Good Afternoon, friends:

After making plans, buying tickets, and reserving a room, I have had to cancel my Homecoming plans at the last minute.
People who know me well know I've been fighting worsening tinnitus for decades. I've worn good quality earplugs for the last ten years, and switched to professional, molded plugs that my audiologist made about a year ago.

However, with every show I go to, the ringing in my ears is a little bit worse. I've modified my show-going habits; avoiding louder shows, attending much less often, staying off the rail. Hell, I only went to three of the four The Hold Steady show in Brooklyn last month and stayed IN THE BACK! Pure Hell on Earth, if you know me. I saw my audiologist last week, and she confirmed that it's worsened since I first saw her in Dec. 2018.

Drinking and the other recreational activities most of us enjoy seems to make it worse. Right now my ears ring, howl, rumble and whir constantly, making it hard to sleep and concentrate. I'm not giving up live music completely; I'd sooner give up breathing, thinking and living. But three or four straight days of loud music in a small room isn't going to work for me right now. I'll still give Webster Hall in NYC a shot next month and see what happens.

I was so looking forward to hanging with the dozens of you I know and love, even more so looking forward to finally meeting those of you I hadn't yet. Let's hope some day a therapy or cure or miracle comes to pass. At this point, I just can't risk it getting to the point where living with it becomes impossible.

Please, wear ear protection, friends. You only get one set.

But, it ain't all negative news. After losing my darling wife of 27 years, Anita, after a lifelong battle with heart failure early last year, I've met someone wonderful (she was going to go to HHC with me), and we'll be going down to the Florida Keys while all y'all are living it up in Athens. Hopefully, things are on the upswing after many long, difficult years.

Love you all, miss you more,

Dave Arbiter

Aw, man, Dave, I’m sorry to hear that. I know how much you were looking forward to going.

uncle rickey wrote:Aw, man, Dave, I’m sorry to hear that. I know how much you were looking forward to going.

Thanks, brother. Let’s see how a little behavior modification works this year. See you 2/1 though? Acoustic sets are my friend!

Easy for me to downplay your health issues, I know, but I think you may have buried the lede my friend. Meeting someone wonderful is a pretty big deal and I'm so very happy for you. I hope you enjoy the keys and I hope this is the beginning of a new, positive chapter for you!!

Needless to say, sorry to hear about your troubles and really sorry to be missing you in Athens but I will willingly make that sacrifice for the sake of wonderfulness & happiness.

Hi Dave, we met and ate together on night two of Massive Nights. Sorry to hear this. Bummer about Homecoming but it'll be much warmer where you're going. Maybe next year for both of us.

beantownbubba wrote:Easy for me to downplay your health issues, I know, but I think you may have buried the lede my friend. Meeting someone wonderful is a pretty big deal and I'm so very happy for you. I hope you enjoy the keys and I hope this is the beginning of a new, positive chapter for you!!

Needless to say, sorry to hear about your troubles and really sorry to be missing you in Athens but I will willingly make that sacrifice for the sake of wonderfulness & happiness.

Thanks, Bubba! Hope to see you all soon.

Aw, man.

Like I said, I'm sad. But: I continue to be thrilled about the developments in your personal life, which, as Bubba alluded to, outlast everything else.

See you at Webster.

glennrwordman wrote:Aw, man.

Like I said, I'm sad. But: I continue to be thrilled about the developments in your personal life, which, as Bubba alluded to, outlast everything else.

See you at Webster.

Thank you, my friend. Hope to see you sooner than Webster. Either way, that'll be a helluva night.