Daily Archives: May 23, 2006
KEXP at SXSW: Billy Bragg (4/7)
Billy Bragg is a riot. Proudly refers to himself as a “polemical songwriter” and points out “my politics are mostly based on mischief.” Is getting some of his thunder stolen by James Blunt, as he’s no longer the only former soldier: “He was an officer in the Royal Armed Corps; I was [just] a trooper!” Asked if he will ever go into politics: “I just look awful in a suit and tie…I look like a bank robber!” Lots of fun to hear his banter. He’s the Pete Seeger of our time. He and Woody Guthrie, some of whose lyrics he has put to music post Woody’s death.
Major injuries I’ve had…(that I can think of right now).
- Blow-out fracture of right eye orbit.*
- Broke right wrist (ALL wrist bones) and arm (ALL lower arm bones) once (in one fell swoop).
- “Deep bone bruise” to right knee/outside shin bone (i.e. fluid inside the bone. looks super cool on the MRI).**
- Broke little toe on right foot four times in the same summer (damn chair).
- Torn muscular tissue on bottom of right foot. Ongoing problem.
- Boil (staph infection) in lower lip. Hospitalized for a week. Fun, fun.
- Boil in forehead (staph again). Fun emergency room visit. Lots of blood.
- Sprained left wrist at least four times.
- Sprained right wrist at least seven times.
- Sprained right foot during kickboxing/jumprope class.***
- Sprained right ankle jumping in tractor tire intertubes. Twice. Yeouch.
Things we have learned from this: A) The right side of my body is clearly problematic; B) Sprains often hurt much much MUCH worse than breaks; and C) Boils are taken far more seriously by doctors than by me.
*This is how I met Billy Baldwin and still have one of his t-shirts – no joke.
**Honestly how is it called a “bruise” when your knee is at least swollen up to four times its size and you lose ability to walk/run/do stairs/etc. for many, many months.
***Bonus = found out I have extra bones known as “accessory navicular” or “auxiliary navicular” bones.