Deep Reads: A songwriter had part of his brain removed. The music flowed.
Mike Frazier had no idea that the source of his stomach pains and mental health struggles was a condition that affects tens of millions of people worldwide. After surgery, his approach to making music changed.
The songwriter was unconscious, but his voice filled the operating room. Mike Frazier’s dirty-blond locks had been partially shaved and his head sanitized. The surgeon standing over him slid his blade in a crescent over Frazier’s right ear and tugged his scalp into position. Then he began opening a window into the musician’s brain.
The task that day was to reach and remove the cause of the grievous pain that had besieged and mystified Frazier for years. After almost a decade as a folk-rock singer with a rollicking vibe and a knack for storytelling, piercing stomach pain had stymied his songwriting and drawn him into a dangerous depression before he turned 30.
Michael Laris reported, wrote and narrated the piece. Bishop Sand composed music and produced audio.
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