A Hotline To Treatment: Getting Through and Feeling Blue
In the summer of 1964, when I was 12 years old, our family move to London, Ontario, coinciding in my case with the sudden onslaught of puberty, a ferocious hormonal maelstrom that transformed me into an obsessive pop music listener.
My favourite DJ in those days was a dude named Dick Williams, whose show featured Top 40s hits on CFPL Radio 980, tunes like The Beatles’ “She Loves You,” which reached number one on the local hit parade, a first in North America.
https://lfpress.com/2016/06/17/my-london-radio-legend-williams-spins-tall-tales
I came to love these musical masterpieces from that fateful summer, including
- I GET AROUND- The Beach Boys
- A HARD DAY’S NIGHT- The Beatles
- CHAPEL OF LOVE – The Dixie Cups
- WHERE DID OUR LOVE GO – The Supremes
- The HOUSE OF THE RISING SUN- The Animals
- PRETTY WOMAN- Roy Orbison
- RAG DOLL – The 4 Seasons
- MEMPHIS – Johnny Rivers
A WORLD WITHOUT LOVE – Peter & Gordon
MY BOY LOLLIPOP – Millie Small
WISHIN’ AND HOPIN’ – Dusty Springfield
THE LITTLE OLD LADY (From Pasadena) – Jan & Dean
DON’T LET THE SUN CATCH YOU CRYING – Gerry & The Pacemakers
UNDER THE BOARDWALK – The Drifters
CAN’T YOU SEE THAT SHE’S MINE – The Dave Clark Five
LOVE ME DO – The Beatles
LITTLE CHILDREN – Billy J. Kramer & The Dakotas
WALK ON BY – Dionne Warwick
NO PARTICULAR PLACE TO GO – Chuck Berry
And the radio station held these contests, where the first, or third, or fifth, caller would win a coveted 45 hit record or some other desirable piece of fabulous merchandise just by reaching the station’s telephone switchboard at the prescribed moment.
I used to phone and phone, but never get through.
Fast forward to today, over 60 years later.
Anne, my beloved life partner of more than 46 years, has been stricken with glioblastoma, a particularly aggressive, incurable, sudden-onset form of brain cancer. Her life expectancy prognosis is about 12 to 18 months.
My wife Anne has brain cancer/ Mon épouse Anne est atteinte d’un cancer du cerveau – Robert McBryde
Anne is currently receiving daily intensive radiation therapy combined with chemotherapy, a regimen that will last three full weeks.
Each day, I have to phone an Ottawa Para Transpo transit service hotline to book a vehicle to take her to a faraway hospital for treatments, which of course are making her very sick.
The lines are predictably always busy, just as they were for the Dick Williams show. Repeated dialing just doesn’t cut the mustard.
And the only prize at the end of the line is a ride to a place where we have to face some very somber music indeed.
Your friend,
Robert
https://robertmcbrydeauthor.com/
