It seems that Kate Moss has pretty much finished the alterations she’s making to her house that will make her a neighbour of Bad Boys singer, George Michael (do ya like my tabloid-speak? No? OK, I’ll stop).  It begs the question, how can George keep up with his new neighbours?

George’s enforced hiatus from touring and making music as he recovers from his recent illness gives him an excellent opportunity to put his architects and interior designers to work on making some improvements to his home.   What could he add? Perhaps a swimming pool in the basement?  Or what about a adding a second underground level to the house to  garage the Ferrari 458 Spider (and his other cars) that George needs to consider putting his deposit down for this year if he wants it to be ready to collect when his driving ban ends (BTW George, you can spec the 458 here)?

If you have any thoughts on building projects to keep George occupied for the next few months, please submit your suggestions in the comments section for this post.

He looked very well, but is clearly going to be weak after spending such a long time in hospital.  Great to see him back on his feet, though, and so clearly on the road to recovery.

Welcome back, George, and have a great Christmas!

• There is no heart damage.
• He does not have HIV/AIDS.
• There is no risk to his voice from being on a ventilator.

He has pneumonia, and that is all (and that’s really bad enough, by the way). I think it’s significant that the doctors have called George’s recent recovery  “impressive” – they wouldn’t say that if they didn’t believe it.

The update, directly from the hospital, is given below:

Professors Gottfried Locker and Christoph Zielinski would like to make a statement regarding George Michael.

Further to our previous statement Mr. Michael is being treated here for pneumonia and nothing else.

The latest development in Mr. Michael’s case – which has evolved from a severe pneumococcal infection – necessitated intensive care due to its severity and extension. We are happy to announce that Mr Michael is improving steadily with an impressive regression of pneumonic symptoms and follows a steady rate of improvement as hoped.

There are no other health issues with regards to the patient other than the underlying pneumonic disorder, and no further measures had to be taken.

Mr. Michael is receiving precisely the same treatment as any ordinary patient in Austria would receive at the hospital for this disease.

As we said previously, complete rest and peace and quiet are mandatory.

We wish to make it clear that we are putting this statement out and there will be no further comment.

Prof. Dr. Christoph Zielinski, Chairman, Department of Medicine General Hospital – Medical University Vienna, Austria and Prof. Dr. Thomas Staudinger, Specialist in Internal Medicine and Intensive Care Medicine have stated the following:

“George Michael has severe community acquired pneumonia and is being treated as an inpatient. His condition has stabilized and he is responding to treatment. From the current point of view, the time until recovery cannot be estimated, but he will not be able to perform the rest of the tour. Besides medical treatment, complete rest and peace and quiet are mandatory.”

This is an important statement because these clinicians have no interest in being quoted as saying anything other than the truth. There has been a lot of speculation about George’s illness in the press. So, what does this statement tell us about the facts of George’s condition? In short, I think it’s probably good news.

Let’s take each sentence in turn, and see what we can glean…

George Michael has severe community acquired pneumonia and is being treated as an inpatient.

The primary condition George is suffering from is “severe CAP”. This is a serious illness, and treatment has required him to be hospitalized. What is the prognosis for this condition? From Wikipedia,

Fever typically responds in the first two days of therapy and other symptoms resolve in the first week. The x-ray, however, may remain abnormal for at least a month, even when CAP has been successfully treated. Among individuals who require hospitalization, the mortality rate averages 12% overall, but is as much as 40% in people who have bloodstream infections or require intensive care.

It should be noted that while the statement does not explicitly say that George has required intensive care, it’s clear that he has. That’s because part of the definition of “severe” CAP is that the patient requires admission to an ICU. That said, there is not enough information in this sentence to make any sensible assessment of just how serious George’s illness is/has been.

The next sentence in the official statement is,

His condition has stabilized and he is responding to treatment.

Here, the clinicians describe George’s state as “stable”. It’s unclear exactly what they mean by this. However, we can certainly infer the following. Whatever his condition has been previously, George is not currently getting worse.  Previously, though, his condition has been unstable.  They also say that George is responding to treatment. Again, it’s unclear exactly what they mean, but it does suggest that his condition is improving. They say nothing about how quickly he’s improving, though.

Now, the next sentence,

From the current point of view, the time until recovery cannot be estimated, but he will not be able to perform the rest of the tour.

Here, they are saying that, based on his current condition, they have no idea how long it will take him to recover, but the time will be months not weeks.  However, the most important thing about this sentence is that it sounds like they expect that he will recover (I hope I’m not reading too much into that). In other words, it sounds to me like they do not currently consider George’s life to be at serious risk.

