So I went to the ENT this morning. I’ve been having persistent voice issues for the better part of the Summer that I’d chalked up to plain old fatigue, the likely result of too many back-to-back long gigs, stacked with studio sessions that involved singing parts over and over and over again…a pretty solid recipe for general wear & tear to take a toll on these aging pipes.

It turns out, the breaks in my voice that seemed to plague me at random points in my range are the result of a hemorrhagic polyp on my left vocal cord. In addition to this newsflash, I was informed that I’ve suffered a pretty serious decline in my hearing since my last visit to the audiologist, which is truthfully a bit more alarming to me personally than a glorified blister in the works.

You see, the polyp; should it fail to heal with the help of meds and rest, can be surgically removed. My hearing on the other hand, cannot be fixed with a scalpel. I’m hoping I can let these steroids do their thing, forsake caffeine and alcohol for a minute, and take the recommended 10 days off from speaking, so my next evaluation will show me knocking this knot out with no need for bloodshed. If not, well…..

As this pertains to shows, thankfully I’d already taken October off to finish up my solo record, which I still fully intend to wrap up the final mixes on tomorrow, but I’ve been advised that it would be foolhardy to attempt any live performing that involves putting pressure on my voice box for at least the next few weeks, and possibly longer, until I’ve been given the all-clear from the docs.

This means The Great Affairs will have to bow out of our November commitments in Libertyville, IL, and the Rock N’ Skull Fest. I’m not quite sure just yet whether I’ll be able to do the two solo acoustic dates I have on the books for late November, but for now I’m going to leave them up on the calendar until I hear otherwise from someone more educated than myself.

I’m really sorry, but this isn’t something that can be worked around, and I know this because that’s exactly what I’ve been doing for the past few months: working and singing around a then-unidentified obstacle. Unfortunately, there are no more tricks left to fake my way through, so I’m gonna just follow directions for a change and try to get well.

Now, as for my hearing, and where that leaves us as a good, old-fashioned, loud Rock N’ Roll band? I honestly don’t know. I’m gonna have to get through this one thing first, and think on the other while I’m at it.

My sincerest apologies,
Denny
The Great Affairs