About Lugnut -- Patrick Malone


Many of us have come to know Patrick Malone (Lugnut) as a friendly, helpful, knowledgeable and kind individual. He is a frequent and enthusiastic contributor to our analog discussion forum. He has initiated only 17 threads, but responded to 559 threads. I would guess that many, if not most, of us can recall a time when Pat replied with helpful advice to a question we posted or helped us track down a rare recording. I have come to love Pat as a friend, and to respect him as a man, and I suspect many of you share those feelings.

Today I write to share difficult news with you. Pat has been diagnosed with an aggressive stomach cancer. It has yet to be determined whether surgery will even be worth it. If surgery is performed, most or all of the stomach will be removed, and Pat would face a difficult and long post-op period in the hospital. The medical course is still uncertain, but will be determined soon. Whatever is decided, it will not be easy or pleasant.

Something may be planned in the future to assist the family. For now, Pat could use some of the friendship he so often and willingly showed us. You can email Pat at: lugnut50@msn.com. You can also mail cards, letters ... or whatever. You may email me for Pat's mailing address. My email is: pfrumkin1@comcast.net.

I hope to spend a few days with Pat in Idaho or Nebraska (from which he hails) soon. Between this news, my legal work, getting ready for family arriving for the holidays, Audio Intelligent, and trying to make plans to visit Pat, my head is spinning. If you email me and I don't respond, please understand that I am not ignoring you, but rather simply do not have time to reply.

Pat may or may not have time to respond to posts here, to emails, or to cards mailed to him. But he has asked me to convey to each and every one of you that he has cherished your friendship, your comradery, and sharing our common hobby on this great website.

As we prepare for our holiday season celebrations, and look forward to -- as we should -- enjoying this time of year, I ask that you keep Pat and his family in mind ... and softly offer up, in quiet moments in the still of night and early morning, prayers for Pat and his family. God bless.

Warmest regards to all,
Paul Frumkin
paul_frumkin
"Software is where it's at."....Amen.

Pat, thinking of you yesterday while playing with a new toy of mine, I ripped from the vinyl album onto the Alesis Masterlink's hard drive my favorite Neil album I haven't heard too much of recently, 1975's "Zuma" (all numbers save for "Through My Sails", which IMO is overshadowed in this company, the smooth CSNY treatment not sitting well with me alongside the ragged but right Crazy Horse emotional exorcism of the rest). With the the pre-echo-announced intros and extended fadeouts digitally tidied-up and the track-to-track volume levels equalized, I set the remaining 8 songs on continuous loop play and proceeded to saturate at high volume with the house empty for the afternoon.

I found that some stanzas from a couple of my favorite tunes therein brought you even more to my mind, despite the complete lyrics subsequently diverging from any analogous situation. But one valuable thing about good songwriting, you can personalize it as you find necessary...

From "Barstool Blues" (with slight editing liberties taken):

If I could hold on to just one thought
for long enough to know
Why my mind is moving so fast
and the conversation is slow

Burn off all the fog and let
the sun through to the snow
Let me see your face again
before I have to go

Once there was a friend of mine
who died a thousand deaths
He trusted in a woman
and on her he placed his bet

From "Don't Cry No Tears":

Don't cry no tears around me
Don't cry no tears around me

'Cause when all the water's gone
the feeling lingers on

Oh true love ain't too hard to see

Meanwhile, my admiration for your hard-earned wisdom and honesty just keeps on growing - truly inspirational, considering what you've graced us with already and the effort required simply to write. (Please let us know if you ever want some ammo in particular to help reload the CDP, I'm sure somebody here can always assist.)
Pat, I hope you had a great time yesterday. Did you tell Barb 'happy birthday' for me? What kind of music does she like to listen to while celebrating? It's the software...!

You remain in my prayers.
Hi Pat:

And hi to Alex and Jade and Nrchy...nice to read your posts.

Ya Pat, we seem to push the technological side to the nth degree.

Talking about audio above you say "Whatever. Technological advances have taken us beyond any reasonable definition of enough in this regard."

This reminds me a little of what you say in the 10-19 post about your feelings about maybe applying to much technology in some medical situations.

Maybe it's just our "never enough" approach to things in this country when it comes to technological fixes.(not to discount the good sides of it all)

Great to hear you celebrated a BD.

I remain,
Clueless
Pat,

I got your email, thank you. I wish I had some words of wisdom to impart to you but your so far ahead of me, I won't try.

Tell Barb I said "Happy Birthday." As a gift, perhaps she could be the "dancing girls" of your dreams in your own private party. That should motivate you enough to let your friends at Audiogon how your doing.

Wish I could be there to lend a hand, I'll call again soon. Hopefully my timing will be better next time. As always, I feel worthless, wish I could do something really good for you.
For those interested, and have not had the pleasure of gazing upon the handsom mug of Mr. Lugnut, check out the post by jphii 7/18/05. It's nice to put a smile to the words. Hope your finding peace this day Pat, Barb, and many friends. I hope the music is beautiful and finds a welcome home in the heart.
dav