Shopping With Dr. Oz in Mind

Yesterday I went with my mom to a health food market to find parsley tea because "it helps reduce inflammation," she tells me.

How does she know this? Well, Dr. Oz of course.  My mom, Sandra, along with millions of other Americans, watches "The Dr. Oz Show," the award-winning TV program of cardiac surgeon Dr. Mehmet Oz.  Oz is also the director of New York-Presbyterian Hospital's Cardiovascular Institute and Complementary Medicine Program, a best-selling author and vice-chair and professor of surgery at Columbia University, a few of his many accomplishments.  On TV, he offers advice on everything from remedies for ailments to the types of foods that will slim your bottom.

When we found the aisle with herbal teas and asked the saleswoman to point out the parsley tea, she walked over to where it's kept, and the spot on the shelf was empty.

"Did Dr. Oz recommend this?" she said peering at us above her eye glasses.

"Yes!" my mom enthusiastically answered.

"Well, that's why we're out of it, for now," she said.

The expression on my mom's face kind of reminded me of mine when I buy raffle tickets at an event and later find out during the drawing that I missed the grand prize by only one number. Rats!

The saleswoman appeared to be a Dr. Oz skeptic as she encouraged my mom to use common sense when purchasing his recommendations.

While the saleswoman was talking, if a bubble could have appeared on the side of my mom's head with one of her thoughts, like in comic strips, it would have read, "You probably follow Dr. Oz's recommendations, too."

And that's just what my mom said to me as we left the aisle.  Yes, I know her well.

We wound up perusing another aisle with dried fruit and the tart dried cherries jumped out at me.  Why?  Two days prior I watched "The Dr. Oz Show" with my mom.  He took the cameras into his home to reveal his health secrets.  I remembered he said tart dried cherries are a good nighttime snack because it contains melatonin.

Wow.  I don't know Dr. Oz personally, but I don't think he's into mind control.  What then makes viewers retain his suggestions?  He appears to be that really, really sincere physician who genuinely cares about your well-being.  He's an affable, family man and seems to practice what he preaches.

In a time when there's rising costs in health care and health insurance, increased rates of diabetes and breast cancer cases and other diet related diseases, it's great many Americans are becoming proactive in maintaining good health.  Even if it makes Dr. Oz recommended items fly off the shelves.

My mom doesn't fill her kitchen cabinets with everything mentioned on the show, and does use common sense when purchasing.  She's a smart cookie, surviving a more than 30-year career in the U.S. Postal Service.  She actually keeps a notebook full of useful information learned from the show, and is able to discuss with her own doctor.  So the fact Dr. Oz is in a sense empowering or at least sharing information viewers might not have known, is a good thing.

Yes, my mom is a determined woman, so she'll go to another store to find the parsley tea.  I think I'll give the tart cherries a try.

Greenwich Village and '7 Years Underground'

Greenwich Village or what native New Yorkers call “the Village” is well-known for being the artistic hub of Lower Manhattan going back to the 1930s, and invigorated by the “Beat Movement” of the 1950s-1960s. To this day, from fashion to art to music, many current celebrities have gotten their start there.

I can remember in the mid-‘90s going to Café Wha? on Macdougal Street one night and seeing a comedian perform.  My friends and I never heard of him, but he was pretty funny.  When the film “Half Baked” came out in 1998, I realized that comedian was Dave Chappelle.  Years later as grad student at New York University, located in the Village, I would often sit in Washington Square Park and was inspired by music of a guitar player or an artist painting. Or, I’d be sitting on a bench next to someone practicing their lines and later find out they're a Broadway actor. Lots of interesting encounters. 

So when I perused the website of the 2012 Palm Beach International Film Festival, April 12-19, the feature film “7 Years Underground: A 60’s Tale” (2011) immediately interested me.  I caught a showing April 14 at the Muvico Parisian 20 theatre at CityPlace in West Palm Beach.  It’s a documentary by Jason M. Solomon about his parents Howard and Elly Solomon, who opened Café Au Go Go in 1964 at 152 Bleeker St., Greenwich Village -- a cabaret-style venue, not licensed to serve liquor. 

Through Solomon’s interviews with his mother, Elly, who definitely would win “The Coolest Mom Award” if one existed, and previously recorded interviews of his father, Howard, now deceased; the film offers that from 1964 to 1969 Café Au Go Go was the place where careers of musicians such as Jimi Hendrix, and comedians including George Carlin and Richard Pryor, were launched. The nightclub was also the site where then popular comedian Lenny Bruce performed and was later arrested and booked for obscenity charges, resulting in a landmark case. Though, competition from other up and coming nightclubs, which did sell liquor, eventually caused Café Au Go Go to close its doors. 

I really enjoyed looking at a slice of music history through the eyes of club owners that mingled with great performers who were then disenfranchised performers.  It was the 1960s when segregation was law in many parts of the country, yet watching the film it seemed like race wasn’t an issue in the community, which showcased performers from all different backgrounds in an underground place of creative solace.  There’s a part in the film where Elly Solomon addresses drug use, as drugs were abused rampantly by musicians during that time.  She discussed how she never allowed drugs into her club.  If the performers were using, it wasn’t under her watch, and would throw out anyone ever caught using.  A poignant story is when Solomon recalled being with Janis Joplin in her dressing room.  When Joplin changed her clothes, Solomon could see the track marks from intravenous drug use on Joplin’s arms.  Solomon lamented that performers like Joplin and Hendrix had tremendous talent, but had a deep struggle between their talent and the drugs. There are so many interesting anecdotes in this film, like the Solomon’s daughter recalling being babysat by Frank Zappa. Yeah, imagine that. Through photos and audio, you also take a look inside of the Solomon family life.  

I think anyone from a former “hippie” to someone like me who didn’t grow up in the era, would enjoy learning about those who have become icons in popular American culture. If you're in the area, there’s another showing of “7 Years Underground” at 8:30 p.m. April 17 at the Cobb Downtown theatre at the Gardens in Palm Beach Gardens.

Check out the trailer: