Buckethead Interviews Barry Michels on His Battle w/ Lewy Body Dementia (LBD), “When you’re given a death sentence essentially, it’s sort of now or never”

Earlier today, I mistakenly reported that Buckethead was living with Lewy body dementia. That information was wrong. In the interview, it is Barry Michels who discusses his diagnosis, while Buckethead is the one interviewing him. As soon as I realized my error, I removed the article and corrected the story (available below), but I still want to acknowledge the mistake clearly. I apologize to Buckethead, Barry Michels, and anyone who read or shared the original post. -full in bloom

Guitar icon Buckethead turns interviewer as his longtime therapist and collaborator Barry Michels opens up about living with Lewy body dementia (LBD) and how the diagnosis has transformed him. In this new conversation, Michels describes how facing a “death sentence” stripped away his inhibitions, unlocked a deeper creative flow, and made him more open to what others see in him, while Buckethead listens and gently guides him through the story. What emerges is a rare, vulnerable look at how a devastating illness became an unexpected catalyst for honesty, connection, and inner change.

An excerpt from the interview has been transcribed (via fullinbloom.com) below.

Barry Michels: Obviously, LBD is not a great thing to have, but there were some really great side effects. One of which was I just feel like I opened up a lot more and a lot of stuff that came out was stuff that I didn’t know I knew. It just sort of came up through a flow. I’m not sure exactly what that’s about, other than to say that, when you know that you’re going to die and obviously everyone knows they’re going to die but when you’re given a death sentence essentially, it’s sort of now or never. Whatever inhibitions I had, little hang ups about opening up, they just got swept away by the disease and I feel like it opened me up a lot more. As a result, the stuff that came out was from a deeper place. Now I’m grateful and I know it’s weird to say you’re grateful for a disease but I’m really grateful to it because it opened me up in ways I don’t think I could’ve opened up on my own.

Buckethead: Do you think it was like a channel that opened in a way, like, coming through you?

Very much. That’s my direct experience of it. I’m saying things and discovering what I’m saying along with saying it. I’m not thinking about it ahead of time. It’s just coming out and that’s, to me, the best kind of therapy. It’s the best way to communicate because you’re really saying what’s deep inside your soul. I’m not saying I never used to do that but with LBD the volume of it was miraculous. I think the other thing that’s happened with LBD is that I was always very guarded both about what I would say and what I would allow people to say to me. I just wasn’t very open to what people had to say to me. People can tell me things about myself that are really helpful to me, and I’m open to it, where in the past I would’ve been more guarded, more defensive. It’s strange to say I’m grateful to this disease, but I am grateful to it because it has opened me up in ways I never could’ve opened up on my own.

I remember you would say, like, how would I say this. Was that you asking?

Without realizing it, yes. I don’t think I was conscious of it but when I would say that I was asking for help from some sort of source because a lot of time I know I’ll have the kernel of something that I want to say, but it’s just a kernel, I can’t put it into words. If I sit back and assume that something inside me will articulate it for me, more often than not it does.

You can listen to the entire segment @ this location.