The final sentence in the statement is,

Besides medical treatment, complete rest and peace and quiet are mandatory.

Here, they are letting everyone (friends, management, fans, media) not to expect too much in the way of communication from George for the moment. In other words, they want him left alone. Certainly, they won’t want him spending any time at all thinking/worrying about his work.

That’s it, then. The statement reveals very little detail about George’s illness or the nature of the treatment George has been receiving. It says nothing about any complications that have arisen as a result of the pneumonia. In summary, it sounds very much like George has been critically ill in the last few days with a serious risk that he could have died, and that he remains very ill at present. The signs are positive that he will make a recovery, however, but it will probably take a few months.  Fingers crossed the worst is behind him…

Currently, only George’s shows up to this weekend have been cancelled. If he has pneumonia, it will really wipe him out, and I’d imagine that all the shows until Christmas will have to be cancelled too. (Update Friday evening – all the remaining shows have indeed been cancelled)

Update – Thursday

Reports suggest that George is responding well to treatment, has been discharged from hospital, and is now recovering in a private house in Vienna. If true, that sounds like very good news.

Update – Friday

The latest reports in the media are conflicting both each other, and with yesterday’s reports. Some suggest George has “woken up” in hospital and is in good spirits. Others suggest he’s in intensive care being treated for both pneumonia and serious heart problems. Others are saying that George will be back on stage at the beginning of next week.  It’s impossible to tell which, if any, of these reports are correct. The only thing we can be sure of is that at least some of them are wrong, and it looks to me like some are disingenuous.

Update – Friday Afternoon

The press reports coming out of Vienna are very bad indeed. However, there is no way of knowing if they’re accurate. Meanwhile, ContactMusic has quoted an official representative for George as saying today that George’s condition is not life threatening.

Here’s the first YouTube clip of it. Enjoy…

I’ll leave you with George’s favorite performance, of his favorite song of the tour, from his favorite show of the tour – the new version of Praying For Time (see the previous post for details of that, btw)…

The format of the Symphonica Tour – where the audience listens to the performance, rather than wanting to sing along with every song – is what is really enabling George to make changes like this. When the audience expects to sing along, you have to make your performance as much like the record as possible.  However, when the audience is listening rather than singing along, artists are free to change the lyrics, the notes in the melody, and the rhythm. It’s great to see George getting creative with his old songs, and finding new ways to perform them. Who knows – one day, he might even find a sensible way of singing Wake Me Up again…

Anyway, enough of the pre-amble, if you haven’t heard George’s new version of Praying For Time, here it is. Hope you like it! (Updated video, recorded from the front row).

In the few days that have followed this opening concert, George’s performance of Love Is A Losing Game, has, I think, become the most watched clip from the concert on YouTube. Now, there are a number of reasons for that, but a big part of the reason is that it’s really an amazing song, and George really did it justice in his performance. It’s actually one of George’s all-time favorite songs – on a BBC Radio show, he picked it as the one song he’d choose to have with him if he was stranded on a desert island.  I think it would have been a bigger hit for Amy, if it hadn’t been released as the fifth single from her Back To Black album.

What is so amazing about Love Is A Losing Game as a song? Well, the word that springs to mind is one that George Michael has used to describe both Amy Winehouse as an artist, and what George himself strives for a song-writer and singer. That word is, “authentic”.  What do I mean by that?  Well, it’s difficult to put into words, but I think it’s this… Listen to Amy singing the song, or watch George’s performance of it in the video clip below.  This song is timeless. It sounds like it’s been around forever, both musically and lyrically; and the lyrics have a deep meaning that will resonate deeply with many, many people. Somehow, everything about it just “right” – authentic. Very few song writers can write songs like this, and very few singers can deliver the kind of soulful performances needed to do such songs justice.

As George says in his comments before singing the song, it’s so sad that we’ve lost a talent like Amy. These kind of people don’t come along very often, and she’s  a big loss to the world.  If you haven’t seen it already, please enjoy this fabulous video of George Michael’s performance, along with the genuinely beautiful photographs of Amy that are shown behind George as he sings.

I have a feeling George might possibly slip a Lady Gaga song into the show at some point. In fact, I wouldn’t be completely surprised if she didn’t join him on stage at some point, if any of the dates work for her.  I suspect those two have a lot more in common than people might think…  What Lady Gaga song would George do?  Well, I think a ballad version of Born This Way could be amazing…

Anyway, which newer artists/songs would you like to see George cover on the Symphonica Tour?