Highway Butterfly - The Songs of Neal Casal
“It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver.” Mahatma Gandhi
I am about to go into way too much detail about some of my health stuff. Skip ahead to after the YTD stats for the SSOD.
I had a couple of health issues last year, one Fink made and the other hereditary (so I guess Finkenberg made). The first one was a result of a pretty gnarly mountain biking accident. I yard-saled over the handlebars on a descent with Travis Smith. My handlebars crushed my pelvis. I developed a hematoma that eventually regressed leaving a weird scar. It also led to an inguinal hernia. If you have never had one they are pretty bizarre. My intestines and shit were spilling out into my groin. It creates a weird bulge that you can move around and push back in but eventually just falls out again. I had laparoscopic surgery on November 5th where they inserted a mesh screen at the weak spot in my abdomen. Recovery was 3 weeks, all I could do in that time was walk. It is actually pretty common and as far as surgeries go very minor and pretty easy. Mine went well, no issues. A week after surgery I was walking 7 miles a day.
The second health issue I dealt with last year was my first ever and shortly after that second gout attack. This was out of the blue and pretty crazy. I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, I eat pretty well, I work out on the reg, I was in good shape, etc. However after learning more about “King’s Disease” it turns out it is just as much a hereditary disease as it is a lifestyle one. I had to rock a cane at the Gorge (the one from the Halloween picture yesterday), formerly belonging to one of my favorite humans who passed a few years ago after a full and complete life – RIP Aunt Alice. It was pretty special having her with me at the Gorge and in Vegas. Anyway gout is an inflammatory arthritis response to uric acid crystals that attack one joint in your body. For me it was my right big toe. It is really painful. Gout sucks, I am now on medication to keep my uric acid down (Allopurinol) and will be for the rest of my life. Part of the aging process I suppose.
These two items were reminders of how important health and wellness are and how lucky I am to have such good health overall. They were also super motivating for continuing my health journey which I have done with an extra zest after the recovering from the hernia surgery.
While not one to brag (ha who are we kidding here I love to brag) my fitness is absolutely bananas right now. I have a 50 minute yoga/core/push up/foam rolling morning routine followed by some combination of a bike ride (50-60 miles typically), a swim (2-2.5 miles), a hike (8 mile loop) and yoga. I do this every single day. Exercising has become my “job” and I love what I do. I signed up for a pretty crazy 100 mile bike race with 6,600 feet of climb in April (The Campagnolo GranFondo San Diego) as extra motivation.
My YTD stats are as follows:
1,201 miles cycled
55,800 yards (31.7 miles) swam
623,705 steps (13.270 daily average)
285 miles walked + ran
What does this have to do with the Sanity Song of the Day? Not a lot but I did want to share a fitness update. Seriously though being healthy isn’t just about physical health, it is also about mental health and spiritual health. When you have a broken leg, you go to a doctor. If you have a broken mind, you should go to a doctor. If you spend time, effort and energy on your physical health, you should do it with your mental health. And that brings us to the next person on my musical Mt. Rushmore… Neal Casal.
Neal Casal committed suicide. He was fighting shit in his head that eventually got the better of him. He unfortunately didn’t get enough help or the right help. While I believe we have come a long way in our society when it comes to mental health, we still have a long way to go. Maybe Neal could have been saved but he was unable to heal his mental health issues.
If you are ever in a bad place and need someone to talk to, please don’t hesitate to pick up the phone and reach out to me. Maybe we know each other well, maybe we don’t know each other at all. However I am always willing and wanting to help. If not me, find someone. You are NOT alone. We are all in this together.
When looking at my musical Mt. Rushmore you may think Neal doesn’t quite fit. Many think of him as more of a sidekick than a leader. Many know Neal from Circles Around the Sun, or perhaps as the guitar player in Ryan Adams and The Cardinals or Chris Robinson Brotherhood. All of these seem like he was Robin and never Batman like Trey, Jerry and Jim clearly are. What a lot of people don’t know is that he was a prolific and beautiful singer and song-writer long before any of those other gigs. He released 14 albums under his own name that never sold many copies but were beloved by those who were aware. He never found the success he deserved with his solo stuff and ended up being the guitar player in other people’s bands. One can only guess the impact this had on his eventual suicide.
After he died, his long-time friend manager Gary Waldman got together with Dave Schools (Widespread Panic) and Jim Scott (a Grammy award winning producer and engineer with an amazing list of credits including Tedechi Trucks, Wilco, Tom Petty, Sting, The Stones, etc) and put together a Tribute Album Collection featuring an amazing collection of artists covering a total of 41 of Neal’s songs. The album (and an incredible book of Neal’s photography – he was also an amazing photographer) all benefit the Neal Casal Music Foundation which is a foundation created to inspire future musicians and bring mental health support to musicians already on the path.
THE ENTIRE REASON I ASKED TO HOST SANITY SONG OF THE DAY THIS TIME AROUND WAS TO SHARE THIS ALBUM WITH YOU.
I can not stress enough how much I love and have listened to this album in the past 6 months. Neal was not only an amazing and tasteful guitar player, he was a beautiful and powerful songwriter. Sometimes it takes other amazing artists to highlight just how special he was. These songs deserve to be heard. As you can imagine, there are some really heavy and dark lyrics but there are also some really beautiful and special songs. Life is complicated.
This album is incredible. Because 41 songs is a lot to take in (although I highly recommend you do), I have created an hour long playlist with my favorite songs and am sharing the playlist as my Sanity Song of the Day. Listen to people like Susan Tedeschi & Derek Trucks, Bob Weir, Billy Stings, Marcus King, Warren Haynes and others interpretations of Neal’s music. I also created a playlist of all of the original Neal songs covered on this album. Finally I have included a link to a podcast that accompanies the album with some amazing interviews. Dave Schools is a really special human, listen to that interview. Also really enjoyed the Warren Haynes and Adam MacDougall episodes.
If I had to pick one single song from the album that would be hard but These Days with You by Puss N Boots (Norah Jones) is my current favorite.
That I love you
And I always tried to do you proud
So long may you run
And may your song always be sung
And may you never go before your time has come.
Highway Butterfly Fink’s Faves
Highway Butterfly OG (Neal’s versions)
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