Michael J Fox burns down the house

[Beckey]

Michael J Fox jumps in with his electric guitar at a benefit concert for PD research in NYC. All I can say is YOW! and I know you'll join me.

bit.ly/2fEMZeD

[ronn]

When "Marty McFly" jumped in" with his guitar in "Back to the Future" he was expecting the audience to go bonkers. When he looked up from his spraddle-kneed sprawl at the front of the stage, he found the audience, who had generally loved his "new" style of music, sitting stunned, in shocked silence. As he got to his feet to exit stage left, he muttered, " I guess you guys ain't quite ready for that yet, but your kids are gonna love it." You're right Becky,,,,,,,,,,All we can say,(initially), is "YEOWWWWW!!!!! One can't help but admire a person who displays MJF,s level of energy and resilience while admitting that one of his most discouraging symptoms is that, "I'm always so Freaking tired". (his word, not mine.)

[JohnPepper]

Hi Beckey. I am not surprised by this. As I have often said on healthunlocked, Pd affects the things we do subconsciously, it does not interfere with those things we do consciously.

So when MJF played the guitar he did it consciously. It was not hardwired in his brain and therefore was not affected by the Pd.

All we Pd patients have to do is start to walk, bring food to our mouth and write 'Consciously', and then it works.

[Pauldmd in reply to JohnPepper]

You make an excellent point. I have been playing the guitar since I was 8 years old, self taught. I was diagnosed with PD in 1999. I began taking lessons a couple of years ago to see how it would go. My teacher had me learning a complicated finger picking pattern. I could not get my fingers to cooperate and found myself sweating from the effort. I turned on the tv while still holding the guitar figuring I would just fool around with it while watching tv. I suddenly realized that I was finger picking the pattern perfectly without even realizing it. It occurred to me that when I tried to move my fingers in the pattern I could not do it. However, when all I did was think about the sound I was trying to create my fingers did the work automatically.

Sadly, there is still a loss of fine motor coordination, so my playing has suffered as a result. If you listen closely to Michael J Fox, he also has lost some of his ability but I give him credit for continuing to do something he loves. I still play because I find it relaxing but I did have to come to terms with the decline of my skills. I think adjusting ones expectations to reflect the reality of a situation is key maintaining ones sanity. My father still bowls regularly at 90 years of age. He accepts that his scores are lower now, but he enjoys the social aspect that is enough to motivate him to continue the activity.

[Beckey in reply to Pauldmd]

I'm sticking to strumming these days. I wish I could find some folks like my old teenage friends to plunk chords and sing folk songs.

[Pauldmd in reply to Beckey]

I spend most of my time playing old MacDonald Had A Farm for my 16 month old granddaughter. Whenever she is at the house she goes immediately for the guitar for me to play for her.

[Beckey in reply to Pauldmd]

Ha ha! That's so sweet!

[Janice557799]

This is great ! I've always been a fan of his... i hope Michael J Fox can continue on and make the disease of PD more 'out there'.

[park_bear]

For those of us who are not Facebook enabled here it is on youtube:

youtube.com/watch?v=Hb_Ygix...(Not working as expected?)

and rocking out playing Johnny B. Goode this summer:

youtube.com/watch?v=IVy8tz5...(Not working as expected?)

[ronn]

Good Pictures! Thanx Becky and park bear. MJF,,,,,,,,,He just "keeps on keeping on!!

[Ranico]

I believe that there is something important around music that needs to be investigated by the scientific community, and is extremely relevant to PD patients (I have started investigating it), and the reason is very simple ....Music rewards you with dopamine ...so listen a lot to music you love, music that is emotional to you ... nytimes.com/2013/06/09/opin...

[Beckey in reply to Ranico]

Great article, thanks for sharing!