Bio

About BOB

Best of the Bad, LLC is a music creation and production company that takes original songs or twists past covers to try to develop new tasty listenable tunes. Sadly, David Carr is the sole member of said company to date, but hopes to find and recruit future musicians and songwriters that may choose to follow a similar path. The template is basically to find new chord progressions and melodies on an acoustic guitar or piano and then write lyrics to try to capture real life experiences. Especially those that are focused on wellness. A scratch track is created and then sent out to the the talented artists and sound engineers that are available through AirGigs.com. Many of these songs were written decades ago and would never had seen the light of day if it was not for COVID isolation. Some might say they should have stayed “COVERT”. See what I did there? The genre to date roughly be categorized as “the blues”, with the harmonica always being present and often featured. In college and beyond, I enjoyed listening to Little Walter, Sonny Boy Williamson (I and II), Slim Harpo, Charlie Musslewhite, Bob Dylan, James Cotton, Paul Butterfield, Sonny Terry, Mick Jagger and Junior Wells. I am blown away by the virtuosity and technical ability of Howard Levy my on-line harmonica mentor. I enjoy listening to Magic Dick, John Popper, John Mayall, Mickey Raphael and the list goes on. This little reed instrument is quite amazing and I always light up when I hear it in a song. The type of lyrics I often write could be slotted into the arena of “medical musical comedy”. Probably not a huge market out there for these types of songs. At a minimum, I hope to create a little part of my life that will be there for my family and friends, when or if they care to reminisce or are simply bored.  At a maximum, I hope some of these offerings will be of interest to others and meet the spirit of our slogan, “Music you want to hear!”

About the Name

I became medical director of a long-term facility for the first time in 1994 at the Jewish Center for the Aged in St. Louis, MO. We had both subacute and chronic long-term care. Working in a subacute unit was challenging back then as it is today. Patients are often discharged from the hospital way too soon, unstable and we did not always have the expertise and staffing like the hospital to know how to care for them. One of my first patients on the unit went by the name of Jane. She had a devastating stroke and despite all of our intensive medical care and therapy, she was not improving. And the husband ripped on us every day about her care. She was not being fed appropriately, wasn’t changed or kept clean enough, we were not responding quickly to her symptoms, etc. One day the nurses told me I had to tell the husband to take her to another facility. Our staff could not take the verbal abuse any more. I don’t have much patience for family complainers in long term care, especially if they are mean and act like bullies. If they think they can do better, I encourage them to take their loved ones back home. I told “Mr. Smith” he needed to find another facility and this would be in his wife’s best interest and needed for his sanity and ours. He immediately told me, “Dr. Carr. I have been to all of those other facilities. They are bad. They are REALLY BAD. But you-you all are the BEST OF THE BAD. Jane is STAYING right here.” The next day the staff and I ordered our Best of the Bad T-shirts, which we wore proudly when they arrived.

Ten years later I was playing roller hockey at Queeny Park in a roller rink managed at the time by a former St. Louis Blues player Perry Turnbull. I have always loved the sport and played roller hockey for many years. I tried the A league, but this was designed for the highest skill players. I sat on the bench the entire season. I then jumped into the intermediate B league, but also ended up with a lot of splinters that season. Finally, I got taken in the draft to play on a team in the C league, which was for old men and beginner skaters. In that league I could compete. I will never forget scoring a goal with a breakaway and deking the goalie with almost no time left to win the game. It was the only game my family ever attended. My proudest sports moment ever and I will never forget it. Not sure if I have had any others?

Finally, about ten years ago I was put up for promotion at Washington University to be an endowed chair in Geriatrics. This was a little nerve wracking, since I was not convinced this honor should be bestowed on me. We have almost 25 affiliated Nobel Laureates whom have done a significant amount of their work at our University. We have incredibly talented researchers that are doing cutting edge work, have huge labs, are bringing in millions of dollars to the University, and employ tons of people. I had done some research, but most of it was in collaboration with others and my lab was infantile compared to the norm. When I mentioned to one of my colleagues that I was reluctant to receive this honor, he said for me not to feel bad. I wasn’t being compared to the other researchers at WU. My metric was other geriatricians across the country, and amongst them I was a star. Wow. What a slam for our great profession, since there are many excellent ground breaking older adult researchers. But at WU it just may be that I’m the Best of the Bad once again. There is a theme here for individuals with small head circumferences and limited frontal lobe capacity…

