With people using less and less cash and relying more and more on smartphones, it’s time for those of us “of a certain age” to reassess what we’re carrying around in our wallets, lest we lose said wallet or, even worse, have it stolen.

Things to take out of your wallet:

Cash – Sure, keep enough for an emergency, like you need a taxi ride and the cabbie won’t tke credit cards or if you like leaving your tip in cash at restaurants and so forth, but you certainly don’t need to be carrying around large sums of actual money any more.

Social Security Card – What was this doing in your wallet in the first place? There is no place you would ever need such a card and by now, we’re sure you have your own SSN memorized.

Excess Credit Cards – Experts say you should carry your debit card and then one or two credit cards. That’s it. Should your wallet fall into the wrong hands, the more cards there are, the greater the windfall for the crooks.

House Key – Your driver’s license will tell any thief where that key will work.

Medicare Card – This should only be in your wallet when you’re on your way to a medical appointment where you may be asked to provide it. Otherwise, like a SSN card, this can be used in lots of ways by professional fraudsters.

So, what should be in your wallet?

Driver’s License – Hope you never get pulled over by the cops, but just in case… Also, lots of places still use this as your photo ID.

One or Two Credit Cards – Along with your debit card.

Your Insurance Cards – But make sure you’ve made copies of the front and back of each card that you keep at home in case you ever lose your wallet.

One final word – those electronic wallet trackers can be very helpful if you forget where you put your wallet around the house. But their range is only about 400 yards, so they won’t be much help if your wallet is stolen or you lose it when you’re away from home.

Beatlemania will never die! Over 50 years after their break-up and even after the passing of two of their members, the Beatles will be releasing a new song this year.

Last week, Paul McCartney announced that they had been able to extract John Lennon’s voice from an old cassette demo recording of a song Lennon was working on in the 1970s. Using AI (Artificial Intelligence), they were able to remove the piano Lennon was playing on the demo and clean up the vocal.

While assembling of the multi-volume Beatles’ Anthology CD sets, Yoko Ono had given her permission for the remaining band members to utilize some of John’s unreleased demos to craft a couple of new Beatles songs for inclusion on Anthology. They chose “Free as a Bird” and “Real Love.” But there was a third tune, known as “Now and Then,” which the band rejected because 1.) George Harrison didn’t really care for it and 2.) the cassette recording couldn’t be cleaned up enough to yield a usable vocal. According to Ono, the song was written by John to Paul when the duo was considering reteaming to write some new tunes.

Fast forward to last year when film director, Peter Jackson was able to use AI to isolate Lennon’s vocals from “I’ve Got Feeling” as sung during their famous “Rooftop Concert.” That allowed Paul to duet live on stage with his old partner during Macca’s “Got Back” tour last year – a very moving highlight of the live show.

Listen to John's original demo.

Using the same technology, Paul has now been able to extract a usable vocal from “Now and Then.” One presumes Harrison had recorded some guitar for the track back during the Anthology sessions. As Paul & Ringo Starr are still with us, they, of course, can contribute to completing the song.

McCartney says the finished product – the “last Beatle song” will be released later this year.

To which we say, “Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!”

Wow, psychiatrists - who knew?

Not only is it more comfortable to stay cool during the hot months of summer, but these tips can also help you reduce your A/C bill as well!

1.) Check the weather-stripping around doors & windows

2.) Close any curtains or blinds on windows or sliding glass doors during the times of day when they’re vulnerable to direct sunlight

3.) Move furniture that may be blocking your air vents and air return grates

4.) When cooking or reheating food, use the microwave as much as possible, It cuts down on cooking time and won’t produce as much heat as your stove, cooktop or toaster oven.

Don't know if they were the most popular, but they were one of the longest lasting bands to come out of the 60s. And they never uttered a word!

We lost one of the real architects of rock this month. Songwriter Cynthia Weil passed away on June 1^st, 2023 at the age of 82.

Weil teamed up with husband Barry Mann to write so many of the songs that made growing up in the 60s great, including “On Broadway,” “Kicks,” “We Gotta Get Out of This Place,” “Uptown,” “Walking in the Rain,” “Only in America” and, of course, “(You’ve Lost) That Lovin’ Feelin’.”

Often grouped with other husband-wife combos Gerry Goffin & Carole King and Jeff Barry & Ellie Greenwich, Weil became known as part of the “Brill Building” school that dominated rock between its original early rocker phase (Elvis, Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, etc.) through the beginnings of the British Invasion.

While many of the rockers who followed in the wake of the Beatles wrote their own material Mann & Weill continued to crank out hits for those singers who relied on others for their material. In fact, the duo composed “Somewhere Out There” for the movie An American Tail, which became a huge hit for Linda Ronstadt and James Ingram and earned the couple two Grammy awards.

Along with her husband, Weil has been inducted into both the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

She is survived by her husband, Barry Mann, and daughter, Jenn Mann.

Rock & R&B legend and force of nature, Tina Turner has passed away at the age of 83 following a long illness.

Born Annie Mae Bullock in Nutbush, Tennessee, Tina first achieved fame with her husband Ike as the lead vocalist in the Ike & Tina Turner Revue. While they scored numerous hits on the R&B charts, crossing over to Top 40 in the early 60s proved sporadic. Phil Spector took Tina into the studio (famously locking Ike out) and created the classic “River Deep, Mountain High.” While the song raced up the charts in the UK (peaking at #3), it failed to score in the U.S. (reaching only #88).

It wasn’t until the Rolling Stones used the Ike & Tina Revue as the opening act on their 1969 tour of the United States that she finally received her first real success on American pop charts, scoring a huge hit with a reimagining of Creedence Clearwater’s “Proud Mary” in 1971 and a minor success in 1973 with the original “Nutbush City Limits,” written by Tina herself.

Finally splitting from her overcontrolling and abusive husband Ike, Tina achieved the total pop success she deserved with the 1984 release of her debut Capitol album Private Dancer. The multi-platinum release spawned three Top 10 successes with “What’s Love Got to Do with It,” “Better Be Good to Me” and the title track.

Her life and turbulent marriage then became the subject of the 1993 hit movie What’s Love Got to Do with It, based on Tina’s autobiography, with Angela Bassett earning an Academy Award nomination for her portrayal of Tina.

From then on, her position as a rock icon was firmly established. Tina eventually settled in Switzerland and became a citizen of that country. She has been hailed for overcoming all the stereotypes about race, gender and age with a career that lasted into her old age.

We will miss her.

Okay, you know enough not to click on links in suspicious emails, but did you know that when you look up the phone number of your bank online, you may get a bum steer?

Fraudsters have now found ways to have phony phone numbers show up when you use a search end to try and locate the number of your bank or other financial institution. Experts recommend that you go directly to your bank’s website and find the correct phone number there.

Yes, we all know about exercise and eating less, but there are 3 easy steps we can take to help keep our weight down as w get older:

1.) Start your day with protein – Yes, America’s tradition is to load up on fruits and grains to start our day, but the experts say that eating about 30 grams of protein helps promotes muscle mass, which in turn reduces fat gain.

2.) Eat fewer processed foods – Keeping with farm-grown fruits and vegetables as well as avoiding processed foods can help keep your weight down as well as promoting a healthier heart.

3.) Move at least 30 minutes a day – Whether it’s taking a daily walk, doing yard work or other tasks that keep you mobile, a minimum of 30 minutes of activity will help maintaining a lower weight.

Party on, dudes!