MANY WORLDS ( May/June 2001)

In my CD player
"Passion" Peter Gabriel
"Dectopia"

Reading
The Hobbit

Movies I've Recently seen
"Blow"
"All the Pretty Horses"
"Pearl Harbor"
"A Knight's Tale"
"Vertical Limit"
"Shadow of the Vampire"

Latest Thoughts

I had thought that I would write about dreams for this installation of Many Worlds but instead, I'm going to give you a blow-by-blow of my Santa Cruz journey. It started out so INTERESTINGLY that I'm guessing it'll be a better read.

I'm currently sitting in front of my laptop at LaGuardia Airport with my bandmates. We're sitting in a temporary waiting area because our Vanguard Airlines flight was "detained".......I'm guessing either a wheel fell off or the pilot is still "sleeping off" the Jack Daniels. They told us they'd send us to another airline and get us on our way.....right. Two airlines later, I nearly incited a riot and we had tickets for a flight leaving 5 hours later. Yippee. We got into Santa Cruz in time to have some dinner and crash. Airlines "change" people....I'm usually calm and understanding . Anyway.....

Well, I thought I would write this little jounal in real-time. However, certain events transpired which dramatically changed my plans. So now let me finish this story in retrospect. I'm in San Francisco, sitting high on a hilltop, looking over the entire Valley. I'm typing with one hand...........

I woke up the morning of the Ectofest West show feeling not very refreshed because I'd had about a total of 7 hours of sleep in two days. Eric and Carl (2 other bandmates) were already up and had walked down to the beach. I figured I'd do the same. I took my half cup of coffee and left. I sat on the beach and peaced-out, listening to the waves. I tried to calm myself and store some reserves, knowing that I would be over-tired for the show. Eric and Carl found me there and we all walked back together chatting pleasantly about the music biz. Back at the hotel room, I needed to get something out of a cymbal case. The zipper was secured with a cable-tie for the airline flight the day before. Eric had just been demo-ing his new Leatherman multi-purpose sports knife the night before(it's like a Swiss Army knife, only bigger and more expensive), so I asked him if I could borrow it to cut the cable tie off.. Jump slightly ahead in time........

I'm standing over the sink, furiously rinsing out my severely cut finger. When the blood was flushed away, I could see that I'd cut almost all the way to the bone.....It looked like my finger could fall off if you pulled it too hard. Well I just about hit the floor in shock. Eric(my friend and guitarist), ran and got help and soon I was being driven to the hospital. The really strange thing was that I suffered some kind of severe shock.....it made me nauseated and completely incapacitated. I could barely walk to the car. The injury itself was less upsetting than the effects of the shock. My body must've gotten hit really hard with adreneline or something. Whatever it was, it took me OUT . I couldn't even answer simple questions. That was the strangest sensation. It turns out that I severed the deep flexor tendon and suffered a bit of nerve damage. I need an operation to re-attach it. Oh goodie. By the time you read this, I will have already done that. Now I really understand why everyone in the medical community kept looking at me with such forlorness when I mentioned I had no insurance. The cost of this procedure will be more than one third of the average person's entire year's wages. If I ever want to play guitar again though, it is unavoidable.

Back to the show....there was no time for rest in between the sound check and showtime. Food had to be eaten, notes had to be taken, songs had to be sung in the kitchen of our little hotel suite. Speaking of our hotel....Shelly hooked us up with a cool little place very near the club. It could fit all four of us (me and the band).

Showtime came upon me. Michael picked us all up and took us over. I couldn't possibly have gone earlier to see the other performers, which bummed me out a bit. But I did get to hear the end of Veda Hille's set. She's quite good. The crowd really loved her. Then it was my time. I walked out on stage and was overwhelmed by the number of glo-sticks in the audience. They're like Tribbles. They keep multiplying at every show. And of course there had to be a snafu right off the bat......My keyboard station was set up, but I had no stool. So while the intro for "Feed The Fire" was going on, I was walking around stage muttering "my kingdom for a frickin' stool". I got one but it was so high that I could barely see the keys. I managed to get through "Fire" like that and was handed a better stool before the 2nd song. I knew I would not be at my optimal performance level and I was right. I was messing up left and right and my vocals were unfocused and unremarkable. But in retrospect, I have no choice but to be ok with that. I'd had a rough day. I'm actually kind of lucky. There was a chance that I would have had the surgery THAT day and then I would've had to cancel my performamce altogether.

After the show I had the chance to meet some of you. That was the highlight of the day for me - (well, maybe it was when the attending physician was waxing poetic about The Kuumbwa and his favorite jazz musicians as my finger politely squirted blood).

I'm home now...broke and broken. I've had my surgery and I can honestly say that I wish things were different. I never realized how deeply losing the use of one hand would affect me. I'm sorry for all of the people who are far less fortunate. That my friends, is the tale of EctoFest West. Truly one of the most memorable times ever. If I make it through the next six months, I'll know I'm doing alright.

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