This is a short summary of the fields of competition I have faced in both medicine and in sports. In music, I am hoping there are not too many groups that focus on the blues, harmonica, and medical musical comedy. So who knows? Maybe another chance to be the Best of the Bad? The sailing is not quite as rough and the fishing sometimes can be just as good in those small ponds…

THANK YOUS 

I have had the pleasure of enjoying the blessing of music from my Mom and Dad. Early on, we went on vacations and sang rounds in the car and harmony to Frere Jacques, Solomon Levi, the Spanish Cavalier, and Seeing Nellie Home. The Methodist church choir and Methodist Youth Fellowship provided plenty of opportunity to hear and sing songs of praise. My sister is a music rock star with her voice, piano, bells, and organ and over 50 years of dedication to singing and directing in church choirs. I played the trumpet at Lindbergh High School from 5th grade to 12 in the symphonic and marching band. In college I was introduced to the songwriting and guitar by Tammy J and further inspired by Laurie, Robyn, and many of my dormies on the “quiet floor” at Hatch Hall at UMC. My roomie Kent at college was an amazing trumpet player and exposed me to jazz and other genres. But my passion and interest never really took off until I met my buddy Mark Jackson in medical school who inspired me to take it to another level. Since then I have had amazing musical mentors including my next door neighbor Richard Losciale who encouraged me to take the brave step of playing out as an acoustic duo as the Clayton Acoustic Blues Band. We rocked at Borders! Keith Malvern was the force behind the next band IdleMinds and we had a great time with gigs at Morgan le Fay’as restaurant. The Lavaleers was another wonderful group I have enjoyed playing with and gigging, including the talent of Donna DeBlaise, Rick Kramer, Pete Sandoval, Lauren, and Mel Eberle. Donna and Mel have been a great influence on me and so appreciate their advice, support, love and counsel with CarrMel Apples and Donna and the Doctor. And friends Tom Simon Kurt Samuels, Jim Linden, and Dan Wyland who have exposed me to a wide variety of tunes and genres. And finally, I want to thank my incredible family who has supported me and encouraged me to write and perform. My wife Lisa was “instrumental” (see what I did there?) in getting me to put my stuff out there. Daughter Annelise and I still jam with her on piano (Jim Brickman, Xmas tunes ;) or her uke (Winnie the Pooh, Leader of the Band). Son Matt with his saxaphone, violin and percussion prowess and Bon Iver. And finally to my nephew Ryan, who was and still is missed so much. Although we connected over tennis, we never got to play acoustic guitar. together A regret and a lesson that he taught me about the short window we have on this planet. I am probably missing many others, but a big thank you to all and look forward to continuing on this musical journey.

About St. Louis 

The St. Louis area is known for its diverse restaurants, cultural amenities and low cost of living.  The St. Louis region is becoming a mecca for innovators, and has been cited by Popular Mechanics as the #1 city for startups. Business Insider ranks St. Louis number one of 25 cities for millennials, citing affordability, cultural attractions and cuisine, and Condé Nast Traveler featured St. Louis as one of 6 U.S. Cities to Watch in 2017. St. Louis is also home to prestigious universities (Washington University, St. Louis University, Webster University and more), two professional sports teams – St. Louis Blues (NHL) and Cardinals (MLB), and Forest Park, one of the largest municipal parks in the U.S. St Louis is also known for the St. Louis Art Museum, world-famous St. Louis Zoo, MUNY Opera outdoor theater, Missouri History Museum, the Science Museum, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and the National Blues and Chess Museums. Oh…and do you need to be reminded of our rich history of the blues? We have had some awesome connections with Chuck Berry, Albert King, Little Milton, Robert Nighthawk, Robert Townsend, George Brock, Lonnie Johnson, Robert Townsend, W.C. Handy, Ike Turner, etc. The spirit lives on with Kim Massie, Jeremiah Johnson, Soulard Blues Band, etc.