I was on the way to the airport from Vashon Island in about 1986 to meet up with the rest of the Trio for a tour that started in Florida. We usually flew to the east coast a day early, if possible, so we could settle into the time zone. So I'm barreling down the hill to catch the ferry to Seattle and this idoit coming off the boat decides to turn left right in front of me. There was no way to stop in time and I T-boned him. (His fault, the cops determined.)
The car was totalled and they hauled me up to the clinic (no hospital on Vashon Island) and stitched me up. (Had my knee pretty ripped open.) In the meantime, I lost any chance of catching my flight to Florida. So I called the airline, got booked on a later flight that night and made it in plenty of time to do the gig. Although I did have to walk on stage with a crutch, to the tune of much jeering from my band-mates. Still - I made the gig and that's brownie points in Shane's eyes.
Then there was the time when I went to visit my cousin in Yokosuka, Japan on a day off in the middle of a Brothers Four Tour. We were staying at the Tokyo Hilton, had a day off and were scheduled to play in Chiba (about an hour drive from Tokyo) the following day. My cousin, Sammy (OK - not cousin - he's my aunt's brother - what do they call that?) Anyway, Sammy was stationed in Japan during and after WWII and he married a Japaneze gal, Kozy. They had a beautiful home on a bluff over the ocean at Yokosuka.
Kozy's brother plays guitar and he had a little band, so Sammy and Kozy invited me to join them and the other musicians for a party at their house on my day off. It's about 1/2 train ride from Tokyo to their place. Sammy picked me up at the station and off we went to the party.
I think we started with beer and music, then switched to sake and more music and then, altho I have no recollection of this, I'm told we ended the evening with scotch and some form of ancient Japanese music complete with kabuki dancing by Kozy. Apparently I was playing the banjo like a shamisen.
Next thing I know Sammy's rousting me from the couch telling me we have to leave so I can catch my train back to Tokyo. I have to be back to the hotel by 11:00 to ride out to Chiba for our show. So I try to fake some resemblence of consciousness, pack up my guitar and banjo (what's that stuff caked to the front of my guitar???) and off we go to the train station.
Somehow I made it back to the hotel without puking. Grabbed a quick shower and my show clothes and arrived in the lobby at the correct departure time. But the hour drive to Chiba was pretty queezy and I spent most of the pre-show time on a couch in the dressing room.
Our MC took pity on me and arranged to have a bucket stage right in case I needed it. We did the first song and during the applause I felt the volcano starting to erupt, so I kinda walked back and off-stage, found my bucket and let 'er fly. Rinsed my mouth and toweled off and went back out for the second song.
During my absence our MC was talking about the group and introducing the next song. He must have made some comment about my absence, but I sneaked back on stage as invisibly as I could.
So, we played the second number and after we finished the old tum-tum was feeling bum-bum again, so I sneaked away to my trusty bucket and gave it some more punishment. This time when I came back on stage, I knew the MC had referenced my absence somehow, because there was a little giggle from the audience as I walked on.
Third song - same story - another trip to the sidelines. This time, my return to the stage was greeted with applause, and I had no idea what the MC had told them to generate that kind of response.
Anyway, I got a little better as the show went on, but as I recall I was the first one in the car for the trip back to Tokyo. I did not have the energy to stand in the autograph line that day. On the way back the boys were joking that the City of Chiba should erect a monument in my honor for actually making it thru the show without vomiting on stage.
Nope - never missed a show.
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