I arrived in Massachusetts stubbornly clinging to the idea that I was going to be able to play the show that night even though in the very back of my mind–and probably in the front of the minds of everyone around me–there was a very real fear that my brain was going to explode. I’ll […]
My eyes took a while to absorb the words on the back of the record cover, maybe because of the low light level, which remember Jordan had done supposedly for the good of my concussion. (Maybe it had worked, too, because I felt fine, if tired.) The single in my hands, I learned once the […]
Jordan threw a Concussion Party for me. I’m not kidding. I don’t know who told him what was going on but what we found when we got to his place was ambient techno burbling in the background from a new surround-sound speaker system he’d recently installed and ambient lighting low. The first person I saw […]
I ended up seeing Sarah’s doctor, because that was faster and a better idea than sitting around in some New York City emergency room waiting to be seen for a non-emergency. He confirmed I probably had a concussion and said the main thing to do was to avoid things that might aggravate it, including hitting […]
Tony came to get me from Artie’s to take me (and Ziggy) up to see Priss. Artie waited with me down in the lobby of the building, which he really didn’t have to do, but was nice of him. This gave me a chance to ask him something. “You’ve known Remo for a long time.” […]
I made it up to Artie’s office for a mid-afternoon meeting, and walking up to the building I was reminded of a time he took me out for a beer. It felt like a long time ago. The day Ziggy had told me about the deal with the devil. I wondered if I would have […]
The show went pretty darn good, I think, though given that my brain was spinning like a top from prescription opioids I might not have been the best judge. But judging from the reactions of the people I knew and trusted, it was pretty darn good. Even Matthew was impressed, let’s put it that way.
Here’s the thing. If we were in the Carolinas or Seattle or somewhere, I would have let them take me to the hospital and pump me full of painkillers and worried about missing the show later. The fact I’d already missed one would have made it easier since I knew the world wouldn’t end and […]
There were a lot of extra people around. Typical for a New York metro area show. The only thing that kept it down the day before was the stomach flu warnings, I guess. That meant a lot of extra people distracting me before soundcheck, so that when soundcheck time came I was surprised by it. […]
When I woke up I had a moment of disorientation for two reasons, one, because I slept so hard at Ziggy’s (and therefore forgot I was at Ziggy’s) and two because somehow we ended up sleeping across the bed instead of the normal direction. Once I got past my moment of where-the-fuck-am-I, though, I felt […]