"I'm strong to the finich, 'cause I eats me spinach!"

I started at a new gym this last Saturday. Worked out with a new trainer, got some new ideas and goals. Went in again today and worked out for 30 minutes, did cardio for 15. It's a start, I've been away from exercise and running for about 14 months due to an old neck injury of unknown origin that was causing pain in my back, neck and arm. But my chiropractor and message therapist are keeping me in good shape now, so it's back to work. Back to getting my 51 year old bod back where it should be - weight and build, inside and out.

So I'm pounding away on the eliptical this morning, trying to read the subtitles of the Sherlock Holmes movie playing in front of me, and I began to wonder about all this health stuff. Eating at restaurants, which is one of my wife's and my favorite things to do together, has been seriously curtailed - nay, cut off (at least for now). It's bad for you. Desserts, wine, cocktails, red meat, buttery sauces, chips, snacks, eating after 10pm - all wonderful. But only for your tastebuds. The rest of your body will go to hades in a handbag if this is normal intake. Bad stuff, don't do it. So we spend the money we were spending on all of the above on a gym and a trainer and an iPod. And we work to get in shape. And then we get in better shape, lose pounds, feel better. Our doctor and spouse are proud of us for taking care of ourselves. We have more energy, look better, and get more done. And that is all really good stuff, right? Well, of course it is. But then your other side says, "Hey, you're in good shape now, you deserve to have the extra large enchilada plate with extra molé sauce and a margarita at 8:30pm. And churros, please." So the dilemma is, do you just drop all that good stuff cold turkey and live a clean lifestyle with your protein powder and your chia supplement and your swiss chard? Or do you take the occasional stroll down Cholesterol Avenue and indulge every once in a while? My trainer says one day a week I can eat and drink whatever I want. But the other six, no dice bootsy. So now I'm wondering if that one day is just going to make the other six really sad. Or, if it's going to be a really nice thing to look forward to. A reward for a hard week's work, if you will. We'll see.

I understand it takes three weeks to establish a habit. I am working very hard to stick to my workout regimen and new diet, and I will get back to you here in three weeks to let you know how it is all working out. But come Friday, look out tasty and unhealthy food world, because my fork and knife are coming at ya' with a vengeance!

Whitney & Amy

Two incredible voices, two very different styles. Whitney Houston has been singing pop and gospel tinged R&B since the early '80s, Amy Winehouse came on the scene just a few short years ago. Both women had undeniably enormous talents, and both ladies died because of their inability to live a life without delving into harmful and addictive substances. Both losses are huge to music, and it continues to fascinate me how these two beautiful, talented women with so much to live for could allow themselves to sink to those depths.

Whitney's voice was such that all you needed to hear was a few notes of it, and you knew it was her. Her string of huge pop radio hits in the '80s were not necessarily great songs. Actually, songs such as "Saving All My Love" and "I Wanna Dance with Somebody", and even the much touted "I Will Always Love You" were not of themselves great songs necessarily. And while the productions were excellent, nothing ground breaking. But that just is another testimony to what a huge gift she had. These songs were transformed into classics, I believe, singlehandedly by her monumental voice. And of course, you only need to listen again to her "Star Spangled Banner" on YouTube too remember what a phenom she really was.

Amy, in some ways, was the antithesis to Whitney. Ms. Houston's MO was to play the pure-as-the-driven-snow for most of her career, while hiding the partying side for as long as she could. (The Bobby Brown reality show probably didn't help her cause.) Amy on the other hand was drunk on stage most of the time, and did not try to present any type of squeeky clean image. (Check out her Rehab video - definitely not the gal you'd race to bring home to mom & pop.) But what was so incredible about Amy was the way she sang pop music. She sung Rehab with an amazingly strong jazz sensibility and a grasp of phrasing and timing that would be the envy of jazz singers twice her age. I still remember the first time I heard Rehab. It was on my car radio, and I nearly pulled over as I was staggered by how far she was singing that classic "No, no, no!" line behind the beat. "She is a jazz singer," I said to my wife, "no doubt!" Of course, Tony Bennett secured her place in history as just that by extolling the virtues of her jazz chops on the 2011 VMA's shortly after her death. Mr. Bennett's quote: "She was a true jazz artist in the tradition of Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday. She had the gift." THE GIFT! That, my friends, is a pedigree worth 3 Berklee doctorates. And then some.

I loved the voices these two incredibly lovely ladies brought to Planet Earth. I will listen to them for the rest of my life, and will probably shed an occasional tear when I do so. Many years ago, Woody Allen's manager Jack Rollins made this comment upon hearing of legendary comedian Lenny Bruce's death from abusing drugs: "He sinned against his talent". And for Whitney and Amy, ain't that the truth.