, sorry for my navel gazing and venting on y' all. 

[AUSSIEKEYS]

9 hours ago, HSS said:

I'm taking a little 15lb Behringer 208d and a 15lb Numa Compact 2x to it.

Mate sorry to hear that injury. Its like most of us on this forum can understand your dilemna.

 

I just acquired a lightweight Numa Cocal 2x myself due to other health reasons (lungs) but I gotta admit what you went thru makes me think damn good idea I'm downsizing as i notice my right knee gives out like others have mentioned everytime I visit Bunnings (a big box hardware store in Aussie) on the hard floors. My wife says its the constant twisting you do viewing items.

 

Ironically its been okish since I got rid of my Falcon Panelvans (think Aussie Surf Van). So a dufferent driving position may have improved it.

 

The first van made me nearly cripple on the right knee after only an hours drive. So much i literally struggled to walk to my gate to open It if i coukd get it out of car onto ground.. 

 

I had two of those vans the first an earlier model with steering box the second with rack and pinion which did help a bit but as they were the same body the pedals were in same position. 

 

So a heads up to people suffering with knee problems on the gas pedal side has it been only since purchasing your current car. I struggle now in my wifes modern car when i drive it getting my knee in a comfortable position though my current car has been good for the decade ive driven it.

[Baggypants]

12 hours ago, ProfD said:

I hope that it does not mean carrying a Casio CT-S500 and a Galaxy Hot Spot to rehearsals/gigs.🤣

I mean, I'm laughing with this, but also thinking "Not a bad shout..." 🤔

[Adan]

I dunno, while the physical disintigration part isn't itself something to relish, there's lots of cool things about getting older.  For instance, I find that on almost any topic mentally I'm able to cut through the bullshit so much more easily and get to what really matters.  That goes for music too, where I'm more able to eliminate the notes I don't need to play and see clearly the ones I do.

 

Maybe there's something like a "60/40" rule.  Over 60, don't carry anything over 40 lbs?  I lowered my threshold to  35 lbs already, and I'm not yet 60, but then I got a  40 lb Motion Sound amp and moved to snowy, icy New England, so in that sense took a step in the wrong direction weight-wise.

[Stokely]

It's not the weight so much for me (I'm a big guy and pretty strong) but how cumbersome/unwieldy the gear is.  Within reason of course.   A compact Forte7 at 41 pounds is less likely to tweak my back than my old Moxf8 which was a fair bit lighter but also bigger and harder to grip.  Our bass player has back issues and he puts everything on his cart, no exceptions.   Carts can be a pain for us keys players as evidenced by anecdontes in the recent thread.

There are some great deals on weighted Kronuses (Kronii?) on Guitar Center but I see that 51 pounds (plus case) hanging in the back of my mind...also good deals on Fantom 8s but they are available probably for the same reason.

While I love cold weather (and want to retire up North to go against the norm!) I wouldn't relish moving gear with ice involved.  Years ago I was walking carefully down an icy road in Wisconsin but all my care didn't matter...I did a Wile E Coyote hang in mid air horizontally move before crashing straight down on my ribs.

[allan_evett]

I empathize with all of you. Years of lifting heavy gear 'properly' - with legs, vs hernia-inducing and back-straining lifts has left my left knee with limited mobility; it's now ridiculously easy to hyper extend that joint and recovery is slow, if at all. I suspect there's some minor arthritis present too.

I've come to realize that most small club audiences don't give a rat's rear end about the quality of our sound, nor the type of gear in use. It's not worth doing further damage to self to please an entity that's quickly becoming artistically clueless. Lately my rig's become an RD-88, sometimes supplemented by iOS-based sounds (B3-X, etc.). I'll take out a Stage 3, 76 and Nautilus 61 for certain larger jobs, but it's still a relatively light and quick rig.  My monitoring rig has shrunk too. Still have larger more versatile gear, but I'm selective now about what needs to goes out.

[HSS]

2 hours ago, Stokely said:

It's not the weight so much for me (I'm a big guy and pretty strong) but how cumbersome/unwieldy the gear is.  Within reason of course.   A compact Forte7 at 41 pounds is less likely to tweak my back than my old Moxf8 which was a fair bit lighter but also bigger and harder to grip.  

Good point.  It's not just weight but size / bulk as well.  I have a Yamaha MX88 that only weighs about 30 bs. but damn it's unwieldy because of the size of its shell.  Because of this, I only use it occasionally. 

[Stokely]

Yamaha seems to be the worst offender in the bulk dept--but honorable mention goes to Korg and their rounded and somewhat slippery chassis designs.   It all means you have to lean over more to make sure you have a grip on the thing.  The Forte is easy to grip, but I've often thought keyboards should have actual built-in grips of some sort.   Perhaps some of them do.  I know the Modx has a very convenient lip underneath that might just be a happy accident, but I can basically wave the thing around with one hand (Modx7 to be sure.)

Anyway, hope the knee is better.   Per that cart thread I'm going to work on my "cart efficiency" and start using it more.

[mate stubb]

I've had Hammond Back since the '70s. Now my knees and hips have caught up.

[Shamanzarek]

Now that I'm living in a retirement community I am meeting a lot of people with serious health problems. Currently I am subbing for a keyboardist who had a triple bypass. He may or may not come back but they have extended my stay with the band for another few weeks and asked if I would consider going permanent if needed.

[Rodan88]

23 hours ago, Reezekeys said:

 

Hadn't seen that clip. Wow, Dino, Red Norvo and Emilio Barzini in the same video!

 

Back on topic - you haven't lived until you've humped your gear up the outside iron steps of Brooklyn's Water Club on a day of freezing sleet. Ahh, the good old days...seriously HSS, take it slow and get better quick! Those Behringers are starting to sound a little better, right?!

Not only those 3, but that's the  legendary Jerry Dodgion on alto sax.  Sadly, Jerry passed away very recently.  I was fortunate to have played with him a couple of times;  not only was he a great player, but he was a really nice guy.  Check out his resume/discography  - he had a remarkable career during the era of prolific recording and live performances!

[aronnelson]

Kudos to all that make it long enough to get these problems on gigs after decades of playing! That means you are pretty darn good! 

I shake my head at the "young guys" that are taking out a Rhodes, tons of pedals, speakers, 2 or 3 other keyboards. 

I always say "there's a reason we switched from the Rhodes and there's a reason I don't use an Oberheim OBX anymore".

My back will always remind me every 2 to 3 years, the reasons why.

 

I can't believe I used to carry a Rhodes, Oberheim, DX7, Guitar and amp, PA with metal heavy stands and bags of cords to each gig.

HOW???

 

Hope you heal up fast! All of you!

[Reezekeys]

26 minutes ago, aronnelson said:

I can't believe I used to carry a Rhodes, Oberheim, DX7, Guitar and amp, PA with metal heavy stands and bags of cords to each gig.

HOW???

 

You & me both. Rhodes, OBXa, Yamaha CP-70! I used to carry that 300+lb beast up a flight of stairs when I lived in a loft in NYC. Insane to think about it now.

[Reezekeys]

1 hour ago, Rodan88 said:

Not only those 3, but that's the  legendary Jerry Dodgion on alto sax.  Sadly, Jerry passed away very recently.  I was fortunate to have played with him a couple of times;  not only was he a great player, but he was a really nice guy.  Check out his resume/discography  - he had a remarkable career during the era of prolific recording and live performances!

 

Wow I didn't realize that was Jerry. Yes I did hear about his recent passing on FB as I have several facebook friends that knew and played with him. I never had the pleasure unfortunately.

 

While I'm on that sad subject, I just read today (on FB again) that Jeff Young passed. I didn't know him personally, was thinking maybe someone here did and might post something. He was Jackson Browne's pianist and also worked with Sting, Bonnie Raitt and a lot of other heavyweights.

[Rodan88]

Yes, just read about Jeff.  I didn't know him personally either, but had many friends who did.  Very talented guy.   Sadly, I also just learned that NYC-area percussionist Fred Walcott died.  Great guy and musician. 

As Satchel Paige said - "Don't look back - something might be gaining on you!"

[HammondDave]

On 2/24/2023 at 5:25 AM, Adan said:

.

 

Maybe there's something like a "60/40" rule.  Over 60, don't carry anything over 40 lbs?  I lowered my threshold to  35 lbs already, and I'm not yet 60, but then I got a  40 lb Motion Sound amp and moved to snowy, icy New England, so in that sense took a step in the wrong direction weight-wise.

28 lbs